It is of their own free choice, to shelter themselves from the burning arrows of the sun, to enjoy the dense shadows and delicious coolness of the great trees, and, without doubt, to avoid the attacks of men, that the elephant and the rhinoceros are denizens of the forest. But a certain number of Mammals Nature seems to have specially designed to people the forests, and for whom their general organization, and, above all, the structure of their locomotive organs, appear to have left the selection of no other abode. Such are, in the first place, the genera, so numerous and so diverse, which compose the great order of Quadrumana ("four-handed"), indistinctly comprehended, in popular phraseology, under the denomination of Apes; such, too, are the curious arboreal animals called Sloths; and such, finally, in the order Rodentia, are the Squirrels. In occupying ourselves, primarily, with the _Apes_, we do but conform to the scientific classifications, all of which place these Mammals immediately next to Man in the zoological series. Linné originally proposed to designate, under the name of _Primates_--that is, the first, or chief of animals--Man, in the first place; next, the Apes; then the Galeopitheci (or Lemurs); and, finally, the Cheiroptera (or Bats). This order of Primates, established by the great Swedish naturalist, has been admitted by the majority of contemporary authors, who, however, have separated the Cheiroptera from it. Many have also separated Man, and, as I think, have more correctly placed him as a distinct genus in the order Bimana (or two-handed). * * * * * The Apes, or Quadrumana, are divided into two families--that of Apes, properly so called, and that of the Lemuridæ, or Lemurs. Both belong exclusively to the hottest regions of the globe. The latter are found only in India, Africa, and Madagascar. The Apes, on the other hand, are also spread through South America; but it is in the Old World we encounter the most numerous, the most varied, and the most remarkable species. Those writers who are so much addicted to tracing analogies between Man and the Ape, should explain how and why it is the latter attains his greatest development precisely in those regions where Man's intellect is dwarfed, "cribbed, cabined, and confined." To the ancient continent especially belong the great apes without tail, or with very short and rudimentary tail--Anthropomorphes, Baboons, Macaucos, and the Cynocephali. Apes, as well as the other Primates, are all inhabitants of tropical countries. They do not exist in Europe, in Upper Asia, or in North America.