22 QUADRUMANA. 



seems fatal to most species, and the poor beast dies of consumption. A 

 sick ape is a sight to move the hardest heart. All his merry tricks are 

 gone ; he sits sad and sorrowful, looking piteously at the faces of his 

 sympathizing visitors. The nearer he approaches his end the gentler he 

 becomes. All the brute seems to leave him ; a higher spirit seems to 

 shine out. He is grateful for every attention, soon recognizes the physi- 

 cian as his benefactor, takes his medicine willingly, and without reluc- 

 tance submits to surgical operations. 



In their native country the apes are more destructive than useful. 

 Some tribes of savages eat their flesh and make their skins into leather, 

 but they do not minister in any other way to the wants of man. 



The above general description is drawn, of course, from observation 

 of the best known species, and due allowance must be made in many 

 cases for the exaggeration of travelers, and in many cases for our 

 ignorance. 



The QuADRUMANA are divided by many writers into three sections, 

 which are separated from each other by their geographical position 

 and their anatomical peculiarities. The basis of this classification is the 

 animal's face, or rather its nose. The first section contains the Catarrhini 

 or " the straight-nosed," the second the PlatyrrJiini or " flat-nosed " apes, 

 the third the Strcpsirrliini or " twisted-nosed " Lemurida;. 



The Catarrhini have the same dental formula (see p. 8) as man, have 

 either no tail or a non-prehensile one, and the thumbs of all the feet are 

 truly opposable. They all belong, with one trifling exception, to Asia 

 and Africa, and include the Anthropoid or " man-like " apes. 



