36 EARLY MAN IN BRITAIN. [CHAP. n. 



branches of a tree bear to the brauchlets and leaves. 

 Only one living genus was then known in Europe, and 

 that is a representative of the marsupial type, which, 

 so far as we know, was universal in Europe in the 

 Secondary period. Marsupial characters, however, are 

 to be met with in the Eocene beasts of prey, which 

 render it very probable that in those times the carnivores 

 were in the act, so to speak, of departing from the type 

 of their marsupial ancestry. On no other hypothesis 

 but that of lineal descent is it possible to account for 

 such characters as their small marsupial brain, their 

 dentition, and numerous details in their skeletons. It 

 would further appear that the lemurs of those times were 

 closely linked to the Ungulata or hoofed quadrupeds. 



Man not here. 



It is obvious that man had no place in such an 

 assemblage of animals as that described in this chapter. 

 To seek for highly-specialised man in a fauna where no 

 living genus of placental mammal was present would be 

 an idle and hopeless quest. Nevertheless, it is an im- 

 portant fact to note that the lowest member of the order 

 Primates, to which he belongs in natural history classifi- 

 cation, was represented in the upper Eocenes of Europe, 

 and throughout the whole of the Eocene period in 

 America. 



