ANATOMICAL STEUCTUEE OF ANTHROPOID APES. 149 



femurs of gorillas, this naturalist observed only 

 doubtful traces of the depression in question. Duver- 

 noy found the round ligament fully developed in 

 the gorilla and chimpanzee. Vrolik failed to find 

 it in the orang-utan, but ascertained its presence in 

 the chimpanzee, Gratiolet and Alix saw that it was 

 fully developed in Troglodytes Auhryi. 



In addition to these somewhat conflicting asser- 

 tions, I have myself observed, in the gorilla innomi- 

 nate and femur bones examined by me, more or less 

 distinct indications of the depression which receives 

 the round ligament. The ligament itself has been 

 preserved with the body of a gorilla. The same 

 remark applies to the skeletons and bodies of chim- 

 panzees. In the case of the skeleton of an orang, 

 slight indications of a depression were observed on 

 the bead of the left femur, and these indications 

 were absent in the femurs of other specimens. In a 

 large orang-utan which died in the Berlin Aquarium, 

 only short, filamentous tufts of streaky fibres were 

 apparent in the right acetabulum, and these were 

 intermingled singly or in groups with the cartila- 

 ginous cells, somewhat resembling the cartilaginous 

 corpuscles of the synovial membrane. From these 

 facts we may conclude that the round ligament is 

 generally but not invariably present in the gorilla 

 and chimpanzee, and that it is altogether absent in 

 the orang-utan. In the gibbon it is present in the 

 majority of cases. I have myself observed it in 

 Hylobates agilis, leuciscus, and syndactylus. Owen 

 asserts that the unsteady gait of the orang is partly 

 due to the absence of this ligament, but the truth 



