CHARACTERISTIC ANIMALS OF THE ISLAND 

 OF MADAGASCAR 



Madagascar is a good type of "ancient continental islands" that 

 in remote times were connected with the adjacent continents, which 

 they broadly resemble in the nature of their fauna, though the 

 separation has been long enough to render possible the evolution 

 of peculiar species. The Mascarene animals find their nearest 

 allies on the mainland of Africa, the characteristic monkeys, carni- 

 vores, ungulates (with one exception), elephants, and ostriches of 

 which arc, however, absent. Half the Mammals (33) of the island 

 are Lemurs, one of the most remarkable of which is the Aye-aye 

 (Chiromys Madagascariensis, i), formerly mistaken for a Rodent. 

 A Mouse- Lemur (Chirogaleus pusillus) is represented at 2. Most 

 of the Insectivores, of which the Tenrec (Centetes ecaudatus, 3) is 

 best known, belong to a family (CentetidcE) represented nowhere 

 else. 



Of about 150 species of land-birds no less than 127 are peculiar. 

 The two figured are a Fruit-Pigeon (Alectorcenas pulcherrima, 4), 

 native to the Seychelles (which belong to the Mascarene sub- 

 region), and a form {Philepitta ja/a, -male, 5) related to the so- 

 called " Ground-Thrushes " or Pittas, but constituting with another 

 Mascarene species a special family (jPhilepittid&)? 



