FAUKA OF THE NEOTROPICAL EEALM. 81 



fined to the tropical forests ; and among the latter, several species 

 of armadillo, the great ant-eater (Myrmecoi^haga jubata), and the 

 various forms of two-toed (Choloepus) and three-toed (Bradypus) 

 sloths— the spiny-rats (Echimyidae), most of whose representatives 

 are confined to this region, and the manatee or vacca marina (Ma- 

 natus), which ascends the river Amazon. Among the more re- 

 stricted birds are the capites, the trimii^eter (Psophia), screamer 

 (Palamedea), hoazin (Opisthocomus), pauxi, and boat-bill (Can- 

 croma). 



The fauna of the Mexican or Central American sub-region corre- 

 sponds closely with that of the sub-region just described, from which 

 it differs mainly by the comparative paucity of its developed types, 

 and by the more pronounced infusion of the Holarctic or northern 

 element. As representatives of the latter we have the shrews, the 

 hare (one species also in Brazil), ground-squirrel, fox, and Bassaris. 

 The very limited number of distinctive types include the Central 

 American tapir (Elasmognathus Bairdii), Myxomys among the 

 mice, and Heteromys among the pouched-rats. — The Chilian fauna, 

 some of whose more prominent features have already been indi- 

 cated, is broadly distinguished from the faunas of the north by its 

 negative characters, as well as by the few distinctive types which 

 more or less belong to it — llama, alpaca, vicuna, guanaco, spectacled 

 bear (Tremarctos ornatus), Patagonian cavy (Dolichotis), coypu 

 (Myopotamus coypu), chinchilla, viscacha (Lagostomus), Chlamy- 

 dophorus (among the armadillos), and several peculiar genera of 

 mice and the rat-like octodonts. The puma, deer, and skunk ex- 

 tend their range to the Strait of Magellan, and the wolf-like dogs 

 of the genus Pseudalopex, the guanaco, and several mice (Reithro- 

 don, Hesperomys) into Tierra del Fuego. The monkeys, tapirs, 

 peccaries, and sloths are wanting. — With respect to its mamma- 

 lian-fauna the Antillean sub-region, as might be expected, pre- 

 sents the most negative features. There are neither carnivores, 

 monkeys, nor edentates, the only orders represented being the bats, 

 rodents (Capromys, Hesperomys), and insectivores. The last are 

 represented by two species of the genus Solenodon, whose nearest 

 allies are the Centetidai of Madagascar. An agouti inhabits some 

 of the islands of the Lesser Antilles (St. Vincent, Sta. Lucia). The 

 resident land-birds are comprised in about one hundred genera and 

 upwards of two hundred species, about one- third of the former and 



