7 



shape and breadth much resembles that in the human foot. The 

 hallux in its natural position diverges from the other toes at an 

 angle of 60 deg. from the axis of the foot ; its base is large, swelling 

 into a kind of ball below, upon which the thick callous epiderm of 

 the sole is continued. The transverse indents and wrinkles show the 

 frequency and freedom of the flexile movements of the two joints of 

 the hallux : the nail is small, flat, and short. The sole of the foot 

 gradually expands from the heel forward to the divergence of the 

 hallux, and seems to be here cleft, and almost equally, between the 

 base of the hallux and the common base of the other four digits. 

 These are small and slender in proportion, and their bases are en- 

 veloped in a common tegumentary sheath as far as the base of the 

 second phalanx. A longitudinal indent at the middle of the sole, 

 bifurcating — one channel defining the ball of the hallux, the other 

 running towards the interspace between the second and third digit — 

 indicates the action of opposing the whole thumb (which seems rather 

 like an inner lobe or division of the sole), to the outer division ter- 

 minated by the four short toes. What is termed the " instep" in 

 man is very high in the Gorilla, owing to the thickness of the cameo- 

 tendinous parts of the muscles as they pass from the leg to the foot 

 over this region. The mid-toe (third) is a little longer than the 

 second and fourth ; the fifth, as in man, is proportionally shorter 

 than the fourth, and is divided from it by a somewhat deeper cleft. 

 The whole sole is wider than in man — relatively to its length much 

 wider, — and in that respect, as well as by the offset of the hallux, 

 and the definition of its basal ball, more like a hand, but a hand of 

 huge dimensions and of portentous power of grasp. 



In regard to the outward coloration of the Gorilla, only from the 

 examination of the living animal could the precise shades of colour 

 of the naked parts of the skin be truly described. Much of the 

 epiderm had peeled off the subject of the present description ; but 

 fortunately in large patches, and the texture of these had acquired a 

 certain firmness, apparently by the action of the alcohol upon the 

 albuminous basis. The able taxidermist, Mr. Bartlett, has availed 

 himself of this circumstance in the correct and satisfactory prepara- 

 tion of the specimen now mounted for the British Museum. The 

 parts of the epiderm remaining upon the face indicated the skin 

 there to be chiefly of a deep leaden hue ; it is everywhere finely 

 wrinkled, and was somewhat less dark at the prominent parts of the 

 supraciliary roll and the prominent margins of the nasal " alee :" the 

 soles and palms were also of a lighter colour. 



Although the general colour of the hair appears, at first sight, 

 and when moist, to be almost black, it is not so, but is rather of a 

 dusky grey : it is decidedly of a less deep tint than in the Chimpanzee 

 (Trogl. niger) : this is due to an admixture of a few reddish, and of 

 more greyish hairs, with the dusky-coloured ones which chiefly con- 

 stitute the " pelage " : and the above admixture varies at different 

 parts of the body. The reddish hairs are so numerous on the scalp, 

 especially along the upper middle region, as to make their tint rather 

 predominate there ; they blend in a less degree with the long hairs 



