ON THE TYPICAL QUADRUMANA;

WITH ESPECIAL REFERENCE TO ST. HILAIRE'S DIVISION

INTO CATARRHINE AND PLATYRRHINE GROUPS.

By Cuthbert Collingwood, M.B., F.L.S., Hon. Sec. to the Liverpool Literary and Philosophical Society &c.

(READ 19TH MARCH, 1863.)

THE marvellous notions which, even at the present time, possess the minds of the natives of the regions inhabited by the Quadrumana, are easily accounted for, when we recollect that Linnæus himself hesitated as to the true affinities of the higher forms. In the last edition of the Systema Naturæ, which was published during his lifetime, (the twelfth edition, A.D. 1766,) he has considered the Chimpanzee as a wild species of man, under the names of "Homo nocturnus and H. "sylvestris," describing him as "lying concealed during the day, "and going forth during the night; speaking with a hissing "sound; thinking, reasoning, believing that the world was "made for him, and would eventually be restored again to his sole dominion."* All this, it is true, he states only "on the authority of numerous travellers," but still it shews the superstitious notions which occupied the minds not only of civilised, but of highly educated men, concerning them,-and that, notwithstanding the fact that Gmelin tells us this species was seen in London in 1738; and it is remarkable that the only alteration made in this last edition is the insertion of the word "ratiocinatur," i.e., he is capable of reasoning.

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* Homo nocturnus, Homo sylvestris, Orang Outang, corpus album, incessu erectum, nostro dimidio minus. Pili albi, contortuplicati. Oculi orbiculati, iride, pupillâque aureâ. Palpebræ anticè incumbentes. Die cœcutit, latet. Noctu videt, exit, furatur. Loquitur sibilo; cogitat (ratiocinatur, ed. xij); credit sui caussa factam tellurem, se aliquando iterum fore imperantem, si unquam fide peregrinatoribus multis.-Linnæi Syst. Nat., ed. x. 1758.

But it is not the purpose of this communication to enter upon the controversy concerning the pithecoid origin of man. It is simply alluded to as pointing out the great interest which is ever taken in this class of animals on account of their remarkable approximation in many points to the genus Homo.

To render clearer, however, the final object of this paper, it will be necessary, before proceeding further, to take a brief glance at the classification of the Quadrumana.

Before the discovery of the great continent of America, the zoologist might be be said to be yet acquainted with a considerable variety of monkeys, and among them, with many that are still the most remarkable of the order. There were the extraordinary Anthropoid Simians, the Chimpanzee, and Orangs, inhabiting the Guinea coast of Africa, and the great islands of the Javan sea; and the Gibbons (Hylobates) or long-armed apes, confined to Eastern India. All these, in addition to their near approach to the human form (in which particular the Chimpanzee, called Troglodytes, after a fabulous Ethiopian race, referred to by Herodotus,* and said to inhabit holes and caves, is pre-eminent), are remarkable for the absence of the tail. This want in the greater part of the group is literally counterbalanced by the greater length of the arms, for in all those monkeys which are arboreal in their habits, constituting the major part, the tail appears to be a balancing organ, and plays a great part in those feats of agility which call forth the wondering admiration of human beholders. Next to these Primates, as they were called, comes the unique Kahau, or Proboscis monkey (Nasalis), of Borneo, to which the term Simia is so inapplicable. There is but one species of this anomalous genus; what was supposed to be another species is most likely the young individual. The remarkable genus, Semnopithecus, of F. Cuv., with their slender and agile forms, is exclusively

* Herodotus, iv., 183.

Indian; and this group is completed by the genus Colobus, from Africa, which has only four, instead of five fingers, on the anterior extremities. These are all distinguishable from the first group by their long tails, and from the succeeding, by the absence of cheek pouches. After these come the minute and beautiful Talapoin, the smallest monkey of the old world, inhabiting the west of Africa; and the comprehensive genus Cercopithecus (including the genus Cercocebus, of Geoffroy), whose strong canines and small facial angle connect them with the Macaques, containing no less than twenty-seven species. All these are remarkable for their grace and elegance of form, frequently for their beautiful fur, and for their mild and affectionate disposition. They inhabit Africa and India, and are distinguished from the last group by their ample cheek-pouches.

Following these, is the powerful genus Macacus, very widely distributed, and occupying a geographical range of three divisions of the globe; the Barbary Ape, or Tailless Magot (Macacus Inuus) being found upon the rock of Gibraltar, a solitary European species. This monkey has no tail; neither has it, like the Gibbons, a counterbalancing length of arm. But it must be remembered that this species, in common with most of the group, is not arboreal, but lives chiefly among the cliffs and rocky places, where still a considerable, but not an equal amount of agility is required. The Barbary Ape makes the transition easy to the last group of Cynocephalous Baboons, all natives of Africa, including the fierce Chacma and the grotesque Drills, whose prolonged dog-like muzzle, enormous strength, and ferocious disposition, readily distinguish them from all the other Quadrumana.

Such are the monkeys of the Old world; and throughout the whole of these groups, there runs such a general resemblance, that it is evident they belong to the same type, and were formed, so to speak, on the same general plan. But still

it must be remarked, that between this last group and the Lemurida (which are Quadrumana, but not true monkeys) there is a wide gap. These latter, in addition to their fox-like snout, and general resemblance to the Insectivora, have sharp hooked claws, in the place of flat nails, and are all, more or less, of nocturnal habits. The transition, also, from the almost typical Guenons, or Cercopitheci, to the almost quadruped Cynocephali, is very rapid; and the want of some connecting links would, in the present advanced state of zoological science, have been keenly felt, and perhaps sought for in the geological records of the Pleiocæne era.

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But the discovery of the continent of America supplied many links in this chain of beings, by disclosing a race of monkeys so distinct in form, structure, and habits, from those I have briefly referred to, that Geoffroy St. Hilaire speaks thus strongly concerning them.* It may be remarked, that most of the naturalists who have by their labours and writings elucidated this class of animals are French. It is another "nature of doubtful beings, between man and the carnivora, * another monkey type. * It is truly another "type; just as though the monkeys of America belonged to "another epoch of the creation, and as though the species of "the two types had, in their propagation, each retained, in all "their modifications, the fundamental peculiarities of each "primitive system."

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Nor is this distinguished philosopher alone in his estimate of the broad distinctions which characterise the two races; and I could quote an equally pointed remark of Professor Owen's, but further evidence is not called for.

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* C'est une autre nature d'êtres ambigus entre l'homme et les carnassiers; un autre type singe. C'est vraiment un autre type, comme si les singes d'Amérique provenaient d'une autre époque de création; et comme si les espèces des deux types se fussent multiplieés en retenant dans leurs modifications les traits fondamentaux de chaque système primitif."-G. St. Hilaire, Cours d'Histoire Nat. des Mammifères. Lect. 9, p. 4.

+ Owen, "Odontography," vol. i, p. 439.