OF ANIMALS. 103 



and earth ; but these fundamental differences are not the only 

 ones observed in the geographical distribution of animate crea- 

 tures. If a naturalist familiar with the fauna* of his own coun- 

 try, visit distant regions, he sees, as he advances, that the land 

 becomes inhabited by animals new to his eyes; then these species 

 disappear, in their turn to give place to species equally unknown. 



If, after leaving France, he land in the South of Africa, he 

 will find there only a small number of animals similar to those 

 he saw in Europe, and he will remark especially the Elephant, 

 with bigears ; the Hippopo'tamus ; the Rhinoceros, with two horns ; 

 the Giraffe ; innumerable herds of Antelopes ; the Zebra ; the Cape 

 Buffalo, the widened base of whose horns cover the front ; the 

 biack-rnaned Lion ; the Chimpanzee, which of all animals most 

 resembles man; the Cynocephalus, or dog-faced Monkey; Vul- 

 tures of particular species; a multitude of birds of brilliant 

 plumage, strangers to Europe ; insects, also different from those 

 of the north; for example, the fatal Termite, which lives in nume- 

 rous societies, and builds, in common, its habitation of earth, which 

 is very curious in its arrangement and of considerable height. 



If our zoologist leave the Cape of Good Hope, and penetrate 

 into the interior of the great island of Madagascar, he will there 

 find a different fauna. He will see none of the large quadrupeds 

 he met in Africa ; in place of the family of monkeys, he will 

 find other mammals equally well formed for climbing trees, but 

 more resembling the carna'ria, designated by naturalists under 

 the name of makis ; he will meet the ai-ai or sloth, a most 

 singular animal, which appears to be a sort of object of veneration 

 among the inhabitants, and partakes of the nature of both monkey 

 and squirrel ; Tenrecs (a kind of hedge-hog), small insecti'vorous 

 mammals, which have spiny backs like hedge-hogs, but do not 

 roll themselves in a ball; the Came'leon, with forked nose, and 

 many curious reptiles not found elsewhere, as well as insects not 

 less characteristic of that region. 



Still pursuing his route and arriving in India, our traveller sees 

 an elephant different from that of Africa; oxen, bears, rhinoceros, 

 antelopes, stags, different from those of Africa and Europe ; the 

 ourang-outang, and a multitude of other monkeys peculiar to 

 those countries ; the royal tiger, the argus, the peacock, pheasants, 

 and an almost innumerable host of birds, reptiles, and insects, 

 unknown elsewhere. 



If he now visit New Holland, all will be there again new to 

 him, and the aspect of this fauna will appear to him still more 

 strange than the various zoological populations he has passed in 



* Fau'na, from the Latin, faunvs, the name of a rural deity among tho 

 Romans, The animals of all kinds peculiar to a country consulate it* 

 Fauna. 



