GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION 355 



explain one portion of the facts presented by the Fauna of Mada- 

 gascar, and inadequate to explain the rest ; but he has demonstrated, 

 so far as can be, that the existence of such a continent was impossible. 

 Here there is only room to indicate the line he has taken {Island 

 Life, pp. 390-399). He incontestably shews (1) that Madagascar 

 must have been united to Africa in very ancient days, (2) that it 

 must have received its stock of Lemurs thence at a time when 

 Lemurs inhabited not only Africa but Europe (for Lemurian remains 

 have been found fossil in France— if not in England), and probably 

 Asia, (3) that Lemurs made their way to the Indo-Malay Islands 

 by passing through Asia, just as they passed through Africa to 

 Madagascar, (4) that Madagascar must have been separated from 

 Africa before the now prevailing African types overran that con- 

 tinent, and (5) finally, that the Indinxi fades of the Fauna of Mada- 

 gascar, which is chiefly shewn by certain Birds, and is of course 

 very striking to an ornithologist, is caused by forms of existing 

 Indian genera, and by species very closely allied to those of India, 

 this last fact shewing their comparatively recent arrival in the 

 Mascarene Islands and Madagascar, where they must be regarded 

 as colonists. The hypothesis of a "Lemuria" is in fact exactly 

 like that of an " Atlantis," which was for a long while thought 

 requisite for the explanation of the Fauna of the Atlantic Islands, 

 but has proved to be untenable in the face of more complete 

 knowledge. 



VI. The Indian Region'^ completes our survey of the globe ; and 

 its boundaries, so far as they can be defined, have been already 

 sketched out when treating of the adjoining areas. Large as is 

 its extent and varied as are its physical features, it would seem to 

 have but 2 peculiar Families of Birds, Phyllornithidse and Eurij- 

 Isenddse, out of upwards of 70 which occur within its limits. There 

 is peculiar difficulty in settling the Subregions and Provinces into 

 which ■ it should be separated. While the Fauna of some districts 

 has been studied so that we possess a very fair knowledge of them, 

 the greater part is no better known zoologically than the centre 

 of Afi-ica. Yet we cannot treat this Indian Region with the same 

 audacity of ignorance that we did the Ethiopian, for our acquaint- 

 ance with it is such as to shew that there are in it districts, large 

 or small, which have an unmistakable affinity to one another and 



^ It must be mentioned that objection has been taken, and not without show 

 of reason, to the name " Indian " applied to this Region, since what is correctly 

 called "India" forms but a small and perhaps not the most characteristic part 

 of it. Mr. Wallace has used the name "Oriental," against which it may be 

 urged that it errs on the side of vagueness, just as " Indian " does on the side of 

 particularity. Though in this use he has had several followers, it seems on the 

 whole that " Indian," being the distinguishing term first applied to this Region, 

 had better be retained for it. 



