THE BEATRIX ORYX. 



CHAPTER II 



The Animals of Northern Africa 



It might well be supposed that the whole of the great southern continent of the Old 

 World would possess an assemblage of animals different from those of Europe and 

 Asia ; but, as a matter of fact, this is true only for that portion of Africa lying to 

 the southward of the Sahara Desert, which has formed for ages an impenetrable 

 barrier between the fauna of the northern districts and that of the vast tracts of 

 country to the southward. The North African fauna is, indeed, practically a part 

 of that of southern Europe and western and north-western Asia ; and naturalists 

 recognise a Mediterranean province, or transitional region, which comprises the 

 countries on both sides of the Mediterranean, and extends eastwards to the north- 

 western borders of the Punjab and Kashmir. The essential difference of this 

 fauna from that of central and southern Africa will be apparent when we come to 

 the consideration of the latter in a subsequent chapter. 



The southern limit of the North African fauna is approximately marked by the 

 twentieth parallel of N. latitude on the western side of the continent. On the 

 eastern side the valley of the Nile has, however, rendered it possible for freer 

 communication to take place between the northern animals and those of the 

 central and southern area ; and here consequently we find the distinction between 

 the northern fauna and that of the rest of the continent much less sharply defined. 

 It is, in fact, impossible to draw on this side a hard and fast line between the two 

 faunas. For this reason it has been convenient to include in the present chapter 



