"In some species of Shrews (Sorex) and in some field-mice (Arvicola), the Rev. L. Jenyns (Ann. Nat. Hist., vol. vii. pp. 267, 272) found the proportional length of the intestinal canal to vary considerably. He found the same variability in the number of the caudal vertebræ. In three specimens of an Arvicola he found the gall-bladder having a very different degree of development, and there is reason to believe it is sometimes absent. Professor Owen has shown that this is the case with the gall-bladder of the giraffe."
Dr. Crisp (Proc. Zool. Soc., 1862, p. 137) found the gall-bladder present in some specimens of Cervus superciliaris while absent in others; and he found it to be absent in three giraffes which he dissected. A double gall-bladder was found in a sheep, and in a small mammal preserved in the Hunterian Museum there are three distinct gall-bladders.
The length of the alimentary canal varies greatly. In three adult giraffes described by Professor Owen it was from 124 to 136 feet long; one dissected in France had this canal 211 feet long; while Dr. Crisp measured one of the extraordinary length of 254 feet, and similar variations are recorded in other animals.[1]
The number of ribs varies in many animals. Mr. St. George Mivart says: "In the highest forms of the Primates, the number of true ribs is seven, but in Hylobates there are sometimes eight pairs. In Semnopithecus and Colobus there are generally seven, but sometimes eight pairs of true ribs. In the Cebidæ there are generally seven or eight pairs, but in Ateles sometimes nine" (Proc. Zool. Soc., 1865, p. 568). In the same paper it is stated that the number of dorsal vertebræ in man is normally twelve, very rarely thirteen. In the Chimpanzee there are normally thirteen dorsal vertebræ, but occasionally there are fourteen or only twelve.
Variations in the Skull.
Among the nine adult male Orang-utans, collected by myself in Borneo, the skulls differed remarkably in size and proportions. The orbits varied in width and height, the cranial ridge was either single or double, either much or little developed, and the zygomatic aperture varied considerably in
- ↑ Proc. Zool. Soc., 1864, p64.
