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and two birds, characteristic of the higher woody region of the Himalayas. The lower figure on the left is the Helictis nepalensis, confined to the Eastern Himalayas, and belonging to a genus of the weasel family which is exclusively Oriental. It is marked with white on a grey-brown ground. Above it is the remarkable Panda (Ælurus fulgens), a beautiful animal with a glossy fur of a reddish colour, darker feet, and a white somewhat cat-like face. It is distantly allied to the bears, and more nearly to the American racoons, yet with sufficient differences to constitute it a distinct family. The large bird on the tree, is the horned Tragopan (Ceriornis satyra), one of the fine Himalayan pheasants, magnificently spotted with red and white, and ornamented with fleshy erectile wattles and horns, of vivid blue and red colours. The bird in the foreground is the Ibidorhynchus struthersii, a rare and curious wader, allied to the curlews and sandpipers but having the bill and feet red. It frequents the river-beds in the higher Himalayas, but has also been found in Thibet.

Reptiles. Very few genera of reptiles are peculiar to this sub-region, all the more important ranging into the Malay islands. Of snakes the following are the more characteristic genera:-Typhline, Cylindrophis, Xenopeltis, Calamaria, Xenelaphis, Hypsirhina, Fordonia, several small genera of Homalopsidæ (Herpeton and Hipistes being characteristic of Burmah and Siam) Psammodynastes, Gonyosoma, Chrysopelea, Tragops, Dipsas, Pareas, Python, Bungarus, Naja, Callophis, and Trimeresurus. Naja reaches 8,000 feet elevation in the Himalayas, Tropidonotus 9,000 feet, Ablabes 10,000 feet, and Simotes 15,000 feet.

Of lizards, Pseudopus has one species in the Khasya hills while the other inhabits South-east Europe; and there are two small genera of Agamidæ peculiar to the Himalayas, while Draco and Calotes have a wide range and Acanthosaura, Dilophyrus, Physignathus, and Liolepis are found chiefly in the Indo-Chinese peninsula. There are several genera of Scincida; and the extensive genus of wall-lizards, Gecko, ranges over the whole region.

Of Amphibia, the peculiar forms are not numerous. Ichthyophis

a genus of Ceciliadæ, is peculiar to the Khasya Hills; Tylotritron (Salamandrida) to Yunan in Western China, and perhaps belongs to the Palearctic region.

Of the tail-less Batrachians, Glyphoglossus is found in Pegu; Xenophys in the Eastern Himalayas; while Callula, Ixalus, Rhacophorus, Hylurana, Oxyglossus, and Phrynoglossus, are common to the Himalo-Chinese and Malayan sub-regions.

Of the lizards, Colotes, Barycephalus, and Hinulia,—and of the Batrachia, Bufo,-are found at above 11,000 feet elevation in the Himalayas.

Insects. So little has been done in working out the insect faunas of the separate sub-regions, that they cannot be treated in detail, and the reader is referred to the chapter on the distribution of insects in the part of this work devoted to Geographical Zoology. A few particulars may, however, be given as to the butterflies, which have been more systematically collected in tropical countries than any other order of insects. The Himalayan butterflies, especially in the eastern portions of the rangein Assam and the Khasya Hills-are remarkably fine and very abundant; yet all the larger groups extend into the Malayan sub-region, many to Ceylon, and a considerable proportion even to Africa and Austro-Malaya. There are a large number of peculiar types, but most of them consist of few or single species. Such are Neope, Orenoma, and Rhaphicera, gener a of Satyrida; Enispe (Morphidae); Hestina, Penthema, and Abrota (Nymphalidæ); Dodona (Erycinidæ); Ilerda (Lycænidæ); Calinaga, Teinopalpus, and Bhutanitis (Papilionidae). Its more prominent features are, however, derived from what may be termed Malayan, or even Old World types, such as Euplæa, among Danaida; Amathusia, Clerome, and Thaumantis, among Morphida; Euripus, Diadema, Athyma, Limenitis, and Adolias, among Nymphalidæ, Zemeros and Taxila among Erycinidae; Amblypodia, Miletus, Ilerda, and Myrina, among Lycænida; Thyca, Prioneris, Dercas, Iphias, and Thestias among Pieridae; and Papilios of the "Amphrisius," "Coon," "Philoxenus," "Protenor," "Paris," and Sarpedon" groups. In the Himalayas there is an unusual abundance of large and gorgeous species of the genus Papilio,

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and of large and showy Nymphalidæ, Morphidæ, and Danaidæ, which render it, in favoured localities, only second to South America for a display of this form of beauty and variety in insect life.

Among the other orders of insects in which the Himalayas are remarkably rich, we may mention large and brilliant Cetoniidæ, chiefly of the genus Rhomborhima; a magnificent Lamellicorn, Euchirus macleayii, allied to the gigantic long-armed beetle (E. longimanus) of Amboyna; superb moths of the families Agaristidæ and Sesiidae; elegant and remarkable Fulgoridæ, and strange forms of the gigantic Phasmidæ; most of which appear to be of larger size or of more brilliant colours than their Malayan allies.

Islands of the Indo-Chinese Sub-region.-A few important islands belong to this sub-region, the Andamans, Formosa, and Hainan being the most interesting.

Andamans.-The only mammalia are a few rats and mice, a Paradoxurus, and a pig supposed to be a hybrid race,—all of which may have been introduced by man's agency. The birds of the Andaman Islands have been largely collected, no less than 155 species having been obtained; and of these 17, (all land-birds) are peculiar. The genera are all found on the continent, and are mostly characteristic of the Indo-Chinese fauna, to which most of the species belong. Reptiles are also tolerably abundant; about 20 species are known, the majority being found also on the continent, while a few are peculiar. There are also a few Batrachia, and some fresh-water fishes, closely resembling those of Burmah. The absence of such mammalia as monkeys and squirrels, which abound on the mainland, and which are easily carried over straits or narrow seas by floating trees, is sufficient proof that these islands have not recently formed part of the continent. The birds are mostly such as may have reached the islands while in their present geographical position; and the occurrence of reptiles and fresh-water fishes, said to be identical in species with those of Burmah, must be due to the facilities, which some of these animals undoubtedly

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possess, for passing over a considerable width of sea. We must conclude, therefore, that these islands do not owe their existing fauna to an actual union with the mainland; but it is probable that they may have been formerly more extensive, and have then been less distant from the continent than at the present time.

The Nicobar Islands, usually associated with the Andamans, are less known, but present somewhat similar phenomena. They are, however, more Malayan in their fauna, and seem properly to belong to the Indo-Malay sub-region.

Formosa. This island has been carefully examined by Mr. Swinhoe, who found 144 species of birds, of which 34 are peculiar. There is one peculiar genus, but the rest are all Indo-Chinese, though some of the species are more allied to Malayan than to Chinese or Himalayan forms. About 30 species of mammalia were found in Formosa, of which 11 are peculiar species, the rest being either Chinese or Himalayan. The peculiar species belong to the genera Talpa, Helictis, Sciuropterus, Pteromys, Mus, Sus, Cervus, and Capricornis. A few lizards and snakes of continental species have also been found. These facts clearly indicate the former connection of Formosa with China and Malaya, a connection which is rendered the more probable by the shallow sea which still connects all these countries.

Hainan. The island of Hainan, on the south coast of China, is not so well known in proportion, though Mr. Swinhoe collected 172 species of birds, of which 130 were land-birds. Of these about 20 were peculiar species; the remainder being either Chinese, Himalayan, or Indo-Malayan. Mr. Swinhoe also obtained 24 species of mammalia, all being Chinese, Himalayan, or Indo-Malayan species except a hare, which is peculiar. This assemblage of animals would imply that Hainan, as might be anticipated from its position, has been more recently separated from the continent than the more distant island of Formosa.

IV. Indo-Malaya, or the Malayan Sub-region. This sub-region, which is almost wholly insular (including only the Malayan peninsula on the continent of Asia), is equal, if

not superior, in the variety and beauty of its productions, to that which we have just been considering. Like Indo-China, it is a region of forests, but it is more exclusively tropical; and it is therefore deficient in many of those curious forms of the temperate zone of the Himalayas, which seem to have been developed from Palearctic rather than from Oriental types. Here alone, in the Oriental region, are found the most typical equatorial forms of life organisms adapted to a climate characterised by uniform but not excessive heat, abundant moisture, and no marked departure from the average meteorological state, throughout the year. These favourable conditions of life only occur in three widely separated districts of the globe-the Malay archipelago, Western Africa, and equatorial South America. Hence perhaps it is, that the tapir and the trogons of Malacca should so closely resemble those of South America; and that the great anthropoid apes and crested hornbills of Western Africa, should find their nearest allies in Borneo and Sumatra.

Although the islands which go to form this sub-region are often separated from each other by a considerable expanse of sea, yet their productions in general offer no greater differences than those of portions of the Indo-Chinese subregion separated by an equal extent of dry land. The explanation is easy, however, when we find that the sea which separates them is a very shallow one, so shallow that an elevation of only 300 feet would unite Sumatra, Java, and Borneo into one great South-eastern prolongation of the Asiatic continent. As we know that our own country has been elevated and depressed to a greater amount than this, at least twice in recent geological times, we can have no difficulty in admitting similar changes of level in the Malay archipelago, where the subterranean forces which bring about such changes are still at work, as manifested by the great chain of active volcanoes in Sumatra and Java. Proofs of somewhat earlier changes of level are to be seen in the Tertiary coal formations of Borneo, which demonstrate a succession of elevations and subsidences, with as much certainty as if we had historical record of them.

It is not necessary to suppose, nor is it probable, that all these

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