74 
NATURAL HISTORY. 
Orangs form, as lias been stated before, the genus Simicc, and these Gibbons constitute the genus 
Hylobates , a term taken from the Greek uXoflarT?*, a walker in the woods. 
So far as their intelligence, amiability, and teachableness are concerned, they are equal to the 
Orangs, and indeed they seem to adapt themselves to the methods of men more readily. Not only do 
they become very fond of their keepers, but they recollect them after the lapse of time ; and they are 
constantly let loose by those who keep them in India to wander about the trees in the neighbourhood, 
and they will return to be cared for, and come, when called, to be fed. 
Interesting to those who study the intelligence of animals, they are equally so to the common 
observer, who delights in witnessing their surpassing agility, wonderful leaps, and graceful swings from 
bough to bough. But to the anatomist they present many complicated problems; for although evidently 
not so high in the animal scale as the Orangs and Chimpanzees, they have some things about them which 
cause them to resemble man more than do these great Apes, and others which cause them to resemble 
the great army of Monkeys. They are the last of the man-shaped in the classification, and the usual 
plan is to place them after the Orangs. 
They are extremely delicate animals, although their fur is thick, and, in some kinds, long. They 
require a considerable temperature and very pure air; hence, although many have been brought to 
Europe, and exhibited to the delight of thousands, they do not live long, dying usually from consump- 
tion or from some lung disease. In the British Museum there are several groups of stuffed specimens 
of them, and also many skulls and skeletons, and a cursory examination of the first will prove that it 
is very difficult to distinguish one kind from another, for in the same kind, or species, there is a great 
variety of colour, and a different individuality in the two sexes and young. It has happened that the 
same kind has been called by several names by different observers, and it is only when the skeleton has 
been examined with the stuffed specimen that a satisfactory distinction between the species or kinds 
has been made. 
Evidently, the whole of these long-armed Apes, with small heads and callosities on the seat, are 
separable into two divisions. In one the animals are larger than the others, and have a very singular 
adaptation of the foot for rapid movement amongst the boughs, and they have air-pouches ; and in the 
second the animals are smaller, and have the toes free, and have no pouches. So the genus Hylobates 
is divided into two divisions : 1. The Siamangs. 2. The True Gibbons. 
THE SIAMANG.* 
Sir Stamford Baffles brought the Siamang prominently before the scientific world, and noticed the 
curious manner in which some of the toes were united, and he considered that this was to enable 
them to swing rapidly from branch to branch during their ordinary movements in the forest, when 
any stretching out of the finger's might be dangerous and produce a fall. But in this, as in many 
others, we owe to Mr. Wallace thanks for a concise description of the habits of the creature, which, from 
having its toes partly joined, has been named Syndactylus, from the Greek words avv and ScIktuAos, 
which mean “together” and “finger.” 
“A very curious Ape, the Siamang, was rather abundant, but it is much less bold than the common 
A mkeys, keeping to the virgin forest, and avoiding villages. This species is allied to the little long- 
anned Apes of the genus Hylobates , but is considerably larger, and differs from them by having the two 
fi *st fingers of the feet united together, nearly to the end ; whence its name. It moves much more 
si nvly than the Hylobates , keeping lower down in the trees, and not indulging in such tremendous 
leaps; but still it is very active, and by means of its immense long arms — five feet six inches across in 
an adult about three feet high — can swing itself along among the trees at a great rate. I purchased a 
small one, which had been caught by the natives, and tied up so tightly as to hurt it. It was rather 
savage at first, and tried to bite, but when we had released it, and given it two poles under the 
verandah to hang upon, securing it by a short cord, running along the pole with a ring, so that it could 
move easily, it became more contented, and would swing itself about with greater rapidity. It ate 
almost any kind of fruit and rice, and I was in hopes to have brought it to England, but it died just 
before I started. It took a dislike to me at first, which I tried to get over by feeding it constantly myselt 
Hylobates syndactylus. 
