844 



GEOLOGY 



Supreme interest attaches to the development of the primates, 

 but the data on this point are likely to remain limited until the 

 tropical regions of the Old World are more fully studied, for the 

 chief evolution of this group seems to have taken place there. No 

 remains of lemuroids or of their descendants have been found in 

 the Pliocene of North America. Those of Europe are from the 



Pa pi 





Lni 



Gi Op 



Fig. 559. Profile of the skull of the Pithecanthropus erectus(\ine P0) compared 

 with profiles of the lowest men and highest apes; Spy I and Spy II, 

 the men of Spy; Nt, the Neanderthal man; HI, a gibbon (Hylobatea 

 leuciscus}; Sm, an Indian ape (Semnopithecus maurus); and At. a chim- 

 panzee (Anthropopithecus troglodytes). (After Marsh.) 



middle and southern parts of the continent, a limitation which 

 probably implies that northern Europe was already too cold for 

 these animals. 



The most interesting discovery of recent date is that of the 

 remains of a man-like skeleton in Java, and named Pithecanthropus 

 erectus. The relics include the roof of a skull, two molar teeth, 

 and a femur. The form of the femur indicates that its posse <r 

 walked erect. The forehead was low and the frontal ridge prom- 





