390 DE. Q. ELLIOT SMITH ON 



Considering the small size of tlie brain in Manis, the most impressive feature is the 

 presence of so many pallial sulci. The reason for this may possibly be the resistance 

 which the smallness of the cranial cavity offers to the expanding brain. The small size 

 of the pallium in this peculiar animal is not necessarily a sign of its extreme inferiority, 

 as Dubois seems to sujjpose. It may to a great extent be explained by tlie fact that the 

 animal is encased in scales, since, if our introductory argviments are sound, the tactile 

 element in the pallium may thus reasonably be supposed to be greatly reduced. 



From a consideration of the cerebral features, it is difficult to add anything of a 

 4ecisive nature to tlie enigmatical evidence of the other parts of the body. The con- 

 figuration of the pallium exhibits in a well-defined form the distinctive features of all 

 the progeny of tbe Creodonta, but it is very difficult to say whether it favours the 

 Ungulate rather than the Unguiculate stem or vice versa. The fact that the supra- 

 sylvian sulcus has a distinct tendency to an arcuate form may at first sight seem to 

 point distinctly to a kinship with the Carnivore or i^.merican Edentate group, but it is 

 not unlikely that the obvious limitation of growth in the longitudinal direction may 

 account for this peculiarity. Then, again, the resemblance which the complex of the 

 posterior rhinal fissure and the supraorbital and sagittal sulci bears to the corresponding 

 feature in Oryctet'opus may point towards an affinity in this direction. 



In considering the American Edentates, we have already learned that there was no 

 feature or combination of features in the brain of the Armadillos which would lead us 

 to associate them with the other American forms, if we had no knowledge of the other 

 parts of the body, and especially the peculiarities of the spinal column. In such a 

 simple type of brain as that of the Armadillos, which presents the typical Eutherian 

 features, there is little of taxonomic significance. In the large brain of Priodon we 

 should in all probability find some definite evidence, but while the other members of the 

 family exhibit no cerebral features in opposition, they give no positive indication of the 

 Adew, which the characters of the vertebral column seem to conclusively prove, that a 

 o-enetic relationship certainly exists between the three American families. 



The case of the evidence afforded by the brain in the Pangolins is exactly similar. 

 For while it shows that the brain of Manis conforms to a simple type of architecture 

 which agrees in many points with those of both Orycteropus and the American Edentates, 

 there is not sufficient evidence to show decisively which type it really favours. When 

 we consider how markedly the Pangolin differs from both the other groups in the anatomy 

 of the other parts of its system, I think that we are fully justified in following Max 

 Weber's suggestion * of dividing the group Edentata into three orders : — 



Order Xenarthua (Gill). 



Family 1. Bradypodidcp. 



2. Myrmecophagida'. 



3. Dasypodida. 



* Max Weber, ' Zoologisclie Ergelanisse,' ii. p. 110. 



