288 THE ORIENTAL REGION. [CHAP. 



V. Ungulata (cont.). 



ELEPHANTID^E. 



Elephas. The existing Oriental elephant is widely 

 different from the Ethiopian, although nearly 

 allied to the Holarctic mammoth ; the extinct 

 Stegodont group is mainly Oriental, although 

 extending into north China and Japan. 



VI. Effbdientia. 



MANID^E. 



Manis. Elsewhere only in Ethiopian region ; fossil 

 in Indian Plistocene. 



The relations of peninsular India to the Himalayan area have 

 been already discussed at the commencement of 

 of^hV Region y this cna P ter \ wm ' le tne land-connection which 

 appears to have existed between India and Mada- 

 gascar, and thus with Africa, has been alluded to in an earlier 

 one. The latter connection must have ceased to exist before 

 the Pliocene era ; and, as we have seen, the descendants of the 

 Siwalik mammals would appear to have made their way into 

 Ethiopia across Syria or Arabia. During the Pliocene, India, at 

 least, could not have been distinguished as a region from Ethiopia 

 as it exists at the present day ; and even in the Plistocene the 

 connection between the faunas of the two areas was much more 

 intimate than it is now. The full reason for this gradual dis- 

 appearance of the modern Ethiopian types from the Indian area 

 will probably never be known ; but there can be little doubt that 

 the gradual refrigeration of the northern hemisphere with the 

 advent of the glacial period has been largely instrumental ; the 

 present distribution of Hemitragus being only explicable on the 

 hypothesis of a marked lowering of the temperature over India. 



The more peculiar mammals now inhabiting the Oriental 

 region may be roughly arranged under five headings. The first 

 will include those that are common to India and some of the 

 countries to the west or south-west, but are, for the most part, 

 unknown in either Ceylon or the countries to the eastward of the 

 Bay of Bengal. Under this category may be included the follow- 

 ing, viz. : 



