GROUPS OF MAMMALS 



their nutriment therefrom. Nor can it be said that 

 any other fundamental character of equal value 

 differentiates the many orders which constitute the 

 Eutheria. In earliness of appearance it is plain that 

 the marsupials lead the way ; but it is not plain as yet 

 that they are really primitive mammals as compared 

 with the rest of the Eutheria. The remains as yet 

 gathered from earlier rocks is so small that it would be 

 rash to invoke the aid of Palaeontology in settling this 

 matter. In the meantime we can separate them off 

 as a very well marked group ; and it is fair to con- 

 sider that they represent an offshoot of a more typically 

 Eutherian stock. The marsupials are more fully 

 treated of later. There remain those mammals which 

 have not got any claims at all to be of very great anti- 

 quity ; the existing creatures are separated into the 

 following groups, which are generally spoken of as 

 " Orders," viz. Primates, i.e. man, monkeys, and 

 lemurs, whose characters are fully entered into below ; 

 Bats or Chiroptera, which stands apart from all other 

 mammals in having the fingers of the hand enormously 

 elongated and supporting, umbrella-like, a thin mem- 

 brane also attached to the body which serves as a wing. 

 The greater part of the bats are night-flying and insect- 

 feeding creatures ; but a few, known on that account as 

 " fruit bats," feed upon fruit. Of these latter bats there 

 are usually a number of specimens on view at the 

 Zoological Gardens. The Insectivora, or moles, 

 hedgehogs, shrews, etc., are dealt with on a subsequent 

 page ; so too are the Carnivora, the flesh-feeding and 

 predaceous cats, dogs, bears, and seals. The Ungulates 

 or hoofed mammals, are the deer, camels, rhinoceroses, 

 elephant, horse, cow, sheep, and the like ; their characters 

 are pointed out in due course. Of the orders Sirenia 

 (manatee, dugong) Rodentia (rats, mice, porcupines, 

 etc.), Edentata (sloths, ant-bears), the principal 



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