76 DISTRIBUTION OF ANIMALS. [part i. 



Next we have the Indo-Chinese sub-region, comprising South 

 China and Burmah, extending westward along the Himalayan 

 range to an altitude of about 9,000 or 10,000 feet, and south- 

 ward to Tavoy or Tenasserim. 



The last is the Indo-Malayan sub-region, comprising the 

 Peninsula of Malacca and the Malay Islands to Baly, Borneo, 

 and the Philippines. 



On account of the absence from the first sub-region of many of 

 the forms most characteristic of the other three, and the number 

 of families and genera of mammalia and birds which occur in it 

 and also in Africa, it has been thought by some naturalists that 

 this part of India has at least an equal claim to be classed as a 

 part of the Ethiopian region. This question will be found fully 

 discussed in Chapter XII. devoted to the Oriental region, where 

 it is shown that the African affinity is far less than has been 

 represented, and that in all its essential features Central India is 

 wholly Oriental in its fauna. 



Before leaving this region a few words may be said about 

 Lemuria, a name proposed by Mr. Sclater for the site of a sup- 

 posed submerged continent extending from Madagascar to Ceylon 

 and Sumatra, in which the Lemuroid type of animals was devel- 

 oped. This is undoubtedly a legitimate and highly probable sup- 

 position, and it is an example of the way in which a study of the 

 geographical distribution of animals may enable us to reconstruct 

 the geography of a bygone age. But we must not, as Mr. Blyth 

 proposed, make this hypothetical land one of our actual Zoo- 

 logical regions. It represents what was probably a primary 

 Zoological region in some past geological epoch ; but what that 

 epoch was and what were the limits of the region in question, we 

 are quite unable to say. If we are to suppose that it comprised 

 the whole area now inhabited by Lemuroid animals, we must 

 make it extend from West Africa to Burmah, South China, and 

 Celebes ; an area which it possibly did once occupy, but which 

 cannot be formed into a modern Zoological region without vio- 

 lating much more important affinities. If, on the other hand, 

 we leave out all those areas which undoubtedly belong to other 

 regions, we reduce Lemuria to Madagascar and its adjacent 



