curious genus Solenodon of Cuba and Hayti, in which the nose is very long and pointed, the tail is long and scaly, and the body is covered with coarse fur, without spines. The two central incisors of the lower jaw are small, and are placed between long conical lateral incisors, which are deeply grooved on their inner surfaces. We may also place here the singular Gymnura of Borneo, Sumatra, and the Malay Peninsula. In this genus, the body is covered with long, coarse fur, the tail is long and scaly, the snout is long, and the feet are five-toed.

Fam. 6. Tupaiida.—The best known members of this family are the "Banxrings" or "Squirrel-Shrews" (Tupaia) of India and the Malay Archipelago. These are squirrel-like Insectivores, with long bushy tails, the feet plantigrade, five-toed, with naked soles, and sickle - shaped claws. They climb actively amongst the trees, and also run with facility upon the ground. Closely allied to the Tupaia is the little Ptilocercus of Borneo, in which the tail is very long, and the hairs towards its extremity are arranged like the barbs of a feather.

Fam. 7. Macroscelida.-This family includes only the little "Elephant-Shrews" (Macroscelides) of Southern and Northern Africa. They are readily distinguished by their extraordinarily elongated trunk-like nose, resembling the proboscis of an Elephant, and their very long Kangaroo-like hind-legs.

Fam. 8. Galeopithecida.-This family has been constituted for the reception of a very singular animal which forms a kind of connecting link between the orders of the Insectivora and Quadrumana, having been sometimes placed in the one and sometimes in the other, or having been regarded as the type of a separate order. The family includes only the single genus Galcopithecus, comprising the so-called "Flying Lemurs." All the Galeopitheci inhabit the Indian Archipelago, but the best known is the Galeopithecus volans of Malacca, Sumatra, and Borneo. The most characteristic point in this singular animal is the presence of a flying membrane, presenting some superficial resemblance to the patagium of the Bats, but in reality very much the same as the integumentary expansions of the Flying Squirrels and Flying Phalangers. This membrane in the Galcopithecus extends as a broad expansion from the nape of the neck to the arms, from the arms to the hind-legs, and from the hind-legs to the tail, forming an inter-femoral membrane. The fingers are not elongated, and do not support a patagium, as in the Bats, so that the animals have no power of true flight, and can simply take extended leaps from tree to tree. The feet are furnished with five toes each, united by a membrane, but neither the hallux nor the pollex are opposable

to the other digits. The dentition is complicated, and consists of incisors and molars, and, according to Owen, canines also, the dental formula being

The six lower incisors are split into narrow strips, like the teeth of a comb. The Galeopitheci seem to live chiefly upon fruits, and other vegetable matters. They are nocturnal animals, arboreal in their habits, and they sleep head downwards, suspended by their prehensile tails.

As regards the distribution of the Insectivora in time, the earliest undoubted remains of the order occur in the Miocene, at which period the families of the Talpida, Soricida, Erinaceida, and Centetida, appear to have been already differentiated. The geological distribution of the order, however, presents no points of special interest.

CHAPTER LXXX.

QUADRUMANA.

ORDER XVI. QUADRUMANA.-The sixteenth order of Mammals is that of the Quadrumana, comprising the Apes, Monkeys, Baboons, Lemurs, &c., characterised by the following points:

The hallux (innermost toe of the hind-limb) is separated from the other toes, and is opposable to them, so that the hind-feet become prehensile hands. The pollex (innermost toe of the forelimbs) may be wanting, but when present, it also is usually opposable to the other digits, so that the animal becomes truly quadrumanous, or four-handed.

with broad and tuberculate crowns. Perfect clavicles are present. The teats are two in number, and (except in Cheiromys) are pectoral in position, and the placenta is discoidal and deciduate.

The Quadrumana are divided by Owen into three very natural groups, separated from one another by their anatomical characters and by their geographical distribution as follows:Section A. Strepsirhina.-The members of this section are

It is

characterised by the nostrils being curved or twisted, whilst the second digit of the hind-limb has a claw. This section includes the true Lemurs and a number of allied forms. chiefly referable to Madagascar as its geographical centre; but it spreads westwards into Africa, and eastwards into the Indian Archipelago.

Section B. Platyrhina. This section includes those Quadrumana in which the nostrils are placed far apart; the thumbs of the fore-feet are either wanting, or, if present, are not opposable to the other digits; and the tail is generally prehensile. The Platyrhine Monkeys are exclusively confined to South America.

Section C. Catarhina.-In this section the nostrils are oblique, and placed close together. The thumb of the fore-limb

(pollex), with one exception, is present, and is always opposable to the other digits. The Catarhine Monkeys are restricted entirely to the Old World, and, with the single exception of a Monkey which inhabits the Rock of Gibraltar, they are exclusively confined to Africa and Asia. It is in the Catarhine section of the Quadrumana that we have the highest group of the Monkeys-that, namely, of the Anthropoid or Tail-less A pes.

STREPSIRHINA.

This section of the Quadrumana, as before said, is characterised by the possession of twisted or curved nostrils, placed at the end of the snout. The incisor teeth are generally much modified, and are in number 3-3 as a rule; the lower incisors 3 -3

are produced and slanting; the præmolars are

3-3 2 2

or

3-3 2-2,

and the molars are tuberculate. The second digit of the hind-limb has a claw, and both fore and hind feet have five toes each, all the thumbs being generally opposable. In the true Lemurs, all the digits, except the second toe of the hindfeet, are furnished with nails.

This section is often called that of the Prosimia, and it includes several families, of which the Aye-Ayes, Loris, and true Lemurs are the most important. In many works the Galeo

pithecus is also placed in this section.

Milne-Edwards and Gervais, from an examination of the placentation of the Lemuroids and of their cerebral characters, conclude that the group should be raised to the rank of a distinct order intermediate between the Carnivora and the Quad

rumana.

The family of the Aye-Ayes (Cheiromyda) includes only a single animal, the Cheiromys Madagascariensis. In appearance the Aye-Aye is not very unlike a large Squirrel, having a hairy body and a long bushy tail. There are no canines, and the molars are separated by a wide interval from the incisors. The incisors are ploughshare-shaped, and grow from permanent pulps, as in the Rodents. The fore-feet have five toes, armed with strong claws, but the pollex is scarcely opposable to the other digits. The middle-finger is about as long as the ring-finger, but only about half as thick, its last two joints being hairless. The hind-feet have also five toes, of which the hallux is opposable, and the second digit is furnished with a long claw. As far as is yet known, the Cheiromys is entirely confined to Madagascar.

The family of the Tarsiida includes only the singular Tarsius spectrum of Borneo, Sumatra, Celebes, and Banca, remarkable for the extraordinary elongation of the hands and feet. It has a long tail, and is arboreal in its habits.

In the Nycticebida are the Loris and the Slow Lemurs, in which there is no tail, or but a rudimentary one; the ears are short and rounded, and the eyes are large, and are placed close

together. The species of this family are all of small size, and are exclusively confined to the eastern portion of the Old World, occurring in Java, Ceylon, the southern parts of Asia, and other localities in the same geographical area. They are nocturnal in their habits, living mostly on trees, and feeding upon insects; and from the slowness with which some of them progress, they are sometimes spoken of as "Slow Lemurs." The best-known species are the Slender Loris (L. gracilis) of Ceylon, and the Nycticebus tardigradus of the East Indies. Here also belong the "Pottos" (Perodicticus) of Sierra Leone, in which the index-finger is rudimentary, and the Arctocebus of Old Calabar, in which this digit is completely wanting.

The largest and most important of the families of the Strepsirhina is that of the Lemurida or Lemurs. In this family the

muzzle is elongated, the feet are all furnished with opposable thumbs, and the nails on all the toes are flat, with the exception of the second toe of the hind-foot, in which there is a long and pointed claw. The body is covered with a soft fur, and the tail is usually of considerable length, and is covered with hair. They are easily domesticated; and though capable of biting pretty severely, their disposition is gentle and docile. They are mostly about the size of cats, and not unlike them in appearance, being often termed "Madagascar cats" by sailors. They are found almost exclusively in the great forests of Madagascar, moving about amongst the trees with great activity, by means of their prehensile tails. They appear to fill in Madagascar the place occupied by the higher Quadrumana upon the adjoining continent of Africa. The largest species is the Indri, which has very long hind-legs, and stands as much as three feet in height.

The "Galagos" (Galago), sometimes raised to the rank of a distinct family, are the only members of the Lemurida which