rllKIRONECTKS. 



CHEIROPODA. 



CHKIIl-'NKiTKS, or CHI in 'N KI TKS , Illiger), a genus of Mar- 

 .nial animals. [MAiurriATA.] 



(HKIKO PODA, Cluinpait, a name proposed by Mr. Ogilby for 

 all the mammiferoua animals that are possessed of hands. The 

 following is Mr. Ogilby 's arrangement of his Cheiropeds : - 



I1U.IKOPKDS , 

 (M.mmaU with ' 

 oppoacabl* thumb*) 



(on UM fore handi only) 



II. Ql UlRI'MAXA 



(on both fur* a 

 hind hand.) 



sterna. 



onj) 



(and anthropoid 



"*"> \ O^ofUk^m. 



'', /-'..I'l;-. 



(and abnormal 

 tnth) 



Ismur. 

 IMolitma. 



Ittrltopl. 



TVtrnw. 



UaltopUkrcui. 



CMw. 

 Attln. 



l-ilkm*. 



treth) 



fhalnnfuta. 

 Dlliri.Pnin.il 



(and abnormal ' 



twtb) CMmurlM. 



III. TrulMAKA .. 

 (on tin- hind 

 huidi only) 



I Ptuueofalt. 



Mr Ogilby states that olwcrvations, commenced in 1829 and 

 continued for more than six yean, have assured him that the uon- 

 opposeable character of the inner finger of the anterior extremities, 

 which he fimt remarked in Myertrt Saticultu, i not confined to that 

 genus, hut extend* throughout the whole of the genera of the South 

 American monkey*, individual* of all of which have, he states, been 

 Men by him in a living state. In none of them consequently, be 

 observes, does a true thumb exist on the anterior limbs; and he 

 considers that it follows as a further consequence that the whole of 

 them hare been hitherto incorrectly referred to the (jumlrumatui by 

 oologiat* generally. The following extract from the ' Proceedings of 

 the Zoological Society,' for 1836, will explain the views of this 

 naturalist: 



"Of the eight natural genera which include all the known 

 monkeys of the western hemisphere, one, A trUt, is entirely destitute 

 of a thumb, or has that member existing only in a rudimentary form 

 beneath the skin. In five others, tfyeeta, Lagothrix, Aoltu, /'Uhecia, 

 and Hni*iU, the anterior thumbs (using the ordinary expression i'..i 

 them) are placed absolutely on the same lino with the other fingers, 

 are of the same form with tli.-ui. net invariably in the same direction, 

 and are totally inca|>able of being opposed to them. In the two 

 remaining genera, Celiiu and C'allUkrix, the extremities of the 

 anterior limbs have a greater external resemblance to the hands of 

 man and of the monkeys of the Old World : the internal finger is 

 placed farther back than the general line of the other fingers, and 

 das on that account, when superficially noticed, the semblance of 

 being opposed to them ; but, as has been correctly observed by 

 I)' Alarm with reference to C. capuciimi, it is less separated than in 

 man : it is besides of precisely the same slender form with the rest, in 

 weaker than them, absolutely without power of 'opposition to them. 

 and habitually act* in the same direction with them. The impression 

 derived from contemplating the hands of the Old World monkeys 

 might induce the belief Unit the extremities of the Ctbi are imil .1 h 

 constituted ; but if the knowledge that in Mycetrt, Pithecia, Ac., 

 there are no opposeable thumbs leads to a close observation ( the 

 anterior extremities of the CM, it will be found that they <!> not 

 act as hands and cannot be considered as possessing the powers of 

 those organs. Pn>m innumerable observations of many species of 

 that genus, Mr. Ogilby states that it was very evident. notwithstanding 

 the fallacious appearance occasioned by the backward portion ..I tli. 

 organ, that they hail not the power of opposing the thumbs to the 

 other fingers in the act of prehension ; and in fact their principal 

 power of prehension seems to be altogether indo|xtndent of the 

 thumb, for generally speaking that member wns not brought int., 

 action at all, at least not simultaneously with the other tingrrs, hut 

 hung loosely on one side, as Mr. Ogilby has seen it <! in like < n . nm 

 stance* in the Opossums, Phalangers, and other arboreal mammals : 

 when actually brought into play however the tliumli of the Ctbi 



invariably acted in the same direction a* the other fingers. Cdau 

 consequently agrees in the character of non-oppoeeableness of thumb 

 with the nearly allied genera. And in tin- hitherto unsuspected 

 peculiarity zoologists obtain a far, more important character by which 

 to distinguish the monkeys of the Old and New World thin 

 hitherto relied on, the comparative thickness of the M<]>tum nm mm, 

 or than the accessory aids afforded by the absence of cbeck-|>ouches 

 and callosities. Hence, according to Mr. Ogilby, an the monkeys of 

 America have now been ascertained to be destitute of anterior lianda, 

 they can no longer be included among the Quadrumana, an. I he 

 proposes in consequence to regard them as Palimaiui. He onn 

 that the latter series, the monkeys of America, form a group parallel 

 to that of the monkeys of the Old World among the QMulnmana : 

 and viewing the Qttadmmana aa constating of two primary groups, 

 that of which SIMM forum the type, and the //rmnri./.r. h proceeds 

 to analyze the Palimaita, in order to determine whether any group 

 analogous to the Lemurs exists in it He finds such a group in 

 the association of the genera Didrljihit, Ckrironrcta, Phalamjiila, 

 PttaurHi, and Pkaicotarctoi (together with a new genus, Ptnulochtrxt, 

 which he haw found it necessary to separate from Pkalamjuta as at 

 present constituted) ; and for this association he uses the name of 

 l>ulrli>hid<r. Aware that the modifications observable in the dentary 

 systems of these several genera have been regarded by m my 

 zoologists as betokening a difference of regimen, which ban li 

 their being viewed as constituting distinct families, he in tl. 

 place states, as the result of his observation of the lnl.it- of the 

 numerous species of all these genera which have been fi 

 time exhibited in the Society's Gardens, that there is little or n 

 difference in this respect between the Opossums and Phalangers, l.nt. 

 that all are equally omnivorous ; and then proceeds to discuas the 

 modifications that exist among them in the number and form - t' the 

 several kinds of teeth, which are not in his en! 

 different in reality between the Opossums and Phalangers a 

 appear to be at first sight. In further support of hm n]>iiii>ni tint. 

 this association of genera forms a natural family, Mr O^illiy refers to 

 the gradual and uninterrupted traiiHit ion from the naked-prehensile- 

 tailed OpoenuniH of South America, through th (nully nuke.: 



Couscous, Halantia, of the Indian Isles, to the true Plinlanger- 

 from these to the Petaurista directly on the one hand, and by means 

 of the Pseudocheirs to the Koalas on the other. 



"On the prehensile power of the tail Mr. Ogilby particularly 

 insists as on a faculty possessed by the greater numltcr of the 

 Pcdimana, and as one which in in truth almost conlinc<l to th.ni; 

 only three known genera belonging to other groups, Synelhmu, 

 Myrmecophaga, and Cercolrpttt, being endowed with it He remark* 

 on this faculty as on one of considerable importance, affording as it 

 does in some degree a compensation for the absence of op|- 

 thumbs on the anterior limbs. Combined with the prehensile tail, 

 in every known instance, whether among the Ptdimima r in other 

 groups, is a Hlownnw and apparent cautiousness of motion, not 

 observable in any of the <Jnadritmana, except in the Nyclicebi. In 

 none of the true Quadrumann is the tail prehensile. 



"Another evidence of the distinctness, aa two groups, of the 

 <{ifi<li-itiiian<i and the Pedimana is furnished by their geograi 

 distribution. The Quadrwnana are strictly confined to the lit 

 the Old WorM ; the /Wimuna almost as exclusively to the New 

 World, for Mr. Ogilby considers the continent of Australia to belong 

 more properly to America than to Asia. The very few apparent 

 exceptions that occur to this latter position are in the presence of 

 some species of Phalangers in the long chain of i -lands that connect 

 the south-eastern shores of Asia with tin- n .nil-eastern coast of 

 Australia; islands which may in truth IH> fairly regarded aa 

 belonging partly to the one and partly to the other, and the 

 productions of which might consequently be expected to partake of 

 the character of both. 



"Mr. Ogilby subsequently adverts to another Peilimnnom animal, 

 the Aye-Aye of Madagascar, ron-titutini' the i- "My*/ 



respecting the affinitiex of win. h he Hpeakx with hesitation, because, 

 having never had an opportunity uf examining tin- animal it-. 'If. he 

 isacquainted with it* characters only at nc.on.l hainl. He >- ho\v,\,. r 

 disposed to regard it as represent mi; a thinl Kr""l' am.un; the 

 Prdinuma, to be placed in a dtati.ni interim-. I iatelx-t ween the Monkeys 

 of the New World an.l the /*/,/,//,/, ;,/,r. With the latter he would, 

 in fact, be disposed to associate it, were it not destitute of the 

 marsupial character which belongs to all the other animals eon, 

 in that gioup. In some of the INMfUda, the 1'halane, i 

 Petauriste especially, there is a nmrkcil approximation to that rodent 

 form of incisor teeth which obtains in Chriromy*, ami which has 

 hitherto been regarded aa especially attaching to it an abnormal 

 character. 



"Man Is the only other animal furnished with handd, and h. 



' he may be as regards his moral and int. -II. 



must, zoologically, be considered on physical grounds. Ity the 

 structural characters he becomes associated with all those of which 

 mention bss previously been made in Mr. I l^ill.y's communication; 

 although he unquextinnably constitutes anum-/ them a |> 

 group, sensibly exalted above the rest, u well as above all 



