The order of the true apes (Simiae or Pitheca)--excluding the lemurs--has long been divided into two principal groups, which also differ in their geographical distribution. One group (Hesperopitheca, or western apes) live in America. The other group, to which man belongs, are the Eopitheca or eastern apes; they are found in Asia and Africa, and were formerly in Europe. All the eastern apes agree with man in the features that are chiefly used in zoological classification to distinguish between the two simian groups, especially in the dentition. The objection might be raised that the teeth are too subordinate an organ physiologically for us to lay stress on them in so important a question. But there is a good reason for it; it is with perfect justice that zoologists have for more than a century paid particular attention to the teeth in the systematic division and arrangement of the orders of mammals. The number, form, and arrangement of the teeth are much more faithfully inherited in the various orders than most other characters. Hence the form of dentition in man is very important. In the fully developed condition we have thirty-two teeth; of these eight are incisors, four canine, and twenty molars. The eight incisors, in the middle of the jaws, have certain characteristic differences above and below. In the upper jaw the inner incisors are larger than the outer; in the lower jaw the inner are the smaller. Next to these, at each side of both jaws, is a canine (or "eye tooth"), which is larger than the incisors. Sometimes it is very prominent in man, as it is in most apes and many of the other mammals, and forms a sort of tusk. Next to this there are five molars above and below on each side, the first two of which (the "pre-molars") are small, have only one root, and are included in the change of teeth; the three back ones are much larger, have two roots, and only come with the second teeth. The apes of the Old World, or all the living or fossil apes of Asia, Africa, and Europe, have the same dentition as man. (FIGURES 2.278 TO 2.282. Skeletons of man and the four anthropoid apes. (From Huxley.) Cf. Figures 1.203 to 1.209. FIGURE 2.278. Gibbon (Hylobates). FIGURE 2.279. Orang (Satyrus). FIGURE 2.280. Chimpanzee (Anthropithecus). FIGURE 2.281. Gorilla (Gorilla). FIGURE 2.282. Man (Homo).)