342 
Proceedings of the Royal Society 
M. Du Ohaillu, Dr Burt proceeded to relate to the Society several 
facts, recently come to light, in support of various of the statements 
of that traveller which had been called in question. He alluded 
to the doubts which had been cast on several of the statements of 
M, Du Chaillu, and to the uncourteous treatment he had received 
at the hands of some of his detractors, and enumerated some of the 
proofs since produced by that gentleman, which are now to be 
found in the British Museum, and in the possession of men of 
distinction in science, illustrative of the natural history and the 
habits of the people of Equatorial Africa, which confirmed the 
veracity of that gentleman’s observations. The last letters received 
from M. Du Chaillu were written from Fernand Vaz previous to 
his departure for the interior. 
In giving an account of the anatomical features of the crania 
which Dr Burt had entrusted to him for examination, Mr Turner 
stated, that as the elaborate memoirs of Professor Owen, Dr Wyman, 
MM. Duvernoy and I. Gr. St Hilaire, were within the reach of 
every comparative anatomist, it was needless for him to go into any 
detailed description of the characters of the skull of the gorilla. 
But as the crania were those of an adult male, an adult female, and 
a young female, it might be interesting to record the specific and 
sexual characters, and the differences between the young and adult 
forms, and so assist in establishing the relative constancy and 
variability of some of the most important anatomical features. 
The skulls of an adult male and female, and a younger chimpanzee 
(Troglodytes niger), were at the same time exhibited, and compared 
with those of the gorilla.* The description, unless when otherwise 
stated, applied to crania personally examined. 
In size, the skulls of the adult male and female gorilla were 
larger than those of the corresponding sex in the chimpanzee, and 
the adult female gorilla was larger than the adult male chimpanzee. 
^ The crania of the adult male and younger chimpanzee are in the Anato- 
mical Museum of the University ; that of the adult female is in the possession 
of Dr John Alexander Smith. In the adult and apparently aged chimpanzee 
crania the sutures were all ossified. In the younger animal, although all the 
permanent teeth had erupted, yet the sutures of the cranial vault were unossi- 
fied, and the basi-cranial synchondrosis, though ossified, had its position 
marked by a transverse bony ridge. 
