554 MANUAL OF ZOOLOGY. 



fur, and the tail is usually of considerable length, and is 

 covered with hair. They are easily domesticated, and though 

 capable of biting pretty severely, their disposition is gentle and 

 docile. They are mostly about the size of cats, and not unlike 

 them in appearance, being often termed " Madagascar cats " 

 by sailors. They are found exclusively in the great forests of 

 Madagascar, moving about amongst the trees with great activ- 

 ity, by means of their prehensile tails. They appear to fill in 

 Madagascar the place occupied by the higher Quadrumana 

 upon the adjoining continent of Africa. The largest species 

 is the Indri, which has very long hind-legs, and stands as 

 much as three feet in height. 



PLATYRHINA. 



The section of the Platyrhine Monkeys is exclusively con- 

 fined to South America, and one of its leading characters is to 

 be found in the almost universal possession of a prehensile 

 tail ; this being an adaptive character by which they are 

 suited to the arboreal life which so many of the South Ameri- 

 can Mammals are forced to lead. The nostrils are simple, 

 wide apart, and placed nearly at the extremity of the snout. 



The praemolars are ^j in number, and have blunt tubercles. 



*3 O 



The thumbs of the fore-hands are either wanting altogether, 

 or, if present, are not opposable. 



The Platyrhine Monkeys are divided into the two sections 

 of the Hapalida and Cdnda* 



Fam. i. Hapalidce. In this family the number of teeth is 

 the same as in the Old World Monkeys and in Man, but 

 there is an additional praemolar on each side of each jaw, and 

 a molar less. According to Owen, the dental formula of the 

 Marmoset is 



_ 32 . 



22 I I 33 22 



The molars, however, are tuberculate, and though the num- 

 ber of teeth is the same as in the Catarhine Monkeys, in their 

 other characters the Marmosets are genuine Platyrhines. The 

 hind-feet have an opposable hallux with a flat nail, but all the 

 other toes are unguiculate, and the pollex is hardly opposable. 

 The tail is long, but is not prehensile. 



The Hapalidce. are all small monkeys, mostly about as big 

 as Squirrels, and they are exclusively South American, occur- 

 ring especially in Brazil. The best-known species is the 



