An introduction to the study of mammals living and extinct / by William Henry Flower and Richard Lydekker.

Date:
1891
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: An introduction to the study of mammals living and extinct / by William Henry Flower and Richard Lydekker. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

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    voice, and the common name of the Hoolock is taken from its peculiar donble call, which is repeated several times. At a distance the soiind much resembles a human voice; it is a peculiar wailing note, audible from afar, and in the countries inhabited by these animals is one of the most familiar forest sounds. The calls com- mence at daybreak, and are continued till 9 or 10 A.M., several of the flock joining in the cry, like hounds giving tongue. After 9 or 10 o'clock in the morning the animals feed or rest, and remain silent throughout the middle of the day, but recommence calling towards evening, though to a less extent than in the earlier part of the day. The skull of the Gibbons, although agreeing with that of other Apes in its prognathism, presents a somewhat human appearance, and the molar teeth are also very like diminutive human molars. In the anterior inward inclination of the two series of cheek-teeth and the inward position of the upper premolars the Gibbons make an approach to the human type un- known in other Apes. The figure of the liver of one species of this genus is introduced to show the general Fio. 352.—Under sm-lace of the liver of Hyloliates lar. absence of lateral '^^ fls-sure; portal fissure; ve, vena cava; I, left lobe; r fissures and the ^^^' ^' ^P'^*^'^ ■ <=awdatc lote; g, gall-bladder. small size of the caudate lobe (c) characteristic of the liver of all the Simiidce, except Gorilla (see p. 706), as well as that of Man. Another specimen of the liver of the same species showed scarcely any trace of a caudate lobe. A fossil Ape from the Middle Miocene of France, originally described as Fliojnthecus, indicates an extinct Gibbon which does not appear to be generically separable from Hylohates. Simia}—Skull (Fig. 353) produced at the vertex; body and limbs massive ; the pectoral limbs reaching to the ankle ; a centrale in the carpus ; hallux very small; sixteen dorso-lumbar vertebraj, and twelve pairs of ribs ; no ischiatic callosities. Oriental. This genus includes the large red-haired Apes from Sumatra and Borneo commonly known as Orangs, or Orang-Utans,^ of which there is probably only a single species {S. satyrus). These animals 1 Linn. Syst. Nat. 12th ed. vol. i. p. 34 (1766). - A Malay word, signifying ]\Ian of the Woods. ■w, Uinbili- right