2C6 ZOOLOGICAL GEOGRAPHY. [part in. 



Anomahirus, shows that this island has probably once been united 

 to the continent. 



Prince's Island, situated about 100 miles from the coast, has 

 no mammals, but betM^een 30 and 40 species of birds. Of these 

 7 are ^QQ\\\\?iX s^Qci^.^, viz., Zostcroiis ficedulina, Cvijliopterus dolirni 

 (a peculiar genus of Sylviida?), Syn^dcdcs princei^s, Crithagra 

 rvfilata, Coluinha cliloroplKxa, Peristcra principalis, and Strix 

 thomcnsis. 



In the Island of St. Thomas, situated on the equator about 150 

 miles from the coast, there are G peculiar sjiecies out of 30 known 

 birds, viz., Scops Uucopsis, Zostcroiis lugiibris, Turdus olivaceo- 

 fuscus, Orioh's crctssirostris, Syrrq^Icctes sancti-thomce and Aplopelia 

 simplex; &lso Strix thomensis in common with Prince's Island. 

 The remainder are fill found on the adjacent coasts. It is re- 

 markable that in Prince's Island there are no birds of prey, any 

 that appear being driven off by the parrots {Psitfacus crithacus) 

 that abound there ; whereas in St. Thomas and Fernando Po 

 they are plentiful. 



///. South-African Suh-rcr/ion. 



This is the most peculiar and interesting part of Africa, but 

 owing to the absence of existing barriers its limits cannot be 

 well defined. The typical portion of it hardly contains more 

 than the narrow strip of territory limited by the mountain range 

 which forms the boundary of the Cape Colony and Natal, while 

 in a wdder sense it may be extended to include Mozambique. It 

 may perhaps be best characterised as bounded by the Kalahari 

 desert and the Limpopo river. It is in the more limited district 

 of the extreme south, that the wonderful Cape flora alone exists. 

 Here are more genera and species, and more peculiar types of 

 plants congregated together, than in any other part of the globe 

 of equal extent. There are indications of a somewhat similar 

 richness and specialization in the zoology of this country; but 

 animals are so much less closely dependent on soil and climate, 

 that much of the original peculiarity has been obliterated, by 

 long continued interchange of species with so vast an area as 



