THE MAMMALS OF INDIA, 



OED. PRIMATES. 



Fam. SIMIADJE, Monkeys. 



Syn. Quadrumana in part, Auct. Heopitheci, VAN-HOEVEN. Catar- 

 rhince, GEOFFROY. 



Incisors, ; canines, ; molars, ; total, 32 teeth ; as in 



4 1 1 5 5 



man. Nails flat or somewhat rounded, blunt ; fore-feet usually with 5 

 toes ; hind-feet always pentadactylous, thumb remote ; nostrils separated 

 by a small and narrow septum. Tail never prehensile, sometimes 

 wanting ; the region of the tuberosity of the ischium usually destitute 

 of hair and callous. Peculiar to the old world. 



In their anatomical characters monkeys generally closely resemble man, 

 differing chiefly in the relative proportions of parts. The incisors are 

 approximate in both jaws ; the canines are conic, larger than the incisors, 

 and the upper ones remote from them ; the molars are nearly cubical in 

 form with short tubercles, and equally enamelled. The face and hands 

 are devoid of hair, and the fore-feet are often larger than the hind- feet. 

 Some have cheek-pouches, others have none. Some have laryngeal 

 pouches, or membranous expansions, sending prolongations into the 

 muscles ; these are receptacles of air, and communicate with the cavity 

 of the larynx by an aperture at the base of the epiglottis. Their probable 

 use is to diminish the specific gravity of their body in the action of 

 climbing. The cheek-pouches enable them to eat with rapidity ; their 

 callosities enable them to assume the sitting posture readily ; and the 

 long tails of some enable them to balance themselves in their surprising 



Their dentition resembles that of man very closely, differing in the 



B 



