198 THE DESCENT OF MAN. Part I. 



evolution, will grant that the two main divisions of the 

 Simiadse, namely the Catarhine and Platyrhine mon- 

 keys, with their sub-groups, have all proceeded from 

 some one extremely ancient progenitor. The early 

 descendants of this progenitor, before they had diverged 

 to any considerable extent from each other, would still 

 have formed a single natural group ; but some of the 

 species or incipient genera would have already begun 

 to indicate by their diverging characters the future 

 distinctive marks of the Catarhine and Platyrhine divi- 

 sions. Hence the members of this supposed ancient 

 group would not have been so uniform in their dentition 

 or in the structure of their nostrils, as are the existing 

 Catarhine monkeys in one way and the Platyrhines in 

 another way, but would have resembled in this respect 

 the allied Lemuridse which differ ^reatlv from each 

 other in the form of their muzzles, 14 and to an extra- 

 ordinary degree in their dentition. 



The Catarhine and Platyrhine monkeys agree in 

 a multitude of characters, as is shewn by their unques- 

 tionably belonging to one and the same Order. The 

 many characters which they possess in common can 

 hardly have been independently acquired by so many 

 distinct species; so that these characters must have 

 been inherited. But an ancient form which possessed 

 many characters common to the Catarhine and Platy- 

 rhine monkeys, and others in an intermediate condition, 

 and some few perhaps distinct from those now present 

 in either group, w r ould undoubtedly have been ranked, 

 if seen by a naturalist, as an aue or monkey. And as 

 man under a genealogical puint of view belongs to the 

 Catarhine or Old World stock, we must conclude, how- 



14 Messrs. Murie and Mivart on the Lenmroidea, 'Transact. Zoolug. 

 Soc.' vol. vii. 1869, p. 5. 



