CHAPTER XIII. 



THE AUSTRALIAN EEGION. 



The Australian is the great insular region of the earth. As a 

 whole it is one of the best marked, and has even been considered 

 to be equal in zoological value to all the rest of the globe ; but 

 its separate portions are very heterogeneous, and their limits 

 sometimes ill-defined. Its central and most important masses 

 consist of Australia and New Guinea, in which the main features 

 of the region are fully developed. To the north-west it extends to 

 Celebes, in which a large proportion of the Australian characters 

 have disappeared, while Oriental types are mingled with them 

 to such an extent that it is rather difficult to determine where to 

 locate it. To the south-east it includes New Zealand, which is 

 in some respects so peculiar, that it has even been proposed to 

 constitute it a distinct region. On the east it embraces the 

 whole of Oceania to the Marquesas and Sandwich Islands, whose 

 very scanty and often peculiar fauna, must be affiliated to the 

 general Australian type. 



Australia is the largest tract of land in the region, being 

 several times more extensive than all the other islands combined, 

 and it is here that the greatest variety of peculiar types have 

 been developed. This island-continent, being situated in the 

 track of the southern desert zone, and having no central moun- 

 tains to condense the vapours from the surrounding ocean, has a 

 large portion of its interior so parched up and barren as to be 

 almost destitute of animal life. The most extensive tract of 

 fertile and well-watered country is on the east and south east, 



