MAMMALIA. 
43 
j him a separate ordinal station ; his rudimental structure according so nearly with that 
I of the Quadrumana, of which type he presents the modification for ground habits and 
an upright attitude ; his more highly developed brain is merely a dilference in degree. 
Conceding this much, he would require to be admitted into the same particular 
I group as all other mammalians based on the same next general plan of structure 
j to that of the entire class ; which special type is externally distinguished by pecu- 
j liarities in the sexual organs, a system of organs of all others the least subject to be 
Ij influenced by the general modification in reference to habit. 
It is thus that, after being necessarily included among the Mammalia, Man must 
next range with the other handed animals and the Bats, in a particular subdivision, 
i which Linnaeus has named Primates. 
ji, There would appear to be four distinct major groups of Primates : — the Catarrhini, 
I composed of the Apes, Monkej^^s, and Baboons of the eastern hemisphere ; the 
Platyrrhini, consisting of the anthropoid animals of America ; the StrepsirrJiini, or 
i Lemurs (including GaleBopithecus, and, perhaps, Cheiromys) ; and the Cheiroptera, or 
i Bats, which last, varying most essentially in their dentition, according as they are 
frugivorous, sanguivorous, or insectivorous, afford a decisive proof that the dentary 
I system alone, like any other single character considered apart from the rest, fails to 
I supply an invariable indication of the affinities of an animal (as has sometimes been 
stated). We perceive no sufficient reason why the genus Homo should not range at 
the head of the Catarrhini, though as a distinct family — Homlnidce, as opposed to 
Simiadce ; in accordance wherewith, the Primates present a tolerable series, from the 
summit of the animal kingdom to forms that are rather low in the class of mammalians. 
An analogous gradation is exhibited by the second grand division, which De Blain- 
ville has designated Secundates ; it is the Carnaria of Cuvier divested of the Bats. We 
prefer the latter appellation, as more in unison with the names of the succeeding 
orders ; and for the same reason would substitute Primaria for Primates. 
Our illustrious author, with a view to present some approximation to a linear suc- 
cession, has arranged the present series inversely, commencing with those least elevated 
in the scale, or the Insectivora. To this we cannot accede, as virtually implying an 
exploded principle. Considered as a carnivorous group, the Feline animals must be 
selected as the standard — most characteristic example* — of the order ; but in its 
totality, without reference to especial modifications, the Dog has better claim to be 
placed at the head. Some curious analogies accordingly present themselves between 
the respectively highest animals of the two first orders. 
As a general, perhaps universal rule obtaining in consecutive groups when sufficiently 
extensive, the summit of the inferior displays a higher organization than the terminal 
members of the superior f ; and this sometimes in a very remarkable degree, as shown 
in the present instance. A sort of parallelism may also frequently be observed between 
such members of two different ordinal types as are of a corresponding degree of eleva- 
tion in the scale of being : thus, the Shrews present certain characters of the Rodentia, 
without linking with them. It is on this principle, we suspect, that transitions appear 
to occur in some instances, from one great type of structure to another ; and a key is 
hereby supplied to the proper understanding of much that seems otherwise inexplicable. 
* The word type is often employed in this sense : we use it in a I t A proposition which is sanctioned by the acquiescence of Cuvier, 
somewhat different one. 1 as shown by his remarks on linear arrangement. Vide preface, p. 7. 
