348 QUADRUMANA. 



ferocity, others would either shrink from, in apparent fear, or simply 

 examine with inquisitive playfulness : the insect, which would be eaten by 

 one group, would be rejected by another ; and several, which cast meat 

 from them, with an appearance of disgust, would eat a Fly or a Spider 

 with every sign of gratification. It would, therefore, appear, as might 

 reasonably be anticipated, that the different groups, or even species, are 

 endowed with gradations of the carnivorous appetite, or with modifications 

 of it, both as to extent and direction, 



The dentition of the Simiadse accords with the nature of their food : 

 in the Orang, which feeds on hard or shelled fruits, as the cocoa-nut, the 

 outside fibrous bark of which it has to tear away, the teeth, and espe- 

 cially the incisors and canines, are of prodigious size and thickness, and 

 must prove formidable weapons in combat : in most Monkeys, and 

 especially in the Baboons, the canines remind us of those of a Tiger, 

 excepting that they are more compressed. Compared with that of the 

 human subject, the dentition of the Monkeys exhibits many charac- 

 teristic differences. The incisors are more obliquely projecting in the 

 244 upper jaw ; the two middle incisors, 



parted at their roots, converge toward 

 each other ; and the outer incisors follow 

 their direction, to the increase of the 

 space between them and the upper ca- 

 nines a space for the reception of the 

 lower canines, when the mouth is closed : 

 the upper canines are long, sharp, and 

 compressed, with a posterior cutting 

 edge, and usually an anterior groove, or 

 channel : the bicuspid molars are two 

 on each side ; the 'first small, and, with the outer tubercle, acutely 

 pointed : the true molars are three on each side, and each is crowned by 

 four tubercles, more acute than in Man. 



In the lower jaw, the incisors are small and compressed, but deep from 

 front to back ; the canines are large, and assume a tendency to follow 

 the direction of the incisors ; being also placed, from the narrowness of the 

 latter, more anteriorly than are the canines above : this tendency is 

 carried out in the Lemurs to its maximum ; the lower canines nearly re- 

 sembling the incisors in form, and quite so in position. The molars are 

 as above ; but the first bicuspid, or, rather, false molar, is large, simply 

 conical, and compressed ; it leans back from the canine, and has, moreover, 

 a certain semblance to the canine tooth, as it exists in many Mammalia : 

 it has, however, double fangs. In most of the genera, the posterior 

 molar below has an additional, or fifth tubercle, beyond the four, in pairs. 

 In the Mandrill, this tubercle is not only very marked, but it terminates a 



