The Geographical Distribution of Animals, Volume 2

Chapter XIX: Part IV: Geographical Zoology (1)

Text size

_A SYSTEMATIC SKETCH OF THE CHIEF FAMILIES OF LAND ANIMALS IN THEIR GEOGRAPHICAL RELATIONS._

{167}INTRODUCTION.

In the preceding part of our work, we have discussed the geographical distribution of animals from the point of view of the geographer; taking the different regions of the earth in succession, and giving as full an account as our space would permit of their chief forms of animal life. Now, we proceed from the standpoint of the systematic zoologist; taking in succession each of the families with which we deal, and giving an account of the distribution, both of the entire family and, as far as practicable, of each of the genera of which it is composed. As in the former part, our mode of treatment led us to speculate on the past changes of the earth's surface; so here we shall endeavour to elucidate the past migrations of animals, and thus, to some extent, account for their actual distribution.

The tabular headings, showing the range of the family in each region, will enable the reader to determine at a glance the general distribution of the group, as soon as he has familiarised himself, by a study of our general and regional maps, with the limits of the regions and sub-regions, and the figures (1 to 4) by which the latter are indicated. Much pains have been taken, to give the number of the known genera and species in each family, correctly; but these numbers must, in most cases, only be looked upon as approximations; because, owing to constant accessions of fresh material on the one hand, and the discovery that many supposed species are only varieties, on the other, such statistics are in a continual state of fluctuation. In the number of genera there is the greatest uncertainty; as will be seen by the two sets of numbers sometimes given, which denote the genera according to different modern authorities.

{168}There is also a considerable difference in the dependence to be placed on the details given in the different classes of animals. In Mammalia and Birds some degree of accuracy has, it is hoped, been attained; the classification of these groups being much advanced, and the materials for their study ample. In Reptiles this is not the case, as there is no recently published work dealing with the whole subject, or with either of the larger orders. An immense number of new species and new genera of snakes and lizards, have been described in the last twenty years; and Dr. Günther--our greatest authority on reptiles in this country--has kindly assisted me in incorporating such of these as are most trustworthy, in a general system; but until entire Orders have been described or catalogued on a uniform plan, nothing more than a general approximation to the truth can be arrived at. Still, so many of the groups are well defined, and have a clearly limited distribution, that some interesting and valuable comparisons may be made.

For Fishes, the valuable "Catalogue" of Dr. Günther was available, and it has rarely been attempted to go beyond it. A large number of new species have since been described, in all parts of the world; but it is impossible to say how many of these are really new, or what genera they actually belong to. The part devoted to this Class is, therefore, practically a summary of Dr. Günther's Catalogue; and it is believed that the discoveries since made will not materially invalidate the conclusions to be drawn from such a large number of species, which have been critically examined and classified on a uniform system by one of our most able naturalists. When a supplement to this catalogue is issued, it will be easier to make the necessary alterations in distribution, than if a mass of untrustworthy materials had been mixed up with it.

For Insects, excellent materials are furnished, in the Catalogue of Mr. Kirby for Butterflies and in that of Drs. Gemminger and Harold for Coleoptera. I have also made use of some recently published memoirs on the Insects of Japan and St. Helena, and a few other recent works; and have, I believe, elaborated a more extensive series of facts to illustrate the distribution of insects, {169}than has been made use of by any previous writer. Several discussions on the bearing of the facts of insect distribution, will also be found under the several Regions, in the preceding part of this work.

Terrestrial Mollusca form a group, as to the treatment of which I have most misgivings; owing to my almost entire ignorance of Malacology, and the great changes recently made in the classification of shells. There is also much uncertainty as to genera and sub-genera, which is very puzzling to one who merely wishes to get at general results. Finding it impossible to incorporate the new matter with the old, or to harmonise the different classifications of modern conchologists, I thought it better to confine myself to the standard works of Martens and Pfeiffer, with such additions of new species as I could make without fear of going far wrong. In some cases I have made use of recent monographs--especially on the shells of Europe, North America, the West Indian Islands, and the Sandwich Islands; and have, I venture to hope, not fallen into much error in the general conclusions at which I have arrived.

{170}CHAPTER XVII.

THE DISTRIBUTION OF THE FAMILIES AND GENERA OF MAMMALIA.

_Order I.--PRIMATES._

FAMILY 1.--SIMIIDÆ. (4 Genera, 12 Species).

The Simiidæ, or Anthropoid Apes, comprehend those forms of the monkey-tribe which, in general organization, approach nearest to man. They inhabit the tropics of the Old World, and are most abundant near the equator; but they are limited to certain districts, being quite unknown in eastern and southern Africa, and the whole peninsula of Hindostan.

The genus _Troglodytes_ (or _Mimetes_, as it is sometimes named) comprehends the chimpanzee and gorilla. It is confined to the West African sub-region, being found on the coast about 12° North and South of the equator, from the Gambia to Benguela, and as far inland as the great equatorial forests extend. There are perhaps other species of chimpanzee; since Livingstone met with what he supposed to be a new species in the forest region west of Lake Tanganyika, while Dr. Schweinfurth found one in the country beyond the western watershed of the Nile. The gorilla is confined within narrower limits on and near the equator.

{171}We have to pass over more than 70° of longitude before we again meet with Anthropoid Apes, in the northern part of Sumatra--where a specimen of the orang-utan (_Simia satyrus_) now in the Calcutta Museum, was obtained by Dr. Abel, and described by him in the _Asiatic Researches_, vol. xv.--and in Borneo, from which latter island almost all the specimens in European museums have been derived. There are supposed to be two species of _Simia_ in Borneo, a larger and a smaller; but their distinctness is not admitted by all naturalists. Both appear to be confined to the swampy forests near the north, west, and south coasts.

The Gibbons, or long-armed apes, forming the genus _Hylobates_, (7 species) are found in all the large islands of the Indo-Malayan sub-region, except the Philippines; and also in Sylhet and Assam south of the Brahmaputra river, eastward to Cambodja and South China to the west of Canton, and in the island of Hainan.

The Siamang (_Siamanga syndactyla_) presents some anatomical peculiarities, and has the second and third toes united to the last joint, but in general form and structure it does not differ from _Hylobates_. It is the largest of the long-armed apes, and inhabits Sumatra and the Malay peninsula.

FAMILY 2.--SEMNOPITHECIDÆ. (2 Genera, 30 Species.)

The Semnopithecidæ, are long-tailed monkeys without cheek-pouches, and with rather rounded faces, the muzzle not being prominent. They have nearly the same distribution as the last family, but are more widely dispersed in both Africa and Asia, one species just entering the Palæarctic region.

The Eastern genus _Presbytes_ or _Semnopithecus_ (29 species), is spread over almost the whole of the Oriental region wherever the forests are extensive. They extend along the Himalayas to beyond Simla, where a species has been observed at an altitude of 11,000 {172}feet, playing among fir-trees laden with snow wreaths. On the west side of India they are not found to the north of 14° N. latitude. On the east they extend into Arakan, and to Borneo and Java, but not apparently into Siam or Cambodja. Along the eastern extension of the Himalayas they again occur in East Thibet; a remarkable species with a large upturned nose (_S. roxellana_) having been discovered by Père David at Moupin (about Lat. 32° N.) in the highest forests, where the winters are severe and last for several months, and where the vegetation, and the other forms of animal life, are wholly those of the Palæarctic region. It is very curious that this species should somewhat resemble the young state of the proboscis monkey (_S. nasalis_), which inhabits one of the most uniform, damp, and hot climates on the globe--the river-swamps of Borneo.

_Colobus_, the African genus (11 species), is very closely allied to the preceding, differing chiefly in the thumb being absent or rudimentary. They are confined to the tropical regions--Abyssinia on the east, and from the Gambia to Angola and the island of Fernando Po, on the west.

FAMILY 3.--CYNOPITHECIDÆ. (7 Genera, 67 Species).

This family comprehends all the monkeys with cheek pouches, and the baboons. Some of these have very long tails, some none; some are dog-faced, others tolerably round-faced; but there are so many transitions from one to the other, and such a general agreement in structure, that they are now considered to form a very natural family. Their range is more extensive than any other family of Quadrumana, since they not only occur in every part of the Ethiopian and Oriental regions, but enter the Palæarctic region in the east and west, and the Australian region as far as the islands of Timor and Batchian. The African genera {173}are _Myiopithecus_, _Cercopithecus_, _Cercocebus_, _Theropithecus_, and _Cynocephalus_; the Oriental genera, _Macacus_, and _Cynopithecus_.

_Myiopithecus_ (1 species), consisting of the talapoin monkey of West Africa, differs from the other African monkeys in the structure of the last molar tooth; in the large ears, short face, and wide internasal septum; in this respect, as well as in its grace and gentleness, resembling some of the American monkeys.

_Cercopithecus_ (24 species), contains all the more graceful and prettily coloured monkeys of tropical Africa, and comprises the guenons, the white-nosed, and the green monkeys. They range from the Gambia to the Congo, and from Abyssinia to the Zambesi.

_Cercocebus_ (5 species), the mangabeys, of West Africa, are very closely allied to the eastern genus _Macacus_.

_Theropithecus_ (2 species), including the gelada of Abyssinia and an allied species, resemble in form the baboons, but have the nostrils placed as in the last genus.

_Cynocephalus_ (10 species), the baboons, are found in all parts of Africa. They consist of animals which vary much in appearance, but which agree in having an elongated dog-like muzzle with terminal nostrils, and being of terrestrial habits. Some of the baboons are of very large size, the mandrill (_C. maimon_) being only inferior to the orang and gorilla.

_Macacus_ (25 species), is the commonest form of eastern monkey, and is found in every part of the Oriental region, as well as in North Africa, Gibraltar, Thibet, North China, and Japan; and one of the commonest species, _M. cynomolgus_, has extended its range from Java eastward to the extremity of Timor. The tail varies greatly in length, and in the Gibraltar monkey (_M. innus_) is quite absent. A remarkable species clothed with very thick fur, has lately been discovered in the snowy mountains of eastern Thibet.

_Cynopithecus_ (? 2 sp.).--This genus consists of a black baboon-like Ape, inhabiting Celebes, Batchian, and the Philippine Islands; but perhaps introduced by man into the latter islands and into Batchian. It is doubtful if there is more than one species. The tail of this animal is a fleshy tubercle, the nostrils as in _Macacus_, but the muzzle is very prominent; and the {174}development of the maxillary bones into strong lateral ridges corresponds to the structure of the most typical baboons. This species extends further east than any other quadrumanous animal.

FAMILY 4.--CEBIDÆ. (10 Genera, 78 Species.)

The Cebidæ, which comprehend all the larger American Monkeys, differ from those of the Old World by having an additional molar tooth in each jaw, and a broad nasal septum; while they have neither cheek-pouches nor ischial callosities, and the thumb is never completely opposable. Some have prehensile tails, especially adapting them for an arboreal life. They are divided into four sub-families,--Cebinæ, Mycetinæ, Pitheciinæ, and Nyctipithecinæ. The Cebidæ are strictly confined to the forest regions of tropical America, from the southern part of Mexico to about the parallel of 30° South Latitude. The distribution of the genera is as follows:--

_Sub-family_, Cebinæ.--_Cebus_ (18 sp.), is the largest genus of American monkeys, and ranges from Costa Rica to Paraguay. They are commonly called sapajous. _Lagothrix_ (5 sp.), the woolly monkeys, are rather larger and less active than the preceding; they are confined to the forests of the Upper Amazon Valley, and along the slopes of the Andes to Venezuela and Bolivia. _Ateles_ (14 sp.), the spider monkeys, have very long limbs and tail. They range over the whole area of the family, and occur on the west side of the Equatorial Andes and on the Pacific coast of Guatemala. _Eriodes_ (3 sp.), are somewhat intermediate between the last two genera, and are confined to the eastern parts of Brazil south of the equator. The three last mentioned genera have very powerful prehensile tails, the end being bare beneath; whereas the species of _Cebus_ have the tail {175}completely covered with hair, although prehensile, and therefore not so perfect a grasping organ.

_Sub-family_, Mycetinæ, consists of but a single genus, _Mycetes_ (10 sp.), the howling monkeys, characterized by having a hollow bony vessel in the throat formed by an enlargement of the hyoid bone, which enables them to produce a wonderful howling noise. They are large, heavy animals, with a powerful and perfect prehensile tail. They range from East Guatemala to Paraguay. (Plate XIV., vol. ii., p. 24.)

_Sub-family_, Pitheciinæ, the sakis, have a non-prehensile bushy tail. _Pithecia_ (7 sp.), has the tail of moderate length; while _Brachiurus_ (5 sp.) has it very short. Both appear to be restricted to the great equatorial forests of South America.

_Sub-family_, Nyctipithecinæ, are small and elegant monkeys, with long, hairy, non-prehensile tails. _Nyctipithecus_ (5 sp.), the night-monkeys or douroucoulis, have large eyes, nocturnal habits, and are somewhat lemurine in their appearance. They range from Nicaragua to the Amazon and eastern Peru. _Saimiris_ or _Chrysothrix_ (3 sp.), the squirrel-monkeys, are beautiful and active little creatures, found in most of the tropical forests from Costa Rica to Brazil and Bolivia. _Callithrix_ (11 sp.), are somewhat intermediate between the last two genera, and are found all over South America from Panama to the southern limits of the great forests.

FAMILY 5.--HAPALIDÆ. (2 Genera, 32 Species.)

The Hapalidæ, or marmosets, are very small monkeys, which differ from the true Cebidæ in the absence of one premolar tooth, while they possess the additional molar tooth; so that while they have the same number of teeth (thirty-two) as the Old World monkeys, they differ from them even more than do the {176}Cebidæ. The thumb is not at all opposable, and all the fingers are armed with sharp claws. The hallux, or thumb-like great toe, is very small; the tail is long and not prehensile. The two genera _Hapale_ (9 sp.), and _Midas_ (24 sp.), are of doubtful value, though some naturalists have still further sub-divided them. They are confined to the tropical forests of South America, and are most abundant in the districts near the equator.

_Sub-order--LEMUROIDEA._

FAMILY 6.--LEMURIDÆ. (11 Genera, 53 Species.)

The Lemuridæ, comprehending all the animals usually termed Lemurs and many of their allies, are divided by Professor Mivart--who has carefully studied the group--into four sub-families and eleven genera, as follows:--

_Sub-family_ Indrisinæ, consisting of the genus _Indris_ (5 sp.), is confined to Madagascar.

_Sub-family_ Lemurinæ, contains five genera, viz.:--_Lemur_, (15 sp.); _Hapalemur_ (2 sp.); _Microcebus_ (4 sp.); _Chirogaleus_ (5 sp.); and _Lepilemur_ (2 sp.);--all confined to Madagascar.

_Sub-family_ Nycticebinæ, contains four genera, viz.:--_Nycticebus_ (3 sp.)--small, short-tailed, nocturnal animals, called slow-lemurs,--range from East Bengal to South China, and to Borneo and Java; _Loris_ (1 sp.)--a very small, tail-less, nocturnal lemur, which inhabits Madras, Malabar, and Ceylon; _Perodicticus_ (1 sp.)--the potto--a small lemur with almost rudimentary forefinger, found at Sierra Leone (Plate V., vol. i., p. 264); _Arctocebus_ (1 sp.)--the angwantibo,--another extraordinary form in which the forefinger is quite absent and the first toe armed with a long claw,--inhabits Old Calabar.

{177}_Sub-family_ Galaginæ, contains only the genus _Galago_ (14 sp.), which is confined to the African continent, ranging from Senegal and Fernando Po to Zanzibar and Natal.

FAMILY 7.--TARSIIDÆ. (1 Genus, 1 Species.)

The curious _Tarsius spectrum_, which constitutes this family, inhabits Sumatra, Banca, and Borneo, and is also found in some parts of Celebes, which would bring it into the Australian region; but this island is altogether so anomalous that we can only consider its productions to have somewhat more affinity with the Australian than the Oriental region, but hardly to belong to either. The Tarsier is a small, long-tailed, nocturnal animal, of curious structure and appearance; and it forms the only link of connection with the next family, which it resembles in the extraordinary development of the toes, one of which is much larger and more slender than the rest. (Plate VIII., vol. i. p. 337.)

FAMILY 8.--CHIROMYIDÆ. (1 Genus, 1 Species.)

The Aye-aye, (_Chiromys_), the sole representative of this family, is confined to the island of Madagascar. It was for a long time very imperfectly known, and was supposed to belong to the Rodentia; but it has now been ascertained to be an exceedingly specialized form of the Lemuroid type, and must be considered to be one of the most extraordinary of the mammalia now inhabiting the globe. (Plate VI., vol. i., p. 278.)

{178}_Fossil Quadrumana._

Not much progress has yet been made in tracing back the various forms of Apes and Monkeys to their earliest appearance on the globe; but there have been some interesting recent discoveries, which lead us to hope that the field is not yet exhausted. The following is a summary of what is known as to the early forms of each family:--

_Simiidæ._--Two or three species of this family have been found in the Upper Miocene deposits of France and Switzerland. _Pliopithecus_, of which a species has been found at each locality, was allied to the gibbons (_Hylobates_), and perhaps to _Semnopithecus_. A more remarkable form, named _Dryopithecus_, as large as a man, and having peculiarities of structure which are thought by Gervais and Lartet to indicate a nearer approach to the human form than any existing Ape, has been found in strata of the same age in France.

_Semnopithecidæ._--Species of _Semnopithecus_ have been found in the Upper Miocene of Greece, and others in the Siwalik Hills of N. W. India, also of Upper Miocene age. An allied form also occurs in the Miocene of Wurtemburg. _Mesopithecus_ from Greece is somewhat intermediate between _Semnopithecus_ and _Macacus_.

Remains supposed to be of _Semnopithecus_, have also occurred in the Pliocene of Montpellier.

_Cynopithecidæ._--_Macacus_ has occurred in Pliocene deposits at Grays, Essex; and also in the South of France along with _Cercopithecus_.

_Cebidæ._--In the caves of Brazil remains of the genera _Cebus_, _Mycetes_, _Callithrix_, and _Hapale_, have been found; as well as an extinct form of larger size--_Protopithecus_.

_Lemuroidea._--A true lemur has recently been discovered in the Eocene of France; and it is supposed to be most nearly allied to the peculiar West African genera, _Perodicticus_ and _Arctocebus_.

_Cænopithecus_, from the Swiss Jura, is supposed to have affinities both for the Lemuridæ and the American Cebidæ.

In the lower Eocene of North America remains have been {179}discovered, which are believed to belong to this sub-order: but they form two distinct families,--Lemuravidæ and Limnotheridæ. Other remains from the Miocene are believed to be intermediate between these and the Cebidæ,--a most interesting and suggestive affinity, if well founded. For the genera of these American Lemuroidea, see vol. i., p. 133.

_General Remarks on the Distribution of Primates._

The most striking fact presented by this order, from our present point of view, is the strict limitation of well-marked families to definite areas. The Cebidæ and Hapalidæ would alone serve to mark out tropical America as the nucleus of one of the great zoological divisions of the earth. In the Eastern Hemisphere, the corresponding fact is the entire absence of the order from the Australian region, with the exception of one or two outlying forms, which have evidently transgressed the normal limits of their group. The separation of the Ethiopian and Oriental regions is, in this order, mainly indicated by the distribution of the genera, no one of which is common to the two regions. The two highest families, the Simiidæ and the Semnopithecidæ, are pretty equally distributed about two equatorial foci, one situated in West Africa, the other in the Malay archipelago,--in Borneo or the Peninsula of Malacca;--while the third family, Cynopithecidæ, ranges over the whole of both regions, and somewhat overpasses their limits. The Lemuroid group, on the other hand, offers us one of the most singular phenomena in geographical distribution. It consists of three families, the species of which are grouped into six sub-families and 13 genera. One of these families and two of the sub-families, comprising 7 genera, and no less than 30 out of the total of 50 species, are confined to the one island of Madagascar. Of the remainder, 3 genera, comprising 15 species, are spread over tropical Africa; while three other genera with 5 species, inhabit certain restricted portions of India and the Malay islands. These curious facts point unmistakably to the former existence of a large tract of land in what is now the Indian Ocean, connecting Madagascar on the one hand with Ceylon, and with the Malay countries on the {180}other. About this same time (but perhaps not contemporaneously) Madagascar must have been connected with some portion of Southern Africa, and the whole of the country would possess no other Primates but Lemuroidea. After the Madagascar territory (very much larger than the existing island) had been separated, a connection appears to have been long maintained (probably by a northerly route) between the more equatorial portions of Asia and Africa; till those higher forms had become developed, which were afterwards differentiated into _Simia_, _Presbytes_, and _Cynopithecus_, on the one hand, and into _Troglodytes_, _Colobus_, and _Cynocephalus_, on the other. In accordance with the principle of competition so well expounded by Mr. Darwin, we can understand how, in the vast Asiatic and African area north of the Equator, with a great variety of physical conditions and the influence of a host of competing forms of life, higher types were developed than in the less extensive and long-isolated countries south of the Equator. In Madagascar, where these less complex conditions prevailed in a considerable land-area, the lowly organized Lemuroids have diverged into many specialized forms of their own peculiar type; while on the continents they have, to a great extent, become exterminated, or have maintained their existence in a few cases, in islands or in mountain ranges. In Africa the nocturnal and arboreal _Galagos_ are adapted to a special mode of life, in which they probably have few competitors.

How and when the ancestors of the Cebidæ and Hapalidæ entered the South American continent, it is less easy to conceive. The only rays of light we yet have on the subject are, the supposed affinities of the fossil _Cænopithecus_ of the Swiss, and the Lemuravidæ of the North American Eocene, with both Cebidæ and Lemuroids, and the fact that in Miocene or Eocene times a mild climate prevailed up to the Arctic circle. The discovery of an undoubted Lemuroid in the Eocene of Europe, indicates that the great Northern Continent was probably the birthplace of this low type of mammal, and the source whence Africa and Southern Asia were peopled with them, as it was, at a later period, with the higher forms of monkeys and apes.

{181}_Order II.--CHIROPTERA._

FAMILY 9.--PTEROPIDÆ. (9 Genera, 65 Species.)

The Pteropidæ, or fruit-eating Bats, sometimes called flying-foxes, are pretty evenly distributed over the tropical regions of the Old World and Australia. They range over all Africa and the whole of the Oriental Region, and northward, to Amoy in China and to the South of Japan. They are also found in the more fertile parts of Australia and Tasmania, and in the Pacific Islands as far east as the Marianne and Samoa Islands; but not in the Sandwich Islands or New Zealand.

The genera of bats are exceedingly numerous, but they are in a very unsettled state, and the synonymy is exceedingly confused. The details of their distribution cannot therefore be usefully entered into here. The Pteropidæ differ so much from all other bats, that they are considered to form a distinct suborder of Chiroptera, and by some naturalists even a distinct order of Mammalia.

No fossil Pteropidæ have been discovered.

FAMILY 10.--PHYLLOSTOMIDÆ. (31 Genera, 60 Species.)

The Phyllostomidæ, or simple leaf-nosed Bats, are confined to the Neotropical region, from Mexico and the Antilles to the {182}southern limits of the forest region east of the Andes, and to about lat. 33° S. in Chili. None are found in the Nearctic region, with the exception of one species in California (_Macrotus Californicus_), closely allied to Mexican and West Indian forms. The celebrated blood-sucking vampyre bats of South America belong to this group. Two genera, _Desmodus_ and _Diphylla_, form Dr. Peters' family Desmodidæ. Mr. Dobson, in his recently published arrangement, divides the family into five groups:--Mormopes, Vampyri, Glossophagæ, Stenodermata, and Desmodontes.

Numerous remains of extinct species of this family have been found in the bone-caves of Brazil.

FAMILY 11.--RHINOLOPHIDÆ. (7 Genera, 70 Species.)

The Rhinolophidæ, or Horse-shoe Bats (so-called from a curiously-shaped membranous appendance to the nose), range over all the Ethiopian and Oriental regions, the southern part of the Palæarctic region, Australia and Tasmania. They are most abundant and varied in the Oriental region, where twelve genera are found; while only five inhabit the Australian and Ethiopian regions respectively. Europe has only one genus and four species, mostly found in the southern parts, and none going further north than the latitude of England, where two species occur. Two others are found in Japan, at the opposite extremity of the Palæarctic region.

The genera _Nycteris_ and _Megaderma_, which range over the Ethiopian and Oriental regions to the Moluccas, are considered by Dr. Peters to form a distinct family, Megadermidæ; and Mr. Dobson in his recent arrangement (published after our first {183}volume was printed) adopts the same family under the name of Nycteridæ. The curious Indian genus _Rhinopoma_, which, following Dr. J. E. Gray, we have classed in this family, is considered by Mr. Dobson to belong to the Noctilionidæ.

_Fossil Rhinolophidæ._--Remains of a species of _Rhinolophus_ still living in England, have been found in Kent's Cavern, near Torquay.

FAMILY 12.--VESPERTILIONIDÆ (18 Genera, 200 Species.)

The small bats constituting the family Vespertilionidæ, have no nose-membrane, but an internal earlet or _tragus_, and often very large ears. They range over almost the whole globe, being apparently only limited by the necessity of procuring insect food. In America they are found as far north as Hudson's Bay and the Columbia river; and in Europe they approach, if they do not pass the Arctic circle. Such remote islands as the Azores, Bermudas, Fiji Islands, Sandwich Islands, and New Zealand, all possess species of this group of bats, some of which probably inhabit every island in warm or temperate parts of the globe.

The genus _Taphozous_, which, in our Tables of Distribution in vol. i. we have included in this family, is placed by Mr. Dobson in his family Emballonuridæ, which is equivalent to our next family, Noctilionidæ.

_Fossil Vespertilionidæ._--Several living European bats of this family--_Scotophilus murinus_, _Plecotus auritus_, _Vespertilio noctula_, and _V. pipestrellus_--have been found fossil in bone-caves in various parts of Europe.

Extinct species of _Vespertilio_ have occurred in the Lower Miocene at Mayence, in the Upper Miocene of the South of France, and in the Upper Eocene of the Paris basin.

{184}FAMILY 13.--NOCTILIONIDÆ. (14 Genera, 50 Species.)

The Noctilionidæ, or short-headed Bats, are found in every region, but are very unequally distributed. Their head-quarters is the Neotropical region, where most of the genera occur, and where they range from Mexico to Buenos Ayres and Chili, while in North America there is only one species in California. They are unknown in Australia; but one species occurs in New Zealand, and another in Norfolk Island. Several species of _Dysopes_ (or _Molossus_) inhabit the Oriental region; one or two species being widely distributed over the continent, while two others inhabit the Indo-Malayan Islands. A species of this same genus occurs in South Africa, and another in Madagascar and in the Island of Bourbon; while one inhabits Southern Europe and North Africa, and another is found at Amoy in China. It will be seen therefore, that these are really South American bats, which have a few allies widely scattered over the various regions of the globe. Their affinities are, according to Mr. Tomes, with the Phyllostomidæ, a purely South American family. The species which forms the connecting link is the _Mystacina tuberculata_, a New Zealand bat, which may, with almost equal propriety be placed in either family, and which affords an interesting illustration of the many points of resemblance between the Australian and Neotropical regions.

Dr. Peters has separated this family into three,--Mormopidæ, which is wholly Neotropical, and is especially abundant in the West Indian Islands; Molossidæ, chiefly consisting of the genus _Molossus_; and Noctilionidæ, comprising the remainder of the family, and wholly Neotropical. Mr. Dobson, however, classes the Mormopes with the Phyllostomidæ, and reduces the {185}Molossi to the rank of a sub-family. In our first volume we have classed _Rhinopoma_ with the Rhinolophidæ, and _Taphozous_ with the Vespertilionidæ; but according to Mr. Dobson both these genera belong to the present family.

_Remarks on the Distribution of the Order Chiroptera._

Although the bats, from their great powers of flight, are not amenable to the limitations which determine the distribution of other terrestrial mammals, yet certain great facts of distribution come out in a very striking manner. The speciality of the Neotropical region is well shown, not only by its exclusive possession of one large family (Phyllostomidæ), but almost equally so by the total absence of two others (Pteropidæ and Rhinolophidæ). The Nearctic region is also unusually well marked, by the total absence of a family (Rhinolophidæ) which is tolerably well represented in the Palæarctic. The Pteropidæ well characterize the tropical regions of the Old World and Australia; while the Vespertilionidæ are more characteristic of the Palæarctic and Nearctic regions, which together possess about 60 species of this family.

The bats are a very difficult study, and it is quite uncertain how many distinct species are really known. Schinz, in his _Synopsis Mammalium_ (1844) describes 330, while the list given by Mr. Andrew Murray in his _Geographical Distribution of Mammalia_ (1866), contains 400 species. A small number of new species have been since described, but others have been sunk as synonyms, so that we can perhaps hardly obtain a nearer approximation to the truth than the last number. In Europe there are 35 species, and only 17 in North America.

_Fossil Chiroptera._--The fossil remains of bats that have yet been discovered, being chiefly allied to forms still existing in the same countries, throw no light on the origin or affinities of this remarkable and isolated order of Mammalia; but as species very similar to those now living were in existence so far back as Miocene or even Eocene times, we may be sure the group is one of immense antiquity, and that there has been ample time for the amount of variation and extinction required to bring about {186}the limitation of types, and the peculiarities of distribution we now find to exist.

_Order III.--INSECTIVORA._

FAMILY 14.--GALEOPITHECIDÆ. (1 Genus, 2 Species.)

The singular and isolated genus _Galeopithecus_, or flying lemur, has been usually placed among the Lemuroidea, but it is now considered to come best at the head of the Insectivora. Its food however, seems to be purely vegetable, and the very small, blind, and naked young, closely attached to the wrinkled skin of the mother's breast, perhaps indicates some affinity with the Marsupials. This animal seems, in fact, to be a lateral offshoot of some low form, which has survived during the process of development of the Insectivora, the Lemuroidea, and the Marsupials, from an ancestral type. Only two species are known, one found in Malacca, Sumatra, and Borneo, but not in Java; the other in the Philippine islands (Plate VIII. vol. i. p. 337).

FAMILY 15.--MACROSCELIDIDÆ. (3 Genera, 10 Species.)

The Macroscelides, or elephant shrews, are extraordinary little animals, with trunk-like snout and kangaroo-like hind-legs. They are almost confined to South Africa, whence they extend up the east coast as far as the Zambezi and Mozambique. A {187}single outlying species of _Macroscelides_ inhabits Barbary and Algeria; while the two genera _Petrodromus_, and _Rhyncocyon_, each represented by a single species, have only been found at Mozambique.

FAMILY 16.--TUPAIIDÆ. (3 Genera, 10 species.)

The Tupaiidæ are squirrel-like shrews, having bushy tails, and often climbing up trees, but also feeding on the ground and among low bushes. The typical _Tupaia_ (7 species), are called ground squirrels by the Malays. They are most abundant in the Malay islands and Indo-Chinese countries, but one species is found in the Khasia Mountains, and one in the Eastern Ghauts near Madras. The small shorter-tailed _Hylomys_ (2 species) is found from Tenasserim to Java and Borneo; while the elegant little _Ptilocerus_ (1 species) with its long pencilled tail, is confined to Borneo; (Plate VIII. vol. i. p. 337). The family is therefore especially Malayan, with outlying species in northern and continental India.

_Extinct Species._--_Oxygomphus_, found in the Tertiary deposits of Germany, is believed to belong to this family; as is _Omomys_, from the Pliocene of the United States.

FAMILY 17.--ERINACEIDÆ. (2 Genera, 15 Species.)

The Hedgehogs, comprised in the genus _Erinaceus_ (14 species), are widely distributed over the Palæarctic, and a part of the {188}Oriental regions; but they only occur in the Ethiopian region in South Africa and in the Deserts of the north, which more properly belong to the Palæarctic region. They are absent from the Malayan, and also from the Indo-Chinese sub-regions; except that they extend from the north of China to Amoy and Formosa and into the temperate highlands of the Western Himalayas. The curious _Gymnura_ (1 species) is found in Borneo, Sumatra, and the Malay peninsula.

_Extinct Species._--The common hedgehog has been found fossil in several Post-tertiary deposits, while extinct species occur in the lower Miocene of Auvergne and in some other parts of Europe. Many of these remains are classed in different genera from the living species;--(_Amphechinus_, _Tetracus_, _Galerix_.)

FAMILY 18.--CENTETIDÆ. (6 Genera, 10 Species.)

The Centetidæ are small animals, many of them having a spiny covering, whence the species of _Centetes_ have been called Madagascar hedgehogs. The genera _Centetes_ (2 species), _Hemicentetes_ (1 species), _Ericulus_ (1 species), _Echinops_ (3 species), and the recently described _Oryzorictes_ (1 species), are all exclusively inhabitants of Madagascar, and are almost or quite tail-less. The remaining genus, _Solenodon_, is a more slender and active animal, with a long, rat-like tail, shrew-like head, and coarse fur; and the two known species are among the very few indigenous mammals of the West Indian islands, one being found in Cuba (Plate XVII., vol. ii., p. 67), the other in Hayti. Although presenting many points of difference in detail, the essential characters of this curious animal are, according to Professors Peters and Mivart, identical with the rest of the Centetidæ. We have thus a most remarkable and well-established case of discontinuous distribution, two portions of the same family {189}being now separated from each other by an extensive continent, as well as by a deep ocean.

_Extinct Species._--Remains found in the Lower Miocene of the South of France are believed to belong to the genus _Echinops_, or one closely allied to it.

FAMILY 19.--POTAMOGALIDÆ. (1 Genus, 1 Species.)

The genus _Potamogale_ was founded on a curious, small, otter-like animal from West Africa, first found by M. Du Chaillu at the Gaboon, and afterwards by the Portuguese at Angola. Its affinities are with several groups of Insectivora, but it is sufficiently peculiar to require the establishment of a distinct family for its reception. (Plate V., vol. i., p. 264.)

FAMILY 20.--CHRYSOCHLORIDÆ. (2 Genera, 3 Species.)

The Chrysochloridæ, or golden moles, of the Cape of Good Hope have been separated by Professor Mivart into two genera, _Chrysochloris_ and _Chalcochloris_. They are remarkable mole-like animals, having beautiful silky fur, with a metallic lustre and changeable golden tints. They are peculiar to the Cape district, but one species extends as far north as the Mozambique territory. Their dentition is altogether peculiar, so as to completely separate them from the true moles.

{190}FAMILY 21.--TALPIDÆ. (8 Genera, 19 Species.)

The Moles comprise many extraordinary forms of small mammalia especially characteristic of the temperate regions of the northern hemisphere, only sending out a few species of _Talpa_ along the Himalayas as far as Assam, and even to Tenasserim, if there is no mistake about this locality; while one species is found in Formosa, the northern part of which is almost as much Palæarctic as Oriental. The genus _Talpa_ (7 species), spreads over the whole Palæarctic region from Great Britain to Japan; _Scaptochirus_ (1 species) is a recent discovery in North China; _Condylura_ (1 species), the star-nosed mole, inhabits Eastern North America from Nova Scotia to Pennsylvania; _Scapanus_ (2 species) ranges across from New York to St. Francisco; _Scalops_ (3 species), the shrew-moles, range from Mexico to the great lakes on the east side of America, but on the west only to the north of Oregon. An allied genus, _Myogale_ (2 species), has a curious discontinuous distribution in Europe, one species being found in South-East Russia, the other in the Pyrenees (Plate II., vol. i., p. 218). Another allied genus, _Nectogale_ (1 species), has recently been described by Professor Milne-Edwards from Thibet. _Urotrichus_ is a shrew-like mole which inhabits Japan, and a second species has been discovered in the mountains of British Columbia; an allied form, _Uropsilus_, inhabits East Thibet. _Anurosorex_ and _Scaptonyx_, are new genera from North China.

_Extinct Species._--The common mole has been found fossil in bone-caves and diluvial deposits, and several extinct species of mole-like animals occur in the Miocene deposits of the South of France and of Germany. These have been described under the generic names _Dimylus_, _Geotrypus_, _Hyporissus_, _Galeospalax_; while _Palæospalax_ has been found in the Pliocene forest-beds of Norfolk {191}and Ostend. Species of _Myogale_ also occur from the Miocene downwards.

FAMILY 22.--SORICIDÆ. (1 Genus, 11 Sub-genera, 65 Species.)

The Shrews have a wide distribution, being found throughout every region except the Australian and Neotropical; although, as a species is found in Timor and in some of the Moluccas, they just enter this part of the former region, while one found in Guatemala brings them into the latter. A number of species have recently been described from India and the Malay Islands, so that the Oriental region is now the richest in shrews, having 28 species; the Nearctic comes next with 24; while the Ethiopian has 11, and the Palæarctic 10 species. The sub-genera are _Crossopus_, _Amphisorex_, _Neosorex_, _Crocidura_, _Diplomesodon_, _Pinulia_, _Pachyura_, _Blarina_, _Feroculus_, _Anausorex_.

_Extinct Species._--Several species of _Sorex_ have been found fossil in the Miocene of the South of France, as well as the extinct genera _Mysarachne_ and _Plesiosorex_; and some existing species have occurred in Bone Caves and Diluvial deposits.

_General Remarks on the Distribution of the Insectivora._

The most prominent features in the distribution of the Insectivora are,--their complete absence from South America and Australia; the presence of _Solenodon_ in two of the West Indian islands while the five allied genera are found only in Madagascar; and the absence of hedgehogs from North America. If we consider that there are only 135 known species of the order, 65 of which belong to the one genus _Sorex_; while the remaining 26 genera contain only 70 species, which have to be classed in 8 distinct families, and present such divergent and highly specialized forms as _Galeopithecus_, _Erinaceus_, _Solenodon_, and _Condylura_, it becomes evident that we have here the detached fragments of a much more {192}extensive group of animals, now almost extinct. Many of the forms continue to exist only in islands, removed from the severe competition of a varied mammalian population, as in Madagascar and the Antilles; while others appear to have escaped extermination either by their peculiar habits--as the various forms of Moles; by special protection--as in the Hedgehogs; or by a resemblance in form, coloration, and habits to dominant groups in their own district--as the Tupaias of Malay which resemble squirrels, and the Elephant-shrews of Africa which resemble the jerboas. The numerous cases of isolated and discontinuous distribution among the Insectivora, offer no difficulty from this point of view; since they are the necessary results of an extensive and widely-spread group of animals slowly becoming extinct, and continuing to exist only where special conditions have enabled them to maintain themselves in the struggle with more highly organized forms.

The fossil Insectivora do not throw much light on the early history of the order, since even as far back as the Miocene period they consist almost wholly of forms which can be referred to existing families. In North America they go back to the Eocene period, if certain doubtful remains have been rightly placed. The occurrence of fossil Centetidæ in Europe, supports the view we have maintained in preceding chapters, that the existing distribution of this family between Madagascar and the Antilles, proves no direct connection between those islands, but only shows us that the family once had an extensive range.

_Order IV--CARNIVORA._

FAMILY 23.--FELIDÆ. (3 Genera, 14 Sub-genera, 66 Species.)

The Cats are very widely distributed over the earth--with the exception of the Australian region and the island sub-region {193}of Madagascar and the Antilles--universally; ranging from the torrid zone to the Arctic regions and the Straits of Magellan. They are so uniform in their organization that many naturalists group them all under one genus, _Felis_; but it is now more usual to class at least the lynxes as a separate genus, while the hunting leopard, or cheetah, forms another. Dr. J. E. Gray divides these again, and makes 17 generic groups; but as this subdivision is not generally adopted, and does not bring out any special features of geographical distribution, I shall not further notice it.

The genus _Felis_ (56 species) has the same general range as the whole family, except that it does not go so far north; the Amoor river in Eastern Asia, and 55° N. Lat. in America, marking its limits. _Lyncus_ (10 species) is a more northern group, ranging to the polar regions in Europe and Asia, and to Lat. 66° N. in America, but not going further south than Northern Mexico and the European shores of the Mediterranean, except the caracal, which may be another genus, and which extends to Central India, Persia, North Africa and even the Cape of Good Hope. The lynxes are thus almost wholly peculiar to the Nearctic and Palæarctic regions. _Cynælurus_ (1 species) the hunting leopard, ranges from Southern and Western India through Persia, Syria, Northern and Central Africa, to the Cape of Good Hope.

_Extinct Felidæ._--More than twenty extinct species of true Felidæ have been described, ranging in time from the epoch of prehistoric man back to the Miocene or even the Eocene period. They occur in the south of England, in Central and South Europe, in North-West India, in Nebraska in North America, and in the caves of Brazil. Most of them are referred to the genus _Felis_, and closely resemble the existing lions, tigers, and other large cats. Another group however forms the genus _Machairodus_, a highly specialized form with serrated teeth. Five species have been described from Europe, Northern India, and both North and South America; and it is remarkable that they exhibit at least as wide a range, both in space and time, as the more numerous species referred to _Felis_. One of them undoubtedly coexisted {194}with man in England, while another, as well as the allied _Dinictis_, has been found in the Mauvaises Terres of Nebraska, associated with _Anchitherium_ and other extinct and equally remarkable forms, which are certainly Miocene if not, as some geologists think, belonging to the Eocene period. These facts clearly indicate that we have as yet made little approach to discovering the epoch when Felidæ originated, since the oldest forms yet discovered are typical and highly specialized representatives of a group which is itself the most specialized of the Carnivora. Another genus, _Pseudælurus_, is common to the Miocene deposits of Europe and North America.

FAMILY 24.--CRYPTOPROCTIDÆ. (1 Genus, 1 Species.)

The _Cryptoprocta ferox_, a small and graceful cat-like animal, peculiar to Madagascar, was formerly classed among the Viverridæ, but is now considered by Professor Flower to constitute a distinct family between the Cats and the Civets.

FAMILY 25.--VIVERRIDÆ. (8-33 Genera, 100 Species.)

The Viverridæ comprise a number of small and moderate-sized carnivorous animals, popularly known as civets, genets, and ichneumons, highly characteristic of the Ethiopian and Oriental regions, several of the genera being common to both. A species of _Genetta_, and one of _Herpestes_, inhabit South Europe; while _Viverra_ extends to the Moluccas, but is doubtfully indigenous. The extreme geographical limits of the family are marked by {195}_Genetta_ in France and Spain, _Viverra_ in Shanghae and Batchian Island, and _Herpestes_ in Java and the Cape of Good Hope.

The following are the genera with their distribution as given by Dr. J. E. Gray in his latest British Museum Catalogue:

Previous Next

Comments

The Geographical Distribution of Animals, Volume 2Chapter XIX: Part IV: Geographical Zoology (1)

0%36 min left in chapter