XVIII.] DISTRIBUTION. 223 



and South America are separated, and probably have been 

 so for long geological ages, by wide, impassable oceans ; 

 while the lands of Europe, Asia, and Africa are continuous, 

 and possibly have recently been more completely con- 

 tinuous than they are now. Accordingly we find, if we Distribu- 

 look to the distribution of the mammalia, that there is mammalia 

 this strong resemblance between the zoological character i^ the old 

 of Europe, Asia, Africa, and also North America, notwith- *'°" ""^" ^' 

 standing their vast diversities of climate, that the most 

 conspicuous and characteristic mammalian order in them 

 all is that of the Ungulata, or hoofed animals. In Aus- Australia, 

 tralia, on the contrary, notwithstanding its similarity in 

 climate to that of South Africa, there is not a single indi- 

 genous Ungulate animal: all the indigenous mammalia 

 belong to the two orders which stand lowest in the class, 

 and are represented respectively by the kangaroo and the 

 ornithorhynchus.^ The mammalia which are characteristic 

 of the southern part of South America, again, belong to South 

 the order Edentata, which are represented bv the sloth and ^u'Ji'''^^'^' 

 the armadillo, and are utterly unlike either the Ungulata 

 or the characteristic Australian orders. It belongs to this 

 class of facts, that Madagascar, notwithstanding its almost Madagas- 

 perfect similarity of climate to the neighbouring African '^'^' ' 

 continent, has a totally different mammalian population, 

 chiefly consisting of lemurs, a tribe allied to the monkeys.^ Wincriess 

 And New Zealand has no indigenous mammaKa at all, i'"''® °^ 

 their place bemg occupied by a remarkable tribe of wing- Zealand, 

 less birds. 



The facts revealed in the recent geological history of 

 the same countries are equally remarkable and important. 

 Concerning Madagascar we have, I believe, no information 

 as yet about the remains of extinct animals ; but in the Extinct 

 old continents, in Australia, and in South America, the of each 

 extinct mammalia of the geological periods nearest to the region re- 



SCIUuIg tllG 



present were, in each region, generally of the same order, livingones. 



^ Tlie so-called wild dog of Australia is no real exception, as it is a half- 

 domestic animal with the native savages. 



2 See Dr. Sclater on the Mammals of Madagascar, Quarterly Journal of 

 Science, April 1864. 



