ORANG-OUTANG — GENUS TROGLODYTES— CHIMPANSEE. 



149 



scarcely help believing it to be theadult, either of the Orang-Oiitang, 

 or at least of some species nearly allied to it ; althouj;h the great 

 projection of its muzzle, the smallness of its cranium, and the height 

 of the branches of its lower jaw, might perhaps lead to a different 

 conclusion. The length of its arms, and of the apophyses of its 

 cervical vertebrae, with the swelling of the bone of its heel, are 

 favourable to the upright position and the facility of walking on 

 two feet. This is the largest of all the Apes, and a most formid- 

 able animal, approaching to Man in height. 



Mr J. Harwood (Trans. Linn.xv. p. 471) describes the feet of an 

 Orang-Outang, fifteen inches in length, which dimensions appear 

 to announce a very considerable height. He would have inferred 

 that the Pongo was the adult Orang-Outang, had not the skeleton 

 of the Pongo in the Royal College of Surgeons, London, exhibited 

 one lumbar vertebra more than the skeletons of the Orang-Outang. 

 This objection appears, however, to have no real weight, as the 

 same variation has been observed more than once in the human 

 species. 



The Pongo, or adult Orang-Outang, is very rare in Borneo, where it 

 bears the character of having great strength and ferocity. The only spe- 

 cimen hitherto obtained defended itself, vigorously with large brandies of 

 trees ; so that it became impossible to take it alive. 



On the skull of the Pongo there is a singular ridge of bone, passing 

 from the occiput to the vertex, and there dividing into two branches, ex- 

 tending towards the external sides of the orbits. Two otlier lateral crests 

 divide the occiput into equal portions, and reacli as far as the auricular 

 fossae. 



The excessive length of its arms show, that when the adult stands on 

 all the four hands, its body must assume a diagonal position, nearly ap- 

 proaching to the perpendicular. In this attitude, the enormous projection 

 of its muzzle requires a considerable muscular power to sustain its weight, 

 and it is doubtless for this purpose that the skeleton possesses those 

 enormous cervical apophyses, whose 'length is not equalled in any known 

 Mammiferous animal. The height of the skeleton in the Paris IMuseum 

 is 4 French feet, or about 4 ft. 3 in. Enghsh, from the top of the head 

 to the palms of the liinder-hands. Many scattered notices of this ani- 

 mal, in its young state, are interspersed among the British and Foreign 

 Journals.' 



GENUS IL TROGLODYTES— PYGMIES. 



Sijn. Chimpanses. — Cuv. Reg. Anim. I. 89. 



Troglodytes. — Geofi'. Ann. Mus. — Desm. Mara. 



SliMIA (in part) Linn. Gmel — Illig. Prodr. — Fisch. Syn. Mam. — 



Temm. Mon. Mam. 



The arms of the other Orangs [the Chimpanses of the Baron 

 Cuvier] reach only as tow as tlie knees. These animals have no 

 forehead, and their cranium curves backwards immediately from the 

 ridge of the eye-brows. 



Like the preceding, this genus comprises only a single species. 



L TROGLODYTES NIGER.— CHIMPANSEE.^ 



Syn. Le Chimpanse. — Cuv. Reg. Anim. I. 89. 



Okang-Octang, Homo Sklvestkis, or Pygmy. — Tyson,3 Anat. Pyg. 



Pongo BufF. Hist. Nat. Suppl. VIL 



Der. Schimpansee Voigt, ThieiT. I. 76 Schinz, Thierr. I. 99. 



SiMiA Troglodytes — Linn. Gmel. I. 26. — Blumenb. Handb. et Ab- 



bild F. Cuv. in Diet, des Sc. Nat. XXXVI. p. 283— Kuhl, Beitr. 



— Fisch. Syn. Mam. 

 Troglodytes Niger (Troglodyte Chimpanze).— Geoff. Ann. Mus. XIX. 



87 Desm. Mam. 4-9. — Less. Mam. 29 Isid. Geoff, in Belang. 



Voy. 21. 

 SimA Pygm^us and S. Satyrus.— Schreb. Saiigth. 



Troglodytes Leccoprymnus. — Less.* lUuslr. Zool. 

 Icon. Le Pongo. — Audeb. Sing. 

 Tyson, Anat. Pyg. pi. 1. 



Less. Ilhistr. Zool. pi. 32 (var, a Coccix blanc). 

 Black Orang of Africa. — Wils. Illustr. Zool. pi. 5, fig. 2. 



SPECIFIC characters. 



The Muzzle short. The Forehead very low. The Superciliary 

 Ridges prominent. 



The External Ears very large, but of human form. The Nose 

 flat. 



The Pectoral Limbs reaching down to the knees. 



The Hands broad, pentadactylous. The Fingers of medium length. 



The Nails very flat, as in Man. 



The Tail and Cheek-pouches wanting. 



The Callosities slightly developed. 



The Hair black, long on the back, and scanty elsewhere. 



Inhabits the coasts of Angola and some other parts of Africa. 



The Chimpansee is covered with black or brown hair, scanty in 

 front. If we may credit the reports of travellers, it approaches or 

 surpasses the stature of Man ; but we have as yet seen no specimen 

 in Europe which would indicate so great a size. 



It inhabits Guinea and Congo, lives in troops, constructs huts of 

 boughs, arms itself with stones and clubs, using them in repelling 

 Men and Elephants from their dwellings ; pursues the Negresses 

 [most probably a fable], and sometimes carries them off to the 

 woods, &c. 



Naturalists have long been in the habit of confounding this 

 species with the Orang-Outang. When domesticated, it is suffi- 

 ciently docile to be dressed, to walk, to sit, and to eat according to 

 our manner. 



This animal, like the preceding, is chiefly organized for climbing trees. 

 Owing to the great strength of the four fingers of its pectoral limbs, it can 

 swing upon them for hours without inconvenience. It walks with diffi- 

 culty on all-fours, clenching the fingers, and resting upon the knuckles, 

 so as to avoid placing the palms upon the ground. It very rarely assumes 

 the erect attitude, though it can run nimbly on the hinder-limbs for a short 

 distance. During this movement, it assists the equilibrium of the body 

 by placing the fore-hands upon the thighs. 



The hair is usually black, upon a skin of a light yellow. Occasionally, 

 a few scattered white hairs appear in various parts of the body, especially 

 near the uropygium, sometimes forming a patch upon the buttocks.' 

 On the back of the thighs and on the fore-arms, the points of the hair 

 are directed upwards, while they point downwards in every other part of 

 the body where they happen to be present. There is no hair on the palms 

 of all the hands, and the abdomen is almost naked. 



The canines in all the young specimens hitherto examined scarcely 

 project beyond the line of the other teeth, to which they are continuous 

 and approximated, as in Man. The dentition of the adult is unknown. 



For a long time it has been supposed, that callosities did not exist in 

 the Chimpansee, yet they have lately been detected in a rudimentary state 

 by M. Isidore Geoffroy-St-Hilaire, and thus it may be remarked with 

 truth, that no Ape of the Old Continent, excepting the Orang-Outang, is 

 wholly destitute of callosities." 



The Chimpansee, when young, and residing in its native regions, is 

 active and cheerful, but soon grows languid and dull, on being transported 

 to our ungenial climate. Here it delights in warm clotliing, rolling itself 

 carefully in a blanket on retiring to rest. Its cry presents little variation ; 

 sometimes it emits a kind of howl or loud barking noise, when irritated ; 

 at other times, it cries like a petted child ; or utters a sound like /leni, pro- 

 nounced in a grave tone, especially on being presented with sweetmeats. 

 The habits of a female specimen, bought, by Captain Payne, from a native 

 trader from the banks of the Gaboon, are thus described by Dr Traill. 



' See, in particular, Eichakd Owen, On the Osteology of the Chimpanzee and Oranj;- Utan, in the Tr.msactions of the Zoolopcal Society of London, vol. I. ;—J. 

 Harwood, An Account of a Pair of Hinder-Hands of an Orang-Otang, in the Transactions of the Linna;an Society. XV. ;_JnFFRlEs' Account of the Dissection of a Simia 

 Satyrus, in the Philosophical Magazine, LVII. ; — Fred. Cuvier, Description d'an Orang-Outang, in the Annales du Museum, XVI. ;— Tiedemann, Das Gehirn des Ourang- 

 Outangs, in the Zeitschrift fur Physiologic, II. ; — and Rudolfhi, Peber den Orang-Utang und Beweis dass derselbe ein junger Pongo sey, in the Abhandlungen der Kon. 

 Preussischen Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Berlin, for 1824. Also, the Memoire sur les Orangs -Outaugs, by M.M. Cuvier and Geoffroy-St-Hilaire, published in the Ma- 

 gasin Encyclopedique, III., wherein the genus Orang was first proposed. 



* This is the Quojas Morou or Anc/ola Satyr of Tulpius, who gives a bad figure of it (Obs. Med. p. 27 1 ), which is represented much better by Tyson (Anat. of a Pygmy, 

 Pl- 1), copied by Schreber, pi. 1, B. Scotin has given a tolerable figure, copied in Amoen. Acad. VI. pi. 1, fig. 3, and in Schri-b. I. C. A specimen kept by Buffon, pre- 

 served in the Museum, is represented rather indifferently in the Hist. Nat. XIV. 1, under the name of Jocko. The same specimen is figured much better in Lecat (Traite 



du Mouvement Muse. pl. I. fig. 1) under the name of Quimpese. It is the same given by Audebert, under the name of Pongo, but after the stuffed specimen merely 



Note of the Baron Cuvier. 



= Ttson, Anat. Pyc—The Anatomy of a Pygmy, by Dr Edward Tyson, London, 1699. 



' Less. Illusir. Zool Illustrations de Zoologie, ou Recueil de Figures d'Animaux, par R. P. Lesson, Paris, 1831. 



* One of these traits of albinism, more than usually developed, led M. Lesson to raise his Troglodytes leucoprymnus to the rank of a distinct species. 



^ The Baron Cuvier places the Orang-Outang and the Chimpansee together in the genus Orang, characterised chiefly by the absence of callosities. This genus mu;t 



now be suppressed. See the Diet. Class. d'Hist. Nat. XV. 447 M. J. B. Fischer confirms the preceding observation, by remarking, " Nates etiam in hac specie esse cal- 



losas, nuperrime innotuit." 

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