396 
MR. ST. GEORGE MIYART ON THE SKELETON OF THE PRIMATES. 
that of Man exceeds the other Primates, except Hapale, Loris, Arctocebus, and 
Cheiromys, 
The absolute length of the pollex, both with and without its metacarpal, is absolutely 
greater in Man than in any other Primate that I have measured *. 
The proportion borne by the pollex, without its metacarpal, to the entire manus ex- 
ceeds that in all others except Chrysothrix, Hapale, and Arctocebus. 
The length of the first phalanx of the third digit, as compared with that of the entire 
manus, is smaller in Man than in any others of the Order except the Gorilla, some of the 
lower Simiidse, and Arctocebus. 
The proportion borne by the same first phalanx to its metacarpal is less than that in 
any other Primates except Troglodytes and some of the Simiidse other than the Simiinse. 
The length of the third digit, without its metacarpal, compared with that of the manus, 
is greater than in some and less than in others ; and the human proportion is almost as 
much exceeded in Chrysothrix as it exceeds that in Arctocebus. 
In the length of the first phalanx of the same digit, compared with that of the whole 
manus, as in the proportion borne by longest digit, without its metacarpal, to the 
longest metacarpal, Man exceeds some and is exceeded by others. 
Os inriominatum . — This is perhaps the most characteristic bone in the appendicular 
skeleton of Man. 
In absolute size the human pelvis is vastly exceeded by that of the Gorilla f, and in 
length by that of the Chimpanzee and that of the Orang. 
The human pelvis is also distinguished by the almost constant $ excess of its transverse 
over its conjugate diameter, and by the absence of an ilio-pubic angle §. 
The absolute length of a straight line joining the superior spinous processes of the 
ilium, and the proportion of the same to the spine, are greater than in any other Pri- 
mate except the Gorilla. The latter species exceeds to a less degree when the crest of 
the ilium is measured along its curves. 
The ilio-ischial angles are less than in any other Primate, but the length of a line 
drawn from the ilio-pectineal eminence to the nearest point of the tuberosity of the ilium 
is greater, as compared with that of the spinal column, than in any other of the Primates, 
except Troglodytes and Simia. 
The vertical diameter of the acetabulum, compared with the length of the os inno- 
minatum, is greater than in all the rest of the Order. 
* Hr. Lucae, however, found the pollex of the Chimpanzee (both with and without the metacarpal) slightly 
long’er than that of the European woman.— Hoc. cit. p. 306. 
■f 1 Trans. Zool. Soc. vol. v. p. 12. 
X As Professor Huxley has pointed out (Medical Times, 1864, vol. i. p. 344), the transverse diameter is less 
than the conjugate one in the female Roschisman’s skeleton, No. 5357a. in the Museum of the College of Surgeons. 
In Nos. 5257 and 5300 in the same collection the two are about equal. Mr. Johx Wood gives an instance of 
the same predominance of the antero-posterior diameter in a male negro, and quotes instances from Professor 
Wbbek.— Todd’s Cyclopaedia, vol. v. pp. 150 <& 151. 
§ Jopn Wood, loc. cit. p. 152. 
