22 THE DESCENT OF THE PRIMATES 



ther away from the landmarks of observable 

 facts to which we have up to now held fast most 

 conscientiously. Firstly, then, I would call your 

 attention to the probability that man and the 

 anthropoid apes may be only more distantly 

 allied to the non-anthropoid old-world monkeys, 

 at all events less closely than is at present gener- 

 ally admitted. In respect to details of denti- 

 tion Anaptomorphus points rather to the An- 

 thropoidea than to the Catarhine monkeys. So 

 does Homunculus patagonicus, one of Ameghino's 

 fossil Cebidae, whose dentition, to quote Osborn's 

 words, is "as advanced in reduction as that of 

 man." Secondly, certain Insectivora seem to 

 realize the archetype of the placentation of man 

 and the anthropoids, whereas the placentation 

 of the old-world monkeys, as far as it is known, 

 would more easily compare to what we find in 

 Tarsius, there being no decidua reflexa, which is 

 so essential for the formation of that very 

 peculiar type of discoid placenta that is com- 

 mon to Erinaceus, the Anthropomorpha^ and 

 Man. 



On these grounds I would not feel justified 

 in contradicting a hypothetical view, if one of 

 you might be found willing to propound it, 

 according to which a direct ancestor of the 



