The order of primates is subdivided as follows :--
Sub-order 1. _PROSIMII_. Lemurs.
Sub-order 2. _ANTHROPOIDEA_.
Family 1. _Hapalidae_. The marmosets.
Family 2. _Cebidae_. The American or tailed monkeys.
Family 3. _Cercopithecidae_. The baboons.
Family 4. _Simiidae_. The true apes.
Family 5. _Hominidae_. The human species. Primates
Each one of these subdivisions is interesting in its own way, either
because its members depart from the typical condition of the whole order
in some respects, or because of some character that foreshadows and leads
to a more developed element of the animals placed in the higher sections.
The lemurs are small animals very much like squirrels in their general
form and in their tree-climbing habits. They live now almost exclusively
on the island of Madagascar, but palaeontology shows that they were more
widely spread at an earlier time. Their teeth are exactly like our own,
except that there is one more premolar on each side of each jaw. The
"fingers" and "toes" bear nails like ours, again with an exception in the
case of the second digits of the hind limbs, which bear claws. The details
of structure that set these animals apart from all the rest of the
primates are too small to deserve comment in the present connection.
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