286 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



often been called hands, and apes and lemurs have been placed 

 in an order named Quadrumana, or four-handed. But, as we 

 shall shortly see, there are apes the anterior extremities of which 

 (anatomically answering to our hands) have no opposable thumbs, 

 and cannot with physiological propriety be called hands. The 

 only satisfactory way out of the difficulty is to take anatomy 

 exclusively as our guide, and to consider every extremity scien- 

 tifically a " hand " which takes the place in the body of our 

 hand, and to call every inferior or posterior (according to the pos- 

 ture of the body) extremity a " foot." It is the more reasonable 

 so to do in Zoology as zoological classification is a morphological 

 classification, and I'eposes on the number and form of parts of 

 the body, and not at all on their use and employment. When 

 for any reason we wish to refer to such use, there will be no 

 difficulty in occasionally speaking of a " hand devoted to loco- 

 motion " or of a " prehensile foot," as the case may be. 



It will, I think, be a matter of interest if I briefly refer 

 to some of what seem to me to be the most curious modi- 

 fications in different animals of those parts which correspond 

 with our own "hands" and "feet." In so doing, however, I 

 shall avoid all reference to animals formed on a radically different 

 type from that of the human body. The so-called "feet" of 

 snails or cockles have no relation to our own any more than 

 have the legs of flies and spiders to our own legs. I shall but 

 refer to animals which have, as we have, a skull and backbone, 

 two pairs — rarely one pair — of limbs, and which breathe in air. 

 Thus I exclude from our consideration even fishes, and I do so 

 because their fins have such a vague and remote resemblance to 

 the extremities of the higher animals. Not but what the fins of 

 fishes and the relations they bear to our limbs are matters full 

 of interest and instruction. So much so, indeed, that they 

 deserve a lecture to themselves, but space will not allow of 

 my treating of that matter now. I have then a few words 

 to say about the hands and feet of certain beasts, birds, 

 and reptiles, and I will begin with those creatures which are 

 naturally the most interesting to us, as being the most like us — 

 I mean the Apes, and their allies the Lemurs. 



Apes are divisible into two groups — (1) those of the Old World 

 and (2) those of America. The former more closely resemble 

 us, and their hands are for the most part roughly like ours in 



