CHIMPANZEES. 
2 5 
down any rule for its average size. The skin of the chimpanzee is frequently of a 
light, yet muddy flesh-colour, which sometimes verges upon brown. Spots, varying* 
in size and depth of colour, sometimes isolated, sometimes in groups, and of a 
blackish-brown, sooty, or bluish-black tint, are found on different parts of the 
body of many individuals, especially on the face, neck, breast, belly, arms and 
hands, thighs and shanks, and more rarely on the back. The face, which, soon 
after birth, is of a flesh-colour, merging into yellowish-brown, assumes a darker 
shade with the gradual development of the body. The hairy coat is sleek, or only 
in rare cases slightly curled, and the coarser and bristly hair is generally stiff* and 
elastic. The parting on the forehead is often so regular that it might have been 
arranged by the hairdresser’s art. Close behind that part of the head at which 
the projecting ridges over the eyes of the gorilla generally meet there is in the 
chimpanzee (as is well shown in our figure of the head) an altogether bald place, 
or often only a few scattered hairs. Round the face the growth of hair streams 
downwards like a beard. On the neck it is of considerable length, and it falls in 
the same long locks over the shoulders, back, and hips. The hair on the limbs is 
not so long, and takes a downward direction on the upper arm, and an opposite 
direction on the fore-arm, while there is often a longitudinal parting on the centre 
of the inner surface of this part of the limb. On the back of the wrist the hair 
grows in a kind of whorl; the upper hairs turn upwards and backwards, the 
middle ones turn backwards, the lower ones backwards and downwards. The 
backs of the hands and the roots of the fingers are hairy. On the front of the 
thigh the hair takes a downward direction, while behind it grows backwards. 
On the shank it grows downwards in the region of the tibia, and turns back on 
the inside of the leg. The back of the foot and the roots of the toes are likewise 
hairy. There is a shorter growth of these hairs on the face, chin, and ears. In 
other cases the hair of the true chimpanzee is of a black colour. Short whitish 
hairs may be observed on the lower part of the face and chin, as well as round 
the posterior; and sometimes the colour of the hair is shot throughout with reddish - 
or brownish-black. 
The foregoing description applies to the true chimpanzee, Anthropopithecus 
niger. Many varieties of this species seem to exist, some of which have been 
regarded as distinct species; but with the exception of the bald chimpanzee, to 
be mentioned immediately, it does not appear that any of these can be satisfactorily 
distinguished as true species. The natives of Africa have many names for 
chimpanzees in the various districts. In the Gabun region they are known as 
N’Schego, in Malimbu as Kulu, in Manyema as Soko, and in the Niam-Niam 
district as Ranja; while to the Arab traders they are known as the Bam or M Bam. 
The Bald In his Equatorial Africa Du Cliaillu gave a description of a 
Chimpanzee, chimpanzee, which he said was known to the natives as the N’Schego 
M’Bouve, and which he proposed to call Troglodytes, or as it should properly be, 
Anthropopithecus calvus. For a long period zoologists were in doubt whether this 
bald-headed chimpanzee was really a distinct species. In the autumn of 1883 a 
young chimpanzee was, however, purchased by the Zoological Society of London, 
which Mr. Bartlett, the superintendent of the Society’s Gardens, recognised as being 
