AND AFFINITIES OF THE GORILLA. 251 



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 (PI. XLIIL), and those of the female and of the young 

 (PI. XLIV. fig. 2) of the Troglodytes Gorilla, also brought by Mr. du Chaillu 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 (PI. 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 (PI. 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. 2 h 



