12 
ZOOLOGICAL LITERATURE. 
du Mexique. Rev. et Mag. Zool. 1865^ Sept. (pp. 257- 
262). 
These notes are chiefly corrections or additions to the author^s 
paper on Mexican Mammals^ which appeared in the twelfth 
volume (1860) of the same journal. The more important will 
be mentioned below. 
ScHLEGEL, H. Contributions h la faunc du Madagascar ct des 
lies avoisinantes, d^apres les decouvertes et observations de 
Messrs. F. Pollen et M. D.-C. van Dam. Nederl. Tydschr. 
Dierk. hi. 1865; pp. 73-89. 
The mammals which are treated of in this paper are the 
Lemurs and Viverra schlegelii. 
ScHMiDT; M. Der Norz (Vison lutreola). Zoolog. Garteli; 
1865; pp. 168-175; with a woodcut. 
ScLATER; P. L. Description of a new species of Indian Porcu- 
pine. Proc. Zool. Soc. 1865, April 11 (pp. 352-356, with 
a plate) . [Hystriuc malabarica.~\ 
ScLATER, P. L. The Mammals of Madagascar. Quart. Journ; 
Science, 1864, Ajiril (pp. 213-219, with a lithogr. sketch). 
The author enumerates in systematic order the Mammals 
inhabiting this island, viz. 28 species of Lemurides belonging 
to 9 genera (against 11 African and 4 Asiatic species), 5 Bats, 
9 Insectivores, 5 Carnivores (Viverrines), 1 Rodent, and 1 
Pachyderm {Potamoclmrus africanus) . Cats, Dogs, and Rumi- 
nants are entirely absent. The wide ditference between this 
fauna and that of the nearest continent (that of East Africa) , 
the fact that in several instances we are reminded of the Indian 
and South- American faunas, together with the presence of types 
quite peculiar to Madagascar, induce the author to regard 
it, with the Mascarene Islands, as a distinct zoological region, 
for which he proposes the name Lemuria. Being an advocate 
of the hypotheses of the continuity and of the derivative origin 
of species, he draws the following conclusions as regards the 
origin of the Mammals of Madagascar ; — 
1. Madagascar has never been connected with Africa, as it at present 
exists. This would seem probable from the absence of certain all-pervading 
Ethiopian types in Madagascar, such as Antilope, Hippopotamus, Fells, &c. 
But, on the other hand, the presence of Ijemurs in Africa renders it certain 
that Africa, as it at present exists, contains land that once formed part of 
Madagascar, 
2. Madagascar and the Mascarene Islands must have remained for a long- 
epoch separated from every other part of the globe, in order to have acquired 
the many peculiarities now exhibited in their Mammal fauna, e. g. Lemur, 
Chiromys, Eapleres, Centetes, See., to be elaborated by the gradual modifica- 
tion of preexisting forms. 
