ORDER XI.—_Primates_ are at the head of the animal kingdom. The distinguishing characteristics of this class are the more erect carriage of the body, a hand better adapted for use, its fingers being furnished with nails, and a thigh free from the body. The order includes the Lemurs, Monkeys, Apes and Man. The lowest division of the primates, the lemurs, are small animals whose bodies are covered with hair. They have a fox-like face, a pointed nose, large ears, and a long tail, and they walk on all fours. The monkeys have long prehensile tails, and though their hands can be used for grasping, the thumbs are not opposable. A distinguishing mark is the number of teeth; they have thirty-six instead of thirty-two, as the apes and man. Among the monkeys are the Baboon, the Howling Monkeys, the Mandril, and the Sleepers of Africa and Asia. The apes are more erect than the monkeys, have no tail, and have longer arms. The division includes the Orang-Outang of Borneo and Sumatra, the Chimpanzee, of Africa, and the Gorilla of Africa and Asia. Man commands the highest physical development among the primates. In him the partially erect position of the monkey and ape becomes complete. His limbs are more nearly equal in length and more perfectly developed than those of other primates, the skull is larger, the forehead more rounded, and the brain nearly twice the size of that of the gorilla, the dentition is more perfect, the teeth being regular and rarely protruding. The great distinction between man and the lower primates is that of mind. He alone, of all animals, possesses the power of articulate speech, of forming abstract ideas, and of reasoning. _End of Required Reading for the Year 1884-85._ SUMMER HOMES FOR THE CITY POOR. BY HELEN CAMPBELL. Who began it? The germ theory. This answer may be regarded as not strictly to the point, yet it is certain that it holds the truth more nearly than any statement which might give New York or Philadelphia as the first cause. By this mysterious law, which from time to time we encounter in settling precisely such questions, minds entirely remote and with no kinship of faith or mutual purpose, felt the sudden moving toward action practically simultaneous. A hint of things to come had been given half a dozen years before, but full action waited for the Centennial year of 1876.