THE ANIMAL, MAN (ANTHROPOLOGY) 



535 



have the most highly speciahzed feet of any vertebrate, and if whales 

 could express themselves, they would naturally claim first place for 

 the Cetacea, on account of their dominant size and extreme special- 

 ization. Thus are the advantages of literacy evident ! 



Primates include the arbo- 

 real lemurs, the curious hob- 

 goblin Tarsius, monkeys, apes, 

 and man. The greatest num- 

 ber of primate species are 

 lemurs, which first appeared 

 some three million years ago 

 in Eocene times. According 

 to Dr. D. G. Elliot, there are 

 eighty-three species living to- 

 day, mostly to be found in 

 the forests of Madagascar, as 

 well as many extinct species 

 known only by their fossil 

 remains. Living lemurs vary 

 in size from that of a mouse 

 to that of a cat, although the 

 largest known extinct repre- 

 sentative was as big as a 

 donkey. 



In habit the ghostly "wailing lemurs," which are practically con- 

 fined to tree-tops, are mostly agile night-prowlers that avoid trouble 

 by retirement during the daytime. Although their place is unmis- 

 takably among the primates, they exhibit certain anatomical features 

 of a non-primate character, such as a low type of brain, the absence 

 of a bony back wall to the orbits of the eyes, and a reminiscent claw 

 on the second toe of each hind foot, while on all the other digits the 

 claws are flattened out into primate nails. The remoteness of their 

 relationship to other primates is further indicated by the fact that 

 unlike other primates they have an ungulatelike placenta, possess 

 groin-nipples as well as breast-nipples, and habitually prockice several 

 young at a time. Of particular interest to the anthropologist is the 

 related genus of Tarsius, comprised of a half dozen species living in 

 Borneo and Java. Tarsnis is not much larger than a rat. It sits 

 up and takes notice with its enormous eyes directed straight in front, 

 an arrangement that is made possible by reason of the snout and jaws 

 H. w. H. — ■ 35 



\tu' York Zoological Suciely 



A tree-dwelling lemur. What different 

 uses for such a tail ? 



