374 TYPES OF ANIMAL LIFE 



which consists of America south of North Mexico, and 

 including the Antilles. This is the region of sloths, 

 ant-eaters and armadillos, of howling and spider monkeys, 

 sakis, squirrel monkeys, and marmosets. This is also the 

 region of the true vampire bat, Desmodus. Here also 

 alone are found chinchillas, cavies, and the Patagonian 

 hare, the capybara, or the jaguar and the ocelots ; and 

 lastly, here are found the tapirs, other than that of the 

 Malay Archipelago. 



We have incidentally noted that various forms are 

 absent from the Antilles and Madagascar, which we 

 might have expected to find in countries so warm, and 

 with such abundant vegetation. More noteworthy still 

 is it that all Oceanic Islands are devoid of beasts, save 

 bats and such as might have been imported by man or 

 have been accidentally transported by floating timber, &c. 



It is evident that the distribution of animals over the 

 earth's surface to-day, or their distribution through past 

 time, as evidenced by their fossil remains, both point to 

 a gradual and natural origin and distribution of every 

 kind of beast composing the mammalian class. We say 

 of every kind of beast, because as regards man, no 

 reasonable opinion could be gathered from the facts set 

 down in this series of essays. The great distinguishing 

 characteristic of man is his intellectual energy, above all, 

 his power of perceiving that a difference exists between 

 right and wrong, between duty and pleasure. But no 

 inquiry as to the human mind has been here attempted, 

 for the only purpose of the present work is to serve as 

 an introduction to the study of the higher animals, 

 especially those which constitute the class of beasts — the 

 class Mammalia. 



