FACTS ABOUT THE ORANG-UTAN. 401 



and shortest on the breast, abdomen, and back. The face and 

 throat are quite bare except for a scanty chin-beard of uncertain 

 length in adult specimens, the longest hairs never exceeding four 

 inches. On the flat cheek callosities of Simia Wurmbii there is a 

 curious growth of very short and uniformly dispersed hairs not 

 more than one-eighth of an inch in length, which he so closely 

 upon the skin as to escape notice except upon very close inspection. 



On the back of the arms and thighs, and on the sides and 

 shoulder-blades of old male orangs, the hair is long, coarse, straight 

 and thick, sometimes reaching a length of from twelve to fifteen 

 inches. 



On most individuals of this class, the entire back will be found 

 almost bare fi-om the neck down, having been worn oflf in the nest. 

 On younger specimens, the hair on the back is thick, and longer 

 than on the abdomen. The back of the hand and the fingers are 

 thinly covered with short stiff hairs. On the forearm the hair 

 grows upward fi'om the wrist to the elbow, where it meets the 

 downward growth on the arm, and the two come together in a 

 point. 



The eyes of adults are always very small, with iris of a dark 

 chestnut-brown, and no white visible. The teeth are invariably 

 very much discolored by vegetable acids and juices, and the base 

 of each tooth is always black. 



On most of the Wurmbii there seems to be a superabundance of 

 skin on the throat and breast, for it is often found to hang in a 

 great baggy fold. Externally, the orang seems to have no neck 

 at all, the head being set squarely down upon the shoulders. The 

 chest is massive to correspond with the arms and head, but the 

 pelvis is small, and the lower hmbs are small, short, and compara- 

 tively weak. The orang never sits down as do the gibbons, and 

 therefore has no ischial callosities like the Hylobates. 



There is no ligamentum teres in the orang, and the absence of 

 this permits great freedom of movement in the lower limbs. In- 

 deed, the legs seem to possess almost as much freedom of move- 

 ment as do the arms. I have often seen my little pet orang hang 

 to a rope, with one arm at an angle of fully seventy degrees and, 

 with the greatest comfort imaginable, reach up with his leg at the 

 same angle and grasp the rope with his foot. 



Some naturahsts attach importance to the facial resemblances 

 of different orangs. I have never seen lining specimens of the Su- 

 matran orang, but so far as Bomean species are concerned, I am 

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