AFFINITIES AND GENEALOGY. 151 



acters common to the Catarhlne and Ptatyrhine monkeys, other 

 characters in an intermediate condition, and soroe few, perhaps, 

 distinct from those now found in either group. And as man 

 from a genealogical point of view belongs to the Catarhine or 

 Old World stock, we must conclude, however much the conclusion 

 may revolt our pride, that our early progenitors would have 

 been properly thus designated." But we must not fall into the 

 error of supposing that the early progenitor of the whole Simian 

 stock, including man, was identical with, or even closely re- 

 sembled, any existing ape or monkey. 



On the Birthplace and Antiquity of Mam. — We are naturally 

 led to enquire, where was the birthplace of man at that stage of 

 descent when our progenitors diverged from the Catarhine stock? 

 The fact that they belonged to this stock clearly shows that 

 they inhabited the Old World; but not Australia nor any oceanic 

 island, as we may infer from the laws of geographical distribu- 

 tion. In each great region of the world the living mammals are 

 closely related to the extinct species of the same region. It is 

 therefore probable that Africa was formerly inhabited by extinct 

 apes closely allied to the gorilla and chimpanzee; and as these two 

 species are now man's nearest allies, it is somewhat more probable 

 that our early progenitors lived on the African continent than 

 elsewhere. But it is useless to speculate on this subject; for two 

 or three anthropomorphous apes, one the Dryopithecus" of Lartet, 

 nearly as large as a man, and closely allied to Hylobates, existed 

 in Europe during the Miocene age; and since so remote a period 

 the earth has certainly undergone many great revolutions, and 

 there has been ample time for migration on the largest scale. 



At the period and place, whenever and wherever it was, when 

 man first lost his hairy covering, he probably inhabited a hot 

 country; a circumstance favorable for the frugiferous diet on 

 which, judging from analogy, he subsisted. We are far from 

 knowing how long .ago it was when man first diverged from the 

 Catarhine stock; but it may have occurred at an epoch as remote 

 as the Eocene period; for that the higher apes had diverged 

 from the lower apes as early as the Upper Miocene period is 

 shown by the existence of the Dryopithecus. We are also quite 

 ignorant at how rapid a rate organisms, whether high or low 

 In the scale, may be modified under favorable circumstances; we 



" Hackel has come to this same conclusion. See 'Ueber die Entste- 

 hung des Menschengeschlechts,' in "Virchoiw's 'Sammlung. gemein. 

 wlssen. Vortrage,' 1868, s. 61. Also his 'Naturliohe Schopfungsge- 

 schlchte,' 1S68, in which he gives in detail his views on the genealogy 

 of man. 



" Dr. C. Forsyth Major, 'Sur les Singes Fossiles trouves on Italie:' 

 'See. Ital. des Sc. Nat.' torn. xv. 1872. 



