FAU^STA OF THE ETHIOPIAN REALM. 87 



Laccadives, and Maldives, the name of "Lemuria" has been given.* 

 A very remarkable quadrumanous animal of the Island of Mada- 

 gascar, and the only representative of its family, is the aye-aye 

 (Cheiromys Madagascariensis), formerly described as a squirrel, 

 which has many points of relationship with the rodents. The only 

 other orders of Ethiopian Mammalia that need be specially referred 

 to are the Proboscidea and the Edentata, the former rejiresented 

 by the African elephant (Loxodon Africanus), and the latter by 

 the scaly ant-eaters (Manis, Pangolin), and the curious animals 

 known as aard-varks (Orycteropus). The members of the genus 

 Hyrax, which includes the shaphan or coney of the Bible, animals 

 in several characters allied to the rodent on the one side, and the 

 rhinoceroses, among pachyderms, on the other, constitute, in the 

 opinion of many naturalists, a distinct order, Hyracoidea, apart 

 by itself. Several species (Hyrax, Dendrohyrax) are recognised, all 

 of about the size of the rabbit, and, with one exception, the coney, 

 which is also found in Syria and Palestine, restricted to the African 

 continent. 



The bird-fauna of the Ethiopian realm is by no means as rich, 

 either in the actual number of its forms or in those that are pecu- 

 liar, as the Neotropical. Neither do we find, as a rule, that brill- 

 iancy and variety in the plumage which distinguish the birds of the 

 South American continent, although gaudily-coloured birds are not 

 exactly rare. Among these are the Irrisoridaj, a group of birds 

 allied to the hoopoes, and remarkable for their metallic hues ; the 

 Meropidse, or bee-eaters, of which the common bee-eater of South- 

 ern Europe (Merops apiaster) is a well-known representative ; and 

 the curious forest-loving birds, known as the turacos and plantain- 

 eaters (Corythaix, Musophaga), in a measure related to the South 

 American toucans, constituting the family Musophagidse. The 

 Ethiopian region is the home, p^r excellence^ of the insectivorous 

 honey-suckers (Nectarinidae t), a family of birds bearing a super- 

 ficial resemblance to the American hummers, which they also, in 

 many cases, rival in the brilliancy of their plumage. The honey- 

 guides (Tndicatoridae), formerly classed as cuckoos, and to an extent 



* It is here that, by some anthropologists, has been located the most an- 

 cicDt abode of man. 



+ Also abundantly represented in the Australian and Oriental regions. 



