THE LAR GIBBON. 



These children of the eloquent and swift deity, Mercury, and the Naiad offspring 

 of the waters, \\vre supposed to combine the space- traversing attributes of both 

 parents, and so the name of " Lar " is sufficiently appropriate for this most agile of 

 animals. 



The derivation of the name Gibbon is rather doubtful, although it is of great 

 antiquity. The opinion which seems to be most in accordance with probability is, that 

 tin; term is a corruption of Kophin, a Chaldaic word, signifying an ape. Delachamp 

 thinks that it may be derived from Keipos, which in Strabo's version of the well-known 

 word Kcphos signifies an ape or monkey. The difficulty in the latter case appears to 

 be that the Keipon resides in Ethiopia, while the Gibbons are Asiatic animals. 



The present species is sometimes called the " White-handed Gibbon," because the 

 hands and feet are of a much paler tint than the rest of the body and limbs. 



There are slight differences in the color of the fur in different individuals, but the 

 prevailing tint is a darkish brown, changing to a creamy hue about the hands, and the 

 face is quite black. Some specimens have the fur nearly black, while others assume a 

 whitish tint along the throat and abdomen, and several specimens have the fur of the 

 hind quarters rather paler than that of the remainder of the body. 



In all the Gibbons, the hair is thicker and finer than in any of the preceding an- 

 imals. It is short, being only an inch or so in length, and has more of a woolly 

 appearance than is seen in most of the monkey tribe. 



Many animals exhibit great differences of form and color in the various periods of 

 life, and in the two sexes. It has often happened that the greatest confusion has been 

 caused by these changes of form, so that the young, and the two sexes of an animal 

 have been described as several distinct species. We are the more liable to error when 

 we cannot watch the entire development of the creature, and therefore such animals as 

 the monkey tribes are very embarrassing to the systematic naturalist. 



The Lar Gibbon seems to be one of. these animals, and is probably identical with 

 the Little Gibbon ; this latter animal appears to be only a smaller specimen than usual, 

 and its disparity of color to be of little importance. The proportions are precisely 

 the same as those of the Lar Gibbon, and although the general tints are so unlike those 

 of the Gibbons as to earn from Cuvier the name of " Variegated Orang," yet we have 

 already seen that the tint of the fur is extremely capricious, and can form no true 

 criterion, unless accompanied by other distinctions. 



The Lar, or White-handed Gibbon, is an inhabitant of Malacca and Siam. 



On looking at a living specimen of this animal, or indeed at any of the same genus, 

 the hands are seen to differ much from those of the large apes, and especially in the 

 shape and direction of the thumb. As we have already seen, the thumb of the chim- 

 panzee is very large, and is so formed that it can be opposed to the fingers in order to 

 grasp any object between them. But the thumb of these tree-traversing apes is com- 

 paratively small, is hardly opposable to the fingers, and is placed in the same direction 

 as the fingers themselves. Moreover, the bones of the hand are so formed, that the 

 thumb appears to take its origin from the wrist, and not to be set on after the usual 

 manner. Sometimes it is found that the first and second fingers of the hinder paws or 

 hands are fixed together. 



The reason of this arrangement is evident to any one who has practised gymnastic 

 exercises. In order to grasp a pole in the firmest manner, and with the least expend- 

 iture of strength, the fingers must be set close to each other, the thumb placed against 

 the forefinger, and the hand hooked over the pole. In this position the muscles of the 

 fore-arm are not subjected to the exhausting grasp of the thumb, and the power of 

 the limbs is applied in precisely the right direction. 



So it is with these apes, the most accomplished gymnasts in the world. If a monkey 

 be watched while dancing about the bars and poles of his cage (not on hanging ropes, 

 for then the thumb is wanted), it will be seen that the animal seldom or never grasps 

 a horizontal bar, except occasionally with the hinder paws. The hands are always 

 just hooked over the bars, and by their aid the animal flings itself from one place to 

 another, using the grasp of the hinder feet to check itself when it wishes to sit still for 

 a time. 



