ETHIOPIAN MAMMALIA. 85 



and Western Africa. Characteristic non-ruminating ungulates are 

 the zebras and quaggas (Equus zebra, Burchellii, Grevyi, and 

 quagga), and the Abyssinian wild-ass (Equus tseniopus), by many 

 naturalists supposed to be the progenitor of the domestic animal. 

 Among the beasts of prey (Carnivora) there are the lion (possibly 

 two species), leopard, panther, the spotted, striped, and brown 

 hyenas, jackal, and the aard-wolf (Proteles), an animal in many 

 respects intermediate between the dog and hyena, and constitut- 

 ing the type of a distinct family (Protelidae), which is peculiar to 

 the region. The tiger is absent, as it is, in fact, from the entire 

 continent of Africa. The wolf and fox are also both wanting; 

 but the latter is replaced in the Saharan and adjoining districts 

 by the closely-related fennec (Fennecus). There is a remarkable 

 development of the civets (Viverridas), with a host of genera that 

 are peculiar to the continent; the best known among these are 

 the civets proper (Yiverra), genets (Genetta), and the ichneumon 

 (Herpestes), all of which, t however, are found also beyond the 

 limits of the region. Bears are entirely wanting, the only Afri- 

 can representative of the Ursidae (Ursus Crowtheri) being extra- 

 limital, a native of the Atlas Mountains. The Ethiopian Quadru- 

 mana, or apes, constitute a part of the Old World group of the 

 Catarhina, distinguished from the monkeys of the New World, as 

 has already been stated in treating of the Neotropical realm, by 

 the comparative narrowness of the nasal septum, the presence, in 

 most cases, of ischial callosities and cheek-pouches, the universal 

 absence of a prehensile tail, and the number of teeth, which never 

 exceed the normal number (thirty-two) characteristic of the human 

 species. This group comprises the most perfectly organised, or 

 most hominine of the quadrumanous species, and, at the same time, 

 those in which the fiercest and most savage disposition is combined 

 with a less advanced structural development. As representatives 

 of the former we have the anthropoid or man-like apes, constituting 

 the family Simiadae, which, in the African continent, comprises the 

 chimpanzees and gorillas, and, in Asia and Malaysia, the gibbons 

 and orang-outangs. The two species of chimpanzee (Troglodytes 

 niger and T. calvus), as well as the gorilla (T. gorilla), are both re- 

 stricted to the forest region of Equatorial Africa, especially the 

 west coast ; but it is still a matter of considerable uncertainty how 

 far inland their range may extend.. The researches of von Heuglin, 



