Lect. VII.] A PUZZLING TYPE. 175 



■a pathless desert. This type is found in Borneo, Sumatra, 

 and in the Philippine Islands, so that it is a near neigh- 

 bour of the Tupaia family. Through the kindness of 

 various friends, for whose help I am grateful, I have 

 been able to work out the skuU in the new-born (or 

 ripe) young, and in two more advanced young taken 

 in the woods, with their mother, in the Philippines, 

 by Prof Moseley. I have also studied the skull in 

 the adult. I must confess that the skull, to say 

 nothing of the rest of the creature, is to me a perfect 

 puzzle, looking at it from a zoological standpoint ; but I 

 see nothing in it that I am not familiar with as a 

 morphologist, except intense specialisation. Yet this 

 is just one of those forms which, whilst lying at the 

 very base of its own group, is specialised for its own 

 life-purposes quite as much as the other members. The 

 Sucking Fishes (Marsipobranchs), and the Serpents, are 

 also instances of this kind. The types of Mammalia 

 that are nearest to Man do, indeed, come much closer 

 to their natural overseer or master, than any known 

 Insectivore does to the Colugo or Flying Cat. 



Everything that I have seen suggests, what Mr 

 Wallace long since asserted, namely, that this is a 

 most ancient type. It is very stupid : it won't 

 die when you have done your best to kill it — like 

 a Frog or a Snake ; — if the Cat has nine lives, 

 it has ninety-and-nine. It used to be thought to 

 be a Lemur ; then a Bat ; it is almost equally akin 



