CHAPTER XII. THE ORIENTAL REGION. i THIS region is of comparatively small extent, but it has a very diversified surface, and is proportionately very rich. The deserts on the north-west of India are the debatable land that separates it from the Palearctic and Ethiopian regions. The great triangular plateau which forms the peninsula of India is the poorest portion of the region, owing in part to its arid climate and in part to its isolated position; for there can be little doubt that in the later Tertiary period it was an island, separated by an arm of the sea (now forming the valleys of the Ganges and Indus) from the luxuriant Himalayan and Burmese countries. Its southern extremity, with Ceylon, has a moister climate and more luxuriant vegetation, and exhibits indications of a former extension southwards, with a richer and more peculiar fauna, partly Malayan and partly Mascarene in its character. The whole southern slopes of the Himalayas, with Burmah, Siam and Western China, as well as the Malay peninsula and the IndoMalay islands, are almost everywhere covered with tropical forests of the most luxuriant character, which abound in varied and peculiar forms of vegetable and animal life. The flora and fauna of this extensive district are essentially of one type throughout; yet it may be usefully divided into the IndoChinese and the Malayan sub-regions, as each possesses a number of peculiar or characteristic animals. The former subregion, besides having many tropical and sub-tropical types of its own, also possesses a large number of peculiarly modified temperate forms on the mountain ranges of its northern boundary, which are wholly wanting in the Malayan subregion. The Philippine islands are best classed with the IndoMalay group, although they are strikingly deficient in many Malayan types, and exhibit an approach to the Celebesian division of the Austro-Malay sub-region. Zoological Characteristics of the Oriental Region.-The Oriental Region possesses examples of 35 families of Mammalia, 71 of Birds, 35 of Reptiles, 9 of Amphibia, and 13 of Fresh-water Fishes. Of these 163 families, 12 are peculiar to the region; namely, Tarsiida, Galeopithecida, and Tupaiidæ among Mammalia, while Æluridæ, though confined to the higher Himalayas, may perhaps with more justice be claimed by the Palearctic region; Liotrichidæ, Phyllornithidæ, and Eurylamidæ among birds; Xenopeltidæ (extending, however, to Celebes), Uropeltidæ, and Acrochordidæ among reptiles; Luciocephalidæ, Ophiocephalidæ and Mastacembelidæ among fresh-water fishes. A number of other families are abundant, and characteristic of the region; and it possesses many peculiar and characteristic genera, which must be referred to somewhat more in detail. Mammalia. The Oriental region is rich in quadrumana, and is especially remarkable for its orang-utans and long-armed apes (Simia, Hylobates, and Siamanga); its abundance of monkeys of the genera Presbytes and Macacus; its extraordinary long-nosed monkey (Presbytes nasalis); its Lemurida (Nycticebus and Loris); and its curious genus Tarsius, forming a distinct family of lemurs. All these quadrumanous genera are confined to it, except Tarsius which extends as far as Celebes. It possesses more than 30 genera of bats, which are enumerated in the lists given at the end of this chapter. In Insectivora it is very rich, and possesses several remarkable forms, such as the flying lemur (Galeopithecus); the squirrel-like Tupaiidæ consisting of three genera; and the curious Gymnura allied to the hedgehogs. In Carnivora, it is especially rich in many forms of civets (Viverridæ), possessing 10 peculiar genera, among which Prionodon and Cynogale are remarkable; numerous Mustelidæ, of which Gymnopus, Mydaus, Aonyx and Helictis are the most conspicuous; Elurus, a curious animal, cat-like in appearance but |