Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 5.djvu/462

446 surface being all on a level from the tip of the nose to the top of the head; while the frontal region of the young is quite prominent. The change in the form of the head is better shown by a comparison of measurements:

From the above we see that in the adult fox the muzzle proper is half the length of the head from the ears forward, and that the width of the muzzle from its base (opposite the eyes) is equal to its length; while in the young the length of the muzzle is less than half the length of the head from the ears, and little more than half the width of its base; so that even without the figure we should see the justice of Wood's description of the little fox as "snub-nosed."

But the figure or the specimen itself would be required to corroborate his other remark, that it "resembles almost any other animal rather than a fox."

Now, it certainly does not resemble a fox; and among dogs it could be compared only to the young, or to some of the smaller breeds. But it does remind one irresistibly of certain dog-faced monkeys or baboons; and to some degree, as Dr. Barnard suggests, of the lemurs. In either case it is worth while to bear in mind that the gap, hitherto supposed to exist between the Carnivora and the Quadrumana, has been partly bridged over by the researches of Milne-Edwards upon the "Embryology of the Lemuridæ;" these curious little creatures, inhabiting the islands of Mauritius and Madagascar, and the adjacent coast of Africa, have been ranked as a subdivision of the Quadrumana on account of their arboreal habits, their prehensile limbs, and some anatomical resemblances to the monkeys; but an examination of their placenta has convinced Milne-Edwards that they are quite as nearly allied to the Carnivora as to the Quadrumana and that they should form a distinct order between and connecting the other two; and this conclusion, he says, is supported by a comparison of the brain, the limbs, the skull, and the teeth.

Now, if this be correct, and if we admit that in some way our existing species have been derived from other and preëxisting forms,