THE MAMMALIA. 53 



those days, to protect themselves by burrowing or developing 

 defensive spines. Another sign of the great age of this order is 

 that the bats, which are insectivora very highly specialised for 

 flight and with the highest form of placentatioji, are also found in 

 the Eocene. 



The Insectivora present so many points of affinity with the 

 lemuroids, lemurs, and monkeys, that they were once considered 

 to be humble ancestors of " our noble selves." The type of den- 

 tition, consisting of incisors, canines, pre-molars, and^molars ; the 

 high placental development ; the plantigrade mode of walking : 

 all pointed, it was thought, to close relationship. The relation- 

 ship, no doubt, is close^ but it is a collateral one only. Far back 

 in the Eocene of France and the western territory of America 

 and contemporary with already fully-developed insectivorous 

 forms, were some animals with a dentition more specialised, more 

 huma?i, than that of the Insectivora. They had affinities with 

 both the true insectivora and the lemurs. Necrolemui\ Adapis^ 

 and Froadapis, from the Eocene of France, were of distinctively 

 lemuroid type. But the animals with the nearest approach to 

 human dentition have been found in the Lower Eocene of North 

 x\merica. Truly, like Napoleon, had they been worthy to foresee 

 the future, they might have cried, " Moi, je suis ancetre." In 

 honour of the illustrious line to which they were to give birth, 

 these lemuroids, of the size of a ground-squirrel, have received 

 the appalling name of Atiaptomorphis homimculiis. 



The true Insectivora appear to have pursued their placid and 

 unambitious line of life, little changed from Eocene times. So far 

 as I am aware, the extinct families of Insectivora did not attain a 

 larger size than the modern ones, and though many genera have 

 passed away the havoc has not been so great in their ranks as in 

 those of the more highly developed orders of Mammals. 



Lastly, the Primates (monkeys, apes, and man) represent an 

 order which has not yet declined in size, or dwindled in number 

 of species. The great Dryopiihecus of the Miocene of France 

 was an anthropoid ape of large size, but not larger than the great 

 anthropoid apes of the present day. Probably, man owes his 

 survival in Europe to the fact that he alone amongst the Primates 

 is truly omnivorous. With the scarcity or absence of fruit and 



