DISTRIBUTION OF INSECTIVORES, BATS, AND RODENTS 257 



Section II. — Distribution of Insectivores 



The Insectivores are for the most part widely scattered 

 over the earth's surface, but not very numerous in species 

 except in certain localities. In the Australian Region they 

 are entirely absent, their place in nature being there taken 

 by the Insectivorous Marsupials, and in the Neotropical 

 Region, they have only penetrated as far south as certain 

 districts in the Northern Andes. In this case also we may 

 suppose that their functions are performed by the smaller 

 Opossums (Didelphyidx), which subsist almost entirely 

 upon insects. In almost every other part of the earth, as 

 we shall see, the Insectivores are represented either by 

 special types or by members of the widely-spread group 

 of Shrews. 



As will be seen by the tables given below (p. 260) the 

 Insectivores, according to a moderate estimate, are sup- 

 posed to number about 230 species, divisible into forty-one 

 genera. These genera are grouped in ten families, on the 

 distribution of each of which a few words may be said. 



At the head of the Order it is best to place the Kaguan, 

 or Flying Lemur as it is commonly called, though its 

 structure is so peculiar and its affinities so little obvious 

 that it might perhaps be more properly ranked in an Order 

 by itself. Of this family only a single genus (Galeopithecus) 

 with two species is known, one found in the Malay 

 Peninsula and the islands of the Eastern Archipelago, and 

 a second, smaller form in the Philippine group. The 

 Galeopithecidte, therefore, may be placed as a characteristic 

 form of the Oriental Region. 



The second family of Insectivora, the Tupaiidic, or 



