186 



GEOGRAPHICAL ZOOLOGY. 



[part IV. 



the limitation of types, and the peculiarities of distrilmtion we 

 now find to exist. 



Order III.—INSECTIVORA. 



Family 14— GALEOPITHECIDiE. (1 flenus, 2 Species.) 



GkneraIj Distuibui lux. 



The singular and isolated genus Galeopithecns, or flying lemur, 

 has been usually placed among the Lemuroidea, but it is now 

 considered to come best at the head of the Insectivora. Its food 

 however, seems to be purely vegetable, and the very small, blind, 

 and naked young, closely attached to tlie wriidcled skin of tlie 

 mother's breast, perhaps indicates some affinity with the jNIarsu- 

 pials. This animal seems, in fact, to be a lateral ofishoot of 

 some low form, wliich has survived during the process of develop- 

 ment of the Insectivora, the Lemuroidea, and the jMarsupials, 

 from an ancestral type. Only two species are known, one 

 found in Malacca, Sumatra, and Borneo, but not in Java ; tlie 

 other in the Philippine islands (Plate VIII. vol. i. p. :V?u). 



Familv in.— ]VrACPOS('ELlI)n)/l{. Q\ Clenera, Id Species.) 



Genkral DisTKiBrnoN-. 



Neotropical >ea!u;tic Pa i./ji arctic I Ethiopun Oriental I AfsrnAi.iAN 



SUB-RE(!ION.^. SVB-RHG-O.SS. t^UB-KEOION.S. SUE-REGION.S. Sl'B-UEGKINS. Sl'B-REOIONS. 



The Macroscelides, or elephant shrews, are extraordinary little 

 animals, with trunk-like snout and kangaroo-like hind-legs. 

 They are almost confined to South Africa, whence they extend 

 up the east coast as far as the Zambezi and Mozambique. A 



