52 



on the stamps. In early days its plumes were exacted 

 as taxes by the Aztec chiefs. 



In this realm lives the anaconda and boa constric- 

 tors, the largest of sea serpents, turtles, alligators, 

 crocodiles, and huge lizards. Its richness in fish and 

 insects is beyond the power of description. Yet 

 strange to say, with all its broad grassy pampas it had 

 no native cattle, horses, sheep, goats, or antelopes. 



Characteristic African Animals. — The few examples 

 we have give but little idea of the richness of this 

 province. Two-thirds of its mammals and three- 

 fifths' of its birds do not occur elsewhere. The lofty 

 giraffe, the hyena, and some other forms are repre- 

 sented in the osteological series. The zebra is one of 

 the interesting types from Africa, and of the 

 eighty or more antelopes we have the koodoo and 

 gemsboc. that so often figure in the hunters' tales. 

 Here lives the elephant, the African rhinoceros, 

 the hippopotamus — the largest of land animals — lions, 

 leopards, and jackals, but we note the lack of tigers, 

 wolves, foxes, bears, wild oxen, deer, sheep, goats ? 

 camels, moles, and true pigs, all of which occur in 

 the adjacent regions. Among the birds shown the 

 most interesting perhaps is the snake-eating secretary 

 bird. 



Madagascar is sometimes classed as a separate realm, 

 called the Lemurian realm, because of many species 



