MONOTONY OF ANTHROPOIDEA 



and not so much as contrasting with the lower lying 

 Lemuroidea. It is a noteworthy fact about the monkey 

 tribe that, numerous and widespread as are its repre- 

 sentatives, there are but slight variations from one easily 

 definable type. There is no creature belonging to this 

 assemblage that is not at once referable to its proper 

 place in the system by the least experienced of those 

 accustomed to observe. 



The singularly monotonous type of structure preva- 

 lent in the Anthropoidea contrasts with the diversity 

 shown by the Carnivora, the Ungulata, the Rodentia, 

 the Marsupials, and indeed nearly all the orders and 

 groups of the mammalia, including even the lemurs, 

 the second sub-order of the Primates. This may be 

 associated with an equal uniformity in way of life. 

 Monkeys are essentially a climbing race, and are vege- 

 tarians tempered by slightly carnivorous habits. It 

 may also be associated with a high position in the series 

 of mammals. Those orders which come nearer to the 

 base of the series, which are, therefore, nearer to the 

 primitive mammal, have clearly greater capacities for 

 variation than the thinnest topmost twigs of the 

 mammalian tree of life, whose characters are, therefore, 

 more fixed. This suggestion may be both checked and 

 enforced by the consideration that monkeys are a 

 modern race, and that, may be, they have not yet had 

 time to throw out feelers in various directions, some 

 destined to produce a new race of descendants, others 

 more comparable to sterile side branches. Uniform 

 though the internal as well as external anatomy of the 

 monkey tribe is, it is yet possible to sort them out into 

 three divisions, which can be detected by internal as 

 well as external characters, or sometimes by the former 

 only. 



Broadly speaking, the mammalian inhabitants of 

 South America differ from much their nearest allies 



22 



