OKDFR li. 

 THE QUADRUMA.NA. 



THIS order has already been in part the subject of 

 a volume of the Naturalists' Library ; we, therefore, 

 propose on this, as well as on other similar occasions, 

 to notice more lightly the subjects that have have 

 been handled, in order to secure increased space for 

 those which have not been similarly investigated, 

 reserving to ourselves the means of pointing out 

 new and important facts that may have been ob- 

 tained since the volumes were written, and of modi- 

 fying the classification according to our own views. 

 The Quadrumana, so called because they possess 

 organs of prehension very similar to human hands, 

 both on the anterior and posterior extremities, 

 though with thumbs not invariably capable of oppo- 

 sition to the fingers, are, in the whole of their struc- 

 ture, essentially arboreal. They have teeth of three 

 kinds, incisors, canines, and molars, with proper 

 tubercles, more or less blunt ; and, accordingly, feed 

 on insects, reptiles, eggs, roots, mollusca, flesh, and 

 even Crustacea; but chiefly on fruits and nuts. 

 They have been divided into three families, the 

 Catarrhini, or with the nose slit downwards, which 

 applies to the apes of the Old Continent; Platyrkini, 

 or wide noses, containing the monkeys of the New 

 World; and Strepsirhini^ or turned nose, wherein 

 the lemurs and allied species are arranged. But 



