chap, x.] THE PAL^ARCTIC REGION. 215 



Ethiopian districts of Senegal and Gambia to the east. There is 

 a mingling of the two faunas, but the preponderance seems to 

 be undoubtedly with the Palasarctic rather than with the 

 Ethiopian. I owe to Mr. E. B. Sharpe of the British Museum, 

 a MS. list of the birds of these islands, twenty-three species in 

 all. Of these eight are of wide distribution and may be ne- 

 glected. Seven are undoubted Palasarctic species, viz. : — Milvus 

 ictinus, Sylvia atricapilla, S. conspicillata, Corvus corone, Passer 

 salicarius, Certhilauda desertorum, Columba livia. Three are 

 peculiar species, but of Palasarctic genera and affinities, viz. : — 

 Calamoherpe brevipennis, Ammomanes cinctura, and Passer jago- 

 ensis. Against this we have to set two West African species, 

 Estrilda cinerea and Namida meleagris, both of which were 

 probably introduced by man ; and three which are of Ethiopian 

 genera and affinities, viz.:— Halcyon erythrorhyncha, closely 

 allied to H. semAcceruka of Arabia and North-east Africa, and 

 therefore almost Palasarctic; Accipiter melanoleucus ; an&Pyrrhu- 

 lauda nigriceps, an Ethiopian form ; but the same species occurs 

 in the Canaries. 



The Coleoptera of these islands have been also collected by 

 Mr. Wollaston, and he finds that they have generally the same 

 European character as those of the Canaries and Madeira, several 

 of the peculiar Atlantic genera, such as Acalles and Hegdcr, 

 occurring, while others are represented by new but closely allied 

 genera. Out of 275 species 91 were found also in the Canaries 

 and 81 in the Madeiran group ; a wonderful amount of similarity 

 when we consider the distance and isolation of these islands 

 and their great diversity of climate and vegetation. 



This connection of the four groups of Atlantic islands now 

 referred to, receives further support from the occurrence of land- 

 shells of the subgenus Leptaxis in all the groups, as well as in 

 Majorca ; and by another subgenus, Hemicycla, being common to 

 the Canaries and Cape Verd islands. Combining these several 

 classes of facts, we seem justified in extending the Mediterranean 

 sub-region to include the Cape Verd Islands. 



