CITAP. Ill 



ZOOLOGICAL REGIONS 



43 



Having given so full an exposition of the facts which 

 determine the extent and boundaries of the Palaearctic 

 region, there is less need of entering into much detail as 

 regards the other regions of the Eastern Hemisphere ; 

 their boundaries being easily defined, while their forms of 

 animal life are well marked and strongly contrasted. 



Definition and GharacteristiG Groups of the Ethiopian 

 Region. — The Ethiopian region consists of all tropical and 

 south Africa, to which are appended the large island of 

 Madagascar and the Mascarene Islands to the east and 

 north of it, though these differ materially from the con- 

 tinent, and will have to be discussed in a separate chapter. 

 For the present, then, we will take Africa south of the 

 tropic of Cancer, and consider how far its animals are 

 distinct from those of the Paloearctic region. 



Taking first the mammalia, we find the following re- 

 markable animals at once separating it from the Palsearctic 

 and every other region. The gorilla and chimpanzee, the 

 baboons, numerous lemurs, the spotted hya3na, the aard- 

 wolf and hysena-dog, zebras, the hippopotamus, giraffe, 

 and more than seventy peculiar antelopes. Here we have 

 a wonderful collection of large and peculiar quadrupeds, 

 but the Ethiopian region is also characterised by the 

 absence of others which are not only abundant in the 

 Palasarctic region but in many tropical regions as well. 

 The most remarkable of these deficiencies are the bears 

 the deer and the vvild oxen, all of vvhich abound in the 

 tropical parts of Asia while bears and deer extend into 

 both North and South America. Besides the large and 

 conspicuous animals mentioned above, Africa possesses a 

 number of completely isolated groups; such are the 

 potamogale, a curious otter-like water-shrew, discovered 

 by Du Chaillu in West Africa, so distinct as to constitute 

 a new family, Potamogalidse ; the goldenmoles, also 

 forming a peculiar family, Chrysochloridce ; as do the 

 elephant-shrews, Macroscelididse ; the singular aard-varks, 

 or earth-pigs, forming a peculiar family of Edentata called 

 Orycteropodidoe ; while there are numerous peculiar genera 

 of monkeys, swine, civets, and rodents. 



Among birds the most conspicuous and remarkable are, 

 the great-billed vulture-crov>^s (Corvultur), the long-tailed 



V 



