54 LLOYD'S NATURAL HISTORY. 



on the abdomen ; and the number of young is always large. 

 Their low degree of organisation is indicated by the circum- 

 stance that the main lobes, or hemispheres, of the brain are 

 perfectly smooth, and do not extend backwards so as to cover 

 the hinder portion of the brain, or cerebellum. Indeed, it 

 appears that the Insectivores are the most lowly organised of 

 all the placental Mammals, exhibiting many signs of affinity 

 with the Marsupials, of which they may prove to be the direct 

 descendants. It may be added that their structural resem- 

 blances to the Bats point to the conclusion that the latter are 

 the highly modified descendants of some very primitive and at 

 present unknown members of the Order. 



With the exception of the Tree-Shrews of India, the whole 

 of the Insectivores are nocturnal creatures, skulking during the 

 day in obscure corners or holes, or even, as in the case of the 

 Mole, being entirely subterranean in their habits. Save for 

 the so-called Flying-Lemur of the Malayan region, which is but 

 doubtfully included in the Order, Insectivores, as their name 

 implies, feed exclusively on insects, worms, molluscs, and such- 

 like creatures. The majority are purely terrestrial in their 

 habits, although a few, like the British Water-Shrew, are 

 aquatic, while the Oriental Tree-Shrews are arboreal, and the 

 Flying-Lemur takes flying leaps from tree to tree in the manner 

 of a Flying-Squirrel. 



Their geographical distribution is somewhat peculiar, from the 

 fact that while they are abundant in Africa, and still more so 

 in Madagascar, both of which are well-known harbours of 

 refuge for creatures of a low type, yet they are totally unknown 

 in South America, which is another haven for such feeble 

 animals. Although unknown in Australia, they are otherwise 

 fairly well distributed over the remaining regions of the 

 globe. 



The British representatives of the Order, all of which, as 



