222 ZOOGEOGRAPHICAL REGIONS 



Madagascar. Of the carnivores it is only necessary to 

 say that bears are represented by only one species, 

 while raccoons are plentiful, and like the skunks are 

 common to this region and the Nearctic. 



Very remarkable conditions are exemplified by the 

 ungulates. We find peculiar deer, peculiar pigs (pec- 

 caries), tapirs (shared with the Malayan region), llamas 

 (aUies of the Old World camels), but no antelopes, 

 sheep, goats, oxen, nor horses. There are many peculiar 

 fossil forms, but these are beyond our range. 



We have already spoken of the number and peculiar 

 nature of the rodents, and nothing need here be added 

 to what has been said on pp. 56 and 87. The peculiar 

 nature of the Edentates has also been pointed out, and 

 the presence of many kinds of opossums. In South 

 America there occur also other marsupials, known as 

 selvas (Coenolestes), which are of great interest because 

 they are beheved to belong to the herbivorous or 

 diprotodont section, that of which the kangaroo is the 

 most familiar representative. The discovery of these 

 little animals in South America is of great theoretical 

 importance, because it was formerly beheved that 

 the diprotodont marsupials had originated within the 

 Austrahan area, and had never occurred outside it. 

 Their existence, therefore, is another link in the increas- 

 ing chain of evidence which points to a former con- 

 nexion between South America and Australia. 



The birds of South America are almost as pecuhar 

 as the mammals, though, as was to be expected, many 

 of the characteristic forms extend also into North 

 America. Among the important fa mili es are the 

 humming-birds, the macaws (Conurinae), the toucans, 

 the jacamars, the motmots, the chatterers, the tanagers, 

 the tinamus (cf. p. 140), the curassows (Cracidae), &c. 



