2 ON THE LEMURIDjE; OR, 



It is with the Lemuridse that we are at present concerned ; and our object in 

 the introduction of the preceding sketch, is to shew the relative situation of the 

 family, with regard to the groups around it. Agreeing with the old world Simise, 

 in the possession of true hands, and hand-like feet, it differs from them mate- 

 rially in the character of dentition, a point to which we shall more fully revert 

 hereafter. While, however, the quadrumanous structure of the limbs, on the 

 one hand, approximates the Lemurs to the Simise of the old world, the dental cha- 

 racters of the pedimanous Simice of the new world throws them, in turn, into 

 the closest affinity with the quadrumanous Simise, an affinity strengthened by a 

 general coincidence of anatomical structure, and of habits and instincts. What 

 the Lemurs are to the old world monkeys, that the ~Didelphid<B are to the mon- 

 keys of the new world, and, in this sense, the Lemuridce and the Didelphidce, 

 are the analogues of each other. Setting aside that singular and imperfectly- 

 understood animal, the Cheiromys (of which the only specimen in Europe is 

 that in the Paris museum), an anomalous creature approaching in some cha- 

 racters the Pedimana, in others the rodents, and apparently constituting a new 

 type in the organization of the mammiferous kingdom — let us attempt a brief 

 analysis of the Quadrumana and Pedimana, as arranged by Mr. Ogilby, in 

 order to clear up the subject before us. 



In the first place, then, the Simi& of the old world have anthropoid teeth ; 

 that is, the general and outstanding characters of their dentition are such as 

 obtain in the dentition of man ; and they have opposable thumbs, both on the 

 hands and on the feet. To this rule there is, however, a very remarkable ex- 

 ception; the genus Colobus, peculiar to Africa, is destitute of an externally 

 developed thumb, and in this respect it agrees with the genus Ateles (Spider- 

 monkeys) of South America. But it may be further observed, that in none of 

 the old world Simice is the thumb, opposable as it may be, developed as we see 

 it in the human hand. Indeed, in the Indian Orang (Pithecus Satyrus) it is 

 very short, and, unless the fingers be bent down to meet it, cannot be used as 

 their opponent. It is also short in the genus Semnopithcus, but is most developed, 

 as far as our personal observations go, in the Baboons (CynocephalusJ of Africa. 

 If we turn from the old world Simice, to those of the New, we find that, while 

 yet retaining the anthropoid teeth, the thumbs are not at all opposable to the 

 fingers ; they are, where present, invariably on the same plane. The feet have 

 toes, as in the Simice of Asia and Africa, in which latter group, indeed, the hind 

 thumbs, are more truly such, than are the analagous parts in the hands. In the 

 Simice of the old world, the tail is often wanting, often short, and never prehensile. 

 But, per contra, as if to atone , for the imperfection of the thumb, the tail in the 

 pedimanous Simice is very frequently an admirable organ of prehension, as in 

 the thumb-less Spider-monkeys, serving the purpose of an additional limb ; or it 

 is semi-prehensile, as in the Squirrel-monkey ; while in others it is long and bushy. 



