Lect. VII.] A PUZZLING TYPE. 175 



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

 and in the Philip23ine IsLinds, so that it is a near neigh- 

 bour of the Tupaia fcimily. Through the kindness of 

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

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

 ri]3e) 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 stand23oint ; 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 ty|)es 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 stujDid : 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 



