GENERAL DISTRIBUTION. __________________________________/\__________________________________ / \ NEOTROPICAL| NEARCTIC |PALÆARCTIC | ETHIOPIAN | ORIENTAL | AUSTRALIAN SUB-REGIONS|SUB-REGIONS|SUB-REGIONS|SUB-REGIONS|SUB-REGIONS|SUB-REGIONS. -----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+------------ | | | | | -- -- -- --|-- -- -- --|-- -- -- --|-- 2 -- -- |-- -- 3. 4 |-- -- -- -- | | | | | The Simiidæ, or Anthropoid Apes, comprehend those forms of the monkey-tribe which, in general organization, approach nearest to man. They inhabit the tropics of the Old World, and are most abundant near the equator; but they are limited to certain districts, being quite unknown in eastern and southern Africa, and the whole peninsula of Hindostan. The genus _Troglodytes_ (or _Mimetes_, as it is sometimes named) comprehends the chimpanzee and gorilla. It is confined to the West African sub-region, being found on the coast about 12° North and South of the equator, from the Gambia to Benguela, and as far inland as the great equatorial forests extend. There are perhaps other species of chimpanzee; since Livingstone met with what he supposed to be a new species in the forest region west of Lake Tanganyika, while Dr. Schweinfurth found one in the country beyond the western watershed of the Nile. The gorilla is confined within narrower limits on and near the equator. {171}We have to pass over more than 70° of longitude before we again meet with Anthropoid Apes, in the northern part of Sumatra--where a specimen of the orang-utan (_Simia satyrus_) now in the Calcutta Museum, was obtained by Dr. Abel, and described by him in the _Asiatic Researches_, vol. xv.--and in Borneo, from which latter island almost all the specimens in European museums have been derived. There are supposed to be two species of _Simia_ in Borneo, a larger and a smaller; but their distinctness is not admitted by all naturalists. Both appear to be confined to the swampy forests near the north, west, and south coasts. The Gibbons, or long-armed apes, forming the genus _Hylobates_, (7 species) are found in all the large islands of the Indo-Malayan sub-region, except the Philippines; and also in Sylhet and Assam south of the Brahmaputra river, eastward to Cambodja and South China to the west of Canton, and in the island of Hainan. The Siamang (_Siamanga syndactyla_) presents some anatomical peculiarities, and has the second and third toes united to the last joint, but in general form and structure it does not differ from _Hylobates_. It is the largest of the long-armed apes, and inhabits Sumatra and the Malay peninsula. FAMILY 2.--SEMNOPITHECIDÆ. (2 Genera, 30 Species.)