112 ON THE GEOGRAPHY OF ANIMALS. 
tories and that of Western Africa ; whereas the little 
we yet know of the birds of Madagascar leads us to sus- 
pect, that as great adifference may exist between them and 
the birds of the Cape, as there is between the quadrupeds 
of those two countries. To illustrate this idea, we need 
only turn to the family of shrikes, where we shal! find 
two or three distinct genera (not, indeed, yet charac- 
terised as such), which are only known to inhabit 
Madagascar. Again, we may instance that most ex- 
traordinary and extinct bird the Dodo (the rasorial type 
of the vulture family). fig.52. 
as certainly belonging to 
the zoology of these regions, 
although it has only been 
recorded by the early yoy- 
agers as a Native of the ad- 
jacent group of islands. Let 
the naturalist but glance his 
eye on the map, and he 
will then see how incompe- 
tent we now are to form 
any correct ideas on the z6o- 
logy of these regions, unknown as they are to the geo- 
grapher, and unexplored, even in the most superficial 
manner, by the scientific naturalist. 
(159.) The Isle of France is as remarkable for its 
profusion, as the Cape is for its paucity, of shells. The 
olives, the cowries, and the harps, are larger and more 
splendid than even those cf the Indian seas. 
(160.) The African quadrupeds, or those more 
especially characteristic of this province, have been 
arranged, by modern systematists, under the following 
genera and sub-genera; some groups (1.) extend to 
Asiatic India, while others (™.) are confined te Mada- 
gascar. 
Apes and Monkeys. Cercopithecus J2/. 
| Circocebus Geoff: (1.) 
Troglodytes Geoff | Cyanocephalus Briss. (1.) 
Colobus J/2. Papio Cun. (1.) 
