176 LORD ROTHSCHILD ON A MOUNTAIN GORILLA. 



Lord Rothschild, F.R.S., F.Z.S., exhibited a fine adult male 

 Mountain Gorilla {Gorilla gorilla herimjeri Matschie), on behalf 

 of Messrs. Rowland Ward, Ltd. He said : — 



"Since my notes on Anthropoid Apes in the P. Z. S. 1904, 

 p. 413, our knowledge of Gorillas has increased consider- 

 ably. At that time the only material of the Mountain Gorilla 

 was the type-skull, and of the remaining i-aces much more 

 material has come to hand, and it is therefore possible definitely 

 to acknowledge three distinct subspecies, or local races, showing 

 decided structural — especially cranial— difi;erences. Three other 

 so-called species have been separated, but insuflicient material 

 prevents any final decision on at least two of these. 



" The specimen exhibited, together with a much older solitary 

 male now in the Tring Museum and an adult female, were 

 obtained by Mr. T. A. Barnes at between 6000 and 10,000 feet 

 on the volcanoes near Lake Kivu while collecting butterflies for 

 Mr. J. J. Joicey. In addition to these, there are in England at 

 this moment an adult male obtained by a Belgian ofiicer and an 

 adult male, female, and a baby obtained by the brothers Foster. 



" The three following subspecies, or local races, are well defined 

 and distinct : — Gaboon Goi'illa (Gorilla gorilla gorilla Savage & 

 Wyman) ; Cameroon Gorilla {Gorilla gorilla diehli Matschie); 

 Mountain Gorilla {Gorilla gorilla heringeri Matschie). The 

 Gaboon and Cameroon Gorillas, as distinguished from the 

 Mountain Gorilla, are dimorphic, i. e. they have a black and a red 

 phase; in the Gaboon race the red phase does not diff'er in colour 

 on the body, but has the whole crown chestnut rufous, whereas 

 the Cameroon race has a rufous phase in which the red crown is 

 less sharply defined, and the body-colour brown or more mixed 

 with rufous hairs. These rufous phases have been described 

 respectively as distinct species or races as follows: Gaboon race. 

 Gorilla castaneiceps Hack., and the Cameroon race Goi'illa gorilla 

 majtschiei Rothsch. ; they must, however, stand as Gorilla gorilla 

 gorilla form, dimorph. castaneiceps, and Gorilla gorilla diehli 

 form, dimorph. matschiei. 



" The Mountain Gorilla is at once distinguishable externally 

 from the two other i-aces by the much stouter and more stocky 

 build, by the much thicker pelage, by the intense shining black 

 of the hair, and by the large fleshy callosity on crest on the top 

 of the head. This crest was fii-st noticed by Mr. Barnes, and his 

 photographs of the animal in the flesh were the first intimation 

 to systematists of this peculiarity. This callosity is similar in 

 its nature to the cheek callosities of the Orang Outan, but unlike 

 these, appears to be common to all adult males, and not a sign of 

 senile impotence as in the Orang. 



"The most essential differences of the three races are, however, 

 in the skulls. G. g. gorilla has the occipital region narrow aUid 

 appearing almost triangular, owing to the lambdoidal crest 

 running up to a sharp point in the centre. G. g. diehli has the 

 occipital region very broad, and the lambdoidal crest in the 



