AND AFFINITIES OF THE GORILLA. 245 



spirits ; but as no antiseptic had been applied to the skin when fresh, decomposition 

 had made some advance ; and when the cask was opened on its arrival in London, a 

 great part of the cuticle with the hair had become detached from the specimen. It had, 

 however, come off in large patches ; and, as the texture had acquired a certain hardness 

 through the action of the alcohol, their replacement was practicable, and the charac- 

 teristic shades of colour of the different parts of the body and limbs could be determined. 



Before availing ourselves of this condition of the cuticle for taxidermal purposes, I 

 proceeded to secure the features, proportions, and position of the body and limbs, as 

 presented to view on removing the animal from the preserving liquor, by means of pho- 

 tography, and four of the views so taken are given in Plate XLV. 



As the parts which were stripped of their natural covering were in a condition to 

 afford an instructive comparison with the naked body of Man, I was glad to receive the 

 aid of the graphic skill of Mr. Joseph Wolf in securing the characteristic outline-views 

 given in Plate XLVI. 



The length and strength of the upper limbs, the large proportional size of the head, 

 hands, and feet to the trunk, and the shortness and thickness of the neck first attract 

 attention. Owing to the backward articulation of the skull and the great length of the 

 spines of the neck-vertebrae', the contour from the occiput to the back is in almost 

 a straight line (PI. XLV. fig. 4), and the cervical construction is shown only at the 

 sides and fore part of the neck. Here the prominence of the muzzle is such that, 

 although the chin recedes, it descends, in the ordinary pose of the head, before and 

 below the manubrium sterni ; and owing to the great size of the blade-bones, with the 

 oblique course taken by the clavicles to reach the acromion processes, these, with the 

 shoulder-joints, rise to above the level of the angles of the lower jaw. 



From the strong superorbital ridge the forehead recedes at first with a slight con- 

 cavity, and then passes with a gentle convexity to the vertex. As the sagittal crest 

 rises to give due attachment to the growing crotaphyte muscles in the older male, the 

 contour from the superorbital ridge to the upper part of the occiput becomes almost a 

 straight line. The superorbital prominence is a marked feature in the skeleton, which 

 is exaggerated in the living animal by a thick supercihary roll of integument, which, 

 with the thick epiderm and the hair continued thereon, forms a scowling pent-house 

 over the small, deep-set eyes (PI. XLIIL). 



The nose is indicated by a slight median longitudinal convexity extending from the 

 interorbital space and subsiding to midway towards the mouth, when it is again more 

 prominently marked by broad cartilaginous alse, arching from a sUght median promi- 

 nence, each over its own nostril, and increasing in thickness outward and downward, 

 and then inward to the upper lip (PI. XLV. figs. 2 & 3). There is a slight median furrow 

 on the upper part of the alar or cartilaginous portion of the nose : a deeper indent divides 

 the nasal ala from the cheek, becoming shallower as it bends upward, inward, and 



' Zool. Trans, vol. iv. pi. 33. fig. 1, vol. v. pi. 13. fig. 2. 



2 k2 



