TYRRHENIAN TRANSITION REGION. 105 



THE TYRRHENIAN TRANSITION REGION. 



The fauna of this region is an association of elements derived 

 from the faunas of the HoUirctic, Ethiopian, and Oriental realms, 

 with a preponderance on the north side of the Mediterranean of 

 the Holarctic element, and on the south side probably of the Ethio- 

 pian. The number of absolutely peculiar forms, or of forms which 

 barely pass beyond the confines of this tract, is not great. Among 

 the Mammalia we have three such genera : Dama, the fallow-deer, 

 found on both sides of the Mediterranean; Addax, an antelope, 

 confined to North Africa and Syria; and Psammomys, a mouse, 

 restricted to Egypt and Palestine. By far the greater number 

 of the mammalian types occurring on the north side of the Medi- 

 terranean are such as might be considei-ed to belong to the Euro- 

 pean division of the Holarctic tract ; but yet there are a con- 

 siderable number of both genera and species which are entirely 

 or nearly unknown there, and which either represent peculiarities, 

 or forms belonging to the more trojiical regions to the south. 

 Such are the genet, ichneumon (found in Spain), jjorcujiine, jackal 

 (Dalmatia), Corsican deer (Cervus Corsicanus), and moufflon (Cor- 

 sica, Sardinia, Crete, mountains of Greece). Until quite recently', 

 too, the indigenous animals included also the lion and hyena. 

 The ape of the Rock of Gibraltar (Macacus Inuus), although found 

 on the Barbary coast, is more strictly an Oriental tyjie. The Ethio- 

 pian aftinities are further established on the African and Asiatic 

 sides by the elephant-shrews (Macroscelididse), coney (Syria), the 

 antelopes of the genera Oryx, Alcephalus, and Gazella, and several 

 additional members of the larger Carnivora — leopard, serval, and 

 hunting-leopard. In the early part of this century the hippopota- 

 mus still inhabited Lower Egypt. The w^ild-asses which inhabit 

 the desert plains included between the Red Sea and the Indus 

 River may be considered as a link between the Holarctic and 

 Ethiopian faunas. 



The bird-fauna is on the whole very much more nearly Hol- 

 arctic than anything else, a very large proportion of the species 

 being such as inhabit Europe north of the Alps. But this is 

 due in considerable part to the interchanges which are effected 

 through the northerly and southerly migrations. According to 

 Canon Tristram,'" no less than two hundred and sixty out of three 



