MAMMALIA. 
21 
After giving the liistory of our knowledge of this Ape, the author describes 
in detail the external characters and appearance of a young but nearly full- 
grown specimen preserved in spirits, and adds descriptions of the adult of 
both sexes, and of the very young animal, from skins. Compared with the 
other Anthropoid Apes and with the long-armed Gibbons, the Gorilla proves 
to be the most nearly related to man, the Gibbons being the lowest in the 
scale. The appearance of superior cerebral development in the Siamang and 
other long-armed Apes is due to their small size and the concomitant 
feeble development of their jaws and teeth ; it is an appearance which 
depends upon the precocious growth of the brain as dependent on the 
law of its development. In all Quadrumana the brain has reached its 
full size before the second set of teeth is acquired. If a young Gorilla, 
Chimpanzee, or Orang be compared with a young Siamang of corresponding 
nge, the absolutely larger size and better shape of the brain, the deeper and 
more numerous convolutions of the cerebrum, and the more completely 
covered cerebellum in the former, demonstrate the higher organization of the 
shorter-armed Apes. As growth proceeds, the facial portion of the skull 
increases, and the bony fulcra for the temporal muscles rise, but the brain 
grows no more ; yet it is still better and larger than is that of the long-armed 
Ape, which retains throughout life so much more of the characters of imma- 
turity, especially in the structure of the skull. 
The author then proceeds in detail to a variety of characters by which the 
Gorilla makes a closer step towards Man than does any of the other Apes 
named. He examines the fossil Quadrumana, and shows that none of them, 
as far as w^o are acquainted with tlicm at present, comes as near to Man as 
do the living Anthropoid Apes. 
After having given an account of the food and habits of the Gorilla, he 
enters into a discussion of the zoological value of the characters derived from 
the brain and limbs, and anives at these conclusions : — that the human cha- 
racteristics of the brain aflbrd a zoological character of higher degree and 
importance than do those of the limbs ; that, agreeably with this estimate of 
the value of cerebral characters, the Gorilla, like the Chimpanzee and Orang, 
remains with the Gibbons and lower Quadrumana, and stands apart in a distinct 
subclass from the genus Homo ; and that, if an ordinal value be assigned to 
the limb-characters which distinguish Carnivora from Quadrumana, the same 
value must be assigned to the limb-characters which distinguish Quadru- 
mana from Bimana. 
To fix the position of the Gorilla among the Quadiumanes, the author 
proceeds to consider the divisions of this order. The Gorilla would belong to 
the suborder of Catarrhines, to the tribe of Pithecina (Is. GeoflT. St.-Hil.), to 
the section of Dasypyga (Kuhl), and finally to the genus Troglodytes, Geof- 
froy’s genus Gorilla being rejected. 
In conclusion, the author enumerates the chief steps necessary to trans- 
mute a Gorilla into a man, and. directs our attention to the contrast between 
the peculiarly limited range of geographical distribution of the Orangs and 
Chimpanzees and the cosmopolitan character of mankind. 
Dr. Burt and Mr. Turner have examined three skulls of the Gorilla, and 
published their observations in Proc. Boy. Soc. Edinb. v. 1865, pp. 341-360. 
Hr. B. Meyer has made remarks on an old example of a Gorilla, and on a 
skull. rUnft. Bericht d. Offenbach, AT’rcin. 18Cd, pp. f8-C2, with a plate. 
