48 THE NOMENCLATURE 



and the douc, of Cochinchina. All thefe terri- 

 tories were equally unknown to the ancients. 



As the progrefs of Nature is uniform and gra- | 

 dual, we find between the baboons and monkeys 

 an intermediate fpecies, like that of the magot 

 between the apes and baboons. The animal 

 which fills this interval has a great refemblance 

 to the monkeys, particularly to the makaque ; 

 its muzzle, at the fame time, is very broad, and 

 its tail fhort, like that of the baboons. Being 

 ignorant of its.name, we have called it maimon, 

 or pig-tailed baboon, to diftinguifli it from the 

 others. It is a native of Sumatra. Of all the 

 monkeys or baboons, it alone has a naked tail ; 

 and, for this reafon, feveral authors have given 

 it the denomination of the pig-tailed, or rat^ 

 tailed apes. 



We have now enumerated all the animals of 

 the Old World, to whom the common name of 

 ape has been applied, though they belong not 

 only to different fpecies, but to different genera. 

 To augment the confufion, the fame names of 

 ape, cymcephalus, kebos, and cercopithecos, which 

 had been invented by the Greeks fifteen centu- 

 ries ago, have been beftowed on animals pecu- 

 liar to the New World, though fo recently dif- 

 covered. They never dreamed that none of the 

 African or Eafl. Indian animals had any exiftence 

 in the fouthern regions of the New Continent. 

 In America, we have difcovered animals with 

 hands and fingers. This fimilarity vv'as alone 



fufficient 



