Page:The Last link.djvu/79

Rh 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;