76 
DISTRIBUTION OF ANIMALS. 
[part I. 
Next we have the Indo-Chinese sub-region, comprising South 
China and Burmah, extending westward along the Himalayan 
range to an altitude of about 9,000 or 10,000 feet, and south- 
ward to Tavoy or Tenasserim. 
The last is the Indo-Malayan sub-region, comprising the 
Peninsula of Malacca and the Malay Islands to Baly, Borneo, 
and the Philippines. 
On account of the absence from the first sub-region of many of 
the forms most characteristic of the other three, and the number 
of families and genera of mammalia and birds which occur in it 
and also in Africa, it has been thought by some naturalists that 
this part of India has at least an equal claim to be classed as a 
part of the Ethiopian region. This question will be found fully 
discussed in Chapter XII. devoted to the Oriental region, where 
it is shown that the African affinity is far less than has been 
represented, and that in all its essential features Central India is 
wholly Oriental in its fauna. 
Before leaving this region a few words may be said about 
Lemuria, a name proposed by Mr. Sclater for the site of a sup- 
posed submerged continent extending from Madagascar to Ceylon 
and Sumatra, in which the Lemuroid type of animals was devel- 
oped. This is undoubtedly a legitimate and highly probable sup- 
position, and it is an example of the way in which a study of the 
geographical distribution of animals may enable us to reconstruct 
the geography of a bygone age. But we must not, as Mr. Blyth 
proposed, make this hypothetical land one of our actual Zoo- 
logical regions. It represents what was probably a primary 
Zoological region in some past geological epoch ; but what that 
epoch was and what were the limits of the region in question, we 
are quite unable to say. If we are to suppose that it comprised 
the whole area now inhabited by Lemuroid animals, we must 
make it extend from West Africa to Burmah, South China, and 
Celebes ; an area which it possibly did once occupy, but which 
cannot be formed into a modern Zoological region without vio- 
lating much more important affinities. If, on the other hand, 
we leave out all those areas which undoubtedly belong to other 
regions, we reduce lemuria to Madagascar and its adjacent 
