BOOK VII. 



OF THE MONKEY KIND,— THE ELEPHANT, 

 RHINOCEROS, ETC. 



CHAP. L 



ANIMALS OF THE MONKEY KIND.* 



QuADRUPKDs may be considered as a numerous group, termi- 

 nated on every side by some that but in part deserve the name. 



* Monkeys form by far the greatest portion of the Quadrumana; all the 

 other animals of that order being comprehended, or rather confounded in a 

 distinct family under the name of Lemurs, from the rightful owners of 

 U'liich appellation many of them differ most essentially. In addition to the 

 hands on the posterior as well as anterior members, with long and flexible 

 fingers and oposoble thumbs, which constitute the primary characters of 

 the order, the monkey tribe in general is distinguished by the following pe- 

 culiarities. Their incisor teeth are invariably four in each jaw, and their 

 molars like those of man are flat and surmounted by blunted tubercles. 

 The latter are five in number on each side of either jaw, in all the monkeys of 

 the Old Continent, and in one very distinct tribe belonging to the New ; 

 but most of the American species are furnished with a sixth. Their canines 

 vary considerably in size, from a trifling projection beyond the remaining 

 teeth to a long and powerful tusk, almost equalling those of the most for- 

 midable camivora ; and from this structvire it necessarily follows that a va- 

 cant space is left between the incisors and the canines of the upper jaw, and 

 between the canines and the molars of the lower, for tlie reception and 

 lodgment of those organs when the mouth is closed. The nails of all their 

 fingers, as well as those of the thxunbs, are invariably flat and expanded. 



In almost every other point they are subject to infinite variations of form 

 and structure. The shape of tlie head, which, in one or t«o species, oflers a close 

 approximation to the huniau form, passes through numerous intermediate 

 gradations, until it reaches a point at which it can only be compared with 

 that of the hound. The body, which is in general slight and weU made, is 

 in some few instances remarkably short and thickset, and in others drawn 

 out to a surprising degree of tenuity. Their limbs vary greatly in their 

 proportions ; but in most of them the anterior are longer than the posterior : 

 ill all they are admirably adapted to the pui-poses to which they are applied, 

 in climbing and leaping by the slenderness of their form, tlie flexibility of 

 their joints, and the muscular activity with which tliese qualities are so 



