being so scanty, it would be imprudent to attempt any more detailed explanation of the peculiarities of its existing fauna. The sketch now given is, it is believed, founded on a sufficient basis of facts to render it not only a possible but a probable account of what took place; and it is something gained to be able to show, that a large portion of the peculiarities and anomalies of so remarkable a fauna as that of the Ethiopian region, can be accounted for by a series of changes of physical geography during the tertiary epoch, which can hardly be considered extreme, or in any way unlikely to have occurred.

TABLES OF DISTRIBUTION.

IN drawing up these tables showing the distribution of various classes of animals in the Ethiopian Region, the following sources of information have been chiefly relied on, in addition to the general treatises, monographs, and catalogues, used for the Fourth Part of this work :

Mammalia.-Blanford's Abyssinia; Peters's Mozambique; Heuglin and Schweinfurth for North East Africa; Grandidier Schlegel, &c., for Madagascar; the local lists given by Mr. Andrew Murray; numerous papers by Fraser, Gray, Kirk, Mivart, Peters, Sclater, and Speke; and a MS. list of Bovida from Sir Victor Brooke.

Birds.-Finsch and Hartlaub for East Africa; Heuglin for North-East Africa; Blanford for Abyssinia; Layard for South Africa; Hartlaub for West Africa; Dohrn for Princes Island; Andersson for Damaraland; and papers by Gurney, Hartlaub, Kirk, Newton, Peters, Sharpe, Sclater, Schlegel, and Pollen; and a MS. list of Madagascar Birds from Mr. Sharpe.

TABLE I.

FAMILIES OF ANIMALS INHABITING THE ETHIOPIAN REGION.

EXPLANATION.

Names in italics show families peculiar to the region.

Names inclosed thus (......) barely enter the region, and are not considered properly to belong to it.

Numbers are not consecutive, but correspond to those in Part IV.