228 



DR. P. CHALMERS MITCHELL ON THE 



the loss of the caecum, next the obliteration of distinction 

 between the fore-gut and the hind-gut, and the disappearance 

 of the colic loop. I found no adventitious connections in any of 

 the types, but I am unable to attach much importance to the 

 presence or absence of these. Nor can I lay stress on the folding 

 of the gut on itself ; this is certainly present in Macroscelides 

 and Talpa ; Beddai'd states that it occui'S in Erinaceus, and 

 found it present in one example of Centetes, absent in 

 another. 



Text-fiffure 23. 



Intestinal tract of Talpa europwa. 

 Lettevins as in text-fig. 22. 



The similarity of type between the pattern of Macroscelides 

 (and probably of TiqiCbia, according to Flower and Hunter) and 

 the pattern of PhaJangista, recalls Dr. Broom's association of 

 these animals with Diprotodont Marsupials and removal of them 

 from the Insectivora (Broom, 1902, 1915). I must point out,^ 

 however, that the pattern shared by the two is a very simple 

 derivative of the primitive mammalian type, and on this ground 

 alone, I would not be disposed to argue close affinity amongst 

 the animals that display it. Moreover, if, as seems to me most 

 probable, the colic loop of Phalangista resembles that of Bettongia 

 and the Kangaroos, and belongs to the region of the hind-gut 

 distad of the pendant loop, then the resemblance of Macroscelides 



