‘CLIMATE AND NATURAL HISTORY. 227 
the equator, yet, by comparing my observations with 
those of Stanley along the Upper Congo, and Schwein-~ 
furth on the Wellé, I have arrived at the conclusion that 
there is no sensible difference in the fauna and flora 
throughout the ereat basin in which the Congo flows 
between Stanley Pool and the Stanley Falls; nay, that 
over that vast tract of country there is more uniformity 
in forms of life than between the cataract region and | 
the coast. 
Before describing the most striking features of Congo 
Natural History, I would like to remove as far ag possible 
the erroneous idea that the Congo is a natural boundary 
in the distribution of certain forms, or that it even acts 
as a limitation southwards of the so-called West. African — 
region. J have read in many works on Africa, or on the 
distribution of plants and animals, that the Congo was 
the southern boundary of the habitat of the erey parrot, 
the anthropoid apes, and the oil-palm (Hlais guineénsis), 
_ Now the grey parrot reaches perhaps its great develop- 
ment in Malanje,a district of Angola nearly 300 miles 
south of the Congo, and, together with the oil-palm, 
continues to be found as far as the tenth degree south of 
the equator; while the anthropoid apes can hardly be 
said to be limited southward in their distribution by the 
lower course of the Congo, for they do not reach even to 
its northern bank, or approach it nearer than Landana, 
100 miles away. Near the equator it ig possible that 
gorillas are found both north and south of the Congo, 
and we know that a species of authropoid ape is found 
to the west of the Lualaba at N yangwé.* Again, the 
harnessed antelope (Zragelaphus scriptus) and the red 
buffalo (Bos brachyceros), both supposed to be purely 
West African or “ Cis-Congo ” forms, are found on the 
(Juanza river, which lies about 200 to 300 miles south- 
ward of the Congo, while other West African species do 
not extend beyond the equator, and therefore are un- 
known along the Congo in its lower course. There are, 
_* And up to the west and south-west shores of Tanganyika and the: 
Vicinity of Lake Mweru.—H. H. J, 
Q 2 
