DISTRIBUTION OF THE ORDER CARNIVORA 245 



the limits of that Region, and two of them at the present 

 epoch are restricted to it. But the Striped Hyrena (Hyrena 

 striata) extends from North-east Africa through Arabia 

 and Persia into Northern India, where it is common in the 

 North-western and Central Provinces. It must therefore 

 be registered as a common inhabitant of the Ethiopian 

 and Oriental Regions. 



Section III. — Distribution of the Dog-like 

 Carnivora 



The Cynoid, or Dog-like Carnivora, consists only of the 

 single family Canidm. Of this the great mass of species 

 (from thirty to forty in number) belongs to the true Dogs 

 (Canis), which, as we shall see, are very widely distributed 

 over the earth's surface, whilst the three remaining genera 

 are isolated forms, each of one species only, and are re- 

 stricted to narrow geographical limits. 



The Dogs (Canis) are amongst the most hardy of 

 known mammals, and are spread, as already stated, over 

 the whole earth, being apparently adaptable to all the 

 zones, whether tropical, temperate, or frigid. The ano- 

 malous island of Madagascar is the only land to which 

 they have not penetrated, that is, if we allow the Dingo 

 of Australia to be an indigenous and not an introduced 

 species, which is a point open to question. In the 

 Arctic Regions the Polar Fox (Canis lagopus) extends 

 as far north as any other carnivorous mammal, except 

 perhaps the Polar Bear, and is found far above the 

 Arctic Circle in both the Old and the New World alike. 

 On the other hand, in the extreme south of the New 



