696 PRIMATES 
constructs large ball-like nests of dried leaves, lodged in a fork 
of the branches of a tree with the opening on one side. The 
resemblance of its teeth to those so characteristic of the Rodentia 
caused it to be placed formerly in that order, and it was only when 
its anatomical characters were fully known that its true affinities 
with the Lemurs became apparent.! 
Extinct LEMUROIDS. 
The discoveries of the last few years have revealed the former 
existence, both in Europe and North America, of a number of 
extinct animals more or less closely allied to the living Lemurs, 
which are of especial interest as showing in some instances characters 
of a more generalised type than is the case with the living 
representatives of the suborder. It is, however, in some cases very 
difficult to determine whether these extinct forms should be referred 
to the Lemuroidea or Insectivora ; and if those naturalists are right 
who regard these groups as survivors of a very generalised ancestral 
type of mammalian organisation, it is to be expected that as we 
recede in time we should find that the two groups show more and 
more marked signs of a natural connection. The earliest reference 
of one of these extinct Upper Eocene types to the Primates was 
made in 1862 by Professor L. Riitimeyer, of Basle, who described 
part of an upper jaw with three teeth from the so-called Bohnerz 
of Egerkingen, near Soleure in Switzerland, under the name of 
Cenopithecus lemuroides, regarding the animal to which the specimen 
belonged as partaking of the characters both of the Lemurs and the 
American Monkeys. Most other paleontologists refused, however, 
to accept this determination, and it was not until many years 
later that the researches of Gaudry and Filhol showed not only 
that Ccnopithecus was indeed a true Lemuroid, but also that it was 
either identical with or closely allied to a form described by Cuvier 
in the early part of this century under the name of Adapis and 
regarded as referable to the Ungulata. Later researches have 
brought to light other Lemuroids in the Tertiaries of both the Old 
and the New World ; and it is very noteworthy that all these types 
seem to have disappeared from both regions with the close of the 
upper portion of the Eocene period. 
Among the more interesting of the forms which are generally 
regarded as true Lemuroids we may first mention a small species 
from the Quercy Phosphorites, of which the hinder cheek-teeth are 
shown in Fig. 332, 4, which was originally described as Necrolemur 
antiquus, but appears to be generically identical with JLicrocherus 
1 R. Owen, “On the Aye-aye,” in Zrans. Zool. Soc. 1862, vol. v. p. 38 ; 
W. Peters, ‘Ueber die Siiugethier-Gattung Chiromys,” in Abhand. Kénigl. 
Akad. der Wissenschaften, Berlin, 1865, p. 79. 
