2 
ON tup: lemorid.^, ; or, 
It is with the Lemuridse that we are at present concerned; and our object in 
the introduction of the preceding sketch, is to shew the relative situation of the 
family, with regard to the groups around it. Agreeing with the old world Simiae^ 
in the possession of true hands, and hand-like feet, it differs from them mate¬ 
rially in the character of dentition, a point to which we shall more fully revert 
hereafter. While, however, the quadrumanous structure of the limbs, on the 
one hand, approximates the Lemurs to the Simiae of the old world, the dental cha¬ 
racters of the pedimanous Simics of the new world throws them, in turn, into 
the closest affinity with the quadrumanous Simiae^ an affinity strengthened by a 
general coincidence of anatomical structure, and of habits and instincts. What 
the Lemurs are to the old world monheys^ that the Jdidelphida; are to the mon¬ 
keys of the new world,, and, in this sense, the hemuridcB and the Didelphidcs^ 
are the analogues of each other. Setting aside that singular and imperfectly- 
understood animal, the Cheiromy^ (of which the only specimen in Europe is 
that in the Paris museum), an anomalous creature approaching in some cha¬ 
racters the Pedimana^ in others the rodents, and apparently constituting a new 
type in the organization of the mammiferous kingdom—let us attempt a brief 
analysis of the Quadrumana and Pedimana^ as arranged by Mr. Ogilby, in 
order to clear up the subject before us. 
In the first place, then, the Simi(s of the old world have anthropoid teeth; 
that is, the general and outstanding characters of their dentition are such as 
obtain in the dentition of man; and they have opposable thumbs, both on the 
hands and on the feet. To this rule there is, however, a very remarkable ex¬ 
ception; the genus Colobus, peculiar to Africa, is destitute of an externally 
developed thumb, and in this respect it agrees with the genus Ateles (Spider- 
monkeys) of South America. But it may be further observed, that in none of 
the old world Simioe is the thumb, opposable as it may be, developed as we see 
it in the human hand. Indeed, in the Indian Orang (Pithecus Saiyrus) it is 
very short, and, unless the fingers be bent down to meet it, cannot be used as 
their opponent. It is also short in the genus Semnopithcus^ but is most developed, 
as far as our personal observations go, in the Baboons {Cynocephalus) of Africa. 
If we turn from the old world to those of the New, we find that, while 
yet retaining the anthropoid teeth, the thumbs are not at all opposable to the 
fingers ; they are, where present, invariably on the same plane. The feet have 
toes, as in the Simim of Asia and Africa, in which latter group, indeed, the hind 
thumbs are more truly such, than are the analagous parts in the hands. In the 
Simim of the old world, the tail is often wanting, often short, and never prehensile. 
But, per contra^ as if to atone for the imperfection of the thumb, the tail in the 
pedimanous Simioe is very frequently an admirable organ of prehension, as in 
the thumb-less Spider-monkeys, serving the purpose of an additional limb ; or it 
is semi-prehensile, as in the Squirrel-monkey; while in others it is long and bushy. 
