ANIMATED NATURE. 



137 



He considers the simiadae as a complete circle, and argues 

 thence that there is no room in the range of the animal 

 kingdom for man. Man, he says, is not a constituent part 

 of any circle, for, if he were, there ou^ht to be other ani- 

 mals on each hand having affinity to him, whereas there 

 are none, the resemblance of the orangs being one of mere 

 analogy. Mr. Swainson therefore considers our race as 

 standing apart, and forming a link between the unintelli- 

 gent order of beings and the angels ! And this in spite 

 of the glaring fact that, in our teeth, hands, and other fea- 

 tures grounded on by naturalists as characteristic, we do 

 not differ more from the simiadae than the bats do from the 

 lemurs — in spite also of that resemblance of analogy to 

 the orangs which he himself admits, and which, at the 

 least, must be held to imply a certain relation. He also 

 overlooks that, though there maybe no room for man in the 

 circle of the simiadae, (this, indeed, is quite true,) there 

 may be in the order, where he actually leaves a place en- 

 tirely blank, or only to be filled up, as he suggests, by 

 mermen !* Another argument in his arrangement is, that 

 it leaves the grades of classification very much abridg- 

 ed, there being at the most seven instead of nine. But 

 serious argument on a theory so preposterous may be con- 

 sidered as nearly thrown away. I shall therefore at once 

 proceed to suggest a new arrangement of this portion of 

 the animal kingdom, in which man is allowed the place 

 to which he is zoologically entitled. 



I propose that the typical order of the mammalia should 

 be designated cheirotheria, from the sole character which 

 is universal amongst them, their possessing hands, and 

 with a regard to that pre-eminent qualification for grasp- 

 ing which has been ascribed to them — an analogy to the 

 perching habit of the typical order of birds, which is wor- 

 thy of particular notice. The tribes of the cheirotheria I 

 arrange as follows : 



Typical Bimana. 



Sub-typical . .... SimiadaB. 



. Natatorial Vespertilionidae. 



Suctorial ...... Lemuridae 



Rasorial Cebidae. 



* Mr. Swainson's arguments about the entfreness of the circle 

 simiadae are only too rigid, for fossil geology has since added new 

 genera to this group and the cebidse, and there may be still futw 

 ther additions. 



