Publisher's Synopsis
Excerpt from A Review of the Primates, Vol. 1: Lemuroidea, Daubentonia to Indris; Anthropoidea, Seniocebus to Saimiri
This Review of the Primates is the result of a casual suggestion of my friend Frank M. Chapman, Esq., that I should write a book on Monkeys. The magnitude of the task - to compel all the described forms of the Primates to present themselves in their representatives for critical examination and comparison - was thoroughly appreciated, and also it was equally well understood that no Institution in the world contained a collection of these animals sufliciently large to permit a work like the present to be successfully completed by its aid alone. For over a century the Primates have been a subject of careful study by Naturalists of all lands, some most eminent Zoologists having devoted their investigations to them almost exclusively, and con sequently the types of the many species were scattered throughout the various Museums of the world. To examine and compare these important examples was a necessity, for without a thorough knowledge of their characteristics no satisfactory progress toward the solution of their proper scientific standing could be reached. With representa tives of the Primates, either from the eastern or western hemispheres, the Museums of the United States were but poorly provided, and a reli ance for the material to prosecute the work was therefore to be placed upon the collections contained in European Museums and Zoological Gardens and also in those of Eastern lands. Consequently the Author was obliged to visit all these various Institutions and study their collections. Twice were the Museums of England and the Continent visited, and many months passed each time examining the collections, and during a journey around the world, the Museums and Gardens of the far East were also visited and their collections care fully studied. The Author has seen and taken a description of nearly all the types of the Primates extant in the world to-day, and there is not a collection of these animals of any importance existing at the present time with which he is not familiar. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
