chap, xii.] THE ORIENTAL REGION. 315 



boundary, which are wholly wanting in the Malayan sub- 

 region. The Philippine islands are best classed with the Indo.- 

 Malay group, although they are strikingly deficient in many 

 Malayan types, and exhibit an approach to the Celebesian divi- 

 sion of the Austro-Malay sub-region. 



Zoological Characteristics of the Oriental Region. — The Oriental 

 Eegion possesses examples of 35 families of Mammalia, 71 of 

 Birds, 35 of Reptiles, 9 of Amphibia, and 13 of Fresh-water 

 Fishes. Of these 163 families, 12 are peculiar to the region ; 

 namely, Tarsiidae, Galeopithecidae, and Tupaiidae among Mam- 

 malia, while iEluridae, though confined to the higher Himalayas, 

 may perhaps with more justice be claimed by the Pahearctic re- 

 gion ; Liotrichidse, Phyllornithidse, and Eurylaemidae among birds; 

 Xenopeltidse (extending, however, to Celebes), Uropeltidae, and 

 Acrochordidse among reptiles ; Luciocephalidae, Ophiocephalidae 

 and Mastacembelidae among fresh-water fishes. A number of 

 other families are abundant, and characteristic of the region ; and 

 it possesses many peculiar and characteristic genera, which must 

 be referred to somewhat more in detail. 



Mammalia. — The Oriental region is rich in quadrumana, and 

 is especially remarkable for its orang-utans and long-armed apes 

 (Simia, Hylobates, and Siamanga) ; its abundance of monkeys 

 of the genera Presbytes and Macacus ; its extraordinary long-nosed 

 monkey (Presbytes nasalis) ; its Lemuridae (JVycticebus and Loris) ; 

 and its curious genus Tarsiits, forming a distinct family of 

 lemurs. All these quadrumanous genera are confined to it, 

 except Tarsius which extends as far as Celebes. It pos- 

 sesses more than 30 genera of bats, which are enumerated in 

 the lists given at the end of this chapter. In Insectivora it is 

 very rich, and possesses several remarkable forms, such as the 

 flying lemur (Galeopithccus) ; the squirrel-like Tupaiidae consisting 

 of three genera; and the curious Gymnura allied to the hedge- 

 hogs. In Carnivora, it is especially rich in many forms of civets 

 (Viverridse), possessing 10 peculiar genera, among which Prio- 

 nodon and Cynogale are remarkable; numerous Mustelidae, of 

 which Gymnopus, Mydaus, Aonyx and Hclictis are the most con- 

 spicuous ; ^Jlurus, a curious animal, cat-like in appearance but 



