chap, xi.] THE ETHIOPIAN REGION. 253 



Mammalia. — This region has 9 peculiar families of mammalia. 

 Chiromyidae (containing the aye-aye) ; Potamogalidae and Chry- 

 sochloridae (Insectivora) ; Cryptoproctidae and Protelidse (Carni- 

 vora) ; Hippopotamidee and Camelopardalidae (Ungulata) ; and 

 Orycteropodidae (Edentata). Besides these it possesses 7 pecu- 

 liar genera of apes, Troglodytes, Colobus, Myiopitliecus Cerco- 

 pithecus, Cercocefais, Theropitliecus, and Cynocephalus ; 2 sub- 

 families of lemurs containing 6 genera, confined to Madagascar, 

 with 3 genera of two other sub-families confined to the con- 

 tinent ; of Insectivora a family, Centetidae, with 5 genera, 

 peculiar to Madagascar, and the genera Petrodromus and Rhyn- 

 chocyon belonging to the Macroscelididae, or elephant-shrews, 

 restricted to the continent ; numerous peculiar genera or sub- 

 genera of civets ; Lycaon and Megalotis, remarkable genera of 

 Canidae ; Ictonyx, the zorilla, a genus allied to the weasels ; 

 13 peculiar genera of Muridae ; Pectinator, a genus of the South 

 American family Octodontidae ; and 2 genera of the South 

 American Eehimyidse or spiny rats. Of abundant and charac- 

 teristic groups it possesses Macroscelides, Felis, Hyaena, Hyrax, 

 Rhinoceros, and Elephas, as well as several species of zebra and 

 a great variety of antelopes. 



The great speciality indicated by these numerous peculiar 

 families and genera, is still farther increased by the absence 

 of certain groups dominant in the Old- World continent, 

 an absence which we can only account for by the persistence, 

 through long epochs, of barriers isolating the greater part of Africa 

 from the rest of the world. These groups are, Ursidas, the bears ; 

 Talpidae the moles ; Camelidae, the camels ; Cervidae, the deer ; 

 Caprinae, the goats and sheep ; and the genera Bos (wild ox) ; and 

 Sus (wild boar). Combining these striking deficiencies, with 

 the no less striking peculiarities above enumerated, it seems 

 hardly possible to have a region more sharply divided from 

 the rest of the globe than this is, by its whole assemblage of 

 mammalia. 



Birds. — In birds the Ethiopian region is by no means so 

 strikingly peculiar, many of these having been able to pass the 

 ancient barriers which so long limited the range of mammalia. 



