188 MAMMALIAN DESCENT. [Lect. YIIL 



LECTURE VIII. 



The remaining Orders of Mammalia. 



In seeking to creep upwards towards Man's liigli place 

 in nature, I need not necessarily pass in review all tlie 

 Orders of the class to which he belongs. The members 

 of several of the groups of the higher Eutheria are, in 

 certain respects, much more specialised, or changed 

 from the original five-toed types, than Man himself. 

 But there are certain things in some of the lower 

 Eutheria, not yet brought under review, that are very 

 instructive ; these things will now be spoken of. The 

 Bats, Rodents, and Lemurs are manifestly the next 

 in order above the Insectivores. The second of these 

 groups (Mice, Bats, Squirrels, &c.) have less to interest 

 us than the third, the Lemurs ; yet they are all full of 

 teaching as to the possible specialisation of a general 

 Mammalian type. 



Chiroptera (The Bats). 



The Bats are evidently a modification of the Insecti- 

 vorous type, and are, for the most part, themselves, 

 Insectivorous. There are two types not belonging to the 



