CHAPTER V 



THE ORIENTAL REGION 



(Plate V., p. 152) 

 Section I. — Boundaries of the Oriental Region 



The Oriental is the smallest of the six Regions into which 

 the Earth has been divided for the study of zoological 

 distribution. On the west it includes the great peninsula 

 of India and its attendant island of Ceylon. Its boundary 

 on this side is probably the Suliman range of hills, though 

 the fauna of Western Sind and the Punjab, which lie 

 between that range and the Indus, is intermediate in 

 character between those of the Oriental and Palsearctic 

 Regions. Beyond this range the boundary runs eastwards 

 along the slopes of the Himalayas, at an elevation of from 

 9000 to 10,000 feet above the sea-level. Above this height 

 Palsearctic forms are chiefly met with, below it Oriental 

 forms mostly prevail. Eastwards of Sikkim the boundary 

 between the Palsearctic and Oriental Regions cannot be 

 laid down with certainty, owing to our little acquaintance 

 with the eastern part of Tibet and the adjacent portion of 

 China. What knowledge we have of the fauna of this 

 Region is due almost entirely to the celebrated French 

 missionary, Pere David, who made considerable researches 

 in Moupin, a small mountainous territory, situated at the 

 extreme western edge of the Tibetan plateau. Pere. 

 David's collections have been mostly described by M. 



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