peculiar types being found only here. The southern portion is somewhat poorer, and has very few peculiar forms; and Tasmania being isolated is poorer still, yet its zoology has much resemblance to that of Victoria, from which country it has evidently not been very long separated. The north, as far as yet known, is characterised by hardly any peculiar forms, but by the occurrence of a number of Papuan types, which have evidently been derived from New Guinea.

Mammalia-The Australian sub-region contains about 160 species of Mammalia, of which 3 are Monotremata, 102 Marsupials, 23 Chiroptera, 1 Carnivora (the native dog, probably not indigenous), and 31 Muridæ. The north is characterised by a species of the Austro-Malayan genus Cuscus. Phascolarctos (the koala, or native bear) is found only in the eastern districts; Phascolomys (the wombat) in the south-east and Tasmania; Petaurista (a peculiar form of flying opossum), in the east. Thylacinus (the zebra-wolf), and Sarcophilus (the "native devil "), two carnivorous marsupials, are confined to Tasmania. West Australia, the most isolated and peculiar region botanically, alone possesses the curious little honey-eating Tarsipes, and the Peragalea, or native rabbit. The remarkable Myrmecobius, a small ant-eating marsupial, is found in the west and south; and Onychogalea, a genus of kangaroos, in West and Central Australia. All the other genera have a wider distribution, as will be seen by a reference to the list at the end of this chapter.

Plate XI. A Scene in Tasmania, with Characteristic Mammalia. -As some of the most remarkable Mammalia of the Australian region are now found only in Tasmania, we have chosen this island for the scene of our first illustration of the fauna of the Australian sub-region. The pair of large striped animals are zebra-wolves (Thylacinus cynocephalus), the largest and most destructive of the carnivorous marsupials. These creatures used to be tolerably plentiful in Tasmania, where they are alone found. They are also called "native tigers," or " native hyænas;" and being destructive to sheep, they have been destroyed by the farmers and will doubtless soon be exterminated. In the foreground on

the left is a bandicoot (Perameles gunnii). These are delicate little animals allied to the kangaroos; and they are found in all parts of Australia, and Tasmania, to which latter country this species is confined. On the right is the wombat (Phascolomys wombat), a root-eating marsupial, with large incisor teeth like those of our rodents. They inhabit south-east Australia and Tasmania. In the foreground is the porcupine ant-eater (Echidna setosa), belonging to a distinct order of mammalia, Monotremata, of which the only other member is the duck-billed Ornithorhynchus. These animals are, however, more nearly allied to the marsupials, than to the insectivora or edentata of the rest of the world, which in some respects they resemble. An allied species (Echidna hystrix) inhabits south-east Australia,

Birds.—Australia (with Tasmania) possesses about 630 species of birds, of which 485 are land-birds. Not more than about onetwentieth of these are found elsewhere, so that it has a larger proportion of endemic species than any other sub-region on the globe. These birds are divided among the several orders as follows:

The Psittaci, we see, are very richly represented, while the Picariæ are comparatively few; and the Columbæ are scarce as compared with their abundance in the Austro-Malay subregion.

Birds seem to be very evenly distributed over all Australia; comparatively few genera of importance being locally restricted. In the eastern districts alone, we find Origma, and Orthonyx (Sylviida); Sericulus and Ptilorhynchus (Paradiseida); Leucosarcia (Columbidæ); and Talegalla (Megapodiida). Nectarinia, Pitta, Ptilorhis, Chlamydodera, and Sphecotheres, range from the north down the east coasts. Nanodes (Psittacidae), and Lipoa (Megapodiida), are southern forms, the first extending

to Tasmania; which island appears to possess no peculiar genus of birds except Eudyptes, one of the penguins. West Australia has no wholly peculiar genus except Geopsittacus, a curious form of ground parroquet; the singular Atrichia, first found here, having been discovered in the east. In North Australia, Emblema (Ploceida) is the only peculiar Australian genus, but several Austro-Malayan and Papuan genera enter,— as, Syma and Tanysiptera (Alcedinida); Macharihynchus (Muscicapidae); Calornis (Sturnidæ); Manucodia, Ptilorhis, and Elurœdus (Paradiseida); Megapodius; and Casuarius. The presence of a species of bustard (Eupodotis) in Australia. is very curious, its nearest allies being in the plains of India and Africa. Among waders the genus Tribonyx, a thick-legged bird somewhat resembling the Notornis of New Zealand, though not closely allied to it, is the most remarkable. The district where the typical Australian forms most abound is undoubtedly the eastern side of the island. The north and south are both somewhat poorer, the west much poorer, although it possesses a few very peculiar forms, especially among Mammalia. Tasmania is the poorest of all, a considerable number of genera being here wanting; but, except the two peculiar carnivorous marsupials, it possesses nothing to mark it off zoologically from the adjacent parts of the main land. It is probable that its insular climate, more moist and less variable than that of Australia, may not be suitable to some of the absent forms; while others may require more space and more varied conditions, than are offered by a comparatively small island.

The remaining classes of animals have been already discussed in our sketch of the region as a whole (p. 396).

Plate XII. Illustrating the Fauna of Australia.-In this plate we take New South Wales as our locality, and represent chiefly, the more remarkable Australian types of birds. The most conspicuous figure is the wonderful lyre-bird (Menura superba), the elegant plumage of whose tail is altogether unique in the whole class of birds. The unadorned bird is the female. In the centre, is the emu (Dromaus nova-hollandia), the representative in Australia, of the ostrich in Africa and America, but beVOL. I.-30

longing to a different family, the Casurariida. To the right are a pair of crested pigeons (Ocyphaps lophotes), one of the many singular forms of the pigeon family to which the Australian region gives birth. In every other part of the globe pigeons are smooth-headed birds, but here they have developed three distinct forms of crest, as seen in this bird, the crowned pigeon figured in Plate X., and the double-crested pigeon (Lopholamus antarcticus). The large bird on the tree is one of the Australian frog-mouthed goat-suckers (Podargus strigoides), which are called in the colony "More-pork," from their peculiar cry. They do not capture their prey on the wing like true goat-suckers, but hunt about the branches of trees at dusk, for large insects, and also for unfledged birds. A large kangaroo (Macropus giganteus) is seen in the distance; and passing through the air, a flying opossum (Petaurus sciureus), a beautiful modification of a marsupial, so as to resemble in form and habits the flying squirrels of the northern hemisphere.

III. The Pacific Islands, or Polynesian Sub-region.

Although the area of this sub-region is so vast, and the number of islands it contains almost innumerable, there is a considerable amount of uniformity in its forms of animal life. From the Ladrone islands on the west, to the Marquesas on the east, a distance of more than 5,000 miles, the same characteristic genera of birds prevail; and this is the only class of animals on which we can depend, mammalia being quite absent, and reptiles very scarce. The Sandwich Islands, however, form an exception to this uniformity; and, as far as we yet know, they are so peculiar that they ought, perhaps, to form a separate sub-region. They are, however, geographically a part of Polynesia; and a more careful investigation of their natural history may show more points of agreement with the other islands. It is therefore a matter of convenience, at present, to keep them in the Polynesian sub-region, which may be divided into Polynesia proper and the Sandwich Islands.

Polynesia proper consists of a number of groups of islands of some importance, and a host of smaller intermediate islets.