D IS TRIE U TION. 2 I 5 



the palaearctic region has no families peculiar to itself alone. 

 The families which here at least have reached their de- 

 velopment are the deer, cattle, the sheep kind, and camels ; 

 especially conspicuous genera are the chamois, squirrel, 

 badger, and whistling hare. 



(5) The ^Ethiopian region has many animals found 

 only there ; among these the hippopotamus and giraffe, 

 the Cape pig, and, if we include Madagascar, the fingered 

 animals (lemurs) are most characteristic. Equally note- 

 worthy is the entire absence of extremely remarkable 

 families and genera, such as the bears, moles, deer, goats, 

 sheep, the true cattle and swine, provided they have not 

 been domesticated and introduced. Within the group the 

 island of Madagascar occupies a highly remarkable position. 

 This island is the land of the Lemurs and of the Insectivora ; 

 that is to say, no land is so rich in lemurs, as the majority 

 of the genera live exclusively in Madagascar. On the 

 other hand, the large beasts of prey, the cats, hyenas, 

 dogs, and the bears (which, however, do occur in Africa), 

 all the true apes, antelopes, elephants, and the various 

 species of rhinoceros are absent. Consequently, since 

 Madagascar is distinguished quite conspicuously from Africa, 

 many zoologists separate the island from the Ethiopian 

 region ; many even wish to give it the rank of an in- 

 dependent main region. 



(6) The oriental region contains, next to Madagascar, 

 the most Lemurs; among which the Tarsidce and Galeo- 

 pitJiecidce (the latter usually reckoned with the Insectivora] 

 are exclusively oriental. Remarkable representatives of 

 the province are the gibbons and orang-utangs, the musk- 

 deer, numerous families and genera of birds. 



Arctic and Antarctic Provinces. Of late the view 

 has continually gained ground that, besides the six men- 

 tioned, two other, circumpolar, provinces must be distin- 

 guished, the arctic and the antarctic. Both have an animal 

 world consisting of few species but numerous individuals, 

 of which the auks, polar bear, reindeer, arctic foxes are 



