224 APES AND MONKEYS 



One fact peculiar to this ape is that the palms of both 

 the hands and the feet are perfectly black. In other 

 animals these are usually lighter in color than the exposed 

 parts. In most other apes, monkeys, baboons, and lemurs, 

 as in all races of men, the palms are lighter than the backs 

 of the hands and feet. The thumb of the gorilla is more 

 perfect than that of the chimpanzee, yet it is smaller in 

 proportion to the hand than in man. The hand is very 

 large, but has more the shape of the hand of a woman than 

 that of a man. The fingers taper in a graceful manner, but 

 by reason of the web alluded to they appear much shorter 

 than they really are. It is not really a web in the true 

 sense, but the integument between the fingers is extended 

 down almost to the second joint. The forward edge of this 

 is concave when the fingers are spread. When the fingers 

 are brought together the skin on the knuckles becomes 

 wrinkled, and the web almost disappears. This is more 

 readily noticed in the living animal than in the dead. The 

 texture of the skin in the palms is coarsely granulated, and 

 the palmar lines are indistinct. The great toe sets at an 

 angle from the side of the foot, thus resembling a thumb. 

 It has more prehension than the corresponding member of 

 the hand. The foot is less flexible than the hand, but it 

 has greater strength and prehension. 



At this point I wish to draw attention to one important 

 fact. The tendons of the foot, which open and close the 

 digits, are imbedded in the palm in a deep layer of coarse, 

 gristly matter, which forms a pad, as it were, under the 

 soles of the foot and prevents it from bending. There- 

 fore it is not possible for a gorilla to sleep on a perch. 



