36 Description of a Gibbon. 



•arm 



Ihe clavicle is very long; four inches: humerus, eight 

 and a quarter. RacliuSj ten, and, commencing at its 

 tubercle, is flexed outward like the bow of a violin* 

 Ulna same length, but straight and triangular. Carpus 

 narrow, the pisiform and unciform bones large and pro- 

 jecting, and, by affording a point of attachment to the 

 flexors of the hand, perform the same office, as the os 

 calcls. From the fore 

 six inches. Metacarpus very narrow at the carpal ex- 

 tremity. Thumbs extend to a very little beyond the 

 articulation of the first phalanx of the indicator with the 

 metacarpus. Both the tliumbs have very minute sesamoid 

 bones between the first and second bones. The nails on 

 the thumbs are short and flat, while the others are rounded^ 

 narrow, and like claws. 



The ilia are flat, and nearly on the same plane with the 

 vertebrae. The superior opening of the basin of the pelvis 

 is of an oval shape from sacrum to pubis, and very large, 

 being three inches in that dii-ection, and two and a quarter 

 inches across. The pubis sharp, its symphysis one and a 

 half inches deep. Thyroid foramen large and round. Tu- 

 berosity of the ischium one and a half inches wide. Femur 

 seven and a half inches Ion";, having; a lijj^amentum teres. 

 Tibia six and a half inches in length, and a little curved for- 

 wards. Fibula straight. Os calcis projecting but very little 

 backwards. AVhole length of the foot five and three quarter 

 inches. Thumb of the foot extends to the union of the first 

 and second phalanges. There are many sesamoid bones. 

 Nails same as in the hand. The whole skeleton has a 

 very delicate appearance, the bones being smooth, with- 

 out any line^ asperse. Height of the skeleton thirty-one 

 inches. 



As my object in these minute details is, to establish 

 a sufficient number of specific distinctions observ^able 

 in this animal, and to endeavor to indicate differences 



