238 THE CRANIA OF THE SIMIIDAE (PRIMATES) [SECT. A 



formation. Hence the study of the osteology of existing animal 

 forms becomes paramount in importance with respect to the study 

 of extinct types which we can know only through their skeletal 

 remains. Finally we learn from the minute study of the skulls of 

 the large anthropoid apes that they are evidently highly-specialized 

 examples of Primate mammals. The same conclusion will be 

 drawn from the other anatomical systems of these animals, and 

 features are not lacking to shew that in some respects the Simiidae 

 surpass even the Hominidae in point of structural (morphological) 

 specialization. Returning to the skull (as the special object of 

 study in this chapter) a table can be drawn up to illustrate some 

 details of this simian specialization more clearly. Such a table 

 (and no pretence is made that this is exhaustive) should be re- 

 garded as much more than a mere list of contrasts. For upon the 

 results of an examination of a balance-sheet of this kind, anato- 

 mists will form an opinion as to the relations of the two forms 

 compared therein. In the present instance, we must conclude 

 that the existing anthropoid apes, constituted as they now are, did 

 not figure in the ancestral history of Man. This conclusion is of 

 great importance, but it does not exclude less-specialized precursors 

 of the existing Simiidae from that distinguished ancestral position. 



Table. 



In comparison with the crania of Simiidae, the human skull 

 will be seen to be more highly specialized and to have departed 

 further from the generalized type in point of such features as : 



(.1) Inflection of the basis cranii. 



(2) Forward position of the foramen magnum and occipital 



condyles (cf. Fig. 160). 



(3) Diminished dimensions of the maxilla, 



(4) Early and complete fusion of the premaxilla and maxilla. 



(5) High ascending mandibular ramus, and coronoid process 



with a deep sigmoid notch behind it. 



(6) Prominence of the chin. 



On the other hand, the following features may be claimed 



