ANTHROPOIDEA. 785 



times or even earlier they appeared in Europe and N. America, and 

 were then of more generalised type. In the latter continent they 

 became extinct ; but in the Old World they appear to have migrated 

 southwards at an early period into Ethiopian and Oriental regions. 

 They reached Madagascar at a time when that island was connected to 

 the continent, and before the advent of the larger carnivores. There 

 they have been isolated and have developed in a fashion comparable 

 to that which has occurred in the case of the Australian Marsupials. 

 Of fifty living species thirty-six are confined to Madagascar, and these 

 are very abundantly represented. Outside of Madagascar lemurs 

 maintain a precarious footing in forests or islands, and are usually 

 few in number. They are handicapped by the absence of defensive 

 weapons, the frequent slowness of movement, and the feeble intelli- 

 gence ; they are saved by their arboreal and usually nocturnal habits, 

 by their quiet movements, and by their shyness. 



Order ANTHROPOIDEA ( = PRIMATES or 

 This order includes five families. 



Family 5. Horninidae. Man. 



4. Anthropomorphidae or Simi- 



idae. Anthropoid Apes. 

 3. Cercopithecidae. Baboons, 



Old World 

 Catarrhina. 



etc. 



2. Cebidae. American Monkeys. \ New World 

 i. Hapalidse. Marmosets. / Platyrrhina. 



The following characteristics are generally true : 

 The body is hairy, least so in man ; the incisors do no^ 

 exceed ?; the molars are -?, except in the marmosets, 

 where they are | ; the back teeth are bunodont, the premolars 

 with two cusps, the molars usually with four ; the cranial 

 cavity is relatively large; the axis of the orbit is directed 

 forward, and the orbit is closed off from the temporal fossa 

 by ingrowths of frontal and jugal meeting the alisphenoid ; 

 the lachrymal foramen is infra-orbital ; the clavicles are well 

 developed ; the radius and ulna move freely on one another 

 in pronation and supination ; the scaphoid, the lunar, and 

 usually the os centrale are distinct ; there are usually five 

 fingers and toes, but the thumb may be absent or rudi- 

 mentary ; the thumb (or pollex) if present is opposable 

 except in marmosets ; the big toe (or hallux) is opposable 



