TARSIUS SPECTRUM 93 



ious lines and yvt he retains with man a host ot those astonishingly primitive 

 features that plaee this odd eouple at the base of the primate stem. He lingers 

 today a specialized primitive primate nearer akin to man than any other ani- 

 mal known to the zoologist. Tarsius dates right back in the form of Aitapto- 

 morpbus to the base of the Eocene period and at that astonishingly early 

 epoch he had ah-eady gained his own peculiar specializations. His companion 

 in primitiveness — homo — has his own specialization." 



The paleontological evidence reviewed by Professor Gregory seems 

 to be against Wood-Jones' view that the existing tarsius is the nearest living 

 relative of man. "Tarsius may well parallel the human condition in construc- 

 tion of the placenta and in a few other points noted by Wood-Jones, but its 

 relationships to man arc plainly very indirect and must be traced backward 

 along gradually converging lines to the primitive Tarsioid stocks which gave 

 rise at different times and at different places to the higher groups of Tarsius. " 



"Neither tarsius itself nor its own Eocene relatives mentioned above 

 appear to be directly ancestral either to the platyrrhirie or to the catanhine 

 divisions of the Anthropoidea. Nevertheless, tarsius parallels the higher 

 primates in so many characters of the brain, skull, reproductive organs and 

 other parts that a very remote common ancestry of the three suborders seems 

 highly probable." 



Measurements of Tarsius 

 The average measurements of tarsius are: 



Body length 14Q mm. 



Tail 208 mm. 



Head length 40 mm. 



Head breadth 32 mm. 



Upper extremity 109 mm. 



Lower extremity 177 mm. 



Total weight 923 gms. 



