269 



THE PRIMATES. 



Linnaeus included Man and the Bat, as well as the 

 Monkeys and Lemurs, in the order of Primates ; but now 

 the Bats are placed in a separate order Chioptera, and 

 Man is referred to as belonging to the Bimana, while the 

 Monkeys and Lemurs are usually spoken of as Quad- 

 rumana ; although strictly speaking the Bimana and Quad- 

 rumana, the latter so called because of their ability to use 

 both front and hind feet as hands, are simply subdivisions 

 of the order of Primates, which is therefore naturally con- 

 sidered the first and highest order of the sub-kingdom 

 Vertebrata. 



Cuvier, writing of the Quadrumana in his "Animal 

 Kingdom," says: "Independently from the anatomical 

 details which distinguish it from Man, this family differs 

 from our species in a remarkable way. All the animals 

 belonging to it have the toes of the hind feet free and 

 opposable to the others, and the toes on all are as long and 

 flexible as fingers. In consequence of this the whole 

 species climb trees with the greatest facility, while it is 

 only with pain and difficulty they can stand and walk 

 upright, their foot resting on its outer edge only and their 

 narrow pelvis being unfavorable to an equilibrium. They 

 differ from Man by having a much more elongated muzzle 

 and a tail, and a gait more like that of other quadrupeds. 

 Notwithstanding this, the freedom of their arms and the 

 complication of their hands allow them all to perform 

 many of the actions of mail as well as to imitate his ges- 

 tures." 



Everybody knows what an Ape or Monkey is, but com- 

 paratively few can tell how to distinguish the Apes from 

 the true Monkeys and the Baboons or Dog-faced Monkeys, 

 or what constitutes the line of demarkation between these 

 two groups and the Lemurs, which are closely related to 

 them but have so many different characteristics that they 

 are placed in a separate family (Lemuridae) ; while the 

 Apes are classified as Simiidae and all the Old World 

 Baboons and Monkeys are grouped together in the family 

 Ceropithecidae, and all the American Monkeys, except the 



