SEMI-APES AND APES. 295 



Apes, but neither the result of any anatomical or 

 palaeontological investigation allows us to draw 

 even a plausible inference of any such probability. 



As there are only a small number of genera of 

 Semi-apes, and these are confined to Madagascar 

 (Africa and Southern Asia possess only a few aber- 

 rant members of the group), we had to conclude 

 that they are but the remnant of a group. Their 

 dentition and brain point to the Insectivora, of whose 

 morphological capacities we have had such important 

 instances in the course of our discourse. 



A true semi-ape and, as regards skull and 

 dentition, a lemur of our day was discovered by 

 Filhol among the varied accumulation of mammals 

 in the phosphate of Quercy, and was named Ne- 

 crolemur antiquus. By its side there lived several 

 species of a genus already discovered by Cuvier, the 

 Adapts, an animal whose dentition points to a re- 

 lationship with the Pig-shaped tribe, but still may 

 have been a creature of arboreal habits. Another 

 animal has had its position assigned to it by the 

 name of Cebochoerus, i.e. Hog-ape, owing to its 

 very characteristic molars, the crowns of which 

 show four tubercles. America has also furnished 

 its contingent to this group, which combines the 

 characteristics of the thick-skinned animals with 



