ANTHROPOIDEA. 23 



does from several species of the Simian family, for 

 instance, from Lemurs and Marmosets, creatures 

 which are nearer squirrels than monkeys. While this 

 is apparently a strong argument, it is really an exceed- 

 ingly weak one, as a comparison of members of 

 another order of animals will show. The Ostrich is a 

 bird, but it can not rise upon its wings and fly; and 

 its wings are tipped with claws or nails, showing the 

 creature is not fully removed from quadrupedal 

 characteristics. The Kangaroo is at the head of a 

 class of marsupial animals which reach down to mono- 

 tremes, a sub-order, to the ornithorhynchus, a creature 

 which is half bird. 



The Kangaroo hops about on two legs like a 

 bird ; its trunk is poised on its femurs like that of a 

 bird ; its head is small like that of an Ostrich ; its fore- 

 paws are employed to help the animal along as the 

 Struthio family use their defective wings, consequently 

 the Ostrich must have sprung from the largest and 

 most prominent of the marsupial family, for it is 

 nearer the Kangaroo than the latter is to the lowest of 

 the marsupials! or, to modify the application of the 

 argument to suit the proposition, the Kangaroo is 

 more widely separated from the platypus than it is 

 from the Struthio family, consequently the Ostrich 

 may have sprung from it. 



It is not a little strange that no representative of 

 the Simian tribe has attempted to talk, or to convey 

 ideas by words. Some of the monkey family possess 

 a vocal apparatus which enables them to howl fear- 

 fully, yet no visitor to a Monkey-House ever hears 

 sounds that express much meaning. Dogs can bark, 

 howl, whine, and otherwise by vocal sounds make 

 known their feelings. Parrots speak quite plainly, 



