NATURAL HISTORY. 



With monkey's ingenuity, 



That love to practise what they see." BUTLKE. 



171. In audition to this distinguishing feature, the canine teeth of monkeys are 

 longer than those of man; while the bones of the pelvis are too narrow to 

 continually support their bodies in an erect position. 



Mr. Partington regards it as incorrect to call the extremities of monkeys 

 " hands ; " they are, he says, properly paws. All the paws consist of four fingers 

 and a thumb. The latter member is, however, very small, sometimes without a 

 nail, and cannot, in all the species, be said to perform the functions of a true 

 thumb, but often more resembles the callous pad which forms a point of resistance 

 against the fingers in several other climbing animals. The anterior extremities are 

 long, but mueh longer in some of the species than' in others ; tne fingers are also 

 long, the bones of some of the phalanges are often curved towards the palms, and 

 the muscular power in grasping and pulling is much greater than, from the size of 

 the animal or of the parts, one would be led to suppose. Similar grasping powers, 

 in proportion to their size, are, however, common to all the quadrumana, and to all 

 climbing animals. 



172. What is the difference between apes, baboons, and monkeys? 



Apes are such as are destitute of tails ; Baboons have muscular 

 bodies, elongated muzzles, and their tails are usually short : 



Monkeys are those whose 

 tails are in general long, 

 some of them, the Sapagos, 

 having prehensile tails, which 

 can at pleasure be twisted 

 around any object, and there- 

 by, in many instances, answer 

 the purpose of an additional 

 hand. 



173. Why ah monkeys 

 divided into two principal 

 subgenera, " the monkeys of 

 the old world" and the 

 " monkeys of the new world ?" 



Because of a remarkable and uniform difference in the number 

 of their teeth. All the monkeys of the old world have the same 

 number of teeth as the human species ; but the monkeys of 

 America have four cheek-teeth more than the other monkeys 

 thirty-six teeth in all besides some minor distinguishing featurea. 



