630 ZOOLOGY SECT. 



Baboons, and the large majority of Lemurs, including the curious 

 Aye-aye (Chiromys) ; several peculiar Insectivora, such as the 

 Golden Moles (Ckrysochforid&), and the River Shrew (Pota- 

 mogale) ; the African Elephant, the Hippopotamus, two or three 

 species of Rhinoceros, the Zebras and Quaggas, the Giraffe and 

 Okapi, and more than seventy species of Antelopes ; the 

 Aardvark (Orycteropus), one of the most singular types of 

 Ede-ntata; the Plantain-eaters (Musiphagidce), the Secretary 

 Bird (Serpentarius), and many other families and genera of 

 Birds ; numerous snakes and other Reptiles, and several fresh- 

 water Fishes, including the Dipnoan Protopterus, and the Ganoid 

 Polypterus. The Lion, Leopard, and Ostrich are also character- 

 istic, although not actually endemic, since the two former 

 extend into the Palsearctic and Oriental regions, while the 

 Ostrich occurs in Arabia and Syria. Almost equally remarkable 

 are the negative peculiarities of the region, and especially the 

 absence of Bears, Deer, and Oxen, and the extreme paucity of 

 Goats, Sheep, true Pigs (Sus), and Shrews. 



The great island of Madagascar is characterised by the immense 

 number of Lemurs, the absence of Monkeys, and the poverty 

 of its carnivorous and ungulate fauna, the Lions, Antelopes, &c. t 

 of the African continent being all absent. Most of its Mammals 

 are endemic, only three out of twenty-eight (including Bats) being 

 found in Africa. The Birds, also, are quite different from those of 

 the African continent. It shows affinities with America in the 

 presence of a peculiar family of Insectivora (Centetidai), otherwise 

 found only in the West Indies, and of certain Snakes ; and its 

 relationships with India are so marked that it has been proposed 

 to account for them by assuming the former existence of a 

 land connection, in Jurassic and Cretaceous times, extending north- 

 eastward across the Indian Ocean and represented at the present 

 day by the Seychelles and other neighbouring islands. In the 

 opinion of some authorities these peculiarities entitle Madagascar 

 and the adjacent islands to rank as a distinct zoo-geographical 

 region. 



The Oriental Region consists of India, Burmah, Siam, south- 

 eastern China, and certain islands of the East Indian Archipelago, 

 including Sumatra, Java, Borneo, and the Philippines. As we 

 have seen, it is separated from the Palasarctic region by the 

 Himalayas, continued on the west by a tract of country following 

 the course of the Indus, and on the east by a region curving at 

 first southwards and finally northwards to Shanghai. The south- 

 eastern boundary is an imaginary line, known as Wallace's line, 

 which passes between the small islands of Bali and Lombok, then 

 through the Straits of Macassar, between Borneo and Celebes, and 

 finally to the east of the Philippines. The islands to the north- 



