60 GEOGEAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION. 



continued subjection under which it has been held by man, whose 

 wanderings the animal has been forced to follow, it has become 

 almost impossible to determine the precise region constituting its 

 true home. 



The extensive group of the antelopes, so highly indicative of the 

 Ethiopian region, are but very sparingly 'represented, the most char- 

 acteristic forms being the chamois (Rupicapra tragus), confined to 

 the elevated mountain summits of Southern Europe, from the Pyr- 

 enees to the Caucasus, and the saiga (Antelope saigaj, an mhabitant 

 of the plains of Southeastern Russia and the adjoining country of 

 Asia. These are the only forms of antelope found in Europe ; two 

 or three species inhabit the Thibetan plateau, and several goat-like 

 forms, of the genus Hemorhedas, range from the Eastern Himalayas 

 into China and Japan. The deer (Cervidse) are sufficiently abun- 

 dant, and comprise among the more distinctive genera of the 

 region the roe-deer (Capreolus) and the eastern musk (Moschus), 

 the latter considered- by many authors to constitute the type of 

 a distinct family (Moschidae). The stag (Cervus elaphus) ranges 

 over nearly the whole of Europe, and eastward in Asia to Lake 

 Baikal and the Lena River. The only members of the Quadru- 

 mana, or monkeys, known to exist within the limits of the region 

 under consideration, belong to the genera Semnopithecus and Ma- 

 cacus, one species of the former (9. Roxellaua) occurring in the 

 elevated mountain region of Eastern Thibet, in about latitude 32°, 

 and several of the latter likewise in Eastern Thibet, and also in 

 China and Japan. The Barbary monkey (Macacus inuus), a North 

 African species, which inhabits the Rock of Gibraltar, is the only 

 European representative of the order; but its habitat is located 

 within what has been designated the Tyrrhenian transition region. 

 The Carnivora constitute an important feature in the Eurasiatic 

 fauna, both by the number and variety of the individual forms 

 represented and by their broad geographical range. But the actual 

 number of carnivore genera specially distinctive of this fauna is 

 very limited. The badger (Meles), is found throughout Central and 

 Northern Europe and Asia, in Japan and China, in the latter country 

 extending its range as far south as Hong-Kong, or within the boun- 

 daries of the Oriental region. In brief, the most distinctive Eur- 

 asiatic mammalian genera may be said to be the following : 



Talpa, tlie Mole. — Distributed throughout the entire region, and 



