1548 THE STORY OF THE UNIVERSE 



Reptiles are less numerous in Asia than in some 

 other parts of the globe, but are sufficiently common 

 in the southeastern parts of the continent and the ad- 

 jacent islands. The python (analogous to the boa- 

 constrictor of the New World) lurks in the morasses 

 and swamps of the East Indian islands; the cobras, 

 with several other kinds of venomous serpents, are 

 found in the peninsulas of Eastern and Western In- 

 dia. Both sea and fresh-water snakes are numerous. 

 Among insects, the locust is abundant in Western 

 Asia, and commits the most dreadful ravages among 

 the crops in Syria, Persia, and Arabia. 



Africa is yet richer than Asia in regard to the ani- 

 mal kingdom. Of the total number of mammalia, 

 more than a fourth occur in this division of the Old 

 World, and fewer than a sixth of the number are 

 common to Africa with either of the other continents. 

 It is in the carnivora, ruminants, pachyderms, and 

 quadrumana, that African zoology is more especially 

 rich. Only one order, the marsupial, is unrepre- 

 sented in it. Nor is the varied abundance of animal 

 life in this region of the globe confined to species; 

 the development of individual life within its vast 

 and almost boundless solitudes is yet more char- 

 acteristic. 



Among African beasts of prey are the lion, pan- 

 ther, leopard, wolf, fox, hyena, and jackal. Three 

 varieties of the lion occur that of Northern Africa, 

 of the countries on the Senegal, and of the extreme 

 south, toward the Orange River. There are two 

 hyenas one, the spotted hyena, a native of Southern 

 Africa; the other, the striped hyena, indigenous to 



