PRIMATES, the name given by Linnmus to his highest order or group of the Mammalia, which included the bats (Ckeiropttra), the apes, monkeys, and lemurs (Quadrumana), and man (Bimania). By common consent of zool ogists the bats have been removed, leaving the monkeys, lemurs and man as a fairly homo geneous group. Formerly the definition of this order was comparatively easy, but owing to numerous recent paleontological discoveries an almost unbroken series of forms between the lemurs and the Insectivora is now known, and the interrelationships between the former and the higher apes, and of the latter with one another and with man, have been shown to be more complex than was anticipated. Leaving out of account the prelemunne fossils, the order may be characterized as follows: There are always complete milk and permanent Lions, the latter having the various kinds of teeth well differentitated and usually the following formula: Incisors, f; canines, premolars, or 4, and molars or (rarely). Occasionally there is the loss of an incisor, premolar or canine. The molars are of the simple quadritubercular grinding type, and the premolars are still simpler. In all
cases the orbit is surrounded by a bony ring and frequently separated from the temporal fossa by a plate of bone.. The clavicles are well developed, the radius and ulna and the tibia and fibula (except in one case) are never coalesced, the scaphoid and lunar bones of the wrist are distinct, and the pollex and hallux (except the tatter in man) form opposable thumbs. With a few exceptions among the lemurs and marmosets, the digits are all ter minated by flat nails. Except in isolated cases the stomach is always simple, there are two pectoral mamma and the testes are contained in a scrotum. Concerning the subdivision of the order in suborders and famijies there are several opinions; but the customary recognition of the sub-order Prosimiee or Lemuroidea for the lemurs and their allies, of Quadrumana for the monkeys, baboons and marmosets, and of Anthropomorpha for the apes and man will serve present purposes. Consult Hartman, 'Anthropoid Apes' (1886) ; Forbes, 'Hand book of Primates' (1896-97).