246 PROFESSOR OWEN ON THE EXTERNAL CHARACTERS 



downward to the median furrow. The aspect of the nostrils is forward and a little 

 outward. The cartilaginous ' septum narium ' extends to the tip of the interalar pro- 

 minence, its margin being slightly concave : the median point of confluence of the alae 

 projects a little beyond the fore part of the ' septum.' Thus the nose is more prominent 

 than in the Chimpanzee and Orang-utan, and offers a nearer resemblance to that feature 

 in the West-African negro. 



The upper eyelid is largest and most moveable, and its eyelashes are longer than 

 those of the lower lid. The wrinkles exterior to the eyelids were strongly marked in 

 this young animal. The interspace between the inner canthi is longer than the extent 

 of the opening of the eyelids (PI. XLV. fig. 3). 



The mouth is of great width ; the lips large, of uniform thickness, the upper one 

 terminating in a straight, almost as if incised, margin. The upper lip is, however, 

 relatively shorter than in the Chimpanzee, and this is an important comparative 

 character with Man ; it is coincident with the shorter premaxillaries pointed out iu 

 a former memoir". The dark pigment is continued from the base of the lip to this 

 margin, and no part of the thin and smooth inner lining would be visible when the lips 

 were naturally closed : a little of this lining, which forms what is commonly understood 

 by " lip " in Man, might be shown by the under lip of the Gorilla, but it is obscured by 

 added pigment, as in most Negro races. The chin is short and receding ; but the whole 

 face is prominent. The circumference of a front view of the head (PI. XLV. fig. 3) 

 presents an oval, with the great end downward : in the old male the upper end is very 

 narrow, owing to the development of the parietal ridge. The superorbital or cranial 

 part is confined to the upper fifth in this view, and the bestial aspect of the visage is 

 much increased when the huge prominent tusks are exposed in the full-grown male by 

 opening the lips (PI. XLIII.). In a direct front view the ears are rather above the level 

 of the eyes ; they are as much smaller in proportion to the head, as in the Chimpanzee 

 they are larger, in comparison with Man ; but in structure they resemble the human 

 auricle more than does the ear of any other Ape. 



The tragus and anti-tragus, the helix and anti-helix, the concha, the fossa of the 

 anti-helix and the lobulus are distinctly defined : the chief difference is the large size 

 of the concha compared with the fossa of the anti-helix and the lobulus ; but though 

 the lobulus is small, it is distinctly marked and pendulous, while it is sessile in the 

 Chimpanzee and Orang. Both tragus and anti-tragus are nearly as prominent as in 

 Man. The helix is reflected or folded centrally from its origin to opposite the anti- 

 tragus, as in Man, whereas in the Chimpanzee the fold subsides opposite the fossa of 

 the anti-helix, and the rest of the margin of the auricle is simple, not folded. The 

 upper part of the helix is more produced in the Gorilla than in Man, and the greatest 



' Zool. Trans, vol. iii. p. 392: — "The extent of the premaxillary bones below the nostril is not only relatively 

 bnt absolutely less in T. Gorilla; and the profile of the skull is less concave at this part, or less 'prognathic,' 

 than in T. niyer." 



