686 DISCONTINUOUS DISTRIRUTION OF MAMMALS. 



Cuba. It is, of course, open to us to believe that this kind of 

 Insectivore is an archaic remnant of a stock formerly found con- 

 tinuously over the Americas, Europe, and Africa. Such is, of 

 course, the usual opinion. But, when considering the Carnivora, 

 I shall show that in that group there is a form combining the 

 characters of the Lemurs, Insectivores, and Carnivores ; also, 

 the Insectivores are lowly descendants of the Creodonts, and the 

 Creodont immigrant into Madagascar was the Galago-like 

 ancestor of the Lemurs. What, therefore, is the difficulty of 

 assuming that a definitely Lemur-like ancestor could still give 

 origin to an Insectivore? 



Carnivora. — The dog-form we only meet with in Australia 

 (Thylacintis) . The Dingo is said to be a truly wild and not 

 feral species, but it, like the native humans, may have been an 

 immigrant. In Madagascar the type has not appeared. We may 

 either assume that the Lemur stock has been incapable of assum- 

 ing this form, or we may suppose that the environment in Mada- 

 gascar is not such as to allow of the production of the steppe- 

 loving dog- form. It is at least suggestive that Australia should 

 certainly have evolved the dog-form, whilst both Africa (the 

 home of the Lemurs) and America (the home of Marsupials) 

 should possess archaic dogs. Thus America has the Bush Dog 

 (Icticyon) of British Guiana, which is said to resemble the 

 Oriental Palm Civets (Paradoxurus) , and Africa has Otocyon, 

 in the sandy regions, which has an inflected mandible, and of 

 which Beddard says: " It is possible that Otocyon is a persistent 

 Creodont-like form, which has developed in a direction curiously, 

 and in most detailed fashion, parallel to the dogs. If, however, 

 we may assume the addition of the molar (it has one more than 

 in dogs), then this anomalous but not necessarily untenable con- 

 clusion is obviated.'' Further light will be thrown on this case 

 by a consideration of the cats. 



Aeluroids. — The cat-form is found in Australia (Dasyurus) 

 and in Madagascar (Cryptoprocta). It has, however, not yet 

 iDeen suggested that Cryptoprocta has any relation to the 

 Lemurs. In Madagascar, " where all the most peculiar 

 Viverridcr live," as Beddard says, we find also Eupleres. 

 This animal has an insectivore-like dentition, agrees with the 

 Lemurs in having the premolars caniniform, and is included in 

 the Viverridcu. In labelling the Mascarene Viverrids "peculiar." 

 their aloofness from the other Carnivora is tacitly accepted, and 

 bearing in mind the presence of such an ideal transition form as 

 Eupleres, one has no difficulty in believing that the present order 

 Carnivora is not monophyletic, but that Madagascar has evolved 

 its own " Viverrids," just as Australia did its Dasyurus. It is 

 also curious that the Fossa (Cryptoprocta) of Madagascar is said 

 to bear a striking resemblance to the Evra cat of America. 



Arctoids. — The Koala (Phascolarctos) of Australia vaguelv 

 suggests the bears, but the resemblance of the Tasmanian devil 

 (Sarcophilus arsinus) to some of the lower Arctoids is much 

 more convincing. In Madagascar, however, there are no Arctoid 

 forms, although they are all well represented in Africa. 



