CLASS I. MAMMALIA: ORDER 2. QUADRUMANA, 



59 



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<4S 



See page 5S. 



species in a state of confinement. Wc are liable, therefore, to view them in a false light. As in- 

 habitants of the wild overgrown forests of tropical countries, living without care on the sponta- 

 neous products of nature, gifted with amazing powers of leaping, climbing, and swinging amid 

 the leafy branches of the trees— en- 

 dowed with a ceaseless spirit of activity 

 — inspired with an irresistible love of 

 frolic and fun — they seem happily de- 

 signed, in companionship with bright- 

 winged birds and gorgeous flowers, to 

 embellish the pathless wilderness, their 

 home. Taken from this, and brought ('- 

 into the society of man, they are not 

 only in situations altogether at vari- 

 ance with their nature, but they are 

 apt to be regarded as disgusting cari- 

 catures of him who claims to be the 

 ■ lord of creation. Men hate carica- 

 tures, especially those which reflect 

 their follies and their weaknesses in a 

 manner to make them ridiculous, and 

 hence there is a standing grudge on 



the part of man against the monkey. This spite is well displayed in the attempt of certain the- 

 ologians to prove the Serpent of Paradise to have been an ape. 



Nevertheless, caricatures as they may be, monkeys are exceedingly diverting creatures, and 

 are the great attraction of all menageries. At Barnum's Museum, in New York, there is a collec- 

 tion of incongruous animals — monkeys of various kinds, a cat, a dog, several rats, a peccary, a hen, 

 a rooster, a hawk, a capybara, a coati, tfce. — all living peaceably together, and called the " Happy 

 Familv." Though somewhat subdued by their situation, these creatures severally indicate some- 

 thing of their natures. Pussy sleeps ; the peccary is restless, and utters impatient grunts ; the rats 

 crawl and nestle together ; the coati rushes from side to side, seeking to find a place in the grat- 

 ing by which he may escape; and in the midst of all this, the monkeys rollick with one another, 

 making an occasional dash, like mischievous boys, at the other animals, to tease and irritate them. 

 Children spectators always regard these monkeys as the heroes of the play. 



The Monkeys of the Old and the New World differ from each other in several remarkable 

 points, some of which are characteristic of all the species of each ; while others, although afford- 

 ing good and tangible means of discrimination, are but partially applicable. Thus the nostrils of 

 all the species inhabiting the Old World are anterior, like those of man, and divided only by a 

 narrow septum : in those of the. New World, on the contrary, they are invariably separated by a 

 broad division, and consequently occupy a position more or less lateral. It is from this difference 

 of structure that the former are denominated Catarrhinoe, from the Greek kata, downward, and 

 rhin, nose ; and the latter Plati/rrhince, from the Greek platus, flat, and rhin, nose : these terms 

 being descriptive of the two families. 



The tails of all the American monkeys are of great length, but they differ more or less from 

 each other in the power of suspending themselves by means of that organ — a faculty which is 

 nevertheless common to the greater number of them, and of which those of the Old World are 

 entirely destitute. On the other hand, the American species never exhibit any traces of two 

 remarkable provisions — the callosities on the haunches or of the cheek-pouches ; both of which 

 are nearly universal with the monkeys proper of the Asiatic and African races. For the' for- 

 mer of these peculiarities, no use is known ; the cheek-pouches, which . are membraneous sacks 

 :>n each side of the mouth, are employed to carry food, and some are sufficiently capacious to hold 

 i supply for two days. These characteristics do not belong to the higher apes. 



We shall embrace our description of the monkey family under the following divisions : 1st, The 

 True Apes ; 2d, The Old-World Monkeys ; 3d, The American Monkeys. 



