An introduction to the study of the anthropoid apes / by Arthur Keith.

  • Arthur Keith
Date:
1897
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: An introduction to the study of the anthropoid apes / by Arthur Keith. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

    12/52 (page 8)
    Gardens is the name Anthropopithecus gorilla; who the sponsor is for this appellation, we do not know [see p.22]. The close relationship that exists between the gorilla and the chimpanzee came out very clearly in the famous dispute over “ Mafuca.” Mafuca was an animal in the Dresden Gardens labelled chimpanzee; Nissle (63) saw her and said she was a gorilla ; Meyer, of Dresden, maintained she was a chimpanzee; Hartmann came from Berlin and declared her to be a gorilla ; Bolau came from Hamburg and certified her to be a chimpanzee. The difference between the gorilla and the chim- panzee cannot be so very great when four such authorities cannot make up their minds in common. Koppenfels (59) accounted for the difficulty of distinguishing between the two by alleging that hybrids occur (a fact which I should not be astonished to find substantiated), and sent a skin and skull of such a supposed hybrid home from Africa to Meyer, who, however, did not agree that it was a hybrid. JLocal varieties will probably be found to occur ; such seem to be the specimens described by Alix and Bouvier (2) under the name of Gorilla mayema. There may be distinct species of gorilla ; but the specific characters ascribed by Alix and Bouvier to Gorilla mayema may be due to age, sex, individual, or local peculiarities of the two specimens described by them. At any rate, G. Mayema cannot be accepted as a true species until it has been shown that the animals which possess its characters live, socially and sexually, apart from the common form of gorilla. REFERENCES. j Aeby, Ch.— Beitrage zur Osteologie des Gorilla. Morph. Jahrb., 1878. Bd.iv., pp. 288-313, 5 figs. A description of the skeleton of a male adult gorilla , especially of the articular ends of the long bones. , Alix B et Bouvier, A.— Sur un nouveau Anthropoide (Gorilla Mayema) provenant de la region du Congo. Bull. Soc. Zool. France, l877- *• pp 488-490 From an examination of a young female animal and the skin and skeleton of an adult female, they came to the conclusion that there were at least two species of gorillas-this one, Gorilla mayema. and the more common one, G. girn of I. G. St. Hilaire. Abstract in Compt. Rend., 1878, t. lxxxvi. pp. 56-58. Bischoff T. L. W. Ueber die Verschiedenheit in der Schaedelbildung des Gorilla, Chimpanse und Orang, vorzuglich nach Geschlecht und Alter . Miinchen: 1867. 4to, 94 pp . 22. pis. The skulls of two old male, three old female, and three young animals are partially described. .. uber das Gehirn eines Gorilla und die untere oder 4' dritte Stirnwindung des Affen. SB. Math.-Phys. Cl. Ah. Wiss. Miinchen, 1877. Bd. vii., pp. 96-139. 6 figs. Pansch and Thane describe the same bram' .. p>as Gorilla-Gehirn und die untere oder dritte Stirn- windung. Morfh. Jahrb.. 1878. Bd. iv. Suppl.. pp. 59;73. A„ argu- mentative article, the author being in doubts as to the bram described by Broca having really been a gorilla's brain. . » Ueber die iiusseren weiblichen Geschlechts-und Begattungs-Organe des Menschen und der Affen. etc. Abh. Math.-Phys. Cl. Ah. Wiss Miinchen, 1880. Bd. xiii., Abth. ii., pp. 209-274- Three young gorillas were examined. 6.