73 



ments of the two joints of the hallux; the nail is small, flat and 

 short. The sole of the foot gradually expands from the heel 

 forward to the divergence of the hallux, and seems to be here cleft, 

 and almost equally, between the base of the hallux and the common 

 base of the other four digits. These are small and slender in pro- 

 portion, and their beginnings are enveloped in a common tegumen- 

 tary sheath as far as the base of the second phalanx. A longitudinal 

 indent at the middle of the sole, bifurcating one channel defining 

 the ball of the hallux, the other running towards the interspace 

 between the second and third digit, indicates the action of op- 

 posing the whole thumb (which seems rather like an inner lobe 

 or division of the sole), to the outer division terminated by the four 

 short toes. What is termed the 'instep' in man is very high in 

 the gorilla, owing to the thickness of the carneo-tendinous parts of 

 the muscles as they pass from the leg to the foot over this region. 

 The mid-toe (third) is a little longer than the second and fourth; 

 the fifth, as in man, is proportionally shorter than the fourth, and 

 is divided from it by a somewhat deeper cleft. The whole sole is 

 wider than in man relatively to its length much wider and in 

 that respect, as well as by the off-set of the hallux, and the defini- 

 tion of its basal ball, more like a hand, but a hand of huge dimen- 

 sions and of portentous power of grasp. 



The hairy integument is continued along the dorsum of the 

 foot to the clefts of the toes, and upon the first phalanx of the 

 hallux : the whole sole is bare. 



In regard to the outward coloration of the gorilla, only from 

 the examination of the living animal could the precise shades of 

 colour of the naked parts of the skin be truly described. Much 

 of the epiderm had peeled off the subject of the present descrip- 

 tion; but fortunately in large patches, and the texture of these 

 had acquired a certain firmness, apparently by the action of the 

 alcohol upon the albuminous basis. The parts of the epiderm 

 remaining upon the face indicated the skin there to be chiefly of a 

 deep leaden hue; it is everywhere finely wrinkled, and was some- 

 what less dark at the prominent parts of the supraciliary roll and 

 the prominent margins of the nasal 'alse:' the soles and palms 

 were also of a lighter colour. 



Although the general colour of the hair appears, at first sight, 

 and when moist, to be almost black, it is not so, but is rather of 

 a dusky grey : it is decidedly of a less deep tint than in the 

 chimpanzee (Trogl. niger): this is due to an admixture of a few' 



