CHAPTER VII. 
Apes, Monkeys, and Lemurs — continued. 
The Lemurs. 
Family LemuriDjE. 
The whole of the animals treated of in the four preceding chapters, as possessing 
many characters in common, to which we have alluded in the course of our descrip¬ 
tion, are regarded by zoologists as collectively constituting one great group of the 
order Primates. And since this group is also taken in zoological classification to 
include man himself, it is spoken of as the Anthropoid or Human-like group; the 
individual members thereof being referred to as Anthropoids. 
We now come to another and lower group of animals, which, while sufficiently 
nearly allied to the above to be included in the order Primates, are so different as 
to be entitled to stand as a group of equivalent rank. These animals are primarily 
represented by the lemurs. The group also includes two other creatures which 
cannot be classed in the same family as the lemurs, and of which we shall treat 
in the succeeding chapter. As it is desirable to have a common name for all 
the members of this group, and as it would be incorrect to allude to the whole 
of them as lemurs, the term Lemur-like creatures, or, shortly, Lemuroids, has been 
proposed, and will be found convenient. 
Although these Lemuroids may always be distinguished at a glance from 
the apes and monkeys by their foxy, expressionless faces, it is difficult to point 
out the important structural features by which they differ from the former without 
entering into anatomical details unsuited to a popular work like the present. The 
reader must, therefore, take it on trust that there are such important differences 
between the Anthropoids and the Lemuroids. In spite, however, of these differ¬ 
ences, there are such resemblances between the two groups as to suggest that the 
lemurs and their allies are not far removed from the group from which we may 
presume (if the doctrine of evolution be the true key to the book of nature) the 
apes and monkeys to have originated. 
That the lemurs are much lower in the zoological scale than the 
Cli3irHiCt6ristics ° 
’ apes and monkeys is shown by the simpler structure of their brains, 
which have far fewer foldings on their surface than is the case with those of the 
latter; the amount of such foldings, as giving a larger extent of superficial surface, 
being indicative of the mental powers of the owners of the brains. 
A peculiar feature of all the lemurs and their allies is to be found in the 
circumstance that the second toe of the foot (corresponding to the index finger of 
the hand) is always furnished with a sharp claw. All lemurs have a well-developed 
