86 DISTRIBUTION OF ANIMALS. [part I. 



The above series of orders is arranged according to Professor 

 Flower's Osteology of Mammalia, and they will follow in this 

 succession throughout my work. Professor Huxley arranges 

 the same orders in a different series. 



In determining the manner in which the several orders shall 

 be subdivided into families, I have been guided in my choice of 

 classifications mainly by the degree of attention the author ap- 

 pears to have paid to the group, and his known ability as a 

 systematic zoologist ; and in a less degree by considerations of 

 convenience as regards the special purposes of geographical dis- 

 tribution. In many cases it is a matter of great doubt whether 

 a certain group should form several distinct families or be united 

 into one or two ; but one method may bring out the peculiarities 

 of distribution much better than the other, and this is, in our 

 case, a sufficient reason for adopting it. 



For the Primates I follow, with some modifications, the 

 classification of Mr. St. George Mivart given in his article 

 " Apes " in the new edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica, and 

 in his paper in the Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London, 

 1865, p. 547. It is as follows : 



Omitting man (for reasons stated in the preface) the three 

 first families are considered by Professor Mivart to be sub- 

 families of Simiidse ; but as the geographical distribution of 

 the Old World apes is especially interesting, it is thought 



