260 



VERTEBRATA. 



Order XV. BIMANA. (Man.) 

 ERECTI. ANTHROPJD^;. HOMINID^E. ARCHENCEPHALA. 



Hallux not opposable to the digits ; all the nails broad and 

 flat. Teeth even, contiguous. Skin not covered with hair. 

 Walks erect. 



It would perhaps be more in accordance with modern views to 

 place man as a " family " in the preceding order, seeing that he 

 is morphologically nearer to the higher apes than the higher apes 

 are to the lemurs. Yet, when it is considered that he alone is 

 endowed with the power of improvable reason and of articulate 

 speech, and that " he is the only earthly being of practically un- 

 limited power," it may be a question whether such differences do 

 not warrant giving to him a higher taxonomic rank. Glaus, 

 indeed, places him at the end of his work as "Der Mensch," 

 without consigning him to any order or family, like the rest of 

 the animal kingdom ; and Sehmarda omits him altogether. But , 

 no one can fail to draw " a very sharp line between man and the 

 ape," and few " are disposed to underrate the enormous gap which 

 separates man from the brutes." 



