I say, not less sharp, though it is
somewhat narrower. The structural differences between Man and the
Man-like apes certainly justify our regarding him as constituting a
family apart from them; though, inasmuch as he differs less from them
than they do from other families of the same order, there can be no
justification for placing him in a distinct order.
And thus the sagacious foresight of the great lawgiver of systematic
zoology, Linnaeus, becomes justified, and a century of anatomical
research brings us back to his conclusion, that man is a member of the
same order (for which the Linnaean term PRIMATES ought to be retained)
as the Apes and Lemurs. This order is now divisible into seven
families, of about equal systematic value: the first, the ANTHROPINI,
contains Man alone; the second, the CATARHINI, embraces the old-world
apes; the third, the PLATYRHINI, all new-world apes, except the
Marmosets; the fourth, the ARCTOPITHECINI, contains the Marmosets; the
fifth, the LEMURINI, the Lemurs--from which 'Cheiromys' should probably
be excluded to form a sixth distinct family, the CHEIROMYINI; while the
seventh, the GALEOPITHECINI, contains only the flying Lemur
'Galeopithecus',-- a strange form which almost touches on the Bats, as
the 'Cheiromys' puts on a rodent clothing, and the Lemurs simulate
Insectivora.
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