7 82 



MANUAL OF ZOOLOGY. 



to both the Lemuroids and the Platyrhines. They form the 

 two families of the Lemuravidce, of which the principal genus 

 (Lemuravus) has forty-four teeth, and Limnotheridtz, in which 

 there are only forty teeth. Remains of Lemuroids have also 



been found in the 

 Eocene of Europe. 

 The first remains of 

 the higher Quadru- 

 mana appear in the 

 Miocene. The two 

 most important of 

 these are Pliopithecus 

 (fig. 454)andZ>r>v//- 

 thecus, both of which 

 are European, and 

 both of which belong 

 to the section of the 

 Catarhine Monkeys, 

 which are at present 

 characteristic of the 

 Old World ; the former being most nearly allied to the living 

 Semnopitheci, the latter to the Gibbons. It is interesting to 

 notice that the South American fossil Monkeys from the 

 later Tertiary deposits of South America belong to the divi- 

 sion of the Qiiadrumana now peculiar to that continent to 

 the section, namely, of the Platyrhine Monkeys. 



Fig. 454. Lower jaw of Pliopithecus autiquus. 

 Miocene. 



CHAPTER LXXX. 



BIMANA. 



ORDER XVII. BIMANA. This, the last remaining order of the 

 Mammalia, comprises Man (Homo] alone, and it will therefore 

 require but little notice here, the peculiarities of Man's mental 

 and physical structure properly belonging to other branches of 

 science. 



Zoologically, Man is distinguished from all other Mammals 

 'by his habitually erect posture and bipedal progression. The 

 lower limbs are exclusively devoted to progression and to sup- 

 porting the weight of the body. The anterior limbs are shorter 

 than the posterior, and have nothing whatever to do with pro- 

 gression. The thumb is opposable, and the hands are pre- 



