ANATOMY OF THE LEMUROIDEA. 91 
of contracting the auricle similar and equal to Galago; nay, further, the Short-eared 
Phalanger (Belideus breviceps) furls its large conch-like ear and has a posterior helical pit 
and pouch-folds of the antihelix. We have, moreover, observed in Mauge’s Dasyure 
(D. maugei) a curious modification of the upper ridge of the parallel bifurcation of 
the antihelix. In this animal it assumes the form of an epiglottis overhanging the 
hollow, and partially overlapping the opposite ridge. 
This likeness to lower types manifested by the ear of Lemuroids is not carried out 
quite to the same extent in the development of the fatty cushions or pads of the palms 
and soles. In none of the Carnivora, not even in the arboreal Kinkajou and Binturong, 
nor in any of the Bears, does the disposition of the pads accord with those of the former 
group. This might naturally be expected from the want of opposable power in the 
pollex and hallux, and the consequent reciprocal relation of the adjoining parts. The 
palm and sole of Cercoleptes, for instance, has the same number of pads as Lemur and 
Galago; but the thenar and hypothenar ones, as well as the pollicial and hallucial ones, 
are differently sized and placed. Another very obvious difference is the absence of those 
peculiar-looking tactile balls at the ends of the digits. Among the Rodentia and Chei- 
roptera the modification of the manus and pes are such that the palmar and plantar 
surfaces bear no close correspondence with those of the Lemuroidea. Strange to say, 
however, a resemblance crops out among the further removed marsupials. In the genus 
Belideus the distribution of the pads, enlarged digital tips, and fine parallel striations 
are but slight modifications of the conditions found in the Galagos and Slow Loris. 
Furthermore in Dasywrus maug@i the same surfaces, or rather the interspaces between 
the cushions, present that remarkable papillary or pitted sculpture so well pronounced 
in Lemur and Cheiromys. 
Compared with Lemur and its allies, Man and the Apes possess less separation of the 
palmar and plantar pads; but they have nearly all those figured by us in the genera of 
Lemuroidea, though less raised. Generally there are longer thenar and hypothenar 
cushions, and three, or sometimes four, broadish and equal-sized proximal phalangeal 
ones. In the thumbless genera the pad is still present, though the digit is wanting. 
In none of the Simian families nor in Man are the digital extremities furnished with 
such comparatively large tactile cushions as are universal in the Lemuroids. In Cuvier’s 
‘Recueil’ Laurillard has given some excellent sketches of the palm and sole of Simia 
innuus and Ateles belzebuth, natural size, pls. 26 & 62. 
The peculiar modification of the nail of the pedal index! is another of those strange 
anomalous characters of the Lemuroids, the utility of which it is difficult to conjecture ; 
but still more mysterious is the gradual atrophy of the index of the hand, reaching 
almost to the last degree of degradation in Perodicticus and Arctocebus. 
How this mutilation can have aided in the struggle for life, we must confess, baffles 
? The pedal index of Hyrawx also has a peculiarly modified nail, as was noticed by Prof. Huxley in his 
Hunterian Lectures. 
N 2 
