It was an age when the primitive placental mammals were
just beginning to diverge from each other, and had still many
features in common. For the present all we can say is that in the
earliest spread of the patriarchal mammal race one branch adopted
arboreal life, and evolved in the direction of the femurs and the
apes. The generally arboreal character of the Primates justifies
this conclusion.
In the Miocene period we find a great expansion of the monkeys.
These in turn enter the scene quite suddenly, and the authorities
are reduced to uncertain and contradictory conjectures as to
their origin. Some think that they develop not from the femurs,
but along an independent line from the Insectivores, or other
ancestors of the Primates. We will not linger over these early
monkeys, nor engage upon the hopeless task of tracing their
gradual ramification into the numerous families of the present
age. It is clear only that they soon divided into two main
streams, one of which spread into the monkeys of America and the
other into the monkeys of the Old World. There are important
anatomical differences between the two. The monkeys remained in
Central and Southern Europe until near the end of the Tertiary.
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