THE SAVAGE WORLD. 
703 
The Siamang (.Hylobates syndactylus ) is Sumatran in its habitat, and is 
covered with short, black hair, except upon the upper breast, which is bare. It 
takes its scientific name from the fact that a membrane connects the upper 
j oints of the first and second fingers or toes on the hind feet; the hands are 
narrow and the fingers slender. It wears two throat-pouches which, when 
excited, it puffs out with air. In the early morning and the early evening the 
siamangs gather in great crowds and engage in a shouting and crying tourna¬ 
ment. The siamang is harmless, indeed almost unable to inflict harm. In the 
family economy, the males are entrusted to the care of the father, and the females 
to that of the mother, and, 
were the young as much 
inspired as Cowper, they 
would lack no opportunity 
for the celebration of their 
parents’ scrubbing powers 
and unpleasant fondness 
for being assured of the 
cleanliness of their young 
children. The siamang 
is tailless, and when do¬ 
mesticated, affectionate and 
playful, although very 
mischievous. Those that 
have been in captivity dis¬ 
play the greatest sensi¬ 
tiveness to any attempts 
at ridicule, feeling, like 
most professional humor¬ 
ists, that their own pro¬ 
vince was being invaded. 
The Apes ( Simiadcz) 
are without the callosities 
which ornament the hinder 
parts of other monkeys ; 
they are tailless, and have 
no cheek-pouches or 
plumpers. 
Of the apes , the 
Cynocephali or Dog 
Headed variety have the 
muzzle of a dog, and the callosities on the thighs are brilliantly blue or red. 
They are quadrupedal in their locomotion, stand, when erect, from two and a 
half to three feet, and are characterized by ferocity, audacity, malignancy, love 
of mischief, brutality and viciousness. Of course, this is as they appear to 
mankind, and doubtless they do not echo Burns’s refrain. 
At one period they fairly swarmed in Sweden, and the trees are said to 
have been covered with them. In Arabia they rob the natives of all kinds of 
fruits, vegetables and nuts, and keep posted the most vigilant sentinels. At 
the Cape of Good Hope they are so fierce that one species has earned the appel- 
