U VERTEBRATA. 



culiar fauna, in some instances totally distinct from that of every other region of the earth. In 

 tlir northern polar regions of both continents, we find the white bear, the rein-deer, the musk-ox, 

 the walrus, and various species of seal ; in Africa, we find the giraffe, zebra, chimpanzee, and 

 hippopotamus; in Madagascar, the lemurs and the cheiromys; in Tartary, the yak and the musk- 

 deer; in Southern Asia, the hippopotamus, the tiger, and the gibbon; in the great Asiatic 

 islands, the orang-outang, the ronssettc-bat, and the cassowary ; in Australia, the kangaroo, the orni- 

 thorhynchus, and the echidna; in North America, the grizzly bear, the bison, and the raccoon; 

 in South America, the tapir, the lama, the sloth, the armadillo, and condor. These animals, which 

 are but indications of large circles of fauna associated with them, are all peculiar species, appa- 

 rently fixed by a controlling instinct in special localities, and hence arc supposed to have originated 

 in the place-, the_\ inhabit. 



In illustration ol this subject — the geographical distribution and localization of animals — Milne 

 •Edwards says : "If a naturalist, familiar with the fauna of this country — France — visits distant re- 

 gions, he sees, in proportion as he advances, the earth peopled with animals new to him, and these 

 specie- oext disappear in their turn to make room for other species, equally unknown to him. If, 

 quitting France, he lands in South Africa, he will find hut a very small number of animals similar 

 to those he had Been in Europe, and he will observe, especially, the large-eared elephant; the hip- 

 popotamus; the double-horned rhinoceros; the giraffe; innumerable flocks of antelopes; the zebra; 

 the (ape buffalo, whose horns cover by their large base all the forehead; the black-maned lion, 

 the chimpanzee, which, of all animals, most resembles man; the cynocephalus, or dog-faced ape; 

 peculiar species of \ ultures ; a number of bright-plumed birds, strangers to Europe ; insects equally 

 different from those of the north — the fatal termites, for example, which live in numerous societies, 

 and build of the soil habitations of considerable elevation and most singular construction, 



fc If our zoologist quits the Cape of Good Hope and penetrates into the large island of Madagas- 

 car, he will find a still different fauna. There he will no longer observe the large quadrupeds 

 he found in Africa, and the family of the apes will be replaced by other mammals, equally well 

 formed to climb trees, but more resembling the carnivora, and called by naturalists the Makis : 

 he will meet with the Aye-aye, an animal of the most singular nature, which seems to be the ob- 

 ject of a sort of veneration on the part of the inhabitants, and which partakes at the same time of 

 the nature of the squirrel and of the monkey; the tenrecs, small insectivorous mammals, which 

 have the back protected with spines or quills, like our hedgehogs, but winch yet do not roll them- 

 selves up into a ball ; the cleft-nosed chameleon, and several curious reptiles not found elsew here, 

 as well as insects no less characteristic of this region. 



"Still proceeding onward and arriving in India, our traveler will find an elephant distinct from 

 that of Africa; oxen, bears, rhinoceroses, antelopes, stags, equally different from those of Europe 

 and of Afiia; the orang-outang, and a number of other apes peculiar to these countries; the 

 royal tiger, the argus, the peacock, the pheasant, and an almost innumerable multitude of birds, 

 reptile-, and insects unknown elsewhere. 



■•Should he afterward visit New Holland, still every thing will be new to him, and the aspect 

 of this fauna will appear to him still more strange than that of the various zoological populations 

 he has already passed in review. He will there no longer find animals analogous to our oxen, 

 horses, bear-, and to v great number of our large carnivora: the quadrupeds of great stature will 

 be found totally wanting, and he will discover the kangaroo, the flying phalanger, and the orni- 

 thorhynchus. 



"Finally, ii our traveler, in order to return to his native country, should traverse the vast con- 

 tinent of America, he will discover there a fauna analogous to that of the Old World, but com- 

 posed almost entirely of different specie-: he will there find apes with prehensile tails; large car- 

 nivora, somewhat resembling the lions and tigers of the eastern continent, with bisons, lamas,' 

 tapir-; and finally biids, reptiles, and insect.-, equally remarkable, and equally new to him. 



"Differ uces no less striking in the species of animals peculiar to different regions of the globe 

 are observable, when, instead of confining our observation to the inhabitants of "the land, we ex- 

 amine the myriads of living beings which dwell in the midst of the waters. In passing from the ' 

 coast of Europe into the Indian Ocean, and from this last into the seas of America, we meet with 



