56 VIGNETTES FROM NATURE. 



rupeds. The kangaroos, wombats, and 

 phalangers show us a still higher link. The 

 insectivores carry us a step further ; and 

 from them on to the highest embodiment of 

 all the great types the cats, the elephants, 

 the buffaloes, the horse, and man the stages 

 are all easy and gradual. 



Why, then, do such intermediate links sur- 

 vive ? Why have they not all developed alike ? 

 When some primitive insectivores grew into 

 nascent carnivores and nascent ungulates, 

 why did some still remain at the old low 

 insectivorous stage of hedgehogs and moles ? 

 The answer is, because their organisation was 

 quite high enough to fit them for the work 

 they had to do in life. They filled a place in 

 the world ; and because they filled it they have 

 lived on, while other types, adapted to higher 

 functions, have outstripped them, and taken 

 the upper seats in the hierarchy of animal life. 



At the same time, there are some im- 

 portant considerations to be borne in mind in 

 endeavouring to understand the reason for 



