AFRICA AND ITS ANIMALS 139 
being taken by the bush-pigs and the hideous wart-hogs, 
both of which are among the most characteristic of African | 
animals. Except for a couple of species of ibex in the hills | 
of the north-east, sheep and goats are likewise unknown | 
in a wild state. Among other absentees in the fauna, / 
special mention may be made of marmots, and their near 
allies the susliks, as well as of voles, beavers, and moles. 
Of the mammals (and space permits of scarcely any 
reference to other groups) which may be regarded as 
characteristic of typical Africa as a whole, the following, in 
addition to the bush-pigs and wart-hogs already mentioned, 
are some of the most important. Among the monkeys the 
most widely distributed are the hideous baboons (Pafvo), 
now restricted to Africa and Arabia, the southern portion 
of the latter country being included in the same great 
zoological province. The guenons (Cercopithecus), species 
of which are the monkeys commonly led about by organ- 
grinders, have also a wide distribution on the continent, 
although of course more abundant in the forest regions 
than elsewhere ; and the guerezas (Co/obus), one of which 
is described in a later article, have also a considerable 
range. In a totally different group, the curious little 
jumping-shrews (Macroscelides) form a peculiarly charac- 
teristic family of African mammals belonging to the 
insectivorous order. There are also many peculiar genera of 
mongooses, but as most of these have a more or less local 
distribution, they can scarcely be considered characteristic 
of the continent as a whole; still, they are quite different 
from ‘those found elsewhere. A very curious carnivorous 
mammal known as the aard-wolf (Proéeles), strikingly like | 
a small striped hyaena, is not the least peculiar among the , 
animals of Africa, where it has a comparatively wide range. [ 
The hunting-dog (Lycaon), which presents a considerable * 
