54 MAMMALIA. 



THE SECOND ORDER OF MAMMALIANS. 



QUADRUMANA. 



Independently of the anatomical details which distinguish it from Man, and which 

 we have indicated, this family diifers from our species in a very obvious character, 

 having the thumbs of the hind feet free and opposable to the other digits, which are 

 as long and flexible as those of the hand : in consequence of this, all the species climb 

 trees with facility, while it is only with pain and difficulty that they can stand and 

 walk upright, their foot then resting on its outer edge only, and their narrow pelvis 

 being unfavourable to an equilibrium. They all have intestines very similar to those 

 of Man*, the eyes directed forward, the mammse on the breast, the penis pendent, the 

 brain with three lobes on each side, the posterior of which covers the cerebellum, and 

 the temporal fossae separated from the orbit by a bony partition. In every thing else, 

 however, they gradually recede from him, in presenting a muzzle more and more 

 elongated, a tail and a gait more like that of quadrupeds : nevertheless, the freedom 

 of their arms, and the complication of their hands, admit of their performing many of 

 the actions of Man, as well as to imitate his gestures. 



They have long been divided into two genera, the Monkeys and the Lemurs, which, 

 by the multiplication of secondary forms, have now become two small families, between 

 which must be placed a third genus, that of the Ouistitis [or Marmosets], which cannot 

 be referred to either of the others. 



The Monkey-like Animals {Simia, Linntcus). 



These are all Quacbumana, which have four straight incisors to each jaw, and flat nails to 

 all the extremities, — two characters which approximate them more nearly to Man than the sub- 

 sequent genera. Their molars have also blunt tubercles like ours, and they subsist mainly upon 

 fruits ; hut their canines, being longer than the other teeth, supply them with a weapon which 

 we do not possess, and require a vacant space in the opposite jaw to receive them when the 

 mouth is closed. 



They may be divided, according to the number of their molars, into two principal sub-genera, 

 wUich again subdivide into numerous others. 



The Monkeys {Singes), properly so called, or those of the ancient continent, 



[Catarrhini, Geo/.'], — 



Have the same number of grinders as ]Man, but otherwise differ among themselves in the 

 characters which give rise to the following subdivisions. 



The Ourangs (Simia, Erxl., Pithecm, Geof.), — 

 Are the only Apes of the ancient continent which have no callosities on the buttocks ; their liyoid 

 bone, liver, and coecum resemble those of Man. Their nose does not project ; they have no check 

 pouches, nor any vestige of a tail. 



Some of them have arms long enough to reach the ground when standing ; their legs, on the con- 

 trary, are very short. Such are the Ourangs, strictly so called. 



* Here we n>ust except the genus Seintwpitfu-ciis^ and probably also Colobus. — Ed. 



