VIII.] AFFINITIES OF THE FAUNA. 293 



favourable conditions of life only occur in three widely separated 

 districts of the globe the Malay Archipelago, Western Africa, and 

 equatorial South America. Hence, perhaps, it is that the tapir and 

 trogons of Malacca should so closely resemble those of South 

 America ; and that the great anthropoid apes and crested horn- 

 bills of Western Africa should find their nearest allies in Borneo 

 and Sumatra." 



In addition to the resemblances between the mammalian fauna 

 of the Malayan sub-region and that of West Africa, there are, 

 however, equally well-marked differences between the former and 

 that of Ethiopia in general. Among Burmese and Malayan types 

 wanting in Africa, we have especially to note Tapirus, Gymnura, 

 Tupaia, Hylobates, and sElurus. From the small size of their 

 representatives it would be unfair to argue anything from the 

 absence of the last four of these from the Siwaliks, but the case is 

 very different with regard to Tapirus, which ought surely to have 

 been found did it exist there. As this genus is equally wanting 

 in the Pikermi and Persian Pliocene, while it occurs in that of 

 France, Germany, England and China, it is a fair inference that it 

 has reached the Malayan countries by a route lying north of India. 

 And the occurrence of sElurus in the English Pliocene suggests 

 that the same may be the case with that genus. If this be so, 

 it is not an improbable hypothesis that the other genera men- 

 tioned, all of which have representative types in the European 

 Tertiaries, may have migrated eastwards by a similar route ; and 

 in this connection it is especially noteworthy that such of the 

 genera in question as enter India at all, occur only in the eastern 

 or southern districts. 



With regard to the date of the separation of Ceylon from 

 India, the numerous species of mammals common to the two 

 areas show that this must have taken place at a very recent date, 

 comparatively speaking ; although, as aforesaid, at a period when 

 several of the mammals now inhabiting southern India had not yet 

 occupied that portion of their distributional area. 



When discussing the possibility of a former land-connection 

 across the Bay of Bengal between Ceylon and southern India on 

 the one hand, and the Malayan countries on the other, Dr Blanford 

 was careful to point out that the ocean-bed afforded no evidence 



