32 . QUADRUMANA. 



which it is fitted. The thumb is a mere rudiment, and in some 

 species, entirely wanting. The fingers are very long, and fitted 

 for hooking an object, but have but little power of separate 

 motion among themselves ; the palm, instead of being hollow, is 

 narrow and flat, and tapers from the wrist. All of them have- 

 three sorts of teeth, like man, but the canine, (eye) teeth, are 

 more developed in the Quadrumana than in him, and there are 

 spaces between them and the other teeth. 



The principal food of these animals is fruit, which Providence 

 furnishes them most plentifully in tropical countries, though occa- 

 sionally they prey upon the young and eggs of birds, also upon 

 lizards and insects. When captured and domesticated, they be- 

 come almost omnivorous, (Lat. omnis, all, and voro, to devour.) 

 They are peculiar to tropical regions, and are useful there as 

 tending to diminish the annoyances which might otherwise arise 

 from the insects which they consume for food. In some coun- 

 tries these animals are themselves used for food, and their skins 

 converted into leather. 



The SIMIADAE include three divisions : I. The APES, without 

 1aiU ; II. the BABOONS, with short tails and sometimes none ; 

 III. the MONKEYS, with tails, which as connected with this fam- 

 ily are adroit, agile, and restless, but usually live only two or 

 three years. In this family, the tail has no prehensile, or grasp- 

 ing power. Their teeth, of which there are ten molar in each jaw, 

 are thirty-two in number ; their nostrils separated by a very 

 narrow division. The larger portion have cheek pouches and 

 callosities, (hard parts,) on the hind parts of the body. Of the 

 Apes we name first the Troglodytes, (Gr. tQuylrj, trogle, a hole ; 

 dvvw, duno, to creep, a creeper into holes.) 



This is the CHIMPANZEE, (not to be confounded with the Orang- 

 Outang,) found ratlier commonly on the banks of the Gambia 

 and Congo. It is more man-like than any other animal, espe- 

 cially when young. When full grown, its height is at least 

 five feet, and according to some naturalists, six or seven. The 

 hair is black, long and coarse, falling down on each side of the 

 head, forming large whiskers on the cheeks; the eyes are hazel, 

 deep set and lively; the ears h rge and spreading; the lips 

 covered with a thin white beard, and large and wrinkled; 

 the face and hands, of a dark brown color. An officer in 

 the English navy, who saw the animal in 1838, says that in 

 its natural state, "it mounts trees only for food or observa- 

 tion, has enormous' strength, easily snapping boughs from trees 

 which the united strength of two men could scarcely bend." 

 These animals reach their full growth when between eight and 

 nine years old. They travel in large bands, armed with sticks, 



