ISLAND LIFE. 



[part II. 



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 character of these 

 animals is very extraordinary and very different from the as- 

 semblage now found in Africa or in any other existing continent. 

 Africa is now most prominently characterised by its monkeys, 

 apes, and baboons ; by its lions, leopards, and hysenas ; by its 

 zebras, rhinoceroses, 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 still exists scattered 

 over a wide area ; but they are nowhere so abundant as in the 

 island of Madagascar. They are found from West Africa to 

 India, Ceylon, and the Malay Archipelago, consisting of a 

 number of isolated genera and species, which appear to main- 

 tain their existence by their nocturnal and arboreal habits, and 

 by haunting dense forests. It can hardly be said that the 



