From the American Journal of Science and Arts, Second Series, Vol. IX. 
A DESCRIPTION 
OF TWO ADDITIONAL 
CRANIA OF THE ENGE-ENA, 
(Troglodytes gorilla, Savage,) from Gaboon, Africa. 
BY 
JEFFRIES WYMAN, M.D. 
Read before the Boston Society of Natural History, Oct. 3d, 1849. 
The evidence now existing of a second and gigantic African 
species of man-like ape, as appears from published reports, con- 
sists of the following remains;—1. Four crania in the United 
States, two males and two females, of a large portion of a male 
skeleton, and of the pelvis and of some of the bones of a female. 
These were the first remains of this animal which had been 
brought to the notice of naturalists, and were described in the 
Boston Journal of Natural History.*—2. Three other crania sub- 
sequently discovered exist in England and have been made the 
subject of an elaborate memoir by Prof. Owen, in the Transactions 
of the Zoological Society of London.f—3. Quite recently, Dr. 
George A. Perkins, for many years an able and devoted laborer in 
the Missionary enterprise at Cape Palmas, W. Africa, has brought 
to the United States, two additional crania, one of which is depos- 
ited in the Museum of this Society, and the other in that of the 
* See Proceedings of the Boston Soc. Nat. Hist., Aug. 18, 1847; also a descrip- 
tion of characters and habits of Troglodytes gorilla, by Thomas S. Savage, M.l)., 
Corresp. Memb. Bost. Soc. Nat. Hist., and of the Osteology of the same by Jeffries 
Wyman, M.D., Boston Journ. Nat. Hist., Vol. v, p. 417, 1847. 
f Osteological Contributions to the Natural History of the Chimpanzees, (Troglo- 
dytes, Geoff.,) including the description of the skull of a large species, (71 gorilla, 
Savage,) discovered by Thomas S. Savage, M.D., in the Gaboon country, West Africa, 
by Prof. Owen, F.R.S., F.Z.S., <tc. Read Feb. 22, 1848. Trans. Zoolog. Society of 
London, VoL iii, p. 381, 1849. 2 
J. Wyman on the Enge-ena. 
Essex Institute in Salem. Both of these have been referred to 
me for the purposes of description, and it is the object of this com - 
munication to notice the more important anatomical features of 
this the largest of African Qriadrurnana, with regard to which 
additional information is desired. 
Cranium I. Male.—This belonged to an adult Enge-ena,* as is 
evident from the fact that the teeth are all perfectly developed 
yet not to an old one, as appears from the circumstances that the 
points of the molars are but very slightly worn, and the crests on 
the top of the head and occiput are but imperfectly formed. Its 
size as well as that of all the other crania of this species which 
have been measured, when compared with that of T. niger 
(Chimpanzee) and a well marked Negro head, may be learned 
from an inspection of the following table. 
Table I.—Measurements of the crania of T. gorilla, of T. niger and of the cranium 
of a native African in inches and tenths.—Nos. 2, 6, 7 and 8 are in inches and lines. 
Troglodytes gorilla. 
T. 
niger 
Man 
Mules. 
jFemales. 
Male 
Female. 
I. 
II. 
III. 
IV. 
v- 
VI. 
VII. 
VIII. 
IX. 
Length of head from occiput to ) 
edge of incisive alveolus, j 
11-2 
11-4 
11-0 102 
9-10 
90 
8-0 
7-9 
9-61 
Greatest breadth across post-audit- 
ory ridges, 
6-1 
610 
6-4 
59 
5-2 
56 
c’O 
4*6 
5-41 
Smallest diameter behind orbits, 
2-5 
3-3 
2-9 
2-7 
2-5 
2-4 
2-6 
28 
3-4 
Diameter of face across zygomatic ) 
arches, J 
65 
6-6 
7-0 
6-4 
5'5 
53 
5-0 
4-8 
6-7 
Diameter of face outside the middle [ 
of the orbits, J 
4'9 
6-0 
5-8 
5-7 
4-3 
4-8 
4-3 
4-0 
4‘9 
From occiput to most prominent ) 
7'3 
7-6 
6-5 
6 5 
61 
5-4 
53 
part of supra-orbitar ridge, ) 
From sup. orb. ridge to edge of in- [ 
cisive alveolus, J 
4-8 
•’ 
5-7 
60 
4-0 
4-4 
3-5' 
Breadth of zygomatic fossa, 
1-7 
1-8 
1'9 
1-8 
1-4 
1-5 
1-3 
1-H 
M 
Inter-orbitar space, 
11 
1-3 
12 
11 
10 
11 
0-8 
0-7 
1-2 
Tr ins verse diameter of orbits, 
1-5 
1-9 
1-8 
1-6 
1-4 
1-6 
1-5 
1-6 
1-6 
V ertical “ “ 
1-6 
1-7 
1-6 
1-6 
1-4 
1-7 
1-3 
1-3 
1*3| 
Length of bony palate from outer ) 
edge of incisive alveolus, f 
37 
41 
4-3 
3-4 
33 
l-7j 
From anterior edge of foramen ) 
magnum to outer edge of incisive y 
alveolus, ) 
7*2 
7-4 
3'5 
. . 
"I 
1 
(Crania I. and V. were the ones brought by Dr. Savage to this country—II, VI, 
VII. and VIII. are the crania described by Prof. Owen; III. and IV. are the crania 
which were obtained by Dr. Perkins—IX. the cranium of a Negro born in Africa in 
whom the characteristics of the race were well marked, and which belongs to the 
Cabinet of the Boston Soc. for Med. Improvement. See Catalogue of Society’s 
Cabinet, Specimen No. 61.) 
This cranium does not agree with that figured by Prof. Owen 
in his memoir (PI. lxi.) in the exclusion of the orbits from view 
* Prof. Owen designates T. gorilla as the “ Great Chimpanzee.” The Mpongwes 
(natives inhabiting the banks of the Gaboon) call this species the Enge-ena, a more 
desirable name, as the term Chimpanzee has been always associated with the black 
or smaller species. J. Wyman on the Enge-ena. 
3 
by the prominent malar bones when the skull is seen in profile, but 
as was the case in those discovered by Dr. Savage, the nasal bones 
are wholly, and the orbit in part brought into view. In none 
of them is it more excluded than in the first figures of our me- 
moir. The great ridges above the orbits, which are so widely de- 
veloped in T. are still more so in the present species, and 
in the specimen now under consideration sustain the former state- 
ments with regard to them. Prof. Owen remarks in connection 
with them, “the prominence of the whole supra-orbitar ridge 
reaches its maximum in the present species and forms the most 
marked distinction in the -comparison of its skull with that of 
man.” (Memoir, p. 4U5.) 
Sutures.—I have shown in a former communication from an 
examination of several crania of the Chimpanzee, that nearly all 
the sutures are completely obliterated early during the adult pe- 
riod.* From a careful examination of the six crania of the Enge- 
ena to which I have had access, there is every reason to believe that 
an early codsification takes place in them also. In the skull now 
tinder consideration, which it is to be remembered, has not long 
passed the adult period, the frontal, the sagittal, the coronal, the 
squamous portion of the temporal sutures, all those in the tempo- 
ral fossa as well as the transverse portion of the lambdoidal are 
no longer persistent. The crania which have been examined by 
Prof. Owen, or some of them at least, indicate an opposite state 
of things. To ascertain, therefore, the value of cranial sutures 
as specific signs, it is quite obvious, that a large number of crania 
of different ages must be critically examined. 
Inter-maxillaries —These bones so important as zoological in- 
dications are completely coossified with the maxillaries and with 
each other. No indication of a suture exists between them and 
the last mentioned bones either on the external surface below the 
nasal openings, or in the roof of the mouth. I was not able to 
find any indications of the ascending portion of the intermaxil- 
lary bone which articulates with the nasals, until led by Prof. 
Owen’s description to make a more careful search. Although 
externally there was no mark which would lead an anatomist to 
infer its existence, yet within the nasal cavity at a short distance 
from its margin, the edge of the process was easily detected, it 
not having become coossified in that region with the adjoining 
bone. 
The extension of the intermaxillary upwards as far as the ossa 
nasi, so as to form the lateral walls of the external nasal orifice, 
as was indicated in a specimen of Chimpanzee, examined by 
Prof. Owen, is still obvious in a young skull of the same species 
in my possession, where it reaches the nasals by a slender and 
* Boston Journal of Natural History, April, 1843. 4 
J. Wyman on the Enge-ena. 
pointed process. The enlargement of this process in the En- 
ge-ena,* so as to form an extensive articulation with the nasal 
bones, inasmuch as it is a repetition of what exists in the lower 
quadrumana and nearly all the mammalia, must be regarded as an 
index of degradation. 
Ossa Nasi.—Prof. Owen, in his memoirf on the Enge-ena, in 
speaking of the sutures between the nasal maxillary and inter- 
maxillary banes, says, “ it is remarkable indeed since these sutures 
remain so distinct in the adult female skull and the two adult 
male skulls, in the Bristol Museum, that no trace of them should 
have been detected in either of the four skulls taken to America 
by Dr. Savage, in which the ossa nasi are described as being 
firmly coossified with each other and the surrounding bones,” (the 
concluding words of the above sentence he does not quote, viz., 
“but their outline is sufficiently distinct.”) In the cranium 
brought by Dr. Perkins, the consolidation of these bones >s 
equally complete and their outline is but indistinctly traceable. 
In the crania formerly described, the ossa nasi form, on the 
median line, a sharp elevation or crest; in the specimen figured 
by Prof. Owen, (PI. lxii,) this is represented by a more rounded 
and convex ridge, “and thus offering a feature of approximation 
to the human structure which is very faintly indicated, if at all, 
in the skull of the T. nigerJ'X In the cranium now under con- 
sideration, when compared with the Plate above referred to, the 
convexity is still more remarkable, and will bear a more favorable 
comparison with the “bridge” of the nose in some of the human 
races. 
The expansion of the nasals above, where they are interposed 
between the frontals, as described by Prof. Owen, was overlook- 
ed in my former description, only very faint indications of sutures 
remaining. On a more careful examination, the outline of the 
portion of bone interposed between the orbitar process of the 
frontals is indistinctly traceable in the male skull discovered by 
Dr. Savage, and in both of the crania brought to this country by 
Dr. Perkins; and in all of them, on a line with the upper extrem- 
ity of the ascending process of the superior maxillary bone, at 
the point where the nasal bones become the most contracted, 
there exists an equally strong indication of a transverse suture, 
which separates the portion marked 15' in Prof. Owen’s figure 
from the true nasals, and equally distinct indications of this suture 
exist in his figure just referred to. Thus we have strong ground 
for the supposition that the part marked 15' by Prof. O. may not 
be the expanded portion of the nasals but an additional osseous 
element intercalated between the frontals. In this event my orig- 
* This is very distinctly shown in PI. lxii. of Prof. Owen’s Memoir, 
f Op. cit., p. 420. | Op. cit., p. 393. J. Wyman on the Enge-ena. 
5 
inal description of the ossa nasi, “as having a more triangular 
form than in the Chimpanzee, the apex being more acute,” still 
holds good. If, however, the bone referred to prove to be a por- 
tion of the nasals, we shall have in this another index of inferi- 
ority to the Chimpanzee, as it is a repetition of what is met with 
in the lower quadrumana. 
Teeth.—The molars alone remain, the incisors and canines 
having been lost. The length of the grinding surface of the 
molar teeth is 2-9 inches, the two rows being nearly parallel to 
each other. This is true of the alveoli, though the crowns 
slightly diverge from each other posteriorly in consequence of an 
inclination! outwards. Nearly all of the cusps of the teeth are 
perfect, those of the first molar being the most worn, as would 
naturally be expected, it being the first which is protruded. The 
inner cusps of this tooth are worn nearly to the base; the outer 
are but slightly abraded, and the same is the case with the inner 
cusps of the second molar; with these exceptions the points of 
the different crowns of the molars and premolars are entire. 
In comparing their grinding surface with that of the human 
jaw, one cannot but be struck with its greater extent, with the 
much greater development of the outer row of cusps, and the 
high ridge which on all three of the molars connects the outer 
row of cusps with the anterior inner cusp. In these respects as 
well as in having the third molar, or the “dens sapientise,” of 
equal size with the others, the Enge-ena recedes from the Chim- 
panzee and still farther from man. 
In the left upper jaw and on the level with the lower extremity 
or the pterygoid process, a supernumerary molar existed, still 
buried in its bony cavity, the roots not having as yet been de- 
veloped. In the configuration of its grinding surface it did not 
conform with either of the other teeth. 
Bony Palate.—By reference to the table of measurements, it 
will be seen that the space between the incisive alveoli and the 
edge of the hard palate is much greater proportionally than in 
the Chimpanzee. The median suture has disappeared and only 
slight indications remain of a former suture between the maxil- 
laries and the ossa palati. The emargination on the middle of 
the edge of the palate is much less distinct than in either of the 
other specimens which I have examined, or than in that figured 
by Prof. Owen. 
The Vomer has the same thin and delicate structure as in the 
other crania and does not meet the ossa palati at the posterior edge. 
Cranial capacity.—In studying the anatomical characters of 
this and the allied quadrumana with reference to their zoological 
position, nothing can be more desirable than to have accurate 
knowledge with regard to the structure and dimensions of the 
brain, for this may be regarded as one of the most important of all 6 
J. Wyman on the Enge-ena. 
the tests of elevation or degradation. The bodies of the adult an- 
thropoid animals so seldom fall into the hands of the anatomist, 
that it becomes extremely difficult to accumulate observations on 
the actual condition of this organ. In the comparative study of hu- 
man crania with reference to national peculiarities, much light has 
been derived from accurate measurements of their internal capacity. 
These may be readily obtained and form a very important sub- 
stitute for the actual dimensions of the brain itself. In the sub- 
joined tables I have given the results of the measurements of all 
the crania both of Enge-enas and Chimpanzees to which I have 
had access while writing these remarks, and as they have been 
repeated in each case several times over, they may be regarded as 
nearly accurate. The capacity of the third cranium is alone 
doubtful; a portion of the occiput having been destroyed, render- 
ed exact measurement impracticable, though it is believed that 
the result can differ but little from the truth. 
Table II.—Cranial capacity of adult Enge-enas. 
Cubic inches. 
I. Male from Dr. Perkins, . . . 34-5 
II. Male from Dr. Savage, . . . 28 3 
III. Male from Dr. Perkins, . . .280? 
IV. Female from Dr. Savage, . . 25 0 
Mean of the four crania, . . . 28'9£ 
Table III.—Cranial capacity of adult Chimpanzees. 
Cubic inches. 
I. Female, ...... 26-0 
II. Female, ..... 24-0 
III. Female, ...... 22 0 
Mean capacity of three skulls, . 24-0 
Cranial capacity of young Chimpanzees. 
IV. First dentition complete, . . .20 0 
V. First dentition complete but the sutures 
obliterated to a less extent than in the 
preceding, 18-0 
The above results clearly indicate that there exists a wide 
range in the cranial capacity of the Enge-enas, amounting to nine 
cubic inches, when both sexes are included in the observation. 
While it would be desirable to have the measurements of a much 
larger number, we still have evidence for concluding, that in the 
Enge-ena, as in man,* the capacity of the cranium of the male is 
* “ Although many female brains exceed in weight particular male brains, the gen- 
eral fact is sufficiently shown, that the adult male encephalon is heavier than that 
of the female, the average difference being from 5 to 6 oz.” From the examination 
of 278 male brains and of 191 females, “an average weight is deduced of oz. for 
the male and of 44 oz. for the female.” Quain and Sharpey’s, Quain’s Anatomy; 
edited by Joseph Leidv, M.D., vol ii, p. 185. Philadelphia, 1849. J. Wyman on the Enge-ena. 
7 
larger than that of the female; the smallest male skull of the 
Enge-ena measuring twenty-eight cubic inches, and the female 
only twenty-five cubic inches. 
In Table III, the three adults are females, and it is quite 
worthy of notice, that the internal capacity of these differs so 
little from that of the female Enge-ena, while at the same time 
the body of the Chimpanzee is so much smaller than that of the 
other species. By comparing the measurements given of the cor- 
responding portions of the skeleton of the Enge-ena and Chim- 
panzee, it will be seen that a much wider difference exists be- 
tween them, than exists between the dimensions of their respec- 
tive brains.* 
It is interesting to contrast the measurements of the cranial 
capacity of these members of the Quadrumanous group with that 
of some of the more prominent of the human races. The fol- 
lowing table which is extracted from the general summary of the 
measurements of a vast number of crania, by Dr. S. G. Morton 
of Philadelphia, gives in cubic inches the average cranial capacity 
of the different races or groups there mentioned.! 
Table IV. 
Races. 
No. of 
skulls 
measured. 
Largest 
capacity. 
Smallest 
capacity. 
Mean. 
Mean. 
Teutonic Race of Caucasians. 
Germans, 
18 
114 
70 
90 
) J 
English, 
5 
105 
91 
96 
[ 9GtJl_ 
Anglo-Americans, 
7 
91 
82 
90 
) 1 
Malay Group. 
Malayan family 
20 
91 
68 
86 
\ 85 
Polynesian family, 
3 
84 
82 
83 
American Group. 
Toltecan Family. 
Peruvians, 
155 
101 
58 
75 
l ft ft 
Mexicans, 
92 
67 
Barbarous Tribes, 
ifjtt 
104 
70 
8A 
Negro Group. 
U 
i 
Native African Family, 
62 
99 
65 
83 
Hottentots, 
3 
83 
68 
75 
Australians, 
8 
83 
63 
75 
These results are derived from a table which Dr. Morton has 
based upon the actual measurements of over 600 skulls. The 
smallest mean capacity is that derived from the Hottentots and 
Australians, which equals only seventy-five cubic inches, while 
that of the Teutonic races amounts to ninetvcubic inches. The 
maximum capacity of the Enge-ena, is therefore considerably less 
than one half of the mean of the Hottentots and Australians, 
who give us the minimum average for the human races. 
* See Table of comparative measurements. Boston Journal of Natural History, 
vol. v, p. 417. 
f Catalogue of Skulls of Man and the Inferior animals in the collection of Samuel 
George Morton, M.D., &c. 3d edition. Philadelphia, 1849. 8 
J. Wyman on the Enge-ena. 
Cranium II. Male.—This cranium belonged to an individual 
much older than the one described in the preceding pages, the 
inner row of cusps of all the molars having been worn to their 
bases. The same obliteration of the sutures had taken place, the 
malar bones are more tumid, rendering the edge of the lower and 
outer part of the orbit more rounded. The floor of the nasal 
orifice slopes gradually from the anterior extremity of the vomer 
to the edge of the incisive alveoli, and presenting a groove on 
the median line. In man, the intermaxillary bones form a pro- 
jecting ridge on the median line both in and below the nasal ori- 
fice and at the middle of the border of this opening form the pro- 
jecting “ nasal spine,” which is not met with in any of the lower 
animals, and is therefore an anatomical character peculiar to man. 
With regard to this conformation of the intermaxillary bones, the 
Enge-ena recedes farther from man than the Chimpanzee. Two 
infra orbitar foramina exist on each side. The crests are not so 
well developed as in the cranium just described. The occiput 
having been in part destroyed, the cavity of the cranium is com- 
pletely exposed. A groove for the lodgment of the longitudinal 
sinus is well defined; “digital impressions,” formed by the cere- 
bral convolutions, exist, but not well marked, the crista galli is 
merely rudimentary and is represented by a very slight median 
ridge, the olfactory fossa is quite deep, the cribriform plate being 
on a level with the middle of the orbit. About five parallel 
groves for the lodgment of the branches of the dura matral ar- 
tery exist on each side. 
With the knowledge of the anthropoid animals of Asia and 
Africa which now exist, derived from the critical examinations of 
their osteology, their dentition, and the comparative size of their 
brains by various observers, especially Geoffroy, Tiedemann, Vro- 
lik, Cuvier, and Owen, it becomes quite easy to measure with an 
approximation to accuracy, the hiatus which separates them from 
the lowest of the human race. The existence of four hands in- 
stead of two, the inability to stand erect, consequent on the struc- 
ture of a skeleton adapted almost exclusively to an arboreal life, 
the excessive length of the arms, the comparatively short and 
permanently flexed legs, the protruding face, the position of the 
occipital condyles in the posterior third of the base of the skull 
and the consequent preponderance of the head forwards, the 
small comparative size of the brain, the largely developed ca- 
nines, the interval between these last and the incisors, the three 
roots to the bicuspid teeth, the laryngeal pouches, the elongated 
pelvis and its larger antero-posterior diameter, the flattened and 
pointed coccyx, the small glutaei, the smaller size of the lower 
compared with the upper portion of the vertebral column, the 
Zoological position of the Enge-ena. J. Wyman on the Enge-ena. 
9 
long and straight spinous processes of the neck, these and many 
other subordinate characters, are peculiarities of the anthropoid 
animals, and constitute a wide gap between these and the most 
degraded of the human races, so wide that the greatest difference 
between these last and the noblest specimen of a Caucasian is 
inconsiderable in comparison. 
Whilst it is thus easy to demonstrate the wide separation be- 
tween the anthropoid and the human races, to assign a true posi- 
tion to the former among themselves is a more difficult task. Mr. 
Owen in his earlier memoir, regarded the T. niger as making the 
nearest approach to man, but the more recently discovered T. 
gorilla, he is now induced to believe approaches still nearer, and 
regards it as “ the most anthropoid of the known brutes.”* This 
inference is derived from the study of crania alone, without any 
reference to the rest of the skeleton. 
After a careful examination of the memoir just referred to, I 
am forced to the conclusion, that the preponderance of evidence 
is unequivocally opposed to the opinion there recorded ; and after 
placing side by side the different anatomical peculiarities of the 
two species, there seems to be no alternative but to regard the 
Chimpanzee as holding the highest place in the brute creation. 
The more anthropoid characters of the T. gorilla which are re- 
referred to by Prof. O., are the following. 
1. “ The coalesced central margins of the nasals are projected 
forwards, thus offering a feature of approximation to the hu- 
man structure, which is very faintly indicated, if at all in T. 
niger.”f This statement is applicable to all the crania which I 
have seen, and especially to the two crania described in this pa- 
per. Nevertheless the extension of the nasals between the fron- 
tals, or the existence of an additional osseous element, is a mark 
of greater deviation from man. 
2. “ The inferior or alveolar part of the premaxillaries, on the 
other hand, is shorter and less prominent in T. gorilla than in 
T. niger, and in that respect the larger species deviates less from 
man.”}; The statement in the first portion of this sentence is 
certainly correct, but a question may be fairly raised on that in 
the second. The lower portion of the nasal opening in the En- 
ge-ena is so much depressed, especially in the median line, that 
the intermaxillary bone becomes almost horizontal, and the slop- 
ing of the alveolar portion takes place so gradually that it is difficult 
to determine where the latter commences and the nasal opening 
terminates, and in this respect it deviates much farther from man 
than T. niger. 
3. “The next character which is also a more anthropoid one, 
though explicable in relation to the greater weight of the skull 
* Op. cit., vol. iii, p. 414. 
f p. 393. 
X p. 393. 10 
J. Wyman on the Enge-ena. 
to be poised on the alias, is the greater prominence of the mas- 
toid processes in the T. gorilla, which are represented only by a 
rough ridge in the T. niger 
4. The ridge which extends from the ecto-pterygoid along the 
inner border of the foramen ovale, terminates in T. gorilla by 
an angle or process answering to that called “styliform” or “spi- 
nous” in man, but of which there is no trace in T. niger.\ 
5. “ The palate is narrower in proportion to the length in the 
T. gorilla, but the premaxillary portion is relatively longer in 
T. niger. 
These constitute the most important if not the only characters 
given in Prof. Owen’s memoir, which would seem to indicate 
that the Enge-ena is more anthropoid than the Chimpanzee, and 
some of these it is seen must be received with some qualification. 
If on the other hand we enumerate those conditions in which 
the Enge-ena recedes farther from the human type than the Chim- 
panzee, they will be found far more numerous, and by no means 
less important. The larger ridge over the eyes and the crest on 
the top of the head and occiput, with the corresponding develop- 
ment of the temporal muscles, form the most striking features. 
The intermaxillary bones articulating with the nasals, as in the 
other Qaiadrumana and most brutes, the expanded portion of the 
nasals between the frontals,—or an additional osseous element 
if this prove an independent bone,—the vertically broader and 
more arched zygomata, contrasting with the more slender and 
horizontal ones of the Chimpanzee, the more quadrate foramen 
lacerum of the orbit, the less perfect infra-orbitar canal, the orbits 
less distinctly defined, the larger and more tumid cheek bones, 
the more quadrangular.nrifice with its depressed floor, the greater 
length of the ossa palati, the more widely expanded tympanic 
cells, extending not only to the mastoid process, but to the squa- 
mous portion of the temporal bones, these would of themselves 
be sufficient to counterbalance all the anatomical characters stated 
by Prof. Owen in support of the more anthropoid character of the 
Enge-ena. 
When, however, we add to them the more quadrate outline of 
the upper jaws, the existence of much larger and more deeply 
grooved canines, molars with cusps on the outer side longer and 
more sharply pointed, the dentes sapientiae of equal size with the 
other molars, the prominent ridge between the outer posterior, 
and the anterior inner cusps, the absence of a crista-galli, a 
cranial cavity almost wholly behind the orbits of the eyes, the 
less perfectly marked depressions for the cerebral convolutions, 
and above all, the small cranial capacity in proportion to the size 
of the body, no reasonable ground for doubt remains, that the 
Enge-ena occupies a lower position and consequently recedes fur- 
ther from man than the Chimpanzee. 
* Op. cit., p. 394. 
f p. 395. 
X p- 395. J. Wyman on the Enge-ena. 
11 
It does not appear that any other bones of the skeleton have as 
yet fallen into the hands of any European naturalist. A descrip- 
tion of some of the more important of them will be found in the 
memoir above referred to,* in which it will be seen that there are 
two anthropoid features of some importance, which go to support 
the view advanced by Prof. Owen, and these are the comparative 
length of the humerus and ulna, the former being seventeen and 
the latter only fourteen inches, and in the proportions of the pel- 
vis. This last is of gigantic size, and is a little shorter in pro- 
portion to its breadth than in T. uiger. 
Whiie the proportions of the humerus and the ulna are more 
nearly human than in the Chimpanzee, those of the humerus and 
femur recede much farther from the human proportions than they 
do in the Chimpanzee, as will be seen by the following meas- 
urements : 
Man, 
Chimpanzee, . 
Enge-ena, 
Humerus. 
150 
Femur. 
18-5 
10-9 
110 
170 
140 
Thus in man the femur is three inches longer than the hume- 
rus, in the Chimpanzee, these bones are nearly of the same length, 
and in the Enge-ena the humerus is three inches longer than the 
femur, indicating on the part of the Enge-ena a less perfect adapt- 
ation to locomotion in the erect position than in the Chimpanzee. 
Description of a canine tooth of a male En- 
ge-ena.—In only one of the crania of the male 
Enge-enas which I have seen were the canines 
remaining; and these were so much abraded 
that they had lost to a great extent, their natural 
outline, and consequently their most striking 
and distinctive marks. In the females, as in 
the Chimpanzee and the Qmadrumana, gen- 
erally the canines are much less elongated 
than in the males. Among the bones first 
sent to this country by Dr. Savage, was the 
canine tooth represented in the annexed fig- 
ure, which I was not able to identify, until an 
opportunity occurred of comparing it with Prof. 
Owen’s descriptions of more perfect teeth. 
The crown is laterally compressed, the poste- 
rior edge being trenchant and its base provided 
with a prominent tubercle, which is doubtless 
rendered more conspicuous by the wearing of 
the edge beneath it. On its inner surface the 
crown is impressed with two strongly marked 
grooves, which extend from the base nearly to 
Canine tooth of the En- 
ge-ena—natural size. 
* Boston Journal of Nat. History, vol. v, p. 417. 12 
J. Wyman on the Enge-ena. 
its apex; and include between them a prominent rounded ridge. 
The following table gives the comparative measurements of two 
canines from the upper jaw of the Enge-ena, and one from that 
of the Chimpanzee. The figures in the first column relate to 
the tooth described above ; those in the second and third to the 
measurements given by Prof. Owen,# the measurements being in 
inches and lines. 
Length, 
T. gorilla. 
2-8 
2-8 . 
T. niger. 
. v 20 
Length of crown, 
1-3J 
1-3 . 
r-frl 
o 
r-H 
© 
Breadth of base, 
10 
010 . 
07 
Thickness of do. 
0-7i 
0-7£ . 
0-5£ 
The following note from Dr. G. A. Perkins to the author, dated 
Salem, Oct. 15, 1849, confirms the statements made by Dr. Sav- 
age, in his description of the habits of the Enge-ena, as to its fe- 
rocity and the fact of its attacking human beings. 
“ The two crania were received from a person on board a ves- 
sel trading in the Gaboon and Danger Rivers, W. Africa. They 
were obtained from the natives on the banks of the latter, by 
whom they had been preserved as trophies. From the gentle- 
man who gave them to me, I learned that the killing of one of 
these animals was by no means a common occurrence. He de- 
scribes the animal as being remarkably ferocious, even attacking 
the natives when found alone in the forests, and in one instance 
which fell under his observation, horribly mutilating a man who 
was out in the woods felling trees to burn. His shouts brought 
to his aid several other natives, who after a severe contest, suc- 
ceeded in killing the Enge-ena. The man was afterwards in the 
habit of exhibiting himself to foreigners who visited the river 
and of receiving charity from them.” 
* Trans. Zoolog. Soc. London, voL iii, p. 395.