DISTRIBUTION OP ANIMALS. 591 



considered as peculiar to South America, is found in Sumatra; and the dugong, not 

 known in any other part of the globe, the existence of which was long treated with 

 incredulity. Among flying quadrupeds, or those mammifers which can imitate the flight 

 of birds, supporting themselves for a short time in the air, nearly the whole race, with 

 the exception of bats, are confined to the islands of South-eastern Asia. Three species 

 of the flying Lemurs occupy the Sunda, Molucca, and Pelew islands ; and several species 

 of the flying nocturnal squirrels inhabit Java and the neighbouring parts of the archipelago. 

 It is a conjecture of M. Lesson, that the islands stretching from Asia to Australia once 

 formed part of a great continent; an opinion founded on the fact, that these islands contain 

 great living species of quadrupeds which are in some instances common to several 

 different isles, and that the channels by which they are separated are shallow, and inter- 

 sected by banks apparently the remains of ground submerged. Dr. Prichard remarks 

 upon this idea, " that the momentum with which the waters of the equatorial ocean are 

 borne against the eastern side of America, though it has hollowed out the Gulf of Mexico, 

 has not been sufficient to break through the ridge of the Cordilleras. In the Eastern Seas 

 no similar mountain-chain existed to support the connection between Asia and Terra 

 Australis. A comparison of the geographical facts which discover themselves in other 

 equatorial regions, goes far to confirm the opinion of M. Lesson." 



6. Region of Australia. One of the most remarkable provinces of the animal kingdom, 

 hitherto but imperfectly explored, is formed by New Holland and the adjacent islands to 

 the southward. We here meet with several entire genera of quadrupeds, which, though 

 different in many respects from each other, have some common features of organisation, 

 yet distinct from those which generally characterise the animal races in other parts of the 

 globe. This great region has therefore been styled, and without any exaggeration, the 

 cradle of a new creation, in which animal life has been arranged upon a peculiar plan, 

 apart from those laws which are its universal conditions in other districts. The warm- 

 blooded quadrupeds were assumed by Linnaeus to be, without any exception, viviparous 

 and mammiferous ; the former term denoting the production of their offspring in a living 

 and perfect state, and the latter term expressing the furniture of the parents with organs 

 for suckling their young. Such animals therefore, on the last account, were constituted 

 into the great class of Mammalia. The Australian tribe of monotremes is, however, an 

 exception to the assumption of Linnasus, for these are warm-blooded quadrupeds that are 

 oviparous, producing eggs from which the young are hatched, and being consequently 

 unprovided with mammiferous organs. This tribe is probably unique. Another remark- 

 able feature of this zoological province is the prevalence of marsupial animals, whose 

 peculiar structure has been previously noticed, in the instance of the American opossum. 

 Besides this example of marsupiality, a few more are found, chiefly in the Malay islands ; 

 but in Australia it occurs as a zoological law, applying to all the carnivorous animals, 

 with only about the three exceptions of the bat, the phoca, and the dog, and distinguish- 

 ing several of the herbivorous tribes. The wombat, the koala, and the kangaroo are 

 herbivorous marsupials ; the phalangers are partly so, and insectivorous ; the opossums 

 and the dazyures are carnivorous, the latter corresponding to the civets and weasels of the 

 Old World. We naturally inquire why this part of the globe should be distinguished 

 from all other regions by the prevalence of a peculiar structure among its animal races ; or, 

 in other words, why the young of the warm-blooded quadrupeds of Australia should leave 

 the matrix of the mother at an earlier period than those of other districts, and thus 

 have a premature birth, so as to require an express provision for the preservation of the 

 diminutive embryo ? No reasonable conjecture can as yet be advanced upon the subject ; 

 though no doubt it stands in intimate connection with peculiar physical circumstances, 

 the elucidation of which may one day further develop the story of the animal kingdom. 



