File:The descent of the primates; lectures delivered on the occasion of the sesquicentennial celebration of Princeton university (1897) (14582946438).jpg

Identifier: descentofprimate00hubr (find matches)
Title: The descent of the primates; lectures delivered on the occasion of the sesquicentennial celebration of Princeton university
Year: 1897 (1890s)
Authors: Hubrecht, A. A. W, (Ambrosius Arnold Willem. 1853-1915
Subjects: Primates
Publisher: New York, C. Scribner's sons
Contributing Library: Smithsonian Libraries
Digitizing Sponsor: Smithsonian Libraries

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hom weowe the first description of this fossil, gave it thesuggestive name of Anaptomorplnos homuncidus.He thereby intended to convey the expression ofthe curious fact that, with respect to certainpeculiarities of its dentition, this small creaturereminded him strongly of man and the highermonkeys. Anaptomorphus must have been about the sizeof a squirrel, but whether it had a tail or not wecannot at present say. It had big eyes and wasmost probably a nocturnal animal of omnivoroushabits, whereas its brain capacity exceeded thatof any of the lower mammals of correspondingsize. There is, however, one genus of livingmammals with which its discoverer immediatelysaw it to be closely related, namely, the rare andquaint spectral Tarsius, of which the natives ofSumatra, Banka, and Borneo stand in suspiciousdread because of its weird appearance. Eafflestells us that when the natives perceive a speci-men on a tree near their rice fields, they aban-don these and plant their rice elsewhere, being
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Tarsius spectrum, after Burmeister. 2-5 natural size. THE DESCENT OF THE PRIMATES 7 firmly convinced that misfortune would be instore for them or their families if they did not doso. Cuming, who has observed live Tarsius in thePhilippines, praises its particular cleanliness, andremarks that when it is disturbed in its cage, itclenches its teeth together and simultaneouslycontracts its facial muscles in the same way as amonkey would do. Certain peculiarities in thestructure of its legs enable it to accomplish longjumps. In taking its food it sits down on itshind-quarters, holding the morsel in its forepaws.We have reason to believe that this descriptionof the habits and aspect of Tarsius would, to agreat extent, apply to the fossil genus Anapto-morphus. And we will now further inquire inwhat respect these two isolated genera mightprove useful to us in the determination of certainpoints of mammalian affinities. I hope to beable to make it clear to you that under certaincircumstances thedescentofprimate00hubr

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