A Hand-book to the Primates, Volume 2 (of 2)Forbes, Henry O. (Henry Ogg)
Science
A Hand-book to the Primates, Volume 2 (of 2)
Forbes, Henry O. (Henry Ogg)
Primates
CHARACTERS.--The Orangs are large and heavy in build, with the head set on
a very thick neck, the hair long and directed forward, and the abdomen
round and protuberant. The naked face is melancholy. On each side of the
face there is, in the {172}full grown male, but not in the female, a large,
soft, smooth tumour-like and flexible expansion, which gives a remarkable
breadth to the visage. The forehead is nude and purplish in colour; the
middle of the face across the nose is sooty-brown. The lips are broad,
extremely mobile, and of the colour of the skin--generally of a yellowish
brown; and, when eating and drinking, the animal thrusts them far out. The
lower jaw retreats at once from the lips, and there is therefore no chin,
as so recognised in Man. The ears are more like those of Man, small and
flat. The arms are very long, reaching to the ankles in the erect posture,
their span being twice the animal's height. The arm is equal in length to
the fore-arm; the hands are long and narrow. The fingers are united by a
web; the thumb short and often without its terminal joint. The back of the
hand is but slightly haired. The hair on the arm is directed downwards and
that on the fore-arm upwards, so as to meet at the elbow. The legs are very
short and bowed at the ankles; the long and narrow foot, which is
articulated obliquely to the leg, is longer than the hand and (except in
the Gorilla) is longer than in any other Ape. The great-toe is very short
and is often destitute of a nail.
The cranium is very variable in form; the crown is high and pointed, the
forehead round and elevated, and the occipital region convex. No two
individuals are exactly alike. "The slope of the profile, the projection of
the muzzle, together with the size of the cranium, offer differences as
decided as those existing between the most strongly marked forms of the
Caucasian and African crania in the human species. The orbits vary in width
and height; the cranial ridge is either single or double, either much or
little developed, independent of age, being sometimes more strongly
developed in the less {173}aged animal." (_Wallace._) The supra-orbital
ridges are prominent, without being particularly so. The contour of the
head is more human in form, however, in youth than in age, when the
forehead is large and convex. The canine teeth are very large and tusk-like
in the male, but smaller in the female. The upper molars exhibit on their
crowns complex rugosities; they have four cusps and an oblique ridge, as in
Man, from the front inner, to the hind outer, cusp; the lower molars are
five-cusped. The permanent canine teeth sometimes appear before the last
permanent molar has come into place.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account