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Show 1873.] MR. ST. G. MIVART ON THE LEMURS. 503 Zoological rank of the Lemuroidea. I feel it incumbent on me not to pass over another question of higher and more general interest-namely, the zoological rank and position of the group of Lemuroids as a whole. In 1864* I ventured to propose that the whole group of Lemuroids (or Half-Apes) should be raised to the rank of a suborder of the order Primates. For that suborder I proposed the term Lemuroidea, assigning the parallel designation Anthropoidea to the higher suborder-the suborder, that is, containing the Apes and Man. This suggestion has been adopted by some naturalists; but a still further separation of the Half-Apes from the Apes has met with recognition and approval in France; and Professor Alphonse Milne- Edwards, M . Grandidier, and M . Paul Gervais agree with the late M . Gratiolet in considering that the Lemuroids should rank as a distinct order of Mammals. The distinctions brought forward by these authors to justify this separation and already published are certainly numerous and very important; and Professor Alphonse Milne-Edwards has had the kindness to inform m e of others yet more startling, which he has kindly given m e permission to communicate. M . Gratiolet, in speaking of the cerebral convolutions of the Lemuroids observesf that natural analogies compel him to place the Lemurs in a separate group from the Apes, and at the head of the Bats and Insectivora. M . Paul Gervais*];, speaking of the affinities of the Lemurs, expresses himself as follows:-"Malgre 1'habitude que Ton a jus-qu'ici conservee, de parler de ces animaux dans les cours ou d'en ecrire l'histoire dans les traites, a la suite des veritables Singes, on doit reconnaitre que des caracteres importants separent l'une de l'autre ces deux categories d'animaux, et si Ton partage les Mammiferes en un plus grand nombre d'ordres que ne le voulaient Cuvier et De Blainville, plus particulierement encore, si Ton admet qu'il doit y avoir parmi ces animaux autant d'ordres separes qu'il y a de groupes reellement naturels et independants entre eux, il devient necessaire de partager en deux ordres distincts les Singes et les Lemures." Professor Alphonse Milne-Edwards has given § the following characters as amongst those justifying the erection of the Lemuroids into a distinct order:- 1. The bell-shaped placenta ||. 2. The vast size of the allantois. 3. The much uncovered condition of the cerebellum. 4. The cranial structure. 5. The inferior incisors. * P. Z. S. 1864, p. 635. t Mem. sur les plis cerebraux, 1854, p. 22. } "Encephale des Lemures," Journal de Zoologie, torn. i. p. 7. § Revue Scientifiquo, 2nd Sept, 1871, p. 222. | For details see Ann. des Sc. Nat, Oct. 1871, Art, No. 6. and Acad, des Sc. Aug. 14th, 1871. |