MAMMALS 443 



large eyes, and the golden mole of S. Africa {Chrysochloris), the eyes of which are 

 small and hidden under the skin. There are two further and little known 

 representatives extant — the tenrecs of Madagascar and Solenodon of Cuba and 

 Haiti. Most are terrestrial, some are burrowers, some (the tree-shrews) arboreal, 

 and a few aquatic {Myogale, Potamogale). Most feed on insects ; some arboreal 

 forms eat leaves as well ; the moles eat worms ; and the otter-types, fish. 



From the Insectivora three orders are directly derived — the Chiroptera, the 

 Dermoptera and the Primates. 



(2) CHIROPTERA (bats), the only Placentals capable of active flight ; the 

 arms and the fingers, with the exception of the first, the hindlegs and (in the 

 Microchiroptera) the tail, support a fold of skin which constitutes the wing. 



Two sub-orders exist : (1) the large megachiroptera — the huge flying foxes 

 of Africa and the Pacific countries (Pteropus) with a wing-span of up to 5 feet 

 and large eyes (Fig. 750), the giant bats of India (Cynopterus) and of the Egyptian 

 pyramids (Xantharjayia) ; and (2) the small insectivorous microchiroptera 

 found all over the world — the British Vespertilio, the American blood-sucking 

 vampire, Desmodus, etc. 



(3) DERMOPTERA (flying lemurs), arboreal vegetarians which glide from tree 

 to tree buoyed up by a fold of hairy skin connecting the fore and hind limbs. 

 They inhabit Malaya and the Philippines (Galeopithecus). 



(4) PRIMATES. An order derived from the primitive Insectivores ; they 

 were primarily and still mainly remain arboreal. They comprise three sub- 

 orders : the Lemuroidea, the Tarsioidea and the Anthropoidea, the flrst being 

 the most primitive and the last the most advanced ; the first two are frequently 

 known as Prosimians, the last constitvites the Simians. 



(a) LEMUROIDEA, Small nocturnal lemurs of Ethiopia and the East, have 

 many primitive characters in common with the Tvipaiidte with which they seem 

 to have had a common origin. They fall into two groups — true leinurs 

 (Lemuridfe) confined to the island of Madagascar, and the Lorisidoe, never 

 foimd in Madagascar — Loris and Nycticebus of the E. Indies, the potto, Pero- 

 dicticus (Fig. 752), and the agwantibo, Arctocebus, of W. Africa, and the bush- 

 baby, Galago, of Africa. 



(b) TARSIOIDEA, of which there is only one survivor, the tarsier (Tarsins), 

 differ from the lemurs among other things in having the orbit directed forwards 

 and almost completely separated from the temporal fossa. They are generally 

 looked upon as a separate line of evolution which branched off the Primate 

 stock at an early period and eventually produced the Anthropoids. 



(c) ANTHROPOIDEA, comjjrising 5 families of essentially diurnal species, 

 distributed between the New World (Platyrrhini) and the Old (Catarrhini) : 



(i) HAPALiDyE — mai'mosets — the most primitive monkeys, small 

 squirrel-like creatures, found in C. and S. America ; 



(ii) CEBiD.E — the American monkeys — including such species as the 

 capuchins (Cebus) imported into Europe ; Nyctipithecus 

 (Aotes), the only nocturnal monkey ; the bald-headed sakis 

 (Pithecia) ; the long-liinbed spider monkeys {Ateles) ; and the 

 howling monkeys (Alouatta) ; 



(iii) CERCOPiTHECiD^ — the Old World monkeys, including the African 

 baboon (Papio), the mandrill (Mandrillus), the macaques 

 (Macaca), etc. ; 



(iv) siMiiD.-E — the anthropoid apes, including the gibbon (Hylobates), 

 the orang-utan [Pongo), the chimpanzee (Pan), and the gorilla 

 {Gorilla) ; 



