320 TROPICAL NATURE, AND OTHER ESSAYS. 



to tlie lemurs ; and the Tupaiidse, a remarkable group 

 of squirrel-like Insectivora. There are, however, a con- 

 siderable number of peculiar genera, forming highly 

 characteristic groups of animals — such as the various 

 apes, monkeys, and lemurs, almost all the genera of 

 which are peculiar ; a large number of civets and 

 weasels ; the beautiful deer- like Chevrotains, often 

 called mouse-deer ; and a few peculiar antelopes and 

 rodents. It must be remarked that we find here none 

 of those deficiencies of wide-spread families which were 

 so conspicuous a feature of the Ethiopian region — the 

 only one worth notice being the dormice (Myoxidae), a 

 small family spread over the Palsearctic and Ethiopian 

 regions, but not found in the Oriental. 



The birds of the Oriental region are exceedingly 

 numerous and varied, there being representatives of 

 about 350 genera of land-birds, of which nearly half 

 are peculiar. Three families are confined to the region 

 — the hill-tits (Liotrichidse), the green bulbuls (Phyl- 

 lornithidse), and the gapers (Eurylaemidse) ; while four 

 other families are more abundant here than elsewhere, 

 and are so widely distributed throughout the region as 

 to be especially characteristic of it. These are — the 

 elegant pittas, or ground-thrushes (Pittidse), the trogons 

 (Trogonidae), the hornbills (Bucerotidse), and the phea- 

 sants (Phasianidae) ; represented by such magnificent 

 birds as the fire-backed pheasants, the ocellated phea- 

 sants, the Argus-pheasant, the pea-fowl, and the 

 jungle-fowl. 



Eeptiles are very abundant, but only 3 small families 

 of snakes are peculiar. There are also 3 peculiar 

 families of fresh-water fishes. 



