AUSTRALIAN PROVINCE. PECULIARITIES. 115 



beyond the geographic limits of the monkey tribe. The 

 same paucity of quadrupeds has been remarked in New 

 Guinea ; for although no correct inferences can be drawn 

 from the partial gleanings yet made on the coast, yet, 

 if the interior was inhabited by quadrupeds of any size, 

 it is natural to suppose they would have been mentioned, 

 or alluded to, by the natives, in some way or other : but 

 neither rumour nor tradition assigns any remarkable qua- 

 drupeds to New Guinea ; while the largest, mentioned 

 in the recent French discoveries, is a peculiar sort of 

 pig. So far, therefore, we observe a strong indication 

 of the chief peculiarity in Australian zoology ; namely, 

 the total absence of large quadrupeds : so that to place 

 New Guinea in the same zoological group with Sumatra 

 and Java, two islands abounding in apes, elephants, 

 and all the large ferine inhabitants of India, would 

 be manifestly erroneous. We shall subsequently illus- 

 trate this disposition by proofs drawn from the orni- 

 thology of these islands. 



(l6'4.) That the southern extremity of Africa contains 

 some animals approximating to those of New Holland has 

 been already mentioned ; and this approximation is the 

 more remarkable, since the distance between the two 

 nearest points of these continents is very great. In 

 what manner the Australian fauna may disappear through 

 the islands of the Pacific Ocean, we have no present 

 means of judging. Whether, therefore, it unites again 

 with the European, or, what is more probable, with the 

 American range, by means of the small islands approxi- 

 mating to California, are questions for future naturalists 

 to determine. 



(l6'5.) The most distinguishing peculiarities of the 

 Australian province are now to be considered. The great- 

 est, undoubtedly, is the total absence of large quadrupeds, 

 and the paucity of the smaller : these latter, also, are so 

 remarkable in their structure, as to appear almost ano- 

 malous. Australia has been termed the land of con- 

 trarieties : as if nature, in creating the forms intended 

 for this region, had departed altogether from those rules 

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