138 



MACLEAY SYSTEM OF 



Here man is put into the typical place, as the genuine 

 head, not only of this order, but of the whole animal 

 world. The double affinity which is requisite is obtain- 

 ed, for here he has the simiadae on one hand and the ce- 

 bidae on the other. The five tribes of the order are com- 

 pleted, the vespertilionidae being shifted (provisionally) 

 into the natatorial place, for which their appropriateness 

 is so far evidenced by the aquatic habits of several of the 

 tribe, and the lemuridae into the suctorial, to which their 

 length of muzzle and remarkable saltatory power are / 

 highly suitable. At the same time, the simiadae are de- 

 graded from the typical place, to which they have no sort 

 of pretension, and placed where their mean and mischiev- 

 ous character seems to require ; the cebidae again being 

 assigned that situation which their comparatively inoffen- 

 sive dispositions, their arboreal habits, and their extraor- 

 dinary development of the tail (which with them is like 

 a fifth hand,) render so proper. 



The zoological status thus assigned to the human race 

 is precisely what might be expected. In order to under- 

 stand its full value, it is necessary to observe how the 

 various type peculiarities operate in fixing the character 

 of the animals ranked in them. It is easy to conceive 

 that they must be, in some instances, much mixed up with 

 each other, and consequently obscured. If an animal, for 

 example, is the suctorial member of a circle of species, 

 forming the natatorial type of genera, forming a family or 

 sub-family which in its turn is rasorial, its qualities must 

 evidently be greatly mingled and ill to define. But, on 

 the other hand, if we take the rapacious or sub-typical 

 group of birds, and look in it for the tribe which is again 

 the rapacious or sub-typical group of its order, we may 

 expect to find the qualities of that group exalted or inten- 

 sified, and accordingly made the more conspicuous. Such 

 is really the case with the vultures, in the rapacious birds, 

 a family remarkable above all of their order for their car- ' 

 nivorous and foul habits. So, also, if we take the typical 

 group of the birds, the incessores or perchers, and look 

 in it for its typical group, the conirostres, and seek there 

 again for the typical family of that group, the corvidae, we 

 may expect to find a very marked superiority in organi- 

 zation and character. Such is really the case. " The 

 crow," says Mr. Swainson, " unites in itself a greater 

 number of properties than are to be found individually in 



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