Volume 2, Plate IV / Mammalia (Mammals)

Siamang

Hylobates syndactyla

Discovered in Sumatra and abundant near Bencoolen, this jet-black ape stands about three feet high, its long, soft, shining hair forming a shaggy fleece, with a flat depressed nose, prominent orbital margin, and the first two toes united. A large guttural sack swells the throat during its concerted howling at daybreak and twilight, when bands resound through the forests; otherwise sluggish and timid, mothers show remarkable devotion in tending and washing their young.