274 
ZOOLOGICAL GEOGRAPHY. 
[pj*RT 111. 
sented by a single group in Africa, with two peculiar forms on 
the West coast. They also re-appear under peculiar and isolated 
forms in Southern India and Malaya, and are evidently but the 
remains of a once wide-spread group, since in Eocene times they 
inhabited North America and Europe, and very probably the 
whole northern hemisphere. Tbe Inseetivora are another group 
of high antiquity, widely scattered over the globe under a 
number of peculiar forms ; but in no equally limited area repre- 
sented by so many peculiar types as in Madagascar. South and 
West Africa are also rich in this order. 
The Carnivora of Madagascar are mostly peculiar forms of 
Viverridre, or civets, a family now almost confined to the 
Ethiopian and Oriental regions, but which was abundant in 
Europe during the Miocene period. 
The Potamochmrus is a peculiar species only, which may be 
perhaps explained by the unusual swimming powers of swine, 
and the semi-aquatic habits of this genus, leading to an immi- 
gration at a later period than in the case of the other Mammalia. 
The same remark will apply to the small Hippopotamus, which 
was coeval with the great Struthious bird ASpiomis. 
Rodents are only represented by three peculiar forms of 
Muridre, but it is probable that others remain to be discovered. 
Birds . — Madagascar is exceedingly rich in birds, and espe- 
cially in remarkable forms of Passeres. No less than 88 genera 
and 111 species of land-birds have been discovered, and every 
year some additions are being made to the list. The African 
families of Passeres are almost all represented, only two being 
absent — Paridm and Fringillidae, both very poorly represented in 
Africa itself. Among the Picarne, however, the case is very 
different, no less than 7 families being absent, viz. — Picidse, 
or woodpeckers; I ndicatoridte, or honey -guides ; Megaltemidae, 
or barbets ; Musophagidae, or plantain-eaters ; Coliidae, or colies; 
Bucerotidee, or hornbills ; and Irrisoridae, or mockers. Three of 
these are peculiar to Africa, and all are well represented there, 
so that their absence from Madagascar is a very remarkable fact. 
The number of peculiar genera in Madagascar constitutes one of 
the main features of its ornithology, and many of these are so. 
