primates

pl. [Lat., pl. of primas (gen it. prim at is )=principal, chief.] Zool .: The first and chief of Linnæus' orders of the cla Mammal i a. He included under it four genera: Homo (one species, five varieties), Simia (twenty-one species), Lemur (three species), and Vespertilio (seven species). Cuvier ignored the primateship order, cla ing Man as Bimana (Owen's Arch encephala) and Apes and Lemurs as Quadruman a (q. v.); the Bats now constitute an order by themselves [CHEIROPTERA], and the Lemurs rank as a sub-order [LEMUROIDEA]. With the advance of zoological and anatomical knowledge the use of the name has revived for the Apes, not only by naturalists, who, like Huxley, retain Man within its limits; but also by others ( e . g . Profs. Isidore Geoffroy St. Hilaire and Gervais), who consider he should be excluded from it." Huxley ( Introd . to Cla . Anim ., p. 99) defines the primates as having "never more than I. -1. The hallux is always provided with a flat nail (with occasional individual exceptions), and is capable of a considerable amount of abduction and adduction." He divides it into three sub-orders: (1) Anthropide, (2) Simiadæ (Apes and Monkeys), and (3) Lemuride. "Moreover, as man is the highest animal, and zoölog. ically considered, differs le from even the lowest ape than such ape differs from any other animal, man and apes must be placed together in one order, which may well bear its primitive Linnæan name, Primates." Prof. Mivart, in Encyc. Brit. (ed. 9th), ii. 168.