THE MONKE Y FA MIL Y. 1 89 



I had rather recommend this simple plan to his notice, than terrify 

 him with a list of hard names from modern books, and bewilder him 

 with divisions and subdivisions of this interesting family, until his 

 head can no longer tolerate the scientific burden. 



Let him also remember that all monkeys, saving a few isolated 

 apes on the Rock of Gibraltar, are inhabitants of the torrid zone. 

 Some few, perhaps, may stray for a degree or so beyond the tropics, 

 but then their movements to and fro will be regulated by the sun's 

 apparently revolving movements within the tropics. 



Again, let him reflect that no monkey, either great or small, in 

 either hemisphere, has limbs formed like the limbs of quadrupeds, 

 but that they have hands, properly so called, with long fingers and 

 with thumbs (these last have been denied to one or two species), 

 most singularly shaped to assist the animal in traversing the trees ; 

 that no monkey has yet been discovered, or probably ever will be dis- 

 covered, with limbs essentially differing in form from those already 

 known to us. Moreover, that none of the monkey family make nests, 

 nor do they prepare any kind of dens or recesses amongst the 

 branches of trees, wherein to retire for the propagation of their race. 



That their only true resting-places are the branches and the clefts 

 of trees, both of which they uniformly desert when food becomes 

 deficient. 



That the young ones cleave to their mothers' bodies wherever 

 their mothers ramble, without any risk of falling, just as the young 

 bats in this country are known to cling to theirs; 



That the largest species of this wonderful family, far from showing 

 signs of pursuit, or of resistance, scampers away amongst the trees 

 on the appearance of man, whilst individuals of the lesser tribes 

 will sometimes mount to the tops of the trees, and there look down 

 upon the passing traveller below, apparently with astonishment, as 

 though they recognised in his physiognomy some faint traces of a 

 newly-arrived cousin. 



Whilst we admire the lion walking on his path, or observe the 

 jaguar crouching on the bole of some inclined tree, half-rooted up by 

 the force of the hurricane ; whilst we contemplate the bull ruminat- 

 ing in the plain, and the roebuck bounding o'er the hills ; we see 

 them in situations exactly suited to their forms and to their appetites. 



