THE MAMMALIA 



IN THEIE BELATION TO PEIMEVAL TIMES. 



I. 



GENERAL INTRODUCTION. 



THE POSITION OF THE MAMMALIA IN THE ANIMAL 

 KINGDOM. 



IT has always been considered a matter of course 

 that the Mammalia stand at the head of the animal 

 kingdom. This has been the opinion of the multi- 

 tude who have not given any thought whatever to 

 the origin of living things ; also of those to whom 

 the ' idea of the creation,' or rather the empty word 

 creation, was, and still is, the one * comforter in 

 need ; ' and again also of the majority of our stu- 

 dents of modern biology, the advocates of the theory 

 of descent, and their few predecessors. This agree- 

 ment in the opinion expressed about the Mammalia 

 dates from the earliest times, and is founded upon 



