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genus, and they are annulated with rings of various colours in a manner quite distinct from any other members of this family. The genera, which are all very distinct, are distributed as follows:

Diemenia, Acanthophis, Hoplocephalus, Brachiurophis, Tropidechis, Pseudechis, Cacophis, Pseudonaje, Denisonia, and Vermicella, are Australian, the first two ranging to the Moluccas and New Guinea; Ogmodon occurs in the Fiji Islands; Naja, Bungarus, Ophiophagus, Pseudona, Xenurelaps, Doliophis, Megarophis, and Callophis are Oriental, one species of the latter genus being found in Japan, while an Ophiophagus has been discovered in New Guinea; Cyrtophis, Elapsoidea, and Pacilophis are African: Elaps is American, ranging as far north as South Carolina, but not to the West Indian Islands.

FAMILY 21.-DENDRASPIDIDE.

(1 Genus, 5 Species.)

GENERAL DISTRIBUTION.

ETHIOPIAN

NEOTROPICAL NEARCTIC PALEARCTIC
ORIENTAL AUSTRALIAN
SUB-REGIONS. SUB-REGIONS. SUB-REGIONS. SUB-REGIONS. SUB-REGIONS. SUB-REGIONS.

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The single genus Dendraspis, constituting the family, is confined to Tropical Africa.

FAMILY 22.-ATRACTASPIDIDÆ. (1 Genus, 4 Species.)

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This small family, consisting of the genus Atractaspis, is also confined to Africa, but has hitherto only been found in the West and South.

FAMILY 23.-HYDROPHIDA. (8 Genera, 50 Species.)

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The Hydrophidæ, or Sea Snakes, are a group of small-sized marine serpents, abundant in the Indian and Australian seas, and extending as far west as Madagascar, and as far east as Panama. They are very poisonous, and it is probable that many species remain to be discovered. The genera are distributed as follows:

Hydrophis (37 sp.), ranging from India to Formosa and Australia; Platurus (2 sp.), from the Bay of Bengal to New Guinea and New Zealand; Aipysurus (3 sp.), Java to New Guinea and Australia; Disteira (1 sp.), unknown locality; Acalyptus (1 sp.), South-west Pacific; Enhydrina (1 sp.), Bay of Bengal to New Guinea; Pelamis (1 sp.), Madagascar to New Guinea, New Zealand, and Panama; Emydocephalus (1.sp.), Australian Seas.

FAMILY 24.-CROTALIDE. (11 Genera, 40 Species.)

GENERAL DISTRIBUTION.

ORIENTAL AUSTRALIAN

NEOTROPICAL NEARCTIC PALEARCTIC ETHIOPIAN
SUB-REGIONS. SUB-REGIONS. SUB-REGIONS. SUB-REGIONS. SUB-REGIONS. SUB-REGIONS.

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The Crotalidæ, or Pit Vipers, including the deadly Rattlesnakes, form a well-marked family of fanged serpents, whose distribution is very interesting. They abound most in the Oriental region, at least 5 of the genera and 20 species being found within its limits, yet they are quite unknown in the Ethiopian region -a parallel case to that of the Bears and Deer. A few species are peculiar to the eastern portion of the Palearctic region, while

the Nearctic is actually richer than the Neotropical region both in genera and species. This would point to the conclusion, that the group originated in the Indo-Chinese sub-region and spread thence north-east to North America, and so onward to South America, which, having been the last to receive the group, has not had time to develop it largely, notwithstanding its extreme adaptability to Reptilian life. The genera are divided among the several regions as follows:

Craspedocephalus (7 sp.), Tropical America and the West Indian Islands; Cenchris, Crotalophorus, Uropsophorus, and Crotalus, inhabiting North America from Canada and British Columbia to Texas, one species (Crotalus horridus) extending into South America; Trimeresurus (16 sp.), all India from Ceylon to Assam, Formosa, the Philippines, and Celebes; Peltopelor and Hypnale (1 sp. each), peculiar to India; Calloselasma (1 sp.), Siam; Atropos (1 sp.), Java and Borneo; Halys (3 sp.), peculiar to Tartary, Thibet, Japan, North China, and Formosa.

FAMILY 25.-VIPERIDE. (3 Genera, 22 Species.)

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The Viperidæ, or True Vipers, are especially characteristic of the Palearctic and Ethiopian regions, only one species being found over a large part of the Oriental region, and another reaching Central India. They are especially abundant in Africa, and the Palearctic confines in South-western Asia. The common Viper ranges across the whole Palearctic region from Portugal to Saghalien Island, reaching to 67° North Latitude, in Scandinavia, and to 58° in Central Siberia. The genera, according to Dr. Strauch's synopsis, are distributed as follows:

Vipera (17 sp.), which has the range of the family, extending over the whole of the Palearctic and Ethiopian regions, except Madagascar, and as far as Ceylon, Siam, and Java, in the Oriental

region; Echis (2 sp.), inhabiting North Africa to Persia and to Continental India; and Atheris (3 sp.), confined to West Africa.

Remarks on the General Distribution of Ophidia.

The Ophidia, being preeminently a Tropical order—rapidly diminishing in numbers as we go north in the Temperate Zone, and wholly ceasing long before we reach the Arctic Circle-we cannot expect the two Northern regions to exhibit any great variety or peculiarity. Yet in their warmer portions they are tolerably rich; for, of the 25 families of snakes, 6 are found in the Nearctic region, 10 in the Palæarctic, 13 in the Australian, 16 in the Neotropical, 17 in the Ethiopian, and no less than 22 in the Oriental, which last is thus seen to be by far the richest of the great regions in the variety of its forms of Ophidian life. The only regions that possess altogether peculiar families of this order, are the Ethiopian (3), and the Oriental (2); the usually rich and peculiar Neotropical region not possessing exclusively, any family of snakes; and what is still more remarkable, the Neotropical and Australian regions together, do not possess a family peculiar to them. Every family inhabiting these two regions is found also in the Oriental; and this fact, taken in connection with the superior richness of the latter region both in families and genera, would indicate that the Ophidia had their origin in the northern hemisphere of the Old World (the ancient Palearctic region) whence they spread on all sides, in successive waves of migration, to the other regions. The distribution of the genera peculiar to, or highly characteristic of, the several regions. is as follows::

The Nearctic possesses 9; four of these belong to the Colubrida, one to the Pythonidæ, and four to the Crotalida. The Palearctic region has only 2 peculiar genera, belonging to the Colubrida and Crotalida. The Ethiopian has 25, belonging to 11' families; four to Colubridæ, five to Lycodontidæ, and three to Elapida. The Oriental has no less than 50, belonging to 15 families; five are Colubridæ, five Uropeltidæ, twelve Homalopsidæ, six LycoLive dontidæ, three Amblycephalidæ, eight Elapidæ, and four Crota

lidæ. The Australian has 16, belonging to three families only; eleven being Elapidæ, and four Pythonidæ. The Neotropical has hirte about 24, belonging to eight families; ten are Colubrida, six Pythonidæ, and the rest Dipsadida, Scytalidæ, Amblycephalidæ, Elapidæ, and Crotalida.

We find then, that in the Ophidia, the regions adopted in this work are remarkably distinct; and that, in the case of the Oriental and Ethiopian, the difference is strongly marked, a very large number of the genera being confined to each region. It is interesting to observe, that in many cases the affinity seems to be rather between the West Coast of Africa and the Oriental region, than between the East Coast and the plains of India; thus the Homalopsida—a highly characteristic Oriental familyoccur on the West Coast of Africa only; the Dryiophida, which range over the whole Oriental region, only occur in Madagascar and West Africa in the Ethiopian; the genus Dipsas is found over all the Oriental region and again in West Africa. A cause for this peculiarity has been suggested in our sketch of the past history of the Ethiopian region, Vol. I. p. 288. In the Lycodontidæ, which are strictly confined to these two regions, the genera are all distinct, and the same is the case with the more widely distributed Elapida; and although a few desert forms, such as Echis and the Erycidæ, are common to Africa and the dry plains of India, this is evidently due to favourable climatic conditions, and cannot neutralise the striking differences in the great mass of the family and generic forms which inhabit the two regions. The union of Madagascar with the South-western part of the Oriental region under the appellation Lemuria, finds no support in the distribution of Ophidia; which, however, strikingly accords with the views developed in the Third Part of this work, as to the great importance and high antiquity of the Euro-Asiatic continent, as the chief land-centre from which the higher organisms have spread over the globe.

Fossil Ophidia.-The oldest known remains of Ophidia occur in the Eocene formation in the Isle of Sheppey; others are found in the Miocene (Brown Coal) of Germany, and in some Tertiary beds in the United States. Most of these appear to have been

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