PEEFACE vii 



of the animal kingdom which stands closest to 

 anthropology. 



My materials have been drawn from original 

 works, when and wherever they were within my 

 reach ; hence I never give extracts from extracts. 

 I take it for granted that my readers, if not already 

 in some measure acquainted with the forms and 

 mode of life of the Mammalia, have at hand some 

 such work as Brehm's ' Thierleben,' or Martin's 

 ' Illustrirte Naturgeschichte der Thiere.' Books 

 such as these, which nowadays occupy a pro- 

 minent place in popular literature, make us 

 acquainted with facts ; but, with the exception 

 of C. Vogt's and Specht's works on the Mammalia, 

 they go no farther. Now, as the theory of descent 

 has shown, light and interpretation are shed upon 

 the Present by the Past ; and thus the history of 

 the development of animals, the history of the 

 earth and geography, are made to confirm one 

 another. In undertaking to give an introduction 

 to illustrate this, I must observe that it will be 

 possible only by overcoming a variety of difficul- 

 ties, by entering upon various apparently trifling 



