and besides, several conspicuous mammals and birds are permanent residents in more than one zone.
THE MAMMALS
The relation of the mammals of North America to the similar animals now inhabiting other portions of the earth may be briefly shown by indicating the distribution of the orders into which the mammalia are divided. It will be remembered that in general each order is subdivided into families, these again into genera, the genera into species, and a species may contain several varieties. The classification here adopted is the one used by Lydekker in his Manual of Palæontology. An order when represented in the fauna of a continent is indicated in the following table by a plus, and when absent by a minus sign.
CLASS—MAMMALIA
| Sub-Classes. | Orders. | Examples. | DISTRIBUTION. | |||||
| N. Am. | S. Am. | Eurasia. | Africa. | Australia. | ||||
| Eutheria. | 1. | Primates. | Man, lemurs, apes, monkeys. | + | + | + | + | (Man) |
| 2. | Chiroptera. | Bats. | + | + | + | + | + | |
| 3. | Insectivora. | Moles, shrews, hedgehogs. | + | + | + | + | - | |
| 4. | Carnivora. | Lions, tigers, cats, dogs, seals, etc. | + | + | + | + | - | |
| 5. | Rodentia. | Beavers, rats, mice, squirrels, rabbits. | + | + | + | + | + | |
| 6. | Ungulata. | Ox, horse, elephant, tapir, etc. | + | + | + | + | - | |
| 7. | Sirenia. | Dugong and manatee. | + | + | + | + | + | |
| 8. | Cetacea. | Whales, dolphins, narwhals. | + | + | + | + | + | |
| 9. | Edentata. | Sloths, armadillos, ant-eaters. | + | + | + | + | - | |
| Metatheria. | 10. | Marsupialia. | Kangaroos, opossums, etc. | + | + | - | - | + |
| Prototheria. | 11. | Monotremata. | Ornithorhynchus, echidna. | - | - | - | - | + |
1. Of the primates, exclusive of man, the monkeys are the only representatives in North America. Several species are common in Central America, but they are absent from the West Indies, and do not occur north of the terra caliente of Mexico.
2. The bats are world-wide in their distribution, and several genera and species occur on this continent, their northern limit being in central Canada; during the winter in the United States and Canada they hibernate largely in caverns. One family of the Chiroptera, the leaf-nosed bats (Phyllostomatidæ), are strictly American, having their principal habitat in the southern continent, but ranging as far north as the West Indies, Mexico, and southern California. These are the vampires of which many harrowing tales are told. The Central American species are small, not larger than an English sparrow, but do not hesitate to attack cattle, and even men.
3. The insect-eating mammals are represented by a large number of genera and species, of moles and shrews, but hedgehogs are absent.
4. The flesh-eating animals are well represented by the cats (jaguars, panthers, and lynxes), wolves, bears, racoons, martens, etc. Many species of the seal family occur about the entire coast-line from Panama to the Arctic Ocean. The lion, tiger, leopard, hyena, are absent.