xiii PHYLUM CHORDATA 599 



natives of the Old World ; the Llamas of the Neotropical region. 

 Wild species of Pigs are widely distributed in the Old World and 

 are absent in the New ; while the Peccaries are confined to the 

 Nearctic and Neotropical regions. Hippopotami are confined to 

 Africa. The Horses, including the Zebras and Asses, are restricted 

 at the present day, as regards their natural distribution, to the Old 

 World, though they abounded also in America in the Pleistocene 

 period. Rhinoceroses are Oriental and Ethiopian. Tapirs have a 

 singular distribution, one species occurring in the Malay Archi- 

 pelago, and the rest in the Neotropical region. Hyraxes are con- 

 fined to Africa, Arabia, and Syria. Of the Elephants, one species 

 is confined to the Oriental, the other to the Ethiopian regions, but 

 fossil remains prove that in Pleistocene times the range of the 

 Elephants, and their gigantic extinct allies, the Mammoths, was 

 very much wider, and extended over Northern Africa and the 

 entire Palaearctic region. Only one fossil species has been found in 

 America. 



Carnivora, if we leave out of account the Australian Dingo or 

 Native Dog, are absent in the Australian, Polynesian, and New 

 Zealand regions, but range over all the other geographical pro- 

 vinces. The Cats and the Dogs are found in all parts of this 

 extensive area : the Hyaenas are restricted to the Western part of 

 the Oriental region and the warmer parts of the Holarctic and 

 the Ethiopian. The Civets are most abundant in Africa, Mada- 

 gascar, and South-Eastern Asia, but occur also in the Southern 

 parts of Europe ; and many of the smaller groups have a yet 

 more restricted range. Bears have a wide distribution, but are 

 absent from the whole of the Ethiopian region. 



The majority of the Pinnipedia are found in the Arctic and 

 Antarctic regions and in the temperate zones of both hemi- 

 spheres, few ranging into the tropics. The Walruses are almost 

 exclusively Northern, while the Eared Seals and Earless Seals 

 are almost equally abundant in the Northern and Southern 

 hemispheres. 



The Rodents have a wider range than any others of the orders of 

 land Mammals, and occur in all parts of the globe, though they are 

 poorty represented in Australia and Madagascar. The Rodents 

 reach their greatest development, as regards the number of 

 families, in South America, in which region occur also the majority 

 of the largest members of the order. 



Insectivora are absent in the Australian, Polynesian, and New 

 Zealand regions, and in South America ; but occur in all the other 

 provinces. 



The Chiroptera are world-wide in distribution, occurring in 

 greatest abundance in tropical and warm temperate zones. The 

 Flying " Foxes " (Pteropidae) are absent from the Nearctic and 



