Part 16

It was on this Ape that the late Dr. G. J. Romanes, attracted by its high intelligence, made his interesting psychological experiments, which are related in the Proceedings of the Zoological Society for 1889. "Her intelligence was conspicuously displayed by the remarkable degree in which she was able to understand the meaning of spoken language--a degree fully equal to that presented by an infant a few months before emerging from infancy, and, therefore, higher than that which is presented by any brute, so far at least as I have met with any evidence to show. Having enlisted the intelligent co-operation of the keepers, I requested them to ask the Ape repeatedly for one straw, two straws, or three straws. These she was to pick up and hand out from among the litter of her cage. No constant order was to be observed in making these requests, but whenever she handed a number not asked for, her offer was to be refused, while if she gave the proper number her offer was to be accepted, and she was to receive a piece of fruit as payment. In this way the Ape was eventually taught to associate these three numbers with their names.... As soon as the animal understood what was required, and had learnt to associate these three numbers with their names, she never failed to give the number of straws asked for. Her education was then extended in a similar manner from three to four and four to five straws." "Sally" rarely made mistakes up to that number, but above five and up to ten, to which one of the keepers endeavoured to advance her education, the result is uncertain. {202}"It is evident that she understands the words seven, eight, nine, and ten, to betoken numbers higher than those below them, and when she was asked for any of these numbers above six, she always gave some number over six and under ten. She sometimes doubled over a straw to make it present two ends, and was supposed to hasten, with the small stock of patience she possessed, the attainment of her task." Dr. Romanes was disposed to think that the uncertainty which attended her dealing with the numbers six and seven was due to her losing patience rather than to her losing count. It was at all events evident that "Sally" could count accurately up to five. Dr. Romanes tried to teach her colours in the same way, but the result was so uniformly negative that he was disposed to think that she was colour-blind, as she was taught to distinguish between white straws and the straws of any other colour, but she could not be taught to go further.

In 1875 a female Ape, which received the name of "Mafuca," was received from the Loango coast at the Dresden Zoological Gardens. "This," says Dr. Hartmann, "was a wild unmanageable creature, 120 cm. in height, reminding us in many respects of the Gorilla. The face was prognathous [more so than in _A. troglodytes_]; the ears were comparatively small, placed high on the skull, and projecting outwards; the supra-orbital arch was strongly developed, and the end of the nose was broad, and there were rolls of fat on the cheeks. The creature was, moreover, strongly built, and the region of the hips and the belly was contracted, while the hands and feet were large and powerful. The general physiognomical resemblance between Mafuca and a female Gorilla [whose dead body I had examined] was very great." It was suggested that the creature might be a cross between a Chimpanzee and a Gorilla, as the traveller {203}Koppenfels had affirmed he had shot such cross-bred animals. It is still an undecided question to what species it belonged.

Of the four genera of the _Simiidæ_, "the Gibbons are obviously most remote from Man, and nearest to the _Cynopithecini_ (_Cercopithecidæ_).

"The Orangs come nearest to Man in the number of the ribs, the form of the cerebral hemispheres, the diminution of the occipito-temporal sulcus [groove] of the brain, and the ossified styloid process; but they differ from him much more widely in other respects, and especially in the limbs, than the Gorilla and the Chimpanzee do.

"The Gorilla is more Man-like in the proportions of the leg to the body, and of the foot to the hand; further, in the size of the heel, the curvature of the spine, the form of the pelvis, and the absolute capacity of the cranium.

"The Chimpanzee approaches Man most closely in the character of its cranium, its dentition, and the proportional size of the arms." (_Huxley._)

THE HUMAN RACE. FAMILY HOMINIDÆ.

With this family we reach the culminating point of the zoological tree. It contains but one monotypic genus, HOMO, with its single species, HOMO SAPIENS. Although deriving his specific designation from the unique characteristic of his mental attributes, Man comes under review here alone in his physical aspect as one of the mammalian animals.

"Identical in the physical processes by which he originates--identical in the early stages of his formation--identical in the mode of his nutrition before and after birth, with the animals which lie immediately below him on the {204}scale--Man, if his adult and perfect stature be compared with theirs, exhibits, as might be expected, a marvellous likeness of organisation. He resembles them as they resemble one another--he differs from them as they differ from one another." (_Huxley._) On comparing his external form and internal organisation with that of all the other known zoological forms, he is found to fit no niche in the scale of classification, founded on the same principles of likeness and dissimilitude as applied to them, except in the vicinity of the Gibbons, the Orangs, the Gorillas, and the Chimpanzees, of whose order--the Primates--he forms only an additional though higher Family, solely on his structural characters and entirely apart from those intangible mental attributes which remove him supremely above all other creatures. Unbridged as is the chasm between the Ape and Man, "the structural differences which separate Man from the Gorilla and the Chimpanzee, are not so great as those which separate the greater from the lower Apes." (_Huxley._)

Of the three higher Apes, the Chimpanzees are those which appear to approach Man most closely; but he is distinguished from them and from all the other members of the _Simiidæ_ by his body being supported in the erect position upon the outer edge of a broad, arched, short-toed foot, articulated at right angles to the leg. This foot has a prominent heel and a stout great-toe, longer than all the digits, except the second, but lying parallel and not opposable to them, or capable of being moved away from them, because of the flat unrounded articular surface of the ento-cuneiform bone of the ankle. His back-bone has a strongly-marked, open S-shaped curvature, with its concavity in the lower back, giving it its elasticity and breaking any shock which might be transmitted otherwise to the brain through the jolt of walking in the vertical position. His arms are {205}proportionately much shorter than the legs, and also the spine; the thumb is also longer in proportion than in the Apes, and, as the fingers have all separate movements, the hand is thus better able to be adjusted to minute operations. The head in Man is equipoised on the vertebral column just under the centre of its mass, and is thus easily supported and moved, whereas, in all lower forms of Vertebrates, it is placed further and further from the centre towards the back, with its weight thrown towards the front. In Man the skull cavity, not intruded upon and diminished by the roof of the orbits, is characteristically high and arched, its capacity being twice as great as any Ape's; still the difference in the cranial capacity of different races of Man is much greater absolutely than that between the highest Ape and the lowest Man. (_Huxley._) His facial and jaw-bones are smaller, and project far less, even in the most prognathous of men, than in the Apes; the lower front margin of the under jaw is characteristically human, being produced forward to form the chin. In the human skull there is always a spike-like bone--the styloid process--dependent from and ossified to the ear-bones.

In Man the form of the pelvis--the large osseous block to which the legs are articulated--is very characteristic in its width; its great basin-shaped cavity receives and supports his lower internal organs; to its extensive external surface the muscles for enabling him to retain the erect position are attached, while its width, by separating the thigh-bones, gives to the body a form favourable to stability, which is increased by the wide angle at which the articulating head of the femur is attached to its shaft. "Were he to desire it, Man could not, with convenience, walk on all fours: his short and nearly inflexible foot, and his long thigh, would bring the knee to the ground; his widely separated shoulders and his arms, too far {206}extended from the median line, would ill support the fore-part of his body; the great indented muscle which, in quadrupeds, suspends the trunk between the blade-bones as a girth, is smaller in Man than in any one among them; the head is heavier, on account of the magnitude of the brain, and the smallness of the sinuses or cavities of its bones; and yet the means of supporting it are weaker, for he has neither cervical ligament, nor are the vertebræ so modified as to prevent their flexure forward; he could, therefore, only maintain his head in the same line with the spine, and then, his eyes and mouth being directed towards the ground, he could not see before him." (_Cuvier._)

The breadth of the sacrum is equal to or exceeds its length, and the width of the pelvis exceeds its height, the reverse of what is seen in Apes. The wrist (_carpus_) in Man has no _central bone_; the ankle (_tarsus_) is longer than the metatarsal segment, and that is again longer than the toe-bones, which are more compressed than the finger-bones. In Man the teeth form a continuous series--there is no diastema, which, with the exception of the extinct _Anoplotherium_, is alone true of Man; his canine teeth are never prominent or tusk-like.

The human brain differs from that of the Man-like Apes in regard to its convolutions and their separating grooves, only in minor characters; but in weight, as in capacity, very greatly. The weight of a healthy full-grown human brain never descends below thirty-two ounces, that of the largest Gorilla, far heavier than any Man, never attains to more than twenty. Yet, "the difference in weight of brain between the highest and the lowest Men is far greater relatively and absolutely than between the lowest Man and the highest Ape." (_Huxley._)

Notwithstanding the enormous differences presented between {207}the highest and lowest races of mankind, and widely as they are separated geographically, these dissimilar characters are not considered sufficient to constitute more than one species, since throughout the series one form graduates into another, and all of them are fertile with each other. Although there is but one species of Man, he is distinguishable, however, according to Sir William Flower, into three main races.

A. _The Ethiopian Race._

Under this heading are included all the dark-skinned negroes, with black frizzly hair, long heads (_i.e._, whose breadth is less than four-fifths of its length), moderately broad faces, flat nasal bones, prominent legs, thick everted lips, protruding jaws, and long fore-arms. To this race belong (1) the Negroes, inhabiting Central Africa, of which there are numerous tribes: (_a_) the yellowish-brown Hottentots of the South African plains, and (_b_) the dwarfed straight-faced Bushmen, living outcast among the mountains and rocks, remarkable for their tufted hair, their great fatty buttocks, and the peculiar "click" in their speech; (2) the _Negrillos_, of Central and West Africa, with short heads (_i.e._, whose breadth is greater than four-fifths of its length); (3) the _Melanesians_, composed of the Papuans of New Guinea, New Caledonia, and the Solomon Islands, with strong supra-orbital ridges, and a narrow and prominent nose: the "hyper-typical" mountaineers of Fiji, the Tasmanians, and the Australians, especially of the northern portion of that continent, all belong to this race; (4) the round-headed _Negritos_ of the Andamans, the Philippines, and the Malay Archipelago.

B. _The Mongolian Race._

These are short in stature, have the skin yellow or brown, the hair black and straight, abundant on the head, but sparse {208}elsewhere; the skull low and intermediate between long and broad; the face broad, flat, and with large cheek-bones; the eye-sockets high and round. To this stock belong (1) the Eskimo of Greenland and all the sub-arctic regions of Eurasia and N. America; (2) the Mongols, of whom the Japanese, the nomad Lapps, the Finns, both of mixed Caucasian and Mongol blood, and those descendants of the Mongols, the Magyars and the Turks, form a northern and much modified group, while the Chinese, the Thibetans, the Burmese, and the Siamese constitute a southern, more civilised, group; (3) the Malays of the Malayan Peninsula and Sumatra, in which the Mongolian features are very apparent; (4) the Brown Polynesians, inhabiting Samoa, Tonga, the Eastern Polynesian islands, and New Zealand; (5) the native American races inhabiting the continent from Terra del Fuego in the south, to the sub-arctic regions occupied by the Esquimo.

C. _The Caucasian Race._

Of this stock there are two very distinct groups: (1) the tall, blond, straight, fair-haired, blue-eyed, light-skinned, well-bearded peoples of N. Europe, Scandinavia, Scotland, N. Germany--named _Xanthochroi_ ("yellow-haired" and pale of complexion) by Huxley: these have extended, as a mixed race, also into N. Africa and Afghanistan; and by intermingling with the Mongols have produced the Finns and the Lapps; and (2) the _Melanochroi_ ("black-haired") people, shorter in stature, with long heads, pale skins, prominent noses, but with black wavy hair and beards and dark eyes, who inhabit S. Europe, N. Africa, and S.W. Asia, and are found also in the British islands. They are known as Kelts, Iberians, Romans, Pelasgians and Semites. The Dravidians of India, the Veddahs {209}of Ceylon, and probably the Ainos of Japan and the Maoutze of China belong to the Caucasian stock. The ancient Egyptians, of whom the Kopts and the Fellahs of Egypt of to-day are the descendants, are pure _Melanochroi_. (_Flower._)

EXTINCT ANTHROPOIDEA.

As we have seen above (vol. i., p. 110) the earliest Lemuroids appeared in the Lower Eocene division of the Tertiary period in the New World, and in the Old World in its upper strata; they continued during the whole of the Eocene in the Western Hemisphere, and are last seen in the Lower Miocene of North America.

Fossil Apes, on the other hand, appear first in South America, in the Santa Cruz beds of Patagonia, in strata of Upper Eocene or Oligocene age. In the Old World they come on the scene only during the tropical ages of the Miocene epoch. When the middle and upper strata of the latter period were being deposited in Europe, Anthropoid Apes ranged from the Mediterranean shores to further north than the present northern limit of the Old World Apes.

In the Pliocene age _Anthropoidea_ were living in Southern Asia, around where the Sivalik hills now stand, and in Southern Europe, as at Pikermi and Samos, being represented almost entirely by species of still existing genera, and one living species--the Orang. Chimpanzees had already then become differentiated, and perhaps Man had even appeared, though the evidence is not sufficiently conclusive.

In the Pleistocene, remains of many still living species have been brought to light both in the New and the Old Worlds, and unmistakable osseous remains, as well as abundant evidences {210}of his handiwork, prove the existence of Man at that remote epoch.

FAMILY HAPALIDÆ (Vol. I., p. 129).

GENUS HAPALE (_op. cit._, p. 131).

Of this genus abundant remains of two species have been found in many of the Brazilian caverns of Pleistocene or recent age. These have been referred to two species: HAPALE GRANDIS (Lund), and the still-living H. JACCHUS (Linn.; cf. Vol. I., p. 132).

FAMILY CEBIDÆ (Vol. I., p. 150).

GENUS PROTOPITHECUS.

_Protopithecus_, Lund, Ann. Sc. Nat. (2), xi., p. 230 (1839); Zittel, Handb. Palæont., iv., p. 705 (1893).

This genus is founded on a very large leg-bone from the Pleistocene bone-caves of Brazil. The species has been described as PROTOPITHECUS BRASILIENSIS, Lund.

GENUS CALLITHRIX (Vol. I., p. 158).

Two species have been described from the Pleistocene bone-caves of Brazil: CALLITHRIX CHLOROCNOMYS, Lund, and C. PRIMÆVA, Lund (= _C. antiqua_, Lund).

GENUS ALOUATTA (Vol. I., p. 192).

Remains of one species, ALOUATTA URSINA (p. 149), has been discovered in the Pleistocene bone-caves of Brazil.

GENUS CEBUS (Vol. I., p. 204).

The Pleistocene bone-caverns of Brazil have preserved three species: one extinct, CEBUS MACROGNATHUS, Lund, and two still living, C. FATUELLUS, Linn., and C. CIRRIFER, Geoffr.

{211}GENUS HOMUNCULUS.

_Homunculus_, Ameghino, Rev. Argent. Hist. Nat., i., pp. 290, 384 (1891).

_Ecphantodon_, Mercenat, Rev. Mus. La Plata, ii., p. 74, pl. ii.; Zittel, Handb. Palæont., iv., p. 704 (1893).

The dental formula of this genus is I2/2, C1/1, P3/3, M3/3. The diastema, or break, in the dental series is very small; the incisors are chisel-shaped, the outer pair smaller than the inner pair. The canines, which have a small basal cusp behind, are only slightly prominent; the pre-molars have one root, and one low outer cusp, and two higher inner cusps. The molars are quadrangular, with two pairs of cusps, each united obliquely by a ridge; the anterior molar is smaller than the two hinder. The arm-bone (_humerus_) has an ent-epi-condylar foramen. (_Zittel._) The front surface of the line of union of the two halves of the lower jaw is vertical. The terminal joints of the digits have nails. The thumb and the great-toe are opposable. HOMUNCULUS PATAGONICUS, Ameghino (= _Ecphantodon ceboides_, Mercenat), the only known species, is found in the Upper Eocene or Oligocene of Santa Cruz, Patagonia.

GENUS ANTHROPOPS.

_Anthropops_, Ameghino, Rev. Arg. Nat. Hist., i., p. 387 (1891); Zittel, Handb. Palæont., iv., p. 704 (1893).

This genus is known from only a fragment of a lower jaw containing four small incisors, two strong canines, and anterior and median pre-molars, both one-rooted. One species, ANTHROPOPS PERFECTUS, Ameghino, from the older Tertiary (Upper Eocene or Oligocene) beds of Santa Cruz, Patagonia, is known.

Two genera, _Homocentrus_ (H. ARGENTINUS, Amegh.) and {212}_Eudiastus_ (E. LINGULATUS, Amegh.), described by Ameghino, from the Santa Cruz beds in Patagonia, are not yet sufficiently characterised.

FAMILY CERCOPITHECIDÆ (Vol. I., p. 248).

GENUS PAPIO (_suprà_, p. 253).

Several species of this still living genus have been recovered from strata of the Tertiary epoch: PAPIO SUB-HIMALAYANUS (Meyer), from the Sivalik hills, of Lower Pliocene age; P. FALCONERI (Lydekker), from the Pleistocene bone-caves of Madras, India, and in the superficial deposits of Algeria, North Africa; and P. ATLANTICUS (Thomas).

The Sivalik species was closely related to the existing North-African Baboons.

GENUS OREOPITHECUS.

_Oreopithecus_, Gervais, C. R., p. 1223, lxxiv. (1872); Ristori, Boll. Com. Geol. (3), i., pp. 178, 226, pls. vii., viii. (1890); Zittel, Handb. Palæont, iv., p. 705 (1893).

The characters which distinguish this genus are the incisors, which are chisel-shaped above and scoop-shaped below; the large upper and lower canine teeth; the upper pre-molars, which approach in shape to the molars, with the outer cusps higher than the inner, and the inner one strong; the upper molars with two pairs of opposite conical cusps, separated by a longitudinal furrow, and with a strong cingulum; the posterior upper molar smaller than the median; the lower molars smaller than the upper, with two pairs of cusps, and a fifth on their hind border, which in the hindmost tooth is developed into a strong talon. The face is short, and the chin rounded. OREOPITHECUS BAMBOLII, Gervais, is the best known species, and was obtained from the Mid-Miocene lignites of Monte Bamboli, {213}Casteani, and Monte Massi, in Tuscany. It has been placed by some Palæontologists among the _Simiidæ_, and by others in the _Cercopithecidæ_. According to Ristori, the under jaw shows its alliance with _Papio_ and _Cercopithecus_; while the upper jaw more resembles the Anthropoid Apes. It is the largest known fossil Ape, and is excelled in strength only by _Dryopithecus_, Zittel.

GENUS MACACUS (_suprà_, p. 1).

Species belonging to this still living genus, occurred in Asia and in Europe in the age--the Pliocene--which immediately preceded the Great Ice age, as well as in the Pleistocene epoch itself. MACACUS SIVALENSIS is the oldest fossil of the genus, and was described by Mr. Lydekker from the Sivalik beds of the Punjaub. M. PRISCUS is known from the Pliocene of Montpellier, in France; M. FLORENTINUS, Cocchi (the same as _Aulaxinuus florentinus_ of Cocchi, and _M. ausonianus_ of Forsyth Major), from the Upper Pliocene beds in the valley of the Arno. M. SUEVICUS (Hedinger), which has been described from a well-preserved palate-bone, having all the molar, and two of the pre-molar teeth present, was found at Heppenlochs, in Würtemberg. M. TRARENSIS (Pomel) is found in Algeria, in beds of the Ice age; while, in holes on the rock of Gibraltar, remains of the same species as is now living there--_M. inuus_--were discovered by Mr. Calderon in 1879. From another crevasse at Monstaines, in the Haute Garonne, M. Harlé obtained a fragment of a lower jaw of a species of _Macacus_, associated with the bones of Mammals of the Ice age. (_Zittel._) Of the same antiquity is a jaw found, according to Mr. Lydekker, near the village of Grays, in Essex, a fact which indicates a very great difference in the climate of that part of England from that of the present day.

{214}GENUS DOLICHOPITHECUS.

_Dolichopithecus_, Depéret, Mem. Soc. Geol. Fr., Palæont., i., p. 11 (1890); Zittel, Handb. Palæont., iv., p. 707 (1893).

Allied to _Semnopithecus_, but having the muzzle longer and the limbs shorter and stouter. The genus has been based on three crania, several teeth, and a number of the bones of the skeleton, belonging to the species DOLICHOPITHECUS RUSCINENSIS, Depéret, from the Pliocene strata of Perpignan, in France. (_Zittel._)

GENUS MESOPITHECUS.

_Mesopithecus_, Wagner, Abh. K. Bayer, Ak. (1) iii., p. 154; vii., abth., ii., p. 9; Zittel, Handb. Palæont., iv., p. 706 (1893).

This genus is based on a skull and teeth, which indicate an alliance with _Semnopithecus_, while the skeleton more resembles that of _Macacus Inuus_ (the Barbary Ape). The male had much longer and more powerful canines than the female. MESOPITHECUS PENTELICI, Wagner, the typical species, was founded on a fragment originally brought by a soldier in 1838 from Pikermi to Munich. Since then the whole skeleton has been recovered, and this is now one of the best-known species of the fossil _Anthropoidea_. It lived in Pliocene times, apparently in troops in the forests of the Pikermi plains, which at that date extended far into what is now the Mediterranean Sea. Remains of the same species have been discovered near Baltavar, in Hungary.

GENUS COLOBUS (_suprà_, p. 85).

In the Mid-Miocene forests of Europe this genus was represented by a species described by Professor Fraas as COLOBUS GRANDÆVUS, from Steinheim, in Würtemburg.

{215}GENUS SEMNOPITHECUS (_suprà_, p. 100).