222 ZOOGEOGRAPHICAL REGIONS 
Madagascar. Of the carnivores it is only necessary to 
say that bears are represented by only one species, 
while raccoons are plentiful, and like the skunks are 
common to this region and the Nearctic. 
Very remarkable conditions are exemplified by the 
ungulates. We find peculiar deer, peculiar pigs (pec- 
caries), tapirs (shared with the Malayan region), llamas 
(allies of the Old World camels), but no antelopes, 
sheep, goats, oxen, nor horses. There are many peculiar 
fossil forms, but these are beyond our range. 
We have already spoken of the number and peculiar 
nature of the rodents, and nothing need here be added 
to what has been said on pp. 56 and 87. The peculiar 
nature of the Edentates has also been pointed out, and 
the presence of many kinds of opossums. In South 
America there occur also other marsupials, known as 
selvas (Coenolestes), which are of great interest because 
they are believed to belong to the herbivorous or 
diprotodont section, that of which the kangaroo is the 
most familiar representative. The discovery of these 
little animals in South America is of great theoretical 
importance, because it was formerly believed that 
the diprotodont marsupials had originated within the 
Australian area, and had never occurred outside it. 
Their existence, therefore, is another link in the increas- 
ing chain of evidence which points to a former con- 
nexion between South America and Australia. 
The birds of South America are almost as peculiar 
as the mammals, though, as was to be expected, many 
of the characteristic forms extend also into North 
America. Among the important families are the 
humming-birds, the macaws (Conurinae), the toucans, 
the jacamars, the motmots, the chatterers, the tanagers, 
the tinamus (cf. p. 140), the curassows (Cracidae), &c. 
