148 ANTHROPOID APES. 



and displayed a small, but well-defined depression, 

 as if destined for a receptacle for this ligament,* 

 running from the cotyloid notch down to the bottom 

 of the acetabulum, between the two horns of the 

 semilunar-shaped articular cartilage. 



In a subsequent paper, Welcker states that the 

 absence of the round ligament in the orang-utan, 

 and its presence in the chimpanzee, had been pre- 

 viously established by Camper and Owen.f In 

 three specimens of orangs which he had obtained 

 immediately after death, Owen found that the 

 round ligament was imperfectly developed on both 

 sides. The chimpanzee differs from the orang in 

 possessing a depression on the head of the femur. 

 In the gorilla, as Owen observes, this depression 

 has almost the same depth and relative position as 

 in man. At Welcker's request. Professor Dippel 

 ascertained the presence of the depression in the 

 femur of a gorilla skeleton which is preserved 

 in the natural history collection at Darmstadt. 

 St. George Mivart saw the skeleton of an orang in 

 which the femur was marked with a slight but 

 plainly indicated depiession, just where the round 

 ligament is usually attached. Welcker thinks it pro- 

 bable that in some specimens of the gorilla the 

 round ligament is only slightly developed, and that 

 in others it is altogether wanting. On several 



* Welcker in His and Branne's Archiv. Jahrg., i. p. 71. 



t Camper, CEuvres, i. 152; Naturgeschichte des Orang-utan, 

 etc.; Owen, Transactions of the Zoological Society of London, 

 i. 365-368 ; Ibid., v. 15 ; Welcker in His and Braune's Archiv. 

 Jahrg., ii. p. 106. 



