Notes on a Skull of the Troglodytes Niger. 41 



III. Notice of a Skull of the Troglodytes Niger, Desm., the Chimpanzee, 

 found in a ££ Devil-house" Old Calabar, Africa. By John Alexr. 

 Smith, M.D. 



The skull on the table was one of those interesting objects 

 of natural history, for the exhibition of which the Society is 

 indebted to the zeal of our Treasurer, Mr William Oliphant, 

 and, through him, to the missionaries of the United Presby- 

 terian Church at Old Calabar. It was sent home by Mr 

 Archibald Hewan, the Mission surgeon, and was entitled by 

 him the skull of an ape, taken from an old " devil-house" 

 at the Guinea Company's villages, about a hundred miles from 

 the mouth of the Old Calabar River. It is the skull of an adult 

 Chimpanzee, indicated by its general appearance, the calva- 

 rium smooth and rounded, the partially obliterated sutures, and 

 the full complement of teeth, well ground down on their sum- 

 mits. These teeth are similar in number to those of man. 

 The skull measures 19 inches in circumference, in the line of 

 the alveolar processes of the incisor teeth in front, and the oc- 

 cipital protuberance behind ; and rather more than 7 inches in 

 length between the same points in a straight line. The skull 

 of an adult male is described as measuring 8J inches in length ; 

 this is probably therefore the skull of an old female, — the 

 muscular ridges being but slightly marked ; the space between 

 the incisor teeth and the canines is very slightly developed, 

 measuring little more than l-10th of an inch. The charac- 

 teristic high superciliary ridge of the Chimpanzee is strongly 

 marked; showing at a glance the very vague character of 

 any deductions as to the amount of brain, to be drawn from 

 the extent of what is called the facial angle in a cranium 

 such as this. This formidable animal stands some 3 feet 10 

 inches high, the male reaching the height of 4 feet from the 

 top of the head to the sole of the heel in a straight line. You 

 are aware these creatures have been frequently described 

 as reaching a much higher stature (it was believed with in- 

 creasing age), but it now appears from the recent researches of 

 naturalists, both in America and in this country, that there 

 are at least two distinct species of Chimpanzee, inhabiting in 

 one instance the same district of country, one of which is 

 much larger than the other. The cranium now exhibited be- 



VOL. II. E 



