CLASS I. MAMMALIA: ORDER 2. QUADRUMANA. 



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FEMALE ORANGOUTANG. 



lip hangs upon the chin. The skin is wrinkled and contracted over the eyes, which gives them 

 an aspect of inconceivable ferocity. The killing of one of these formidable creatures, is esteemed 

 a great achievement among the negroes. 



After his return to America, Dr. Savage placed several skulls and parts of skeletons which he 

 had collected, belonging to the gorilla, in the hands of the celebrated anatomist, Dr. Wyman, of 

 Boston, who published an interesting paper on the subject, assigning to it a place as a species 

 distinct from the common chimpanzee, under the name we have adopted. To this distinction it 

 is manifestly entitled by its greater size and the peculiarities in its anatomical structure, 



The gorilla is known often to reach the height of six or even seven feet, and being of a fierce 

 and ferocious disposition, is altogether the most formidable of the ape kind. We may doubt 

 the stories of the inhabitants of the country occupied by the chimpanzee and the gorilla, as to the 

 carrying off the negresses and holding them in bondage ; but if such deeds are perpetrated, it is 

 probably rather by the latter, the larger and more powerful species, than the former. It is highly 

 probable that in former ages these animals were far more numerous than at present, and one ma\ 

 readily believe that in the age of Hanno they actually held possession of particular portions of 

 the African coast, and exercised dominion over the elephant, the hippopotamus, and other animals. 

 We may even suppose that they sometimes made war on the timid and feeble human inhabitants, 

 and impressed their imaginations with such vivid terrors as to give rise to the tales alluded to. 



Genus ORANG-OUTANG : Simla satyrus—O? this there is but one species, which has a 

 general resemblance to the chimpanzee, and until recently the two were confounded, one with the 

 other. Several young specimens were carried to Europe, and upon these its character was drawn. 

 Subsequently, much larger apes being discovered in the islands of the Indian Archipelago, in- 



» habited by the orang, these were supposed to be a distinct species, and received the name ofpongo. 

 The first accurate description of the latter was furnished by the Baron de'Wurmb, in a disserta- 

 tion presented to the Batavian Society of Holland. Other and still more detailed accounts have 

 since been furnished, by which it is satisfactorily proved that these are in fact true orangs, arrived 



• at maturity. 



We are in possession of full descriptions of the orang-outang. It is a native of Borneo and 



