CHAP. XII.] 
THE ORIENTAL REGION. 
315 
boundary, which are wholly wanting in the Malayan sub- 
region. The Philippine islands are best classed with the Indo- 
Malay group, although they are strikingly deficient in many 
Malayan types, and exhibit an approach to the Celebesian divi- 
sion of the Austro-Malay sub-region. 
Zoological Characteristics of the Oriental Region. — The Oriental 
Region possesses examples of 35 families of Mammalia, 71 of 
Birds, 35 of Reptiles, 9 of Amphibia, and 13 of Fresh-water 
Fishes. Of these 163 families, 12 are peculiar to the region; 
namely, Tarsiidse, Galeopithecidse, and Tupaiidae among Mam- 
malia, while iEluridae, though confined to the higher Himalayas, 
may perhaps with more justice be claimed by the Palaearctic re- 
gion ; Liotrichidae, Phyllornithidas, and Euryla?mid£e among birds; 
Xenopeltidae (extending, however, to Celebes), Uropeltkke, and 
Acrochordkke among reptiles ; Luciocephalidaj, Ophiocephalidm 
and Mastacembelidae among fresh-water fishes. A number of 
other families are abundant, and characteristic of the region ; and 
it possesses many peculiar and characteristic genera, which must 
be referred to somewhat more in detail. 
Mammalia. — The Oriental region is rich in quadrumana, and 
is especially remarkable for its orang-utans and long-armed apes 
(Simia, Hylobates, and Siamanga ) ; its abundance of monkeys 
of the genera Presbytes and Macacus ; its extraordinary long-nosed 
monkey {Presbytes nasalis) ; its Lemuridae {Nycticcbus and Loris ) ; 
and its curious genus Tarsias, forming a distinct family of 
lemurs. All these quadrumanous genera are confined to it, 
except Tarsius which extends as far as Celebes. It pos- 
sesses more than 30 genera of bats, which are enumerated in 
the lists given at the end of this chapter. In Insectivora it is 
very rich, and possesses several remarkable forms, such as the 
flying lemur ( Galeopithecics ) ; the squirrel-like Tupaiidae consisting 
of three genera ; and the curious Gymnura allied to the hedge- 
hogs. In Carnivora, it is especially rich in many forms of civets 
(Viverridae), possessing 10 peculiar genera, among which Prio- 
nodon and Cynogale are remarkable; numerous Mustelidae, of 
which Gymnopus, My dans, Aonyx and Relictis are the most con- 
spicuous ; JKlurns , a curious animal, cat-like in appearance but 
