304 Itlustratldns of the Manupeda, or 



as, for instance, the anthropomorphous race, which inchides 

 the several kinds of the true apes, baboons, monkeys, &c., as 

 contrasted with the lemurs. Each of these successive stages 

 has been called a genus, and the others, sections and subsec- 

 tions, subgenera, &c. 



Thus the genus Simia of Linnaeus comprehended all the 

 true Pithecatge [the ape or monkey race], with the Arctopithe- 

 catse [the Ouistitis], most judiciously (on account of its having 

 claws instead of nails, &c.) separated by Cuvier. The genus 

 Simia, even when the Ouistitis is removed, contains not only 

 the true Simiadse or Apes, but also the Papionidse or Baboons, 

 the true or lax-tailed Monkeys, the Howlers, or Monkeys with 

 prehensile tails, &c., all amalgamated together ; and each of 

 these kinds, when separated and respectively analysed, con-, 

 sists of several subsections: e.g., the Simiadae contains the 

 Mimetes or Chimpanzee, the Simia Satyrus or Orang Ootan, 

 the Gibbon, &c., and so of the others. Each of these subsec- 

 tions, which are the genera of GeofFroy, lUiger, and others, 

 •would in fact seem to be the true genera, containing one or 

 several species, and the species consisting of varieties as before 

 explained. 



Hence it becomes evident, that if all these successive stages 

 of alliance be called indifferently genera, subgenera, &c., need- 

 less intricacy must be the result ; therefore, as the group of 

 varieties is acknowledged to form a species, would it not be 

 better to call the group of genera a kind; the group of 

 kinds a race, and so on, — thus j)recluding that indeterminate 

 phraseology which is the bane of science ? Yet, to avoid mis- 

 conception, I must here advert to what has been already 

 hinted, and at another time must be more fully dwelt on, viz., 

 that all essential * characters, as they are called, can be but 

 relative ; and as new species and genera are discovered, or as 

 our knowledge of the old becomes more perfect, these charac- 

 ters, which are but conveniences, and invented solely to direct 

 the mind at once to the most important peculiarities, often 

 require to be modified ; the natural characters, which are too 

 tedious for general use, being the only true and permanent dis- 

 tinctive signs : examples of these series may be seen in the 



* Indicative is a better term. 



