56 THE PHYSICAL KINSHIP 



forms of life, neither land animals nor plants 

 having been able to navigate the intervening 

 straits. This supposition is strengthened by the 

 fact that fossil remains of marsupials are to-day 

 found scattered all over the world, while, with 

 the exception of the American opossums, living 

 marsupials are found only in Australia and its 

 islands. There is to-day not a single survivor of 

 these once-numerous races in either Europe, Asia, 

 or Africa. Similar facts of distribution are furnished 

 by the lemurs — those small, monkey-like animals 

 with fox faces, which are sometimes called ' half- 

 apes,' ? e they are supposed to be the link con- 

 necting the true apes with lower forms. Fossil 

 lemurs are found in both America and Europe, 

 but lemurs are now extinct in both continents. 

 Those of America were probably exterminated by 

 the carnivora, who are known to be very fond of 

 monkey meat of all kinds. The European lemurs 

 seem to have migrated southward into eastern 

 Africa at a time when Madagascar formed a part of 

 the mainland. * There they have been isolated, 

 and have developed in a fashion comparable to 

 that which has occurred in the case of the 

 Australian marsupials. Of fifty living species, 

 thirty are confined to Madagascar, and the lemurs 

 are there exceedingly numerous in individuals. 

 Outside of Madagascar they only maintain a 

 precarious footing in forests or on islands, and are 

 usually few in number' (lo). 



If the earth were peopled by migrations from 

 Ararat, it would require a good deal of intellectual 



