294 



THE STUDY OF ANIMAL LIFE CHAP. 



The hedgehog, which is at once a lowly and a central 

 type of mammal, may be taken as the beginning of this 

 line. Along with shrews, moles, and the like, the hedge- 

 hogs form the order Insectivora. To these the Bats 

 (Cheiroptera), with their bird-like powers of flight, are 

 linked, while the Carnivora (cats, dogs, bears, and seals), 

 though progressive in a different direction, seem also 

 related. 



Comparable to the Insectivores, but on a different line, 



are the gnawing 

 Rodents, rabbits 

 and hares, rats 

 and mice, squir- 

 rels and beavers. 

 This line leads 

 on to the Ele- 

 phants, from the 

 company of 

 which the mam- 

 moths have dis- 

 appeared since 

 man arose on 

 the earth. With 

 the Elephants, 

 the rock-coneys 

 or Hyraxes " a 

 feeble folk : 

 seem to be allied. 

 Both are often 

 included in the 



great order of hoofed animals or Ungulates, along with 

 the odd-toed animals horse, rhinoceros, and tapir, and 

 a larger number of even-toed forms, hog and hippo- 

 potamus, camel and dromedary, and the true cud- 

 chewers or ruminants such as sheep and cattle, deer and 

 antelopes. The ancestry of the Cetaceans (Whalebone 

 Whales, Sperm Whale, Dolphins, Porpoises, etc.) remains 

 quite uncertain. 



A third line, which we may call median, leads through 



*/ 



the Lemurs on to Monkeys. It must be noted, however, 



FIG. 98. HEAD OF GORILLA. 

 (From Du Chaillu.) 



