338 TYPES OF ANIMAL LIFE 



But the class which is naturally most interesting to 

 us is the class to which we ourselves belong, the class 

 Mammalia. When treating of the " opossum " we showed * 

 how the class of beasts was divisible into a number of 

 orders w^hich could be arranged in three distinct groups; 

 one such group (the lowest) included only the platypus 

 and echidna, which together constitute by themselves 

 the order Monotremata. The second group was consti- 

 tuted by the pouched beasts or the placental mammals 

 alone, which form the single order Marsiqnalia, while all 

 other mammals which make up a variety of orders, con- 

 stitute the third division of placental mammals. Of 

 these we have drawn attention to the apes and the bats, 

 the carnivorous beasts,! the seals and the sea-bears, the 

 hoofed-beasts, the sirenia and cetacea,! and the sloths, 

 ant-eaters, and armadillos. A few groups yet remain to 

 be noticed, and to them we devote this final article. 

 They are (i) the lemurs; (2) the rodents; and (3) the 

 insect-eating beasts. Having said what we have to say 

 about these, we shall then be in a position to survey 

 and summarise what knowledge we may have gained 

 about that whole class, which includes man and beast — 

 the class Mammalia. 



As to the lemurs,§ Ave must premise that the term 

 may be taken in a wide or in a narrow sense. There are 

 creatures to which that term properly and specially 

 applies, while there are various others more or less dif- 

 ferent forms, which are also sometimes called lemurs, 

 but which are but distant relations of the animals, to 

 which the term specially applies. To avoid ambiguity, 

 we shall henceforth speak of the entire group (of lemurs 



* See pp. 43 and 62. f " Racoon," see p. 211. 



IT "Whales and Mermaids," see p. 303. 

 § "Monkeys," see pp. 7, 33 and 34. 



