the thigh bones are set so wide apart that the
knees cannot be made to approach each other.
The palms or soles of the feet are set on obliquely,
facing inward, as we saw in the Apes, and for the
same purpose. ‘The bones of the feet are exceed-
ingly rigid, being, to a considerable extent, sol-
dered, as it were, together; and the toes are ter-
minated by powerful hooked claws of enormous
length, which in a condition of rest are drawn
down upon the palm and wrist, and can be ex-
tended only by the will and muscular effort of the
animal. It is easy to see how these characters are
suited to a hanging and climbing habit: the sharp
bent claws forming effective hooks for holding on,
the immovable limbs for maintaining a firm hold, the
oblique articulation of the feet and thighs for
embracing a branch, and the great length of the
arms for seizing a fresh hold, or for drawing the
twigs and leaves to the mouth. In other respects,
also, the same Divine care is manifest. Though
the structure of the molar teeth will not admit of
the food being much ground in the mouth, and
the intestinal canal is unusually short for vegetable
feeders,—yet this is compensated by the volume
and complexity of the stomach, which is divided
into four compartments, scarcely less elaborate
than those of the Ruminantia. The body is clothed
with long, coarse hair, somewhat resembling dried
grass, or the tree-moss (Tillandsia) which hangs in
immense bunches from the tropical forests. The
face is short and round, like that of a Monkey.
There are but three toes on the hind-feet, and either two or three, (according to the genus,) on the fore ones: the toes are enveloped in the skin.
The two genera which comprise this Family,
