GLASS I. MAMMALIA: ORDEli 2. QUADRUMANA. 
59 
species in a state of confinement. We are liable, tliereforc, to view them in a false light. As in- 
habitants of the wild overgrown forests of tropical conntrics, living without care on the sponta- 
neous products of nature, gifted with amazing powers of leaping, climbing, and swinging amid 
the leafy branches of the trees — cn- 
See page 53. 
dowed with a ceaseless spirit of activity 
— inspired with an irresistible love of 
frolic and fun — the}^ seem happily de- 
signed, in companionship with bright- 
winged birds and gorgeous flowers, to 
embellish the pathless wilderness, their 
home. Taken from this, and brought ('- 
into the society of man, they arc not 
only in situations altogether at vari- 
ance with their nature, but they are 
apt to be regarded as disgusting cari- 
catures of him who claims to be the 
lord of creation. Men hate carica- 
tures, especially those wdiich reflect 
their follies and their weaknesses in a 
manner to make them ridiculous, and 
hence there is a standing grudge on 
the part of man against the monkey. This spite is well displayed in the attempt of certain the- 
ologians to prove the Serpent of Paradise to have been an ape. 
Nevertheless, caricatures as they may be, monkeys are exceedingly diverting creatures, and 
are the great -attraction of all menageries. At Barnum's Museum, in New York, there is a collec- 
tion of incongruous animals — monkeys of various lands, a cat, a dog, several rats, a peccaiy, a hen, 
a rooster, a hawk, a capybara, a coati, &c. — all living peaceably together, and called the " ILippy 
Family." Though somewhat subdued by their situation, these creatures severally indicate some- 
thing of their natures. Pussy sleeps ; the peccary is restless, and utters impatient grunts ; the rats 
crawl and nestle together; the coati rushes from side to side, seeking to find a place in tlie grat- 
ing by which he may escape; and in the midst of all this, the monkeys rollick with one another, 
making an occasional dash, like mischievous boys, at the other animals, to tease and irritate them. 
Children spectators always regard these monkeys as the heroes of the play. 
The Monkeys of the Old and the New World differ from each other in several remarkable 
points, some of Avhich are characteristic of all the species of each ; while others, although afford- 
ing good and tangible means of discrimination, are but partially applicable. Thus the nostrils of 
all the species inhabiting the Old World are anterior, like those of man, and divided only by a 
narrow septum : in those of the Ncav World, on the contrary, they are invariably separated by a 
broad division, and consequently occupy a position more or less lateral. It is from this difli"erence 
of structure that the former are denominated Catarrhince, from the Greek hata, downward, and 
rAm, nose ; and the latter PlaUjrrhince, from the Greek plains, flat, and rhin, nose : these terms 
being descriptive of the two families. 
The tails of all the American monkeys are of great length, but they diff'er mo.re or less from 
each other in the power of suspending themselves by means of that organ — a faculty which is 
nevertheless common to the greater number of them, and of which those of the Old World are 
entirely destitute. On the other hand, the American species never exhibit any traces of two 
remarkable provisions — the callosities on the haunches or of the cheek-pouches ; both of which 
are nearly universal with the monkeys proper of the Asiatic and African races. For the for- 
mer of these peculiarities, no use is known ; the cheek-pouches, which are membraneous sacks 
on each side of the mouth, are employed to carry food, and some are sufficiently capacious to hold 
a supply for two days. These characteristics do not belong to the higher apes. 
We shall embrace our description of the monkey family under the following divisions : 1st, The 
True Apes; 2d, The Old-Wokld Monkeys; 3d, The Ameeican Monkeys. 
