696 



NATURAL HISTORY. 



ascend rather than descend ; and the result is that the first are last, and 

 the last first. Still, we retain the old name, for no one would think of 

 changing it to ultimates. Linne gave the name Primates, and included 

 in it the bats, as well as the forms enumerated above, and later, Cuvier 

 divided it still farther, and placed man in a group by himself. Every 

 naturalist to-day regards this as a false step. In anatomical characters 

 man differs but very slightly from the apes, even if there is a great intel- 

 lectual gap between the two. Psychological characters, however, cannot be 

 taken into consideration in classification, and man must remain the leader,, 

 but still a member of the same group with the apes and monkeys. 



Fig. 532. — Slender loris (Stenops gracilis). 



Except to the naturalist, the lemurs possess but little interest in com- 

 parison with the other members of the group of Primates. The species all 

 belong to the Old World, and they seem to have remained at a low intel- 

 lectual stage. The true lemurs are confined to Madagascar and the 

 Seychelles and Mascarenes. A few feed on birds, of which they suck the 

 blood only, but vegetable matter seems to be the mainstay of all. Some 

 like grass, while others plunder fruit-trees, and are especially fond of dates 

 and plantains. Many of the species are regarded by the Malagassy with 

 a wonderful amount of veneration and awe. 



Though occurring in Asia and Africa, the slow lemurs are wanting in 

 the Malagassy fauna. They are rightly named ; for they are the incar- 

 nation of slowness : even a sloth is quicker than they. Take, for instance, 



