ANTHROPOIDEA. 



(Read before the Cincinnati Society of Natural History, Oct., 1877.) 



The visitor to our Zoological Gardens can not 

 avoid observing that the Monkey-House attracts more 

 spectators than any other department in the exhibi- 

 tion. The dense throng in prolonged attendance in- 

 dicates the interest men, women and children take in 

 creatures which in so many ways resemble the human 

 family. Great delight is expressed at the solemn 

 countenances, comic grimaces, and roguish tricks dis- 

 played by members of the motley Simian tribe. A 

 listener will often hear incontinent remarks like the 

 following: "That old baboon looks as grave as a 

 judge : and that lively little monkey loves to poke 

 fun at him." The multitude seems to be fascinated 

 with the human similitude apparent in each apish 

 feature and action. Every look and attitude provokes 

 a smile, and is suggestive of an attempt to ridicule 

 human peculiarities. 



No one in the crowd stops to make scientific com- 

 parisons, or attempts to analyze the affinities and 

 differences in the great range of resemblances and di- 

 versities represented, but everybody appears satisfied 

 to observe the humor in the travesties performed. It 

 would naturally be supposed that persons of an in- 

 quisitive mind should endeavor to select the Simian 

 representative that most closely resembled man, but 

 no effort of the kind is manifested. And when we 

 consider that no individual in the whole Simian family 



(17) 



