Evolution and creation / by Herbert Junius Hardwicke.

  • Hardwicke, Herbert Junius.
Date:
1887
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Evolution and creation / by Herbert Junius Hardwicke. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    46/326 (page 8)
    [8] placenta), the earliest forms of which were Carnaria, or flesh-eaters, from which came Carnivora, or land beasts of prey (cats, dogs, bears, etc.), and Pinnipedia, or marine beasts of prey (seal and walrus). The third division we name Discoplacentalia (discoid placenta); and here we find, as the first development, the Prosimise, or tailed lemurs, quadrupeds with claws, and having the appearance of hybrid cats and monkeys. All these are placed in the Eocene period, in which stratum geologists have found fossilised placentals. From the discoplacental-mammal Prosimite evolved the following species—viz., Prosimiee of Madagascar (lemurs of to-day), with four feet and claws; Cheiroptera (bats); Rodentia (squirrels, mice, porcupines, hares); Insectivora (moles, shrew-mice, and hedgehogs); and Simise, or quadruped monkeys, with two feet,'two hands, nails, and tails. We divide Simite into two classes, the Platyrrhini, or New World apes, with thirty-six teeth, tails, no cheek-pouches or callosities, and nasal cavities pointing outwards and divided by a thick septum (from which came the American howlers, weepers, capuchins, and squirrel-monkeys); and the Catarrhini (Menocerca), or Old World apes, with thirty-two teeth (like man), tails, cheek-pouches, callosities, and nasal cavities pointing down- wards and divided by a thin septum (like man). These are placed itr the Meiocene period, in which have been discovered the first fossil apes. From the Catarrhini developed the tailed baboons and macaques, with thirty-two teeth, cheek-pouches, and callosities; and the Anthropoidse, with thirty-two teeth, but no tails, cheek-pouches, or callosities. These Avere evolved during the Pleiocene period. From the anthropoid (man- like) apes we get three distinct divisions—viz., the gibbon and orang- families, with no tails or cheek-pouches, walking partly on hind legs, and wandering in companies in India; the chimpanzee and gorilla families of Africa, with no tails or cheek-pouches, no articulate speech, walking^ on hind legs only, living in companies in caves, and carrying their babes in their arms; and Alali, or ape-like men, commonly called the missing- links, who were probably developed, during the Pleiocene period, in- Lemuria, a submerged continent which formerly occupied the position of the Indian Ocean; or in the districts of the Nile and Ganges. These primitive ape-like men were the connecting links between men- and the apes, and are divided into two main branches—viz., woolly- haired Alali, who migrated from Lemuria, west and south ; and straight- haired Alali, who migrated from Lemuria, north, east, and south. Both these branches had skulls of the same character as those of the chim-