466 GEOGRAPHICAL ZOOLOGY. [part iv. 



Trachinidae possesses a fresh-water genus, Aphritis, one species 

 of which inhabits Tasmania, and two others Patagonia ; the 

 Haplochitonidse (2 genera, 3 sp.) are found only in Tierra del 

 Fuego, the Falkland Islands, and South Australia; and the 

 Galax idse (1 genus, 12 sp.) inhabit the same regions, but extend 

 to Chili, to New Zealand and to Queensland. We have here an 

 illustration of that connection between South America and 

 Australia which is so strongly manifested in plants, but of which 

 there are only scattered indications in most classes of animals. 

 The dividing line across the Malay Archipelago, separating the 

 Oriental from the Australian regions, and which is so strikingly 

 marked in mammalia and birds, is equally so in fresh-water 

 fishes. No less than six families have their eastern limits in 

 Java and Borneo ; while the extensive family of Cyprinidse has 

 no less than 23 genera in Java and Borneo, but not a single 

 species has been found in Celebes or the Moluccas. 



The distribution of fresh- water fishes lends no support to the 

 view that the peninsula of India belongs to the Ethiopian 

 region. A large proportion of the Oriental families are common 

 to the whole region ; while there is hardly a single example, of 

 a characteristic Ethiopian family or genus extending into the 

 peninsula of India and no further. 



Among the special peculiarities of distribution, is the curious 

 fish, forming the family Comephoridae, which is confined to Lake 

 Baikal, among the mountains of Central Asia, 2,000 feet above 

 the sea, and a thousand miles distant from the ocean ; yet 

 having its nearest allies in the exclusively oceanic family of the 

 mackerels (Scomberidse). The Characinidse are confined to Africa 

 and South America, distinct genera inhabiting each region. The 

 Salmonidae are confined to the two northern regions, except a 

 single species of a peculiar genus in New Zealand. The genus 

 Osteoglossum has a species in South America, another in the 

 Sunda Islands, and a third in Queensland ; while the curious 

 Sirenoidei are represented by single species of peculiar genera 

 in Tropical America, Tropical Africa, and Tropical Australia. 



Fossil Fishes. — Fishes have existed from a very remote era, 

 and it is remarkable that the first whose remains have been dis- 



