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Updated: June 9, 2025
In the general term, monkeys, considered as equivalent to the order Primates, or the Quadrumana of naturalists, we have to include another sub-type, that of the Lemurs. These animals are of a lower grade than the true monkeys, from which they differ in so many points of structure that they are considered to form a distinct sub-order, or, by some naturalists, even a separate order.
If Professor Bischoff had taken the trouble to refer to p. 96 of the work he criticises, in fact, he would have found the following passage: "And it is a remarkable circumstance that though, so far as our present knowledge extends, there IS one true structural break in the series of forms of Simian brains, this hiatus does not lie between man and the manlike apes, but between the lower and the lowest Simians, or in other words, between the Old and New World apes and monkeys and the Lemurs.
The differences we find in this respect between man and the anthropoid apes are much slighter than the differences between the various species of apes. But all the apes have certainly a common origin, and have been evolved from a long-extinct early-Tertiary stem-form, which we must trace to a branch of the lemurs.
What would be the gain of having higher susceptibilities and keener perceptions if they only aggravated the triumph of the insulting flea? The old naturalists called the apes and lemurs Quadrumana, the "four-handed," and separated the Bimana, with one species namely, Homo sapiens.
Nearly all the species live in trees, to which they are specially adapted by the formation of their feet. It remains to inquire how this deviation in structure arose, what were the steps of development of the grasping foot and hand, the special characteristic of this group. In considering this question, the first fact to appear is that the apes and lemurs are plantigrade animals.
Leguay, on the occurrence of the supra-condyloid foramen in the humerus of man. Lek of the black-cock and capercailzie. Lemoine, Albert, on the origin of language. Lemur macaco, sexual difference of colour in. Lemuridae, ears of the; variability of the muscles in the; position and derivation of the; their origin. Lemurs, uterus in the. Lenguas, disfigurement of the ears of the. Leopards, black.
Certainly if the alert, watchful, suspicious habits of the apes are due to the requisite of avoiding dangerous enemies, we might naturally look for similar habits in the lemurs, which are similarly situated.
The lemurs or half-apes are the stem-group, descending from the older Mallotheria of the Cretaceous period. From them the apes were evolved in the Tertiary period, and man was formed from these towards its close. But they are very interesting, and are the last survivors of a once extensive group.
This classification undoubtedly expresses many of the most important facts in vertebrate structure in a clear and compendious way; whether it is the best that can he adopted remains to be seen. With much reason the Lemurs are removed altogether from the Primates, under the name of Prosimiae.
In Austro-Columbia the later Tertiary fauna exhibits numerous and varied forms of Platyrrhine Apes, Rodents, Cats, Dogs, Stags, Edentata, and Opossums; but, as at present, no Catarrhine Apes, no Lemurs, no Insectivora, Oxen, Antelopes, Rhinoceroses, nor Didelphia other than Opossums.
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