AND AFFINITIES OF THE GORILLA. 25) 
ing to a woolly character. Near the margin of the vent are a few short whitish hairs, 
as in the Chimpanzee. The epiderm of the back showed the effects of habitual resting 
with that part against the trunk or branch of a tree, occasioning the hair to be more or 
less rubbed off: the epiderm was here very thick and tough’. 
It is most probable, from the degree of admixture of different-coloured hairs above 
described, that a living Gorilla, seen in bright sunlight, would in some positions reflect 
from its surface a colour much more different from that of the Chimpanzee than 
appears by a comparison of the skin of a dead specimen sent home in spirits. It can 
hardly be doubted, also, that age will make an appreciable difference in the general 
coloration of the Troglodytes Gorilla. 
[The adult male Gorilla brought to London by Mr. du Chaillu, and purchased for the 
British Museum, measures 5 feet 6 inches from the sole to the top of the head: the 
breadth across the shoulders is nearly 3 feet: the length of the upper limb is 3 feet 6 
inches ; that of the lower limb, from trochanter to sole, is 2 feet 7 inches, but, carried 
out to the end of the mid-toe, it is 3 feet 5 inches: the length of the head and trunk 
is 3 feet 6 inches, whilst the same dimension in Man does not average, indeed seldom 
reaches, 3 feet. 
The skin of this adult male (Pl. XLIII.), and those of the female and of the young 
(Pl. XLIV. fig. 2) of the Troglodytes Gorilla, also brought by Mr. du Chailiu from the 
Gaboon, afford ample evidence of the true coloration of the species. In the male, the 
rufo-griseous hair extends over the scalp and nape, terminating in a point upon the 
back (Pl. XLIV. fig. 1). The prevalent grey colour, produced by alternate fuscous and 
light-grey tracts of each hair, extends over the back, the hair becoming longer upon 
the nates and upon the thighs. The dark-fuscous colour gradually prevails as the hair 
extends down the leg to the ankle. The long hair of the arm and fore-arm presents the 
dark-fuscous colour; the same tint extends from below the axilla downwards and 
forwards upon the abdomen, where the darker tint contrasts with the lighter grey upon 
the back. The scanty hair of the cheeks and chin is dark. The breast is almost 
naked, and the hair is worn short or partially rubbed off across the back, over the 
upper border of the iliac bones, in consequence of the habit ascribed by Mr. du Chaillu 
to the great male Gorilla of keeping at the foot of a tree, resting its back against the 
trunk. The female Gorilla presents a darker and more rufous tint than the male ; but 
this may be due to difference of age. In one female the rufous colour so prevailed as 
to induce Mr. du Chaillu to note it as a ‘‘ red-rumped variety.” 
In the young male Gorilla, 2 feet 6 inches in height, 1 foot 7 inches in the length of 
the head and trunk, and 11 inches across the shoulder, the calvarium is covered with 
a well-defined ‘‘skull-cap” of reddish-coloured hair (Pl. XLIV. fig.3). The back 
part of the head behind the ears, the temples, and chin are clothed with that mixture 
* [I have come upon fresh traces of a Gorilla’s bed on several occasions, and could see that the male had 
seated himself with his back against a tree-trunk.” (Du Chaillu, op. cit.)] 
VOL. V.—PART IV. 21 
