CHAP. XI.] 
THE ETHIOPIAN REGION. 
253 
Mammalia . — This region has 9 peculiar families of mammalia. 
Chiromyidae (containing the aye-aye) ; Potamogalidte and Chry- 
soehloridm (Insectivora) ; Cryptoproctidaj and Protelidse (Carni- 
vora) ; Hippopotamidse and Camelopardalidse (Ungulata) ; and 
Orycteropodidae (Edentata). Besides these it possesses 7 pecu- 
liar genera of apes. Troglodytes , Colobus, Myiopithecus Cerco- 
pithecus, Cercocebus , Theropithecus, and Cynocephalus ; 2 sub- 
families of lemurs containing 6 genera, confined to Madagascar, 
with 3 genera of two other sub-families confined to the con- 
tinent ; of Insectivora a family, Centetidse, with 5 genera, 
peculiar to Madagascar, and the genera Petrodromus and Rhyn- 
chocyon belonging to the Macroscelididae, or elephant-shrews, 
restricted to the continent ; numerous peculiar genera or sub- 
genera of civets ; Lycaon and Megalotis , remarkable genera of 
Can idee ; Ictonyx , the zorilla, a genus allied to the weasels ; 
13 peculiar genera of Muridte ; Pectinator, a genus of the South 
American family Octodontkhe ; and 2 genera of the South 
American Echimyidae or spiny rats. Of abundant and charac- 
teristic groups it possesses Macroscelides, Felis, Hycena , Hyrax, 
Rhinoceros, and Elephas, as well as several species of zebra and 
a great variety of antelopes. 
The great speciality indicated by these numerous peculiar 
families and genera, is still farther increased by the absence 
of certain groups dominant in the Old-World continent, 
an absence which we can only account for by the persistence, 
through long epochs, of barriers isolating the greater part cf Africa 
from the rest of the world. These groups are, Ursula), the bears ; 
Talpidse the moles ; Camelidte, the camels ; Cervidte, the deer ; 
Caprinae, the goats and sheep ; and the genera Bos (wild ox) ; and 
Sus (wild boar). Combining these striking deficiencies, with 
the no less striking peculiarities above enumerated, it seems 
hardly possible to have a region more sharply divided from 
the rest of the globe than this is, by its whole assemblage of 
mammalia. 
Birds. — In birds the Ethiopian region is by no means so 
strikingly peculiar, many of these having been able to pass the 
ancient barriers which so long limited the range of mammalia. 
