CHAP. XIX THE MADAGASCAR GROUP 



416 



a quarter of a mile to three or four miles. This seems 

 to indicate recent subsidence ; while we have no record 

 of raised coral rocks inland which would certainly mark 

 any recent elevation, though fringing coral reefs surround 

 a considerable portion of the northern, eastern, and south- 

 western coasts. We may therefore conclude that during 

 Tertiary times the island was usually as large as, and often 

 probably much larger than, it is now. 



Biological Features of Madagascar. — Madagascar possesses 

 an exceedingly rich and beautiful fauna and flora, rivalling 

 in some groups most tropical countries of equal extent, 

 and even when poor in species, of surpassing interest 

 from the singularity, the isolation, or the beauty of its 

 forms of life. In order to exhibit the full peculiarity 

 of its natural history and the nature of the problems 

 it offers to the biological student, we must give an 

 outline of its more important animal forms in systematic 

 order. 



Mammalia. — Madagascar possesses no less than sixty-six 

 species of mammals — a certain proof in itself that the 

 island has once formed part of a continent ; but the cha- 

 racter of these animals is very extraordinary and altogether 

 different from the assemblage now found in Africa or in 

 any other existing continent. Africa is now most promi- 

 nently characterised by its monkeys, apes, and baboons; 

 by its lions, leopards, and hysenas ; by its zebras, rhino- 

 ceroses, elephants, buffaloes, giraffes, and numerous species 

 of antelopes. But no one of these animals, nor any thing 

 like them, is found in Madagascar, and thus our first 

 impression would be that it could never have been united 

 with the African continent. But, as the tigers, the bears, 

 the tapirs, the deer, and the numerous squirrels of Asia 

 are equally absent, there seems no probability of its 

 having been united with that continent. Let us then see 

 to what groups the mammalia of Madagascar belong, and 

 where we must look for their probable allies. 



First and most important are the lemurs, consisting 

 of six genera and thirty-three species, thus comprising 

 just half the entire mammalian population of the island. 

 This group of lowly-organised and very ancient creatures 



