542 
GEOGRAPHICAL ZOOLOGY. 
[part IV. 
American Miocene deposits being ancestral forms of Canid® 
and Felidae. It seems probable, therefore, that the order had 
attained a considerable development before it reached the 
Western Hemisphere. The Procyonidae, now confined to 
America, are not very ancient ; and the occurrence of a few 
allied forms in the Himalayas (JElurus and JEluropus) render 
it probable that their common ancestors entered North America 
from the Palaearctic region during the Miocene period, but being 
a rather low type they have succumbed under the competition of 
higher forms in most parts of the Eastern Hemisphere. Bears 
and Weasels are probably still more recent emigrants to 
America. The aquatic carnivora (Seals, &c.) are, as might be 
expected, more widely and uniformly distributed, but there is 
little evidence to show at what period the type was first 
developed. 
Ungulata . — These are the dominant vegetable-feeders of the 
great continents, and they have steadily increased in numbers 
and in specialisation from the oldest Tertiary times to the 
present day. Being generally of larger size and less active 
than the Carnivora, they have somewhat more restricted powers 
of dispersal. W e have good evidence that their wide range over 
the globe is a comparatively recent phenomenon. Tapirs and 
Llamas have probably not long inhabited South America, while 
Bliinoceroses and Antelopes were once, perhaps, unknown in 
Africa, although abounding in Europe and Asia. Swine are 
one of the most ancient types in both hemispheres ; and their 
great hardiness, their omnivorous diet, and their powers of 
swimming, have led to their wide distribution. The sheep and 
goats, on the other hand, are perhaps the most recent develop- 
ment of the Ungulata, and they seem to have arisen in the 
Palaearctic region at a time when its climate already ap- 
proximated to that which now prevails. Hence they are 
pre-eminently a Temperate group, never found within the 
Tropics except upon a few mountain ranges. 
Proboscidea .— These huge animals (the Elephants and Masto- 
dons) appear to have originated in the warmer parts of the 
Palaearctic region, but they soon spread over all the great 
