The Geographical Distribution of Animals, Volume 1 / With a study of the relations of living and extinct faunas as elucidating the past changes of the Earth's surface

by Alfred Russel Wallace

Order—CHIROPTERA.

					Fam.
Frugivora				9.	Pteropidæ	Fruit-eating Bats.
Insectivora		Istiophora		10.	Phyllostomidæ	Leaf-nosed Bats.
				11.	Rhinolophidæ	Horse-shoe Bats.
		Gymnorhini		12.	Vespertilionidæ	True Bats.
				13.	Noctilionidæ	Dog-headed Bats.

The genera of Chiroptera are in a state of great confusion, the names used by different authors being often not at all comparable, so that the few details given of the distribution of the bats are not trustworthy. We have therefore made little use of this order in the theoretical part of the work.

The osteology of the Insectivora has been very carefully worked out by Professor Mivart in the Jounral of Anatomy and Physiology (Vol. ii., p. 380), and I follow his classification as given there, and in the Proceedings of the Zoological Society (1871).

Order—INSECTIVORA.

Fam.
14. Galeopithecidæ	Flying Lemurs.
15. Macroscelididæ	Elephant Shrews.
16. Tupaiidæ	Squirrel Shrews.
17. Erinaceidæ	Hedgehogs.
18. Centetidæ	Tenrecs.
19. Potamogalidæ	Otter Shrew.
20. Chrysochloridæ	Golden Moles.
21. Talpidæ	Moles.
22. Soricidæ	Shrews.

The next order, Carnivora, has been studied in detail by Professor Flower; and I adopt the classification given by him in the Proceedings of the Zoological Society, 1869, p. 4.

Order—CARNIVORA.

				Fam.
		Æluroidea		23. Felidæ	Cats, Lion, &c.
Fissipedia				24. Cryptoproctidæ	Cryptoprocta.
				25. Viverridæ	Civets.
				26. Protelidæ	Aard-wolf.
				27. Hyænidæ	Hyænas.
		Cynoidea		28. Canidæ	Dogs, Foxes, &c.
		Arctoidea		29. Mustelidæ	Weasels.
				30. Procyonidæ	Racoons.
				31. Æluridæ	Pandas.
				32. Ursidæ	Bears.
Pinnipedia				33. Otariidæ	Eared Seals.
				34. Trichechidæ	Walrus.
				35. Phocidæ	Seals.

The Cetacea is one of those orders the classification of which is very unsettled. The animals comprising it are so huge, and there is so much difficulty in preserving them, that only a very few species are known with anything like completeness. A considerable number of genera and species have been described or indicated; but as many of these are founded on imperfect specimens of perhaps a single individual, it is not to be wondered at that those few naturalists who occupy themselves with the study of these large animals, cannot agree as to the proper mode of grouping them into natural families. They are, however, of but little importance to us, as almost all the species inhabit the ocean, and of only a few of them can it be said that anything is accurately known of their distribution. I therefore consider it best to follow Professor Carus, who makes a smaller number of families; but I give also the arrangement of Dr. Gray in his British Museum catalogue of whales and seals, as modified subsequently in the Proceedings of Zoological Society, 1870, p. 772. The Zeuglodontidæ, a family of extinct tertiary whales, are classed by Professors Owen and Carus between Cetacea and Sirenia, while Professor Huxley considers them to have been carnivorous and allied to the seals.