112 



ON THE GEOGRAPHY OP 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 a difference 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 shall 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 fami]y),^^.5'2. 

 as certainly belonging to 

 the zoology of these regions, 

 although it has only been 

 recorded by the early voy- 

 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 zoo- 

 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 of 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 (i.) extend to 

 Asiatic India, while others (m.) are confined to Mada- 

 gascar. 



Apes and ilonkeys. 



Troglodytes Geoff. 

 Colobus III. 



Cercopithecus III. 

 Circocebus Geoff (i.) 

 Cyanoceiihaliis Bri'ss. (i.) 

 Papio Cull. (1.) 



