CHIMPANZEES. 25 



down any rule for its average size. The skin of the chimpanzee is frequently of a 

 light, yet muddy flesh-colour, which sometimes verges upon brown. Spots, varying 

 in size and depth of colour, sometimes isolated, sometimes in groups, and of a 

 blackish-brown, sooty, or bluish-black tint, are found on different parts of the 

 body of many individuals, especially on the face, neck, breast, belly, arms and 

 hands, thighs and shanks, and more rarely on the back. The face, which, soon 

 after birth, is of a flesh-colour, merging into yellowish-brown, assumes a darker 

 shade with the gradual development of the body. The hairy coat is sleek, or only 

 in rare cases slightly curled, and the coarser and bristly hair is generally stiff and 

 clastic. The parting on the forehead is often so regular that it might have been 

 arranged by the hairdresser's art. Close behind that part of the head at which 

 the projecting ridges over the eyes of the gorilla generally meet there is in the 

 chimpanzee (as is well shown in our figure of the head) an altogether bald place, 

 or often only a few scattered hairs. Round the face the growth of hair streams 

 downwards like a beard. On the neck it is of considerable length, and it falls in 

 the same long locks over the shoulders, back, and hips. The hair on the limbs is 

 not so long, and takes a downward direction on the upper arm, and an opposite 

 direction on the fore-arm, while there is often a longitudinal parting on the centre 

 of the inner surface of this part of the limb. On the back of the wrist the hair 

 grows in a kind of whorl; the upper hairs turn upwards and backwards, the 

 middle ones turn backwards, the lower ones backwards and downwards. The 

 backs of the hands and the roots of the fingers are hairy. On the front of the 

 thigh the hair takes a downward direction, while behind it grows backwards. 

 On the shank it grows downwards in the region of the tibia, and turns back on 

 the inside of the leg. The back of the foot and the roots of the toes are likewise 

 hairy. There is a shorter growth of these hairs on the face, chin, and ears. In 

 other cases the hair of the true chimpanzee is of a black colour. Short whitish 

 hairs may be observed on the lower part of the face and chin, as well as round 

 the posterior ; and sometimes the colour of the hair is shot throughout with reddish- 

 or brownish-black. 



The foregoing description applies to the true chimpanzee, Anthropojnthecus 

 niger. Many varieties of this species seem to exist, some of which have been 

 regarded as distinct species; but with the exception of the bald chimpanzee, to 

 be mentioned immediately, it does not appear that any of these can be satisfactorily 

 distinguished as true species. The natives of Africa have many names for 

 chimpanzees in the various districts. In the Gabun region they are known as 

 N'Schego, in Malimbu as Kulu, in Manyema as Soko, and in the Niam-Niam 

 district as Ranja ; wliile to the Arab traders they are known as the Bam or M'Bam. 



The Bald In his Equatorial Africa Du Chaillu gave a description of a 



Chimpanzee, chimpanzee, which he said was known to the natives as the N'Schego 

 M'Bouve, and which he proposed to call Troglodytes, or as it should properly be, 

 Anihropopithecus calvus. For a long period zoologists were in doubt whether this 

 bald-headed chimpanzee was really a distinct species. In the autumn of 1883 a 

 young chimpanzee was, however, purchased by the Zoological Society of London, 

 which Mr. Bartlett, the superintendent of the Society's Gardens, recognised as being 



