CLASS M A M M A L I A. 



ORDER QUADRUMANA. 



rump bare, furnished with callosities, but no tail ; feet and hands five- 

 fingered, the latter touching the ground when the animal is erect. 



9. NYCTIPITHECUS (Gr. vv, night, ir<0jroc, an Ape). Incisive teeth four 

 in each jaw, the middle upper flattish and little prominent, the outer 

 smaller, triangular, and rather set back; lower incisive rather wide on 

 their edge, and close set in a semicircular form ; cuspid moderate sized, and 

 equal in both jaws : molar six on a side in each jaw, with slightly-pointed 

 crowns ; nose flat ; cheeks prominent, but face very small ; orbits very 

 large ; top of the head flattened ; ears distinct, flat, and hairy ; body slender 

 and covered with woolly hair ; tail longer than the body, and not prehen- 

 sile ; hind legs longer than fore legs ; claws short, compressed, slightly 

 pointed, that of the great toe slightly flattened. 



SIMIAIDA. DESCRIPTION OF THE SPECIES. 



SIMIA Monkey-like animals. The genus, as first formed by Linnaeus, 

 included the whole of the Monkeys, commonly so called, thereby bringing 

 together numerous animals, which though sufficiently allied to admit their 

 collection as members of a family, differed so materially in many points, as 

 to lead to a better arrangement Illiger converted the Linnsean genus into 

 a family consisting of no less than thirteen genera, which number has been 

 increased by later zoologists ; Temminck, for instance, to fifteen, and by 

 other writers still more numerously. Long indeed before the time of 

 Linnaeus, writers on Natural History had in a cursory manner observed, 

 that among the Monkeys there were several groups. Aristotle speaks of 

 three kinds, iri'dijcot, KJjfiot, and KvvoKityaXoi, of which he says tliat the 

 iri'Oijroc has no tail, being a biped, (on which point, however, he is incor- 

 rect,) that the irij/8oc is a ir/fli/icoc with a tail, and that the Kwok-^aXoe, 

 with the form of the iri'flijicof , is of more bulky and stronger proportions, 

 but that its face rather resembles that of a Dog. The counterpart of these 

 terms exists in the Latin words Simia,Cercopithecus, and Cynocephalus ; and 

 in our own language we find very loosely used the several terms Ape, 

 Ape without a tail, or Monkey, and Baboon, 



The animals forming this genus are now generally known by the name 

 of Orang-Outang or Orang-Utan, the Malay phrase, signifying " a wild 

 man;" and of all the Monkey family most nearly resemble the human 

 form. Hence have arisen the fabulous accounts of Pigmies ; and even 

 Linnaeus has propped up this error by placing in his genus Homo, under 

 the name of Homo Troglodytes, one of the species called by Bontius Homo 

 Sylvestris Orang-Outang, which is the S. Satyrus of Linnaeus himself. 



Till within a few years it was supposed that there existed but two 

 species of Orangs, the Black or Chimpanzee, and the Red or Orang- 

 Outang commonly so called. From the observations of Fischer and Owen 

 it however appears, that there are really three species, of which the Red 

 Orang may be regarded as the type ; and the latter zoologist has also proved 

 that another animal commonly called the Pongo, and generally considered 

 by zoologists as a distinct genus in the Monkey family, is in reality only 

 the adult of the Red species. He lias given a very minute account of the 

 difference, so far at least as their bony structure is concerned, in a paper in 

 the first volume of the " Zoological Transactions," On the Osteology of the 

 Chimpanzee and Orang-Utan ; and the result of his comparison of the two 

 animals leads him to agree with Geoffrey in the formation of the two sub- 

 genera, Troglodytes and Pithecus. 



It would seem that these animals only in their childhood, as it may be 

 called, exhibit that mildness of disposition and docility which have been 

 considered as separating them widely from others of the Monkey family, 

 and approximating them to man, whilst in their adult state they become 

 morose and vicious, characteristic changes corresponding with the change 

 in their organic structure, and common to the whole family of Monkeys. 

 As regards their station and motion in the erect position, it has been 

 shown by Camper, Owen, and others who have minutely examined them 

 with reference to this point, that they are not more truly biped than others 

 of the same family ; and that the form of their hind limbs entirely precludes 

 the erect posture, though, in connection with other points of their anatomical 

 structure, it admirably suits them for the kind of life to which they are 



destined, viz., that of living among and climbing on trees, upon the fruits 

 of which they live. 



In their wild state they consort together in the woods, far away from 

 the dwellings of men, and though stated to be well known to the inhabit- 

 ants of the districts near which they live, it would seem that this know- 

 ledge arises from the accidental appearance of individuals who have 

 wandered from their usual haunts, and, losing themselves, have been 

 caught sight of and captured by the natives, rather than from being con- 

 tinually about them, as is the case with very many of this family. Hence 

 lias arisen the difficulty of procuring them, their consequent rarity in 

 collections of animals, and the great interest excited by them when ob- 

 tained ; added to which, that all the specimens of either species brought 

 either to Europe or America have been young, and with whatever care thev 

 have been tended have speedily fallen victims to the change of climate, and 

 probably to the change of food. 



The characteristics of the Chimpanzee (Simia troglodytes), or Black 

 Ourang, are : Muzzle long, truncated anteri- 

 orly ; strong, supraciliary ridges, behind which 

 the forehead recedes directly backwards ; no 

 cranial ridges ; facial angle 35\ excluding the 

 supraciliary ridges ; auricles large ; thirteen 

 pairs of ribs ; sternal bones in a single row ; 

 arms reaching below the knee-joint ; feet wide ; 

 hallux (great toe or thumb of the foot) ex- 

 tending to the second joint of the adjoining 

 toe ; canine teeth large, overpassing each other, 

 the apices lodging in intervals of the opposite 

 teeth ; intermaxillary bones anchylosed to the 

 maxillaries during the first or deciduous denti- 

 tion. 



The first authentic account of the Chim- 

 panzee is that given by Dr. Tyson, in 1751, 

 under the name Pygmy: his animal was a 

 male from Angola, which measured twenty-six 

 inches from the top of the head to the heel in a straight lino. The hair 

 was of a coal-black colour, " straight, and much more resembling the hair 

 of men than the furr of brutes;" it was thicker and longer on the hind than 

 on the fore parts of the body ; the sides of the face were well covered with 

 hair about an inch long ; upon the upper lip and chin were a few " greyish 

 hairs like a beard." Tyson considered his animal to be biped, and says, 

 " 'tis sufficiently provided to walk erect." Ho had, however, previously 

 noticed, " that it would make use of its hands to supply the place of feet. 

 But when it went as a quadruped on all four, 'twas awkwardly ; not 

 placing the palm of the hand flat to the ground, but it walk'd upon its 

 knuckles, as I observed it to do when weak, and had not strength enough 

 to support its body." This, however, has been proved, by more frequent 

 observation than Tyson had opportunity for, to be the animal's natural 

 mode of walking when upon the ground. Of his manners it is said that he 

 was " the most gentle and loving creature that could be. Those that In 

 knew a-shipboard he would come and embrace with the greatest tender- 

 ness, opening their bosoms, and clasping his hands about them ; and, as I 

 was informed, tho' there were Monkeys aboard, yet 'twas observed he 

 would never associate with them, and, as if nothing akin to them, would 

 always avoid their company." When " a little used to wear cloaths, it 

 was fond enough of them, and what it could not put on himself it would 

 bring in its hands to some of the company to help him to put on. It 

 would lie in a bed, place his head on the pillow, and pull the clothes over 

 him as a man would do," but its habits were not cleanly. 



In 1835, the Zoological Society had in their gardens a young male in- 

 dividual of this species, which measured two feet from the IK rl to the top 

 of the head. An account of its manners whilst in confinement is given l.v 

 Mr. Broderip in the Proceedings of the Committee of Science and Corre- 

 spondence of that Society for the same year. It was bought, off the Gambia 

 coast, and in the preceding autumn had been brought about a hundred and 



