1873.] MR. ST. G. MIVART ON THE LEMURS. 503 



Zoological rank of the Lemuroidea. 



I feel it incumbent on me not to pass over another question of 

 higher and more general interest — namely, the zoological rank and 

 position of the group of Lemuroids as a whole. 



In 1864* I ventured to propose that the whole group of Lemu- 

 roids (or Half-Apes) should be raised to the rank of a suborder of 

 the order Primates. For that suborder I proposed the term Lemu- 

 roidea, assigning the parallel designation Anthropoidea to the higher 

 suborder — the suborder, that is, containing the Apes and Man. 



This suggestion has been adopted by some naturalists ; but a still 

 further separation of the Half-Apes from the Apes has met with re- 

 cognition and approval in France ; and Professor Alphonse Milne- 

 Edwards, M. Grandidier, and M. Paul Gervais agree with the late 

 M. Gratiolet in considering that the Lemuroids should rank as a 

 distinct order of Mammals. 



The distinctions brought forward by these authors to justify this 

 separation and already published are certainly numerous and very 

 important ; and Professor Alphonse Milne-Edwards has had the kind- 

 ness to inform me of others yet more startling, which he has kindly 

 given me permission to communicate. 



M. Gratiolet, in speaking of the cerebral convolutions of the Le- 

 muroids observesf that natural analogies compel him to place the 

 Lemurs in a separate group from the Apes, and at the head of the 

 Bats and Insectivora. 



M. Paul Gervais %, speaking of the affinities of the Lemurs, ex- 

 presses himself as follows: — "Malgre 1' habitude que Ton a jus- 

 qu ici conservee, de parler de ces animaux dans les cours ou d'en ecrire 

 Phistoire dans les traites, a la suite des veritables Singes, on doit 

 reconnaitre que des caracteres importauts separent l'une de l'autre 

 ces deux categories d'animaux, et si Ton partage les Mammiferes en 

 un plus grand nombre d'ordres que ne le voulaient Cuvier et De 

 Blaiuville, plus particulierement encore, si Ton admet qu'il doit y 

 avoir parmi ces animaux autant d'ordres separes qu'il y a de groupes 

 reellement naturels et independants entre eux, il devient necessaire de 

 partager en deux ordres distincts les Singes et les Lemures." 



Professor Alphonse Milne-Edwards has given § the following cha-. 

 racters as amongst those justifying the erection of the Lemuroids 

 into a distinct order : — 



1. The bell-shaped placenta || . 



2. The vast size of the allantois. 



3. The much uncovered condition of the cerebellum. 



4. The cranial structure. 



5. The inferior incisors. 



* P. Z. S. 1864, p. 635. 

 t Mem. sur les plis cerebraux, 1854, p. 22. 

 I "Encephale des L6mures," Journal de Zoologie, torn. i. p. 7. 

 § Revue Scientifique, 2nd Sept. 1871, p. 222. 



| For details see Ann. des So. Nat. Oct. 1871, Art. No. 6. and Acad, des Sc. 

 Aug. 14th, 1871. 



