Dec, 1904.] 



KNOWLEDGE & SCIENTIFIC NEWS. 



299 



gorilla are the two which approximate most nearly to 

 the human type, the chimpanzi being' structurally the 

 nearer of the two to man, although the gorilla marks 

 a step in the direction of the latter by its much less 

 completely arboreal habits. Roth the African species 

 are normally black or blackish in colour, and dift'er 

 strikingly from the orang in that there is no marked 

 and decided difference in the form of the face and head 

 in the two sexes ; the male merely showing in this 

 respect an exaggeration of the structural features of 

 the female. In this respect they again- show a decided 

 approximation to the human type. For a long period 

 both species were believed to be confmed to the tropi- 

 cal forests of the West Coast of the Dark Continent, 

 but the chimpanzi was ascertained by Schweinfurth 

 and Emin Pasha to range into the Xiam-niam country 

 and Kast-Central .Africa, and quite recently the gorilla 

 has been found to ha\e a somewhat similar dis- 

 tribution, so that their habitat may be taken to 

 include a large part of the equatorial forest belt. That 

 the ancestor of the group was not, however, a native 

 of .Africa may be inferred with considerable probability 

 from the fact that the jaws of a fossil chimpanzi have 

 been discovered in the later Tertiary deposits of N'orth- 

 Eastern India; and it is not a little remarkable that in 

 some particulars the teeth of this extinct Indian chim- 

 panzi come nearer to those of man th.in do those of 

 either of the two living .African man-like apes. 



Of the two sp(:cies, the chimpanzi has been for much 

 the longer time known to European science, Dr. Tyson, 

 a celebrated surgeon and anatomist of his time, having 

 dissected a young individual, and described it, .is a 

 pigmy, or Homo sylveslris, in a book published so long 

 ago as the year i6gg. Of this baby chimpanzi the 

 skeleton is still preserved, and may be seen any day in 

 one of the bays of the central hall of the Natural 

 History Branch of the British Museum alongside the 

 volume in which it is described. It was not, however, 

 till nearly a century later (1788) that the chimpanzi 

 received what is now recognised as a valid scientific 

 name, having been christened in that year Siniia 

 iroglndyies by the French naturalist (imelin. In his 

 classification it was included in the same genus as the 

 orang-utan, but since such an arrangement scarcely 

 coincides with modern ideas of systematic zoology, it 

 is now generally known as Atilhropopithccus troglodytes. 

 \\'hether any stickler after priority will seek to revive 

 Tyson's name, and call the creature Anihropopithccm 

 sylveslris, remains to be seen. If he does so, and the 

 change be adopted generally, the chimpanzi would 

 have a much more appropriate designation than it has 

 at present, the " man-like ape which dwells in the 

 woods " being infinitely superior to the " m;ni-likc 

 ape which dwells in caves," since the chimpanzi is an 

 arboreal and not a spela?an animal. 



As regards the history of the second and larger 

 species, it was at one time supposed that the apes en- 

 countered on an island off the West Coast of .Africa by 

 Hanno, the Carthaginian, were gorillas, but in the 

 opinion of those best qualified to judge, it is probable 

 that the creatures in question were really baboons. 

 The first real account of the gorilla appears to be one 

 given by an English sailor, .Andrew Battel, who spent 

 some time in the wilds of W'est .Africa during and 

 about the year 1 ^gr) ; his account being^ preserved in 

 Purchas's " Pilgrimages," published in the year 1748. 

 From this it appears that Battel was familiar with both 

 the chimpanzi and the gorilla, the former of which he 

 terms engeco and the latter pongo — names which ought 

 apparently to be adopted for these two species in place 



of those now universally in use. Between Ballel's 

 time and 1846 nothing apj^ears to have been heard nt 

 the gorilla or pongo, but in that year a missionaiv at 

 the (iabun accidentally discovered a skull of the huge 

 ape; and in 1847 a sketch of that specimen, together 

 with two others, came into the hands of Sir Richard 

 Owen, by whom the name CioriUa savagci was pi'oposed 

 for the new ape in 1848. L'nfortunalely Dr. .Savage, 

 a missionary at the (iabun, who sent Owen inlormation 

 with regard to the original skull, hiniseU' pro|josecl the 

 name Troglodytes gorilla in 1847, and this specific name 

 accordingly stands. The first complete skeleton of a 

 gorilla sent to ICurope was received at the Museum of 

 the Royal College of Surgeons in i8,si, and the liist 

 complete skin appcu's to have reached the Briti>h 

 Museum in 1858. 



Adult gorillas have nevei- been seen alive in captivity 

 —and probably never will be, as the creature is fero- 

 cious and morose to a di'gree. In .-uldition to the two 

 which made such ;ui unfortunately brief sojourn in the 

 Regent's Park during the present year, a few other 

 immature examples have been brought alive to this 

 country. Of these the following account is repro- 

 duced from the " Zoological Notes " column in a 

 recent issue : — 



■' Only two have, however, been previously exhibited 

 in the Regent's Park. The first of these was a young 

 male, purchased ii; October, 1887, from Mr. Cross, the 

 vyell-knovyn Liverpool dealer in animals. .At the time 

 of .irrival it was supposed to be about three years old, 

 and stood 2^ feet in height. The second, which was 

 a mall', and considered to be rather older, was .-ictiuired 

 in .March, i8q6, having been brought to Liverpool 

 from French Congoland by on- of the .African Steam- 

 ship Company's vessels. It is described as having 

 been thoroughly healthy at the date of its arrival, and 

 of an ;unial)le and traiMable dis[)osition. Neither of 

 these animals suvived long." 



So long ago as the year 185:5, when the species was 

 known to zoologists only by its skeleton, a gorilla was 

 actually living in this country. This animal, a young 

 female, came from French Congoland, and was kept 

 for some months in Wombwell's travelling men.igeric, 

 where it was treated as a pet. On its death, the body 

 w.-is sent to the late Mr. Charles Waterton, of Walton 

 Hall, by whom the skin was mounted m a grotesque 

 manner', ruid the skeleton given to llv; Leeds Museum. 

 .Apparently, however, it was not till several years later 

 that the skin was recognised by the late Mr. A. D. 

 Bartlett as that of a gorilla : the animal having 

 probably been rcgarded'by its owner ;is a cliimp.anzi. 



Chimpanzis, on the other hand, ai'c comp.aratively 

 common in captivity, although luost are finite young, 

 .and only a few sin-vivt' to .-uivthing approa<-hing 

 maturity. 



Between a typical chimpanzi and a typical gorilla 

 there is no difiiculty at all in drawing a distinction; 

 the diiliculty comes in when we have to deal with the 

 aberrant races (or species) of chimpanzi, sonv of 

 which are so gorilla-like that it is somevvh.at hard to 

 decide to which species they really pert.ain. The 

 ordinary chimpanzi, especially in the young state, 

 is such a familiar animal that a portr.-iit is unnecessary. 

 In height the adult male does not exceed Wxii feet, 

 and the colour of the hair is :i full black, while the ears 

 are remarkably large and prominent, and the hands 

 reach only a short distance below the knees. The 

 head is rounded and short, without prominent beetling 

 ridges above the eyes, or a strong crest along the 

 middle line of the back of the skull; while the tusks 



