GROUPS OF MAMMALS 
their nutriment therefrom. Nor can it be said that 
any other fundamental character of equal value 
differentiates the many orders which constitute the 
Eutheria. In earliness of appearance it is plain that 
the marsupials lead the way ; but it is not plain as yet 
that they are really primitive mammals as compared 
with the rest of the Eutheria. The remains as yet 
gathered from earlier rocks is so small that it would be 
rash to invoke the aid of Paleontology in settling this 
matter. In the meantime we can separate them off 
as a very well marked group; and it is fair to con- 
sider that they represent an offshoot of a more typically 
Eutherian stock. The marsupials are more fully 
treated of later. There remain those mammals which 
have not got any claims at all to be of very great anti- 
quity ; the existing creatures are separated into the 
following groups, which are generally spoken of as 
“ Orders,” viz. Primates, i.e. man, monkeys, and 
lemurs, whose characters are fully entered into below ; 
Bats or Cluiroptera, which stands apart from all other 
mammals in having the fingers of the hand enormously 
elongated and supporting, umbrella-like, a thin mem- 
brane also attached to the body which serves as a wing. 
The greater part of the bats are night-flying and insect- 
feeding creatures ; but a few, known on that account as 
“fruit bats,” feed upon fruit. Of these latter bats there 
are usually a number of specimens on view at the 
Zoological Gardens. The Insectivora, or moles, 
hedgehogs, shrews, etc., are dealt with on a subsequent 
page; so too are the Carnivora, the flesh-feeding and 
predaceous cats, dogs, bears, and seals. The Ungulates 
or hoofed mammals, are the deer, camels, rhinoceroses, 
elephant, horse, cow, sheep, and the like ; their characters 
are pointed out in due course. Of the orders Sirenia 
(manatee, dugong) Rodentia (rats, mice, porcupines, 
etc.), Edentata (sloths, ant-bears), the principal 
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