The existing members of the family are referable to at least
two genera, the one African and the other Asiatic. The first genus,
Anthropopithecus,[1] is typified by the West African chimpanzee,
A. troglodytes (fig. 7), and is characterized by the absence of excessive
elevation in the skull, by the fore limb not reaching more than
half-way down the shin, the presence of thirteen pairs of ribs, the
well-developed great toe, the absence of a centrale in the carpus, and
the black or grey hair. There is a well-developed laryngeal sinus,
which may extend downwards to the axilla. Chimpanzees are
characterized by the large size of the ears, and typically by the
small development of the supra-orbital ridges. The latter are,
however, more developed in the Central African A. tchego (of which
the kulu-kamba is a local phase); this form—whether regarded as
a species or a race—being thus more gorilla-like (see Chimpanzee).
The gorilla (Anthropopithecus gorilla, fig. 8), of which there are likewise several local forms, ranging from the West Coast through the forest-tract to East Central Africa, and apparently best regarded as sub-species, is frequently made the type of a second genus—Gorilla; but is extremely close to the chimpanzee, from which it is perhaps best distinguished by its much smaller ears. It is the largest of the apes, although the females are greatly inferior in stature and bulk to the males. The gorilla is also a much less completely arboreal ape than the chimpanzee, in consequence of which more of the sole of the foot is applied to the ground in walking. The enormous supra-orbital ridges of the skull of the male, and likewise the large and powerful tuslis in that sex are very characteristic. A full-grown gorilla will stand considerably over six feet in height. According to Dr A. Keith, in addition to its smaller and flatter ears, the gorilla may be best distinguished from the chimpanzee by the presence of a nasal fold running to the margin of the upper lip; by the large size and peculiar characters of the tusks and cheek-teeth; by its broad, short, thick hands and feet, of which the fingers and toes are partially webbed; by the long heel; and by the relative length of the upper half of the arm as compared with the fore-arm. An important distinctive feature of the skull of the gorilla is the great length of the nasal bones. Finally, in adult life the gorilla is sharply differentiated from the chimpanzee by its sullen, unnameable, ferocious disposition.
As regards the relationship existing between the gorilla and the chimpanzee, Dr Keith observes: “An examination of all the structural systems of the African anthropoids leads to the inference that the gorilla is the more primitive of the two forms, and approaches the common parent stock more nearly than does the chimpanzee. The teeth of the gorilla, individually and collectively, form a complete dentition, a dentition at the very highest point of development; the teeth of the chimpanzee show marked signs of retrogression in development both in size and structure. The muscular development and the consequent bony crests for muscular attachment of the gorilla far surpass those of the chimpanzee. The muscular development of the adult chimpanzee represents that of the adolescent gorilla. Some of the bodily organs of the gorilla belong to a simpler and earlier type than those of the chimpanzee. But in one point the chimpanzee evidently represents more nearly the parent form—its limbs and body are more adapted for arboreal locomotion; of the two, the gorilla shows the nearer approach to the human mode of locomotion. On the whole the evidence at our disposal points to the conclusion that the chimpanzee is a derivative from the gorilla stock, in which, with a progressive brain development, there have been retrograde changes in most of the other parts of the body. The various races of chimpanzee differ according to the degree to which these changes have been carried.” (See Gorilla.)
From both the chimpanzee and the gorilla the orang-utan, or mias (Simia satyrus), of Borneo and Sumatra is broadly distinguished by the extreme elevation of the skull (fig. 4), the excessive length of the fore limbs, which reach to the ankle, the presence of only twelve pairs of ribs and of a centrale in the carpus, the short and rudimentary great toe, and the bright-red colour of the hair. Adult males are furnished with a longish beard on the chin, and they may also develop a large warty prominence, consisting of fibro-cellular tissue, on each side of the face, which thus assumes an extraordinary wide and flattened form. There is no vestige of a tail. The hands are very long; but the thumb is short, not reaching the end of the metacarpal bone of the index-finger. The feet have exceedingly long toes, except the great toe, which only reaches to the middle of the first joint of the adjacent toe, and is often destitute not only of a nail, but of the second phalange also. It nevertheless possesses an opponens muscle. The brain has the hemispheres greatly convoluted, and is altogether more like the brain of man than is that of any other ape. A prolongation is developed from each ventricle of the larynx, and these processes in the adult become enormous, uniting together in front over the windpipe and forming one great sac which extends down between the muscles to the axilla. The canine teeth of adult males are very large. In Borneo the orang-utan displays great variability, and has accordingly been divided into a number of local races, in some of which the males apparently lack the lateral expansion of the face. Whether the Sumatran orang-utan should be regarded as a distinct species, with two local races, may be left an open question. (See Orang-Utan).
Gibbons.—The comparatively small, long-armed and tailless Asiatic apes known as gibbons have been very generally included in the same family as the man-like apes; but since they differ in several important features—to say nothing of their smaller bodily size—it has recently been proposed to refer them to a family apart, the Hylobatidae. The distinctive features of this family include the presence of small naked callosities on the buttocks, the possession of eighteen dorso-lumbar vertebrae and thirteen pairs of ribs, the absence of foldings in the enamel of the molar teeth, the slight lateral expansion and concavity of the iliac bones of the pelvis, and the application of the whole sole of the foot to the ground in walking. The vertebral column presents no trace of the sigmoid flexure which is developed partially in the Simiidae and completely in the Hominidae. None of the gibbons have any rudiment of a tail; and the canines are elongated and tusk-like. When the body is erect, the arms are so long that they reach the ground. The great toe is well developed, reaching to the middle or end of the first joint of the adjacent toe; but the thumb only attains to, or reaches a little beyond, the upper end of the first joint of the index-finger. There is a centrale in the carpus. The laryngeal sacs are no longer prolongations of the laryngeal ventricles, but open into the larynx above the false vocal chords. The group is distributed throughout the forest-regions of south-eastern Asia, eastwards and southwards from Assam, and is represented by a considerable number of species. Among these, the siamang, Hylobates syndactylus, of Sumatra and the Malay Peninsula, differs from all the rest by the union of the index and third fingers up to the base of their terminal joints, in consequence of which this species is regarded as representing a sub-genus (Symphalangus) by itself, while all the others belong to Hylobates proper. The general colour of gibbons is either pale fawn or black, with or without a white band across the forehead. In a female from Hainan in the menagerie of the Zoological Society of London, the colour of the coat changed from black to fawn about the time full maturity was attained. Apparently no such change takes place in the male. According to Dr W. Volz, the two banks of the Lematang River in the Palembang district of Sumatra are respectively inhabited by two different species of gibbons—on the west bank is found the siamang (Hylabates syndactylus), while the country to the east of the river is the home of the agile gibbon, or waw-waw (H. agilis). It is not necessary to capture, or even to see, specimens of the two species in order to satisfy oneself as to their limitations, for they may be readily distinguished by their cries: the siamang calling in a single note, whereas the cry of the waw-waw forms two notes. The remarkable thing about their distribution in Palembang is that the two species are found in company throughout the rest of Sumatra; and even in Palembang itself they inhabit the mountain districts, where the river is so narrow that they could easily leap over it, and yet they keep to the opposite banks. Gibbons are perhaps the most agile of all the Old World monkeys, rivalling in this respect the American spider-monkeys, despite their lack of the prehensile tails of the latter (see Gibbon).
Langur Group.—The well-known long-tailed langur monkeys of India and the adjacent regions are the first representatives of the third family of apes and monkeys, which includes all the remaining members of the sub-order now under consideration. In the Cercopithecidae, as the family is called, the following features are distinctive: The sternum, or breast-bone, is narrow and elongated, and the thorax compressed and wedge-shaped, while the iliac bones of the pelvis are narrow, with the inner surface flat; the dorso-lumbar vertebrae are nineteen or twenty in number. The front limbs are shorter than the hind pair; the whole sole of the foot is applied to the ground in walking; and the hair on the arm is directed downwards from the shoulder to the hand. There are always bare callosities on the buttocks, and very generally cheek-pouches. The caecum is conical. Transverse ridges connect the cusps of the molars. The secondary placenta is fully developed.
The first group of the family is represented by the langurs and their allies, collectively forming the sub-family Semnopithecinae, in which the tail and hind limbs are very long, and the body is slender; there are no cheek-pouches, but, on the other hand, the stomach is complicated by sacculations or pouches, and the last lower molar has a posterior heel, thus carrying five cusps. The thumb is small or absent, the callosities on the buttocks are also small, and the nails are narrow and pointed. The laryngeal sac (or throat-sac) opens in the middle line of the front of the larynx, and is formed by an extension of the thyro-hyoid membrane. The true langurs, of the genus Semnopithecus, in which a small thumb is retained, form a large group confined to south-eastern Asia, where it ranges from India and the Himalaya to Borneo and Sumatra by way of Burma, Cochin China and the Malay Peninsula. A well-known representative is the sacred hanuman monkey (S. entellus) of India, which, like the larger Himalayan S. schistaceus, is slate-coloured; the Bornean S. hosei, on the other hand, is wholly maroon-red. Other species, like the Indian S. johni, have the head crested. The allied genus Rhinopithecus, as typified by the orange
- ↑ It has been proposed to transfer the name Simia to the chimpanzee, on the ground that it was originally given to that animal.
