MAMMALIA — APES. f>7 



this is not found to be the case : and though the family of apes have, like 

 man, their anterior hands free, and their thumbs opposable, though in a less 

 degree, yet it is not found that their sagacity is superior or even equal to 

 that of some other tribes of mammiferous animals. The structure of their 

 body indeed enables them to perform many movements similar to those 

 of man ; but these, when they approach the usages of the human race, are 

 in general the effect of mere education or imitation, in individuals with- 

 drawn from their kind. Possessed of hands at both extremities, capable, 

 were they directed by intelligence, of turning the soil or the inhabitants of 

 the forests to their use, they are inferior in sagacity to the beaver and many 

 other animals which live in society. The social instinct of the apes, indeed, 

 seems limited to the tendency which frugivorous animals have in general 

 to live in wandering troops, for the purposes of mutual protection. 



The whole structure of apes marks them as essentially formed for climb- 

 ing trees, and it is in forests, accordingly, that they are chiefly found. Their 

 gait on the ground, and on all fours, as quadrupeds, is awkward and by 

 leaps ; and their head not being placed in equilibrium on the spine as in 

 man, their pelvis being small, and the muscles of the thigh being attached 

 lower in the leg, prevents their assuming the erect posture. Their very 

 long arms and hands at both extremities, are, on the contrary, admirably 

 calculated for their mode of life. 



The apes are lively, petulant, and extremely lascivious. They possess 

 the talent of imitation to a great degree, and have the ancient generic 

 denomination of Simice, from Simulare, to imitate. Condamine and Bou- 

 guer, when making their observations, in South America, on the figure of 

 the earth, were annoyed by domesticated apes, looking through their tele- 

 scopes, planting signals, running to the pendulum, taking the pen to write, 

 and imitating all the actions of these learned astronomers. Their intelli- 

 gence is not, however, greater than that of the dog, though their imitative 

 actions appear advantageously from their particular conformation. Their 

 senses of touch, of smell, and of taste, are particularly acute, and seem to 

 direct all their appetites, which are sensual and gross in almost all the 

 species. 



Apes bring forth one or two young at a birth, after a gestation of from 

 five to seven months, according to the species. The females carry their 

 young in their arms or upon their backs, offer them suck, amuse them, and 

 sometimes strike or bite them, when they are dissatisfied. Among the 

 Sapajous, or American apes with prehensile tails, the young seat themselves 

 upon the haunches of the mother, preserving their equilibrium by their 

 tail. The males are polygamous in the smaller species, but often monoga- 

 mous in the largest. Their geographical range is extremely limited, anr 

 they are only found under the tropics in both hemispheres. 



