12 Journal of the Mitchell Society [July 



the other. Its marsupials and other distinctive forms become 

 mingled with Asiatic species in the islands westward of New 

 Guinea, hut both marsupials and ostrich-like birds (which here 

 attain their greatest development) extend up to and including 

 the islands of Lombok and Celebes, but not across the straits to 

 Borneo or Java. Side-necked turtles, and lung fishes are also 

 represented here, as well as in the Neo-tropical and Ethiopian 

 realms, but no cecilian amphibians. 



New Zealand lacks most of the Australian forms, but is re- 

 markable for the possession of the only living representative of 

 the reptilian order Ehjnchocephalia, while the islands of 

 Oceania possess a fauna which, as we might naturally expect, 

 is so largely composed of birds that they have sometimes been 

 erected into a zoo-geographical realm under the name of Orni- 

 thogaea or the bird world. 



The Neo-tropical Realm includes South and Central Amer- 

 ica, the coast lands of Mexico and also the West Indian islands. 

 The presence of high mountains whose peaks reach above the 

 snowline and the southward extension of the continent into 

 cooler latitudes combined with tropical conditions over most of 

 the realm make a homogeneous fauna impossible, still the whole 

 realm shows marked distinctions from any other. 



New-world monkeys, mormosets, sloths, ant-eaters, arma- 

 dillos, and true opossums, the only family of pouched mam- 

 mals found outside Australia, are all peculiar types characteris- 

 tic of this realm only, while its rodent family Caviidge contains 

 the largest of all the order, one species, the capybara, reaching 

 a weight of 100 pounds. Leaf-nosed or vampire bats are found 

 exclusively here while the fruit bats of the other three southern 

 realms are absent, as are also terrestrial insectivores. Hollow- 

 horned ruminants are wholly absent, the hoofed mammals being 

 represented by deer, tapirs, llamas, and peccaries. 



Among birds members of the ostrich family occur, as well as 

 many peculiar forms, such as the tinamous, toucans, and hum- 

 ming birds, the last being a highly characteristic and widespread 

 family. 



Orotalid, elapid, and boid snakes are represented in its fauna. 



