2/0 THE ORIENTAL REGION. [CHAP. 



World. Each represents a sub-family by itself; and as both these 

 sub-families have Ethiopian genera, which are unknown in a fossil 

 state, it may be suggested that the latter (like the wart-hogs) have 

 been evolved within the limits of the Ethiopian region from the 

 Oriental types. To the same sub-family as the langurs belongs the 

 singular proboscis monkey (Nasalis) of Borneo. Among the 

 lemuroid Primates there are Oriental representatives of two 

 families. Of these the Lemurida include the lorises of the genera 

 Nycticebus and Loris, the former ranging over the Burmese, 

 Malayan and Indo-Chinese sub-regions, while the latter is con- 

 fined to southern India and Ceylon. Although these animals are 

 nearly allied to the pottos (Perodicticus) of western Africa, nothing 

 is known as to their past history. The tarsiers (Tarsiidce\ of 

 which there is but a single genus (Tarsius\ although several 

 specific forms have been recognised, are almost confined to the 

 Malayan sub-region, but are represented in Celebes, as they are in 

 the Philippines. 



Of the Insectivora, the most aberrant and remarkable forms are 

 the flying-lemurs (Galeopithecus), constituting a sub-order by them- 

 selves, and ranging from south Tenasserim through the Malay 

 peninsula and islands to the Philippines. As with the tarsiers, we 

 have no palaeontological history of these creatures, which are 

 probably comparatively modern types. The most characteristic 

 Oriental family of this group is that of the tree-shrews (Tupaiidce], 

 whose members have the form and habits of squirrels, with the 

 structure of shrews. The typical genus Tupaia ' ranges from India 

 throughout the Burmese and Malayan regions, but is unknown in 

 Ceylon ; while the single representative of the pen-tailed tree- 

 shrews (Ptilocercus], characterised by the pen-like extremity of the 

 exceedingly long tail, is confined to Borneo and some of the adja- 

 cent islands. As mentioned in an earlier chapter, the European 

 Miocene genera Lanthanotherium and Galerix appear to be an- 

 cestral types of this family ; and this distribution of the family is a 

 well-marked instance of the curious affinity existing between 

 certain mammalian genera of the middle Tertiaries of Europe and 



1 Two species (T. murina and 7". frenata) are often separated as Dendro- 

 gale, but as there is an annectent form (see Thomas, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1892, p. 

 -225), this appears unnecessary. 



