Most of the marsupials are extinct. They occur from the Upper Trias onwards, and had in the Jurassic epoch attained a wide distribution both in Europe and in America. Since the Tertiary epoch they have been restricted to America and to the Australian region, and are now represented by about 150 species.
20. Stage of Prochoriata, or early Placentalia: a further development of the Metatheria by the development of a placenta, loss of the marsupium and the marsupial bones, complete division by the perineum of the anal and uro-genital chambers, stronger development of the corpus callosum, or chief commissure of the two hemispheres of the brain.
Placentalia must have come into existence during the Cretaceous epoch. Up to that time all the Mammalia seem to have belonged to either Prototheria or to Metatheria; but in the early Eocene we can distinguish the main groups of Placentalia—namely, (1) Trogontia, now represented by the rodents; (2) Edentata, or sloths, armadilloes, etc.; (3) Carnassia, or Insectivora and Carnivora; (4) Chiroptera, or bats; (5) Cetomorpha, or whales and dugongs; (6) Ungulata; (7) Primates. Of these groups, the first and second, third and fourth, fifth and sixth, can perhaps, to judge from palæontological evidence, be combined into three greater groups, as indicated by the fossil Esthonychida, Ictopsida, and Condylarthra, in addition to the ancestral Primates, or Lemuravida, as the fourth large branch of the ancestral-tree where this has reached the placental level. Among none of the first three branches can we look for the ancestors of the Primates. The Lemuravida, therefore, represent a branch equivalent to the three other branches.
21. Stage of Lemures, or Prosimiæ, comprising the older members of the Primates, consequently approaching most nearly to the Lemuravida. The limbs are modified into pentadactyle hands and feet of the arboreal type, and are protected by nails. The dentition is of the frugivorous or omnivorous type, with an originally complete series of teeth,
with milk teeth and with permanent. The orbit is surrounded by a complete bony ring, posteriorly by a fronto-jugal arch, but still widely communicating with the temporal fossa. The placenta is diffuse and non-deciduous.
ANCESTRAL TREE OF THE MAMMALIA.
'Systematische Phylogenie,' § 386.
| Perissodactyla | Homo | Carnivora | ||||
| Artiodactyla | | | (Litopterna) | | | | | Pinnipedia | |
| | | | | | | Anthropoidae | |—— | ——' | |
| | | | —— | —— ' | | | | | ||
| '—— | ——| | Catarhinæ | Carnassia | |||
| '—— | —— , | | | | | Chiroptera | ||
| (Amblypoda) | Proboscidea | | | Platyrhinæ | Insectivora | | | | |
| '—— | ——| | | | | | |—— | ——' | | |
| ' —— | —— | | Simiæ | | | | | ||
| Cetacea | Sirenia | | | | | |—— | ———— | ——' |
| |—— | ——' | | | Lemures | | | Rodentia | |
| Cetomorpha | | | | | | | | | ||
| | | Hyracoidea | | | | | Ictopsales | (Tillodontia) | |
| | | | | | | Lemuravidæ | | | | | |
| '—— | ——'—— | —— | | | | | | Trogontia | Edentata |
| Condylarthrales | | | | | |—— | ——' | ||
| | | | | | | Esthonychales | |||
| ' —— | ——|—— | ——'—— | ——' | |||
| | | ||||||
| Eutheria s. Placentalia | ||||||
| | | ||||||
| Marsupialia diprotodontia | | | Marsupialia polyprotodontia | ||||
| '—— | ———— | ——|—— | ———— | ——' | ||
| Metatheria | ||||||
| | | Monotremata | (Allotheria) | ||||
| Prototheria | | | | | ||||
| |—— | ——'—— | ———— | ——' | |||
| Hypotheria s. Promammalia | ||||||
Names in brackets indicate extinct groups.
Names underlined indicate hypothetical groups or combinations.