Here, too, we find some interesting relations with the Oriental region on the one side, and the Neotropical on the other. The snakes of the family Homalopsidæ have a wide range, in America, Europe, and all over the Oriental region, but are confined to West Africa in the Ethiopian region. Dryiophis (Dryiophida) and Dipsadoboa (Dipsadida) on the other hand, are genera of tropical America which occur also in West Africa. The family of lizards, Acontiadæ, are found in West and South Africa, Ceylon, and the Moluccas. The family of toads, Engystomidæ, in West and South Africa and the whole Oriental region; while the Phryniscidæ inhabit tropical Africa and Java.

Insects. We have here a large number of peculiar genera. There are 10 of butterflies, Lachnoptera, Amphidema, and Catuna belonging to the Nymphalidæ, while four others are Lycænidæ. The genus Euxanthe is common to West Africa and Madagascar.

Of Coleoptera there are 53 peculiar genera; 20 are Carabidæ, 2 Lucanidæ, 12 Cetoniidæ, 3 Prionidæ, 16 Cerambycidæ, and 34 Lamiidæ. Besides these there are 4 or 5 genera confined to West Africa and Madagascar.

Land Shells.-West Africa is very rich in land shells, but it does not appear to possess any well-marked genera, although several of the smaller groups or sub-genera are confined to it. Helicidæ of the genera Nanina, Buliminus and Achatina are abundant and characteristic.

Islands of the West African Sub-region.-The islands in the Gulf of Guinea are, Fernando Po, very near the main land, with Prince's Island and St. Thomas, considerably further away to the south-west. Fernando Po was once thought to be a remarkable instance of an island possessing a very peculiar fauna, although close to the main land and not divided from it by a deep sea. This, however, was due to our having obtained considerable collections from Fernando Po, while the opposite coast was almost unknown. One after another the species supposed to be peculiar have been found on the continent, till it becomes probable, that, as in the case of other islands similarly situated, it contains no peculiar species whatever. The presence of numerous mammalia, among which are baboons, lemurs, Hyrax, and VOL. I.-19

Anomalurus, shows that this island has probably once been united to the continent.

Prince's Island, situated about 100 miles from the coast, has no mammals, but between 30 and 40 species of birds. Of these 7 are peculiar species, viz., Zosterops ficedulina, Cuphopterus dohrni (a peculiar genus of Sylviidæ), Symplectes princeps, Crithagra rufilata, Columba chlorophaa, Peristera principalis, and Strix

thomensis.

In the Island of St. Thomas, situated on the equator about 150 miles from the coast, there are 6 peculiar species out of 30 known birds, viz., Scops leucopsis, Zosterops lugubris, Turdus olivaceofuscus, Oriolus crassirostris, Symplectes sancti-thoma and Aplopelia simplex; also Strix thomensis in common with Prince's Island. The remainder are all found on the adjacent coasts. It is remarkable that in Prince's Island there are no birds of prey, any that appear being driven off by the parrots (Psittacus erithacus) that abound there; whereas in St. Thomas and Fernando Po they are plentiful.

III. South-African Sub-region.

This is the most peculiar and interesting part of Africa, but owing to the absence of existing barriers its limits cannot be well defined. The typical portion of it hardly contains more than the narrow strip of territory limited by the mountain range which forms the boundary of the Cape Colony and Natal, while in a wider sense it may be extended to include Mozambique. It may perhaps be best characterised as bounded by the Kalahari desert and the Limpopo river. It is in the more limited district of the extreme south, that the wonderful Cape flora alone exists. Here are more genera and species, and more peculiar types of plants congregated together, than in any other part of the globe of equal extent. There are indications of a somewhat similar richness and specialization in the zoology of this country; but animals are so much less closely dependent on soil and climate, that much of the original peculiarity has been obliterated, by long continued interchange of species with so vast an area as