THE MAMMALS OF INDIA. 



Okd. primates. 

 Fam. SiMiAD^, Monkeys. 



Syn. Quadmmana in part, Auct. Heqpitheci, Van-Hoevek — Catar- 



rhinw, Geofpeoy. 



4 J 1 5 5 



Incisors, —j—; canines, - — — ; molars, -= — ^; total, 32 teeth; as in 



man. Nails flat or somewhat rounded, blunt; fore-feet usually with 5 

 toes ; hind feet always pentadactylous, thumb remote ; nostrils separated 

 by a small and narrow septum. Tail never prehensile, sometimes wanting ; 

 the region of the tuberosity of the ischium usually destitute of hair and 

 callous. Peculiar to the old world. 



In their anatomical characters monkeys generally closely resemble man,, 

 dififering chiefly in the relative proportions of parts. The incisors are 

 approximate in both jaws ; the canines are conic, larger than the incisors, 

 and the upper ones remote from them ; the molars are nearly cubical in 

 form with short tubercles, and equally enamelled. The face and hands are 

 devoid of hair, and the fore-feet are often larger than the hind-feet. SoiiiB 

 have cheek-pouches, others have none. Some have laryngeal pouches, 

 or membranous expansions, sending prolongations into the muscles ; these 

 are receptacles of air, and communicate with the cavity of the larynx 

 by an aperture at the base of the epiglottis. Their probable use is to. 

 diminish the specific gravity of their body in the action of climbing. The 

 cheek-pouches enable them to eat with rapidity; their callosities enable 

 them to assume the sitting posture readily; and the long tails of some 

 enable them to balance themselves in their surprising leaps. 



Their dentition resembles that of man very closely, differing in the 

 incisors, and especially in the canines being larger; this necessitates a 

 larger space between the incisors and the false molars. The other points in 



B 



