The Geographical Distribution of Animals, Volume 2

Chapter XXI: Part IV: Geographical Zoology (3)

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Sub-family I. BOVINÆ (6 genera, 13 species). This group is one of the best marked in the family. It comprises the Oxen and Buffaloes with their allies, and has a distribution very nearly the same as that of the entire family. The genera are as follows: BOS (1 sp.), now represented by our domestic cattle, the descendants of the _Bos primigenius_, which ranged over a large part of Central Europe in the time of the Romans. The Chillingham wild cattle are supposed to be the nearest approach to the original species. _Bison_ (2 sp.), one still wild in Poland and the Caucasus; the other in North America, ranging over the prairies west of the Mississippi, and on the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains (Plate XIX., vol. ii., p. 129). _Bibos_ (3 sp.), the Indian wild cattle, ranging over a large part of the Oriental region, from Southern India to Assam, Burmah, the Malay Peninsula, Borneo, and Java. _Poephagus_ (1 sp.), the yak, confined to the high plains of Western Thibet. _Bubalus_ (5 sp.), the buffaloes, of which three species are African, ranging over all the continental parts of the Ethiopian region; one Northern and Central Indian; and the domesticated animal in South Europe and North Africa. _Anoa_ (1 sp.), the small wild cow of Celebes, {223}a very peculiar form more nearly allied to the buffaloes than to any other type of oxen.

Sub-family II. TRAGELAPHINÆ: (3 genera, 11 species). The Bovine Antelopes are large and handsome animals, mostly Ethiopian, but extending into the adjacent parts of the Palæarctic and Oriental regions. The genera are: _Oreas_ (2 sp.), elands, inhabiting all Tropical and South Africa. _Tragelaphus_ (8 sp.), including the bosch-bok, kudu, and other large antelopes, ranges over all Tropical and South Africa (Plate IV., vol. i., p. 261). _Portax_ (1 sp.) India, but rare in Madras and north of the Ganges.

Sub-family III. ORYGINÆ: (2 genera, 5 species). _Oryx_ (4 sp.) is a desert genus, ranging over all the African deserts to South Arabia and Syria; _Addax_ (1 sp.) inhabits North Africa, North Arabia, and Syria.

Sub-family IV. HIPPOTRAGINÆ (1 genus, 3 species). The Sable Antelopes, _Hippotragus_, form an isolated group inhabiting the open country of Tropical Africa and south to the Cape.

Sub-family V. GAZELLINÆ (6 genera, 23 species). This is a group of small or moderate-sized animals, most abundant in the deserts on the borders of the Palæarctic, Oriental, and Ethiopian regions. _Gazella_ (17 sp.) is typically a Palæarctic desert group, ranging over the great desert plateaus of North Africa, from Senegal and Abyssinia to Syria, Persia, Beloochistan, and the plains of India, with one outlying species in South Africa. _Procapra_ (2 sp.), Western Thibet and Mongolia to about 110° east longitude. _Antilope_ (1 sp.) inhabits all the plains of India. _Æpyceros_ (1 sp.) the pallah, inhabits the open country of South and South-east Africa. _Saiga_ (1 sp.) a singular sheep-faced antelope, which inhabits the steppes of Eastern Europe and Western Asia from Poland to the Irtish River, south of 55° north latitude. (Plate II., vol. i., p. 218.) _Panthalops_ (1 sp.) confined to the highlands of Western Thibet and perhaps Turkestan.

Sub-family VI. ANTILOCAPRINÆ (1 genus, 1 species), _Antilocapra_, the prong-horned antelope, inhabit both sides of the Rocky Mountains, extending north to the Saskatchewan and {224}Columbia River, west to the coast range of California, and east to the Missouri. Its remarkable deciduous horns seem to indicate a transition to the Cervidæ. (Plate XIX., vol. ii., p. 129.)

Sub-family VII. CERVICAPRINÆ (5 genera, 21 species). This group of Antelopes is wholly confined to the continental portion of the Ethiopian region. The genera are: _Cervicapra_ (4 sp.), Africa, south of the equator and Abyssinia; _Kobus_ (6 sp.), grassy plains and marshes of Tropical Africa; _Pelea_ (1 sp.), South Africa; _Nanotragus_ (9 species), Africa, south of the Sahara; _Neotragus_ (1 sp.) Abyssinia and East Africa.

Sub-family VIII. CEPHALOPHINÆ (2 genera, 24 species), Africa and India; _Cephalophus_ (22 sp.), continental Ethiopian region; _Tetraceros_ (2 sp.) hilly part of all India, but rare north of the Ganges.

Sub-family IX. ALCEPHALINÆ (2 genera, 11 species), large African Antelopes, one species just entering the Palæarctic region. The genera are: _Alcephalus_ (9 sp.) all Africa and north-east to Syria; _Catoblepas_ (2 sp.), gnus, Africa, south of the Equator.

Sub-region X. BUDORCINÆ (1 genus, 2 species) _Budorcas_ inhabits the high Himalayas from Nepal to East Thibet.

Sub-family XI. RUPICAPRINÆ (1 genus, 2 species) the Chamois, _Rupicapra_, inhabit the high European Alps from the Pyrenees to the Caucasus. (Plate I., vol. i., p. 195.)

Sub-family XII. NEMORHEDINÆ (2 genera, 10 species). These goat-like Antelopes inhabit portions of the Palæarctic and Oriental regions, as well as the Rocky Mountains in the Nearctic region. _Nemorhedus_ (9 sp.) ranges from the Eastern Himalayas to N. China and Japan, and south to Formosa, the Malay Peninsula and Sumatra. _Aplocerus_ (1 sp.), the mountain goat of the trappers, inhabits the northern parts of California and the Rocky Mountains.

Sub-family XIII. CAPRINÆ (2 genera, 23 species). The Goats and Sheep form an extensive series, highly characteristic of the Palæarctic region, but with an outlying species on the Neilgherries in Southern India, and one in the Rocky Mountains and California. The genera are _Capra_ (22 sp.) and _Ovibos_ (1 sp.). {225}The genus _Capra_ consists of several sub-groups which have been named as genera, but it is unnecessary here to do more than divide them into "Goats and Ibexes" on the one hand and "Sheep" on the other--each comprising 11 species. The former range over all the South European Alps from Spain to the Caucasus; to Abyssinia, Persia, and Scinde; over the high Himalayas to E. Thibet and N. China; with an outlying species in the Neilgherries. The latter are only found in the mountains of Corsica, Sardinia, and Crete, in Europe; in Asia Minor, Persia, and in Central and North-Eastern Asia, with one somewhat isolated species in the Atlas mountains; while in America a species is found in the Rocky Mountains and the coast range of California. _Ovibos_ (1 sp.), the musk-sheep, inhabits Arctic America north of lat. 60; but it occurs fossil in Post-glacial gravels on the Yena and Obi in Siberia, in Germany and France along with the Mammoth and with flint implements, and in caves of the Reindeer period; also in the brick earth in the south of England, associated with _Rhinoceros megarhinus_ and _Elephas antiquus_.

_Extinct Bovidæ._--In the caverns and diluviums of Europe, of the Post-Pliocene period, the remains are found of extinct species of _Bos_, _Bison_, and _Capra_; and in the caverns of the south of France _Rupicapra_, and an antelope near _Hippotragus_. _Bos_ and _Bison_ also occur in Pliocene deposits. In the Miocene of Europe, the only remains are antelopes closely allied to existing species, and these are especially numerous in Greece, where remains referred to two living and four extinct genera have been discovered. In the Miocene of India numerous extinct species of _Bos_, and two extinct genera, _Hemibos_ and _Amphibos_, have been found, one of them at a great elevation in Thibet. Antelopes, allied to living Indian species, are chiefly found in the Nerbudda deposits.

In North America, the only bovine remains are those of a _Bison_, and a sheep or goat, in the Post-pliocene deposits; and of two species of musk-sheep, sometimes classed in a distinct genus _Bootherium_, from beds of the same age in Arkansas and Ohio. _Casoryx_, from the Pliocene of Nebraska, is supposed to be allied to the antelopes and to deer.

{226}In the caves of Brazil remains of two animals said to be antelopes, have been discovered. They are classed by Gervais in the genera _Antilope_ and _Leptotherium_, but the presence of true antelopes in S. America at this period is so improbable, that there is probably some error of identification.

The extinct family Sivatheridæ, containing the extraordinary and gigantic four-horned _Sivatherium_ and _Bramatherium_, of the Siwalik deposits, are most nearly allied to the antelopes.

From the preceding facts we may conclude, that the great existing development of the Bovidæ is comparatively recent. The type may have originated early in the Miocene period, the oxen being at first most tropical, while the antelopes inhabited the desert zone a little further north. The sheep and goats seem to be the most recent development of the bovine type, which was probably long confined to the Eastern Hemisphere.

_General Remarks on the Distribution of the Ungulata._

With the exception of the Australian region, from which this order of mammalia is almost entirely wanting, the Ungulata are almost universally distributed over the continental parts of all the other regions. Of the ten families, 7 are Ethiopian, 6 Oriental, 5 Palæarctic, 4 Neotropical, and 3 Nearctic. The Ethiopian region owes its superiority to the exclusive possession of the hippopotamus and giraffe, both of which inhabited the Palæarctic and Oriental regions in Miocene times. The excessive poverty of the Nearctic region in this order is remarkable; the swine being represented only by _Dicotyles_ in its extreme southern portion, while the Bovidæ are restricted to four isolated species. Deer alone are fairly well represented. But, during the Eocene and Miocene periods, North America was wonderfully rich in varied forms of Ungulates, of which there were at least 8 or 9 families; while we have reason to believe that during the same periods the Ethiopian region was excessively poor, and that it probably received the ancestors of all its existing families from Europe or Western Asia in later Miocene or Pliocene times. Many types that once abounded in both Europe and North America are now preserved only in South America and Central or Tropical Asia,--as {227}the tapirs and camels; while others once confined to Europe and Asia have found a refuge in Africa,--as the hippopotamus and giraffe; so that in no other order do we find such striking examples of those radical changes in the distribution of the higher animals which were effected during the latter part of the Tertiary period. The present distribution of this order is, in fact, utterly unintelligible without reference to the numerous extinct forms of existing and allied families; but as this subject has been sufficiently discussed in the Second Part of this work (Chapters VI. and VII.) it is unnecessary to give further details here.

_Order VIII.--PROBOSCIDEA._

FAMILY 53.--ELEPHANTIDÆ. (1 Genus, 2 Species.)

GENERAL DISTRIBUTION.
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NEOTROPICAL| NEARCTIC |PALÆARCTIC | ETHIOPIAN | ORIENTAL | AUSTRALIAN
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LIVING SPECIES.
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EXTINCT SPECIES.
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1. 2 -- -- |1. 2. 3. 4 |1. 2. 3. 4 |1 -- -- -- |1 -- 3 -- |-- -- -- --
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The elephants are now represented by two species, the African, which ranges all over that continent south of the Sahara, and the Indian, which is found over all the wooded parts of the Oriental region, from the slopes of the Himalayas to Ceylon, and eastward, to the frontiers of China and to Sumatra and Borneo. These, however, are but the feeble remnants of a host of gigantic creatures, which roamed over all the great continents except Australia during the Tertiary period, and several of which were contemporary with man.

_Extinct Elephants._--At least 14 extinct species of _Elephas_, and a rather greater number of the allied genus _Mastodon_ (distinguished by their less complex grinding teeth) have now been {228}discovered. Elephants ranged over all the Palæarctic and Nearctic regions in Post-Pliocene times; in Europe and Central India they go back to the Pliocene; and only in India to the Upper Miocene period; the number of species increasing as we go back to the older formations.

In North America two or three species of _Mastodon_ are Post-pliocene and Pliocene; and a species is found in the caves of Brazil, and in the Pliocene deposits of the pampas of La Plata, of the Bolivian Andes, and of Honduras and the Bahamas. In Europe the genus is Upper Miocene and Pliocene, but is especially abundant in the former period. In the East, it extends from Perim island to Burmah and over all India, and is mostly Miocene, but with perhaps one species Pliocene in Central India.

An account of the range of such animals as belong to extinct families of Proboscidea, will be found in Chapters VI. and VII.; from which it will be seen that, although the family Elephantidæ undoubtedly originated in the Eastern Hemisphere, it is not improbable that the first traces of the order Proboscidea are to be found in N. America.

_Order IX.--HYRACOIDEA._

FAMILY 54.--HYRACIDÆ. (1 Genus. 10-12 Species.)

The genus _Hyrax_, which alone constitutes this family, consists of small animals having the appearance of hares or marmots, but which more resemble the genus _Rhinoceros_ in their teeth and skeleton. They range all over the Ethiopian region, except Madagascar; a peculiar species is found in Fernando Po, and they just enter the Palæarctic as far as Syria. They may therefore be considered as an exclusively Ethiopian group. In Dr. Gray's {229}last Catalogue (1873) he divides the genus into three--_Hyrax_, _Euhyrax_ and _Dendrohyrax_--the latter consisting of two species confined apparently to West and South Africa.

No extinct forms of this family have yet been discovered; the _Hyracotherium_ of the London clay (Lower Eocene) which was supposed to resemble _Hyrax_, is now believed to be an ancestral type of the Suidæ or swine.

_Order X.--RODENTIA._

FAMILY 55.--MURIDÆ. (37 Genera, 330 Species.)

The Muridæ, comprising the rats and mice with their allies, are almost universally distributed over the globe (even not reckoning the domestic species which have been introduced almost everywhere by man), the exceptions being the three insular groups belonging to the Australian region, from none of which have any species yet been obtained. Before enumerating the genera it will be as well to say a few words on the peculiarities of distribution they present. The true mice, forming the genus _Mus_, is distributed over the whole of the world except N. and S. America where not a single indigenous species occurs, being replaced by the genus _Hesperomys_; five other genera, comprehending all the remaining species found in South America are peculiar to the Neotropical region. Three genera are confined to the Palæarctic region, and three others to the Nearctic. No less than twelve genera are exclusively Ethiopian, while only three are exclusively Oriental and three Australian.

_Mus_ (100-120 sp.) the Eastern Hemisphere, but absent from the Pacific and Austro-Malayan Islands, except Celebes and Papua; _Lasiomys_ (1 sp.) Guinea; _Acanthomys_ (5-6 sp.) Africa, India and {230}N. Australia; _Cricetomys_ (1 sp.) Tropical Africa; _Saccostomus_ (2 sp.) Mozambique; _Cricetus_ (9 sp.) Palæarctic region and Egypt; _Cricetulus_ (1 sp., Milne-Edwards, 1870) Pekin; _Pseudomys_ (1 sp.) Australia; _Hapalotis_ (13 sp.) Australia; _Phlæomys_ (1 sp.) Philippines; _Platacanthomys_ (1 sp., Blyth, 1865) Malabar; _Dendromys_ (2 sp.) S. Africa; _Nesomys_ (1 sp. Peters, 1870) Madagascar; _Steatomys_ (2 sp.) N. and S. Africa; _Pelomys_ (1 sp.) Mozambique; _Reithrodon_ (9 sp.) N. America, Lat. 29° to Mexico, and south to Tierra del Fuego; _Acodon_ (1 sp.) Peru; _Myxomys_ (1 sp.) Guatemala; _Hesperomys_ (90 sp.) North and South America; _Holochilus_ (4 sp.) South America; _Oxymycterus_ (4 sp.) Brazil and La Plata; _Neotoma_ (6 sp.) U.S., East coast to California; _Sigmodon_ (2 sp.) Southern United States; _Drymomys_ (1 sp.) Peru; _Neotomys_ (2 sp.) S. America; _Otomys_ (6 sp.) S. and E. Africa; _Meriones_ = _Gerbillus_ (20-30 sp.) Egypt, Central Asia, India, Africa; _Rhombomys_ (6 sp.) S. E. Europe, N. Africa, Central Asia; _Malacothrix_ (2 sp.) South Africa; _Mystromys_ (1 sp.) South Africa; _Psammomys_ (1 sp.) Egypt; _Spalacomys_ (1 sp.) India; _Sminthus_ (1-3 sp.) East Europe, Tartary, Siberia; _Hydromys_ (5 sp.) Australia and Tasmania; _Hypogeomys_ (1 sp., Grandidier, 1870) Madagascar; _Brachytarsomys_ (1 sp., Günther, 1874) Madagascar; _Fiber_ (2 sp.) N. America to Mexico; _Arvicola_ (50 sp.) Europe to Asia Minor, North Asia, Himalayas, Temp. N. America; _Cuniculus_ (1 sp.) N. E. Europe, Siberia, Greenland, Arctic America; _Myodes_ (4 sp.) Europe, Siberia, Arctic America, and Northern United States; _Myospalax_ = _Siphneus_ (2 sp.) Altai Mountains and N. China[4]; _Lophiomys_ (1 sp.) S. Arabia, and N. E. Africa; _Echiothrix_ (1 sp.) Australia.

_Extinct Muridæ._--Species of _Mus_, _Cricetus_, _Arvicola_, and _Myodes_, occur in the Post-Pliocene deposits of Europe; _Arvicola_, _Meriones_, and the extinct genus _Cricetodon_, with some others, in the Miocene.

In North America, _Fiber_, _Arvicola_, and _Neotoma_, occur in caves; {231}an extinct genus, _Eumys_, in the Upper Miocene of Dakota, and another, _Mysops_, in the Eocene of Wyoming.

In South America _Mus_, or more probably _Hesperomys_, is abundant in Brazilian caverns, and _Oxymycterus_ in the Pliocene of La Plata; while _Arvicola_ is said to have occurred both in the Pliocene and Eocene deposits of the same country.

FAMILY 56.--SPALACIDÆ. (7 Genera, 17 Species.)

The Spalacidæ, or mole-rats, have a straggling distribution over the Old World continents. They are found over nearly the whole of Africa, but only in the South-east of Europe, and West of Temperate Asia, but appearing again in North India, Malacca, and South China. _Ellobius_ (1 sp.), is found in South Russia and South-west Siberia; _Spalax_ (1 sp.), Southern Russia, West Asia, Hungary, Moldavia, and Greece (Plate II., vol. i. p. 218); _Rhizomys_ (6 sp.), Abyssinia, North India, Malacca, South China; _Heterocephalus_ (1 sp.), Abyssinia; _Bathyerges_ (= _Orycterus_ 1 sp.), South Africa; _Georychus_ (6 sp.), South, Central, and East Africa; _Heliophobus_ (1 sp.), Mozambique.

FAMILY 57.--DIPODIDÆ. (3 Genera, 22 Species.)

The Jerboas, or jumping mice, are especially characteristic of the regions about the eastern extremity of the Mediterranean, being found in South Russia, the Caspian district, Arabia, Egypt, {232}and Abyssinia; but they also extend over a large part of Africa, and eastward to India; while isolated forms occur in North America, and the Cape of Good Hope. _Dipus_ = _Gerbillus_ (20 sp.), inhabits North and Central Africa, South-East Europe, and across Temperate Asia to North China, also Afghanistan, India, and Ceylon; _Pedetes_ (1 sp.), South Africa to Mozambique and Angola; _Jaculus_ = _Meriones_ (1 sp.), North America, from Nova Scotia and Canada, south to Pennsylvania and west to California and British Columbia (Plate XX., vol. ii. p. 135).

_Extinct Dipodidæ._--_Dipus_ occurs fossil in the Miocene of the Alps; and an extinct genus, _Issiodromys_, said to be allied to _Pedetes_ of the Cape of Good Hope, is from the Pliocene formations of Auvergne in France.

FAMILY 58.--MYOXIDÆ. (1 Genus, 12 Species.)

The Dormice (_Myoxus_), are small rodents found over all the temperate parts of the Palæarctic region, from Britain to Japan; and also over most parts of Africa to the Cape, but wanting in India. Some of the African species have been separated under the name of _Graphidurus_, while those of Europe and Asia form the sub-genera _Glis_, _Muscardinus_, and _Eliomys_.

_Extinct Myoxidæ._--_Myoxus_ ranges from the Post-pliocene of the Maltese caverns to the Miocene of Switzerland and the Upper Eocene of France; and an extinct genus _Brachymys_ is found in the Miocene of Central Europe.

{233}FAMILY 59.--SACCOMYIDÆ. (6 Genera, 33 Species.)

The Saccomyidæ, or pouched rats, are almost wholly confined to our second Nearctic sub-region, comprising the Rocky Mountains and the elevated plains of Central North America. A few species range from this district as far as Hudson's Bay on the north, to South Carolina on the east, and to California on the west, while one genus, doubtfully placed here, goes south as far as Honduras and Trinidad. The group must therefore be considered to be pre-eminently characteristic of the Nearctic region.

The genera are,--_Dipodomys_ (5 sp.), North Mexico, California, the east slope of the Rocky Mountains to the Columbia River, and one species in South Carolina; _Perognathus_ (6 sp.), North Mexico, California, east slope of the Rocky Mountains to British Columbia; _Thomomys_ (2 sp.), Upper Missouri, and Upper Columbia Rivers to Hudson's Bay; _Geomys_ (5 sp.), North Mexico, and east slope of Rocky Mountains to Nebraska (Plate XIX., vol. ii. p. 129); _Saccomys_ (1 sp.), North America, locality unknown; _Heteromys_ (6 sp.), Mexico, Honduras, and Trinidad. _Geomys_ and _Thomomys_ constitute a separate family Geomyidæ, of Professor Carus; but I follow Professor Lilljeborg, who has made a special study of the Order, in keeping them with this family.

In the Post-Pliocene deposits of Illinois and Nebraska, remains of an existing species of _Geomys_ have been found.

{234}FAMILY 60.--CASTORIDÆ. (1 Genus, 2 Species.)

The Beavers, forming the genus _Castor_, consist of two species, the American (_Castor canadensis_) ranging over the whole of North America from Labrador to North Mexico; while the European (_Castor fiber_) appears to be confined to the temperate regions of Europe and Asia, from France to the River Amoor, over which extensive region it doubtless roamed in prehistoric times, although now becoming rare in many districts.

_Extinct Castoridæ._--Extinct species of _Castor_ range back from the Post-pliocene to the Upper Miocene in Europe, and to the Newer Pliocene in North America. Extinct genera in Europe are, _Trogontherium_, Post-Pliocene and Pliocene; _Chalicomys_, Older Pliocene; and _Steneofiber_, Upper Miocene. In North America _Castoroides_ is Post-Pliocene, and _Palæocastor_, Upper Miocene. The family thus first appears on the same geological horizon in both Europe and North America.

FAMILY 61.--SCIURIDÆ.--(8 Genera, 180-200 Species.)

The Squirrel family, comprehending also the marmots and prairie-dogs, are very widely spread over the earth. They are especially abundant in the Nearctic, Palæarctic, and Oriental regions, and rather less frequent in the Ethiopian and Neotropical, in which last region they do not extend south of Paraguay. They are absent from the West Indian islands, Madagascar, and Australia, only occurring in Celebes which doubtfully belongs to the Australian region. The genera are as follows:--

{235}_Sciurus_ (100-120 sp., including the sub-genera Spermosciurus, Xerus, Macroxus, Rheithrosciurus, and Rhinosciurus), comprises the true squirrels, and occupies the area of the whole family wherever woods and forests occur. The approximate number of species in each region is as follows: Nearctic 18, Palæarctic 6, Ethiopian 18, Oriental 50, Australian (Celebes) 5, Neotropical 30. _Sciuropterus_ (16-19 sp.), comprises the flat-tailed flying squirrels, which range from Lapland and Finland to North China and Japan, and southward through India and Ceylon, to Malacca and Java, with a species in Formosa; while in North America they occur from Labrador to British Columbia, and south to Minnesota and Southern California. _Pteromys_ (12 sp.), comprising the round-tailed flying squirrels, is a more southern form, being confined to the wooded regions of India from the Western Himalayas to Java and Borneo, with species in Formosa and Japan. _Tamias_ (5 sp.), the ground squirrels, are chiefly North American, ranging from Mexico to Puget's Sound on the west coast, and from Virginia to Montreal on the Atlantic coast; while one species is found over all northern Asia. _Spermophilus_ (26 sp.), the pouched marmots, are confined to the Nearctic and Palæarctic regions; in the former extending from the Arctic Ocean to Mexico and the west coast, but not passing east of Lake Michigan and the lower Mississippi; in the latter from Silesia through South Russia to the Amoor and Kamschatka, most abundant in the desert plains of Tartary and Mongolia. _Arctomys_ (8 sp.), the marmots, are found in the northern parts of North America as far down as Virginia and Nebraska to the Rocky Mountains and British Columbia, but not in California; and from the Swiss Alps eastward to Lake Baikal and Kamschatka, and south as far as the Himalayas, above 8,000 feet elevation. _Cynomys_ (2 sp.), the prairie-dogs, inhabit the plains east of the Rocky Mountains from the Upper Missouri to the Red River and Rio Grande (Plate XIX., vol. ii. p. 129). _Anomalurus_ (5 sp.), consists of animals which resemble flying-squirrels, but differ from all other members of the family in some points of internal structure. They form a very aberrant portion of the Sciuridæ, and, according to some naturalists, a distinct family. They inhabit West Africa and the island of Fernando Po.

{236}_Extinct Sciuridæ._--These are tolerably abundant. The genus Sciurus appears to be a remarkably ancient form, extinct species being found in the Miocene, and even in the Upper Eocene formations of Europe. _Spermophilus_ goes back to the Upper Miocene; _Arctomys_ to the Newer Pliocene. Extinct genera are, _Brachymys_, _Lithomys_ and _Plesiarctomys_, from the European Miocene, the latter said to be intermediate between marmots and squirrels.

In North America, _Sciurus_, _Tamias_, and _Arctomys_ occur in the Post-pliocene deposits only. The extinct genera are _Ischyromys_, from the Upper Miocene of Nebraska; _Paramys_, allied to the marmots, and _Sciuravus_, near the squirrels, from the Eocene of Wyoming.

Here we have unmistakable evidence that the true squirrels (_Sciurus_) are an Old World type, which has only recently entered North America; and this is in accordance with the comparative scarcity of this group in South America, a country so well adapted to them, and their great abundance in the Oriental region, which, with the Palæarctic, was probably the country of their origin and early development. The family, however, has been traced equally far back in Europe and North America, so that we have as yet no means of determining where it originated.

FAMILY 62--HAPLOODONTIDÆ.--(1 Genus, 2 Species.)

The genus _Haploodon_ or _Aplodontia_, consists of two curious rat-like animals, inhabiting the west coast of America, from the southern part of British Columbia to the mountains of California. They seem to have affinities both with the beavers and marmots, and Professor Lilljeborg constitutes a separate family to receive them.

{237}FAMILY 63.--CHINCHILLIDÆ. (3 Genera, 6 Species.)

The Chinchillidæ, including the chinchillas and viscachas, are confined to the alpine zones of the Andes, from the boundary of Ecuador and Peru to the southern parts of Chili; and over the Pampas, to the Rio Negro on the south, and the River Uruguay on the east. _Chinchilla_ (2 sp.), the true chinchillas, are found in the Andes of Chili and Peru, south of 9° S. lat., and from 8,000 to 12,000 feet elevation (Plate XVI. vol. ii. p. 40); _Lagidium_ (3 sp.), the alpine viscachas, inhabit the loftiest plateaus and mountains from 11,000 to 16,000 feet, and extend furthest north of any of the family; while _Lagostomus_ (1 sp.), the viscacha of the Pampas, has the range above indicated. The family is thus confined within the limits of a single sub-region.

_Extinct Chinchillidæ._--_Lagostomus_ has been found fossil in the caves of Brazil, and in the Pliocene deposits of La Plata. The only known extinct forms of this family are _Amblyrhiza_ and _Loxomylus_, found in cavern-deposits in the island of Anguilla, of Post-Pliocene age. These are very interesting, as showing the greater range of this family so recently; though its absence from North America and Europe indicates that it is a peculiar development of the Neotropical region.

FAMILY 64.--OCTODONTIDÆ. (8 Genera, 19 Species.)

{238}The Octodontidæ include a number of curious and obscure rat-like animals, mostly confined to the mountains and open plains of South America, but having a few stragglers in other parts of the world, as will be seen by our notes on the genera. The most remarkable point in their distribution is, that two genera are peculiar to the West Indian islands, while no species of the family inhabits the northern half of South America. The distribution of the genera is as follows:--_Habrocomus_ (2 sp.), Chili; _Capromys_ (3 sp.), two of which inhabit Cuba, the third Jamaica (Plate XVII. vol. ii. p. 67); _Plagiodontia_ (1 sp.), only known from _Hayti_; _Spalacopus_, including _Schizodon_ (2 sp.), Chili, and east side of Southern Andes; _Octodon_ (3 sp.), Peru, Bolivia, and Chili; _Ctenomys_ (6 sp.), the tuco-tuco of the Pampas, the Campos of Brazil to Bolivia and Tierra del Fuego; _Ctenodactylus_ (1 sp.), Tripoli, North Africa; _Pectinator_ (1 sp.), East Africa, Abyssinia, 4,000 to 5,000 feet.

_Capromys_ and _Plagiodontia_, the two West Indian genera, were classed among the Echimyidæ by Mr. Waterhouse, but Professor Lilljeborg removes them to this family.

_Extinct Octodontidæ._--Species of _Ctenomys_ have been found in the Pliocene of La Plata, and an extinct genus _Megamys_, said to be allied to _Capromys_, in the Eocene of the same country. In Europe, _Palæomys_ and _Archæomys_ from the lower Miocene of Germany and France, are also said to be allied to _Capromys_.

FAMILY 65.--ECHIMYIDÆ. (10 Genera, 30 Species.)

The Echimyidæ, or spiny rats, are a family, chiefly South American, of which the Coypu, a large beaver-like water-rat from Peru and Chili is the best known. Two of the genera are found in South Africa, but all the rest inhabit the continent of South America, East of the Andes, none being yet known north {239}of Panama. The genera are as follows:--_Dactylomys_ (2 sp.), Guiana and Brazil; _Cercomys_ (1 sp.), Central Brazil; _Lasiuromys_ (1 sp.), San Paulo, Brazil; _Petromys_ (1 sp.), South Africa; _Myopotamus_ (1 sp.), the coypu, on the East side of the Andes from Peru to 42° S. lat., on the West side from 33° to 48° S. lat.; _Carterodon_ (1 sp.), Minaes Geraes, Brazil; _Aulacodes_ (1. sp.), West and South Africa; _Mesomys_ (1 sp.), Borba on the Amazon; _Echimys_ (11 sp.), from Guiana and the Ecuadorian Andes to Paraguay; _Loncheres_ (10 sp.), New Granada to Brazil.

_Fossil and Extinct Echimyidæ._--The genus _Carterodon_ was established on bones found in the Brazilian caves, and it was several years afterwards that specimens were obtained showing the animal to be a living species. Extinct species of _Myopotamus_ and _Loncheres_ have also been found in these caves, with the extinct genera _Lonchophorus_ and _Phyllomys_.

No remains of this family have been discovered in North America; but in the Miocene and Upper Eocene deposits of France there are many species of an extinct genus _Theridomys_, which is said to be allied to this group or to the next (Cercolabidæ). _Aulacodon_, from the Upper Miocene of Germany, is allied to the West African _Aulacodes_; and some other remains from the lower Miocene of Auvergne, are supposed to belong to _Echimys_.

FAMILY 66.--CERCOLABIDÆ. (3 Genera, 13-15 Species.)

The Cercolabidæ, or arboreal porcupines, are a group of rodents entirely confined to America, where they range from the northern limit of trees on the Mackenzie River, to the southern limit of forests in Paraguay. There is however an intervening district, the Southern United States, from which they are absent. _Erethizon_ (3 sp.), the Canadian porcupine, is found throughout {240}Canada and as far south as Northern Pennsylvania, and west to the Mississippi (Plate XX., vol. ii. p. 135); an allied species inhabiting the west coast from California to Alaska, and inland to the head of the Missouri River; while a third is found in the north-western part of South America; _Cercolabes_ (12 sp.), ranges from Mexico and Guatemala to Paraguay, on the eastern side of the Andes; _Chætomys_ (1 sp.), North Brazil.

_Extinct Cercolabidæ._--A large species of _Cercolabes_ has been found in the Brazilian caves, but none have been discovered in North America or Europe. We may conclude therefore that this is probably a South American type, which has thence spread into North America at a comparatively recent epoch. The peculiar distribution of _Cercolabes_ may be explained by supposing it to have migrated northwards along the west coast by means of the wooded slopes of the Rocky Mountains. It could then only reach the Eastern States by way of the forest region of the great lakes, and then move southward. This it may be now doing, but it has not yet reached the Southern States of Eastern North America.

_Family_ 67.--HYSTRICIDÆ. (3 Genera, 12 Species.)

The true Porcupines have a very compact and well-marked distribution, over the whole of the Oriental and Ethiopian regions (except Madagascar), and the second Palæarctic sub-region. There is some confusion as to their sub-division into genera, but the following are those most usually admitted:--_Hystrix_ (5 sp.), South Europe to the Cape of Good Hope, all India, Ceylon, and South China; _Atherura_ (5 sp.), "brush-tailed porcupines," inhabit West Africa, India, to Siam, Sumatra, and Borneo; _Acanthion_ (2 sp.), Nepal and Malacca, to Sumatra, Borneo, and Java.

_Extinct Hystricidæ._--Several extinct species of _Hystrix_ have {241}been found in the Pliocene and Miocene deposits of Europe, and one in the Pliocene of Nebraska in North America.

FAMILY 68.--CAVIIDÆ. (6 Genera, 28 Species.)

The Cavies and Agoutis were placed in distinct families by Mr. Waterhouse, in which he is followed by Professor Carus, but they have been united by Professor Lilljeborg, and without pretending to decide which classification is the more correct I follow the latter, because there is a striking external resemblance between the two groups, and they have an identical distribution in the Neotropical region, and with one exception are all found east of the Andes. _Dasyprocta_ (9 sp.), the agouti, ranges from Mexico to Paraguay, one species inhabiting the small West Indian islands of St. Vincent, Lucia, and Grenada; _Cælogenys_ (2 sp.), the paca, is found from Guatemala to Paraguay, and a second species (somewhat doubtful) in Eastern Peru; _Hydrochoerus_ (1 sp.), the capybara inhabits the banks of rivers from Guayana to La Plata; _Cavia_ (9 sp.), the guinea-pigs, Brazil to the Straits of Magellan, and one species west of the Andes at Yça Peru; _Kerodon_ (6 sp.), Brazil and Peru to Magellan; _Dolichotis_ (1 sp,), the Patagonian cavy, from Mendoza to 48° 30' south latitude, on sterile plains.

_Extinct Caviidæ._--_Hydrochoerus_, _Cælogenys_, _Dasyprocta_, and _Kerodon_, have occurred abundantly in the caves of Brazil, and the last-named genus in the Pliocene of La Plata. _Hydrochoerus_ has been found in the Post-Pliocene deposits of South Carolina. _Cavia_ and _Dasyprocta_ are said to have been found in the Miocene of Switzerland and France. No well-marked extinct genera of this family have been recorded.

If the determination of the above-mentioned fossil species of _Cavia_ and _Dasyprocta_ are correct, it would show that this now {242}exclusively South American family is really derived from Europe, where it has long been extinct.

FAMILY 69.--LAGOMYIDÆ. (1 Genus, 11 Species.)

The Lagomyidæ, or pikas, are small alpine and desert animals which range from the south of the Ural Mountains to Cashmere and the Himalayas, at heights of 11,000 to 14,000 feet, and northward to the Polar regions and the north-eastern extremity of Siberia. They just enter the eastern extremity of Europe as far as the Volga, but with this exception, seem strictly limited to the third Palæarctic sub-region. In America they are confined to the Rocky Mountains from about 42° to 60° north latitude.

_Extinct Lagomyidæ._--Extinct species of _Lagomys_ have occurred in the southern parts of Europe, from the Post-Pliocene to the Miocene formations. _Titanomys_, an extinct genus, is found in the Miocene of France and Germany.

FAMILY 70.--LEPORIDÆ. (1 Genus, 35-40 Species.)

The Hares and Rabbits are especially characteristic of the Nearctic and Palæarctic, but are also thinly scattered over the Ethiopian and Oriental regions. In the Neotropical region they are very scarce, only one species being found in South America, in the mountains of Brazil and various parts of the Andes, while one or two of the North American species extend into Mexico {243}and Guatemala. In the Nearctic region, they are most abundant in the central and western parts of the continent, and they extend to the Arctic Ocean and to Greenland. They are found in every part of the Palæarctic region, from Ireland to Japan; three species range over all India to Ceylon, and others occur in Hainan, Formosa, South China, and the mountains of Pegu; the Ethiopian region has only four or five species, mostly in the southern extremity and along the East coast. An Indian species is now wild in some parts of Java, but it has probably been introduced.

_Extinct Leporidæ._--Species of _Lepus_ occur in the Post-Pliocene and Newer Pliocene of France; but only in the Post-Pliocene of North America, and the caves of Brazil.

_General Remarks on the Distribution of the Rodentia._

With the exception of the Australian region and Madagascar, where Muridæ alone have been found, this order is one of the most universally and evenly distributed over the entire globe. Of the sixteen families which compose it, the Palæarctic region has 10; the Ethiopian, Nearctic, and Neotropical, each 9; and the Oriental only 5. These figures are very curious and suggestive. We know that the rodentia are exceedingly ancient, since some of the living genera date back to the Eocene period; and some ancestral types might thus have reached the remote South American and South African lands at the time of one of their earliest unions with the northern continents. In both these countries the rodents diverged into many special forms, and being small animals easily able to conceal themselves, have largely survived the introduction of higher Mammalia. In the Palæarctic and Nearctic regions, their small size and faculty of hibernation may have enabled them to maintain themselves during those great physical changes which resulted in the extermination or banishment of so many of the larger and more highly organised Mammalia, to which, in these regions, they now bear a somewhat inordinate proportion. The reasons why they are now less numerous and varied in the Oriental region, may be of two kinds. The comparatively small area of that region and its {244}uniformity of climate, would naturally lead to less development of such a group as this, than in the vastly more extensive and varied and almost equally luxuriant Palæarctic region of Eocene and Miocene times; while on the other hand the greater number of the smaller Carnivora in the tropics during the Pliocene and Post-Pliocene epochs, would be a constant check upon the increase of these defenceless animals, and no doubt exterminate a number of them.

The Rodents thus offer a striking contrast to the Ungulates; and these two great orders afford an admirable illustration of the different way in which physical and organic changes may affect large and small herbivorous Mammalia; often leading to the extinction of the former, while favouring the comparative development of the latter.

_Order XI.--EDENTATA._

FAMILY 71.--BRADYPODIDÆ. (3 Genera, 12 Species.)

The Sloths are a remarkable group of arboreal mammals, strictly confined to the great forests of the Neotropical region, from Guatemala to Brazil and Eastern Bolivia. None are found west of the Andes, nor do they appear to extend into Paraguay, or beyond the Tropic of Capricorn on the east coast. The genera as defined by Dr. Gray in 1871 are:--_Choloepus_ (2 sp.), "Sloths with two toes on fore limbs, sexes alike," Costa Rica to Brazil; _Bradypus_ (2 sp.), "Sloths with three toes on fore limbs, sexes alike," Central Brazil, Amazon to Rio de Janeiro; _Arctopithecus_ (8 sp.), "Sloths with three toes on fore limbs, males with a coloured patch on the back," Costa Rica to Brazil and Eastern Bolivia (Plate XIV., vol ii. p. 24).

{245}_Extinct Bradypodidæ._--In the caves of Brazil are found three extinct genera of Sloths--_Cælodon_, _Sphenodon_, and _Ochotherium_. More distantly allied, and probably forming distinct families, are _Scelidotherium_ and _Megatherium_, from the caves of Brazil and the Pliocene deposits of La Plata and Patagonia.

FAMILY 72.--MANIDIDÆ. (1 Genus, 8 Species.)

The Manididæ, or scaly ant-eaters, are the only Edentate Mammalia found out of America, They are spread over the Ethiopian and Oriental regions; in the former from Sennaar to West Africa and the Cape; in the latter from the Himalayas to Ceylon, and Eastward to Borneo and Java, as well as to South China, as far as Amoy, Hainan, and Formosa. They have been sub-divided, according to differences in the scaly covering, into five groups, _Manis_, _Phatagin_, _Smutsia_, _Pholidotus_ and _Pangolin_, the three former being confined to Africa, the last common to Africa and the East, while _Pholidotus_ seems confined to Java. It is doubtful if these divisions are more than sub-genera, and as such they are treated here.

No extinct species referable to this family are yet known.

FAMILY 73.--DASYPODIDÆ. (6 Genera, 17 Species.)

The Dasypodidæ, or armadillos, are a highly characteristic Neotropical family, ranging from the northern extremity of the region {246}in south Texas, to 50° south latitude on the plains of Patagonia. The distribution of the genera is as follows:--_Tatusia_ (5 sp.), has the range of the whole family from the lower Rio Grande of Texas to Patagonia; _Prionodontes_ (1 sp.), the giant armadillo, Surinam to Paraguay; _Dasypus_ (4 sp.), Brazil to Bolivia, Chili, and La Plata; _Xenurus_ (3 sp.), Guiana to Paraguay; _Tolypeutes_ (2 sp.), the three-banded armadillos, Bolivia and La Plata; _Chlamydophorus_ (2 sp.), near Mendoza in La Plata, and Santa Cruz de la Sierra in Bolivia.

_Extinct Armadillos._--Many species of _Dasypus_ and _Xenurus_ have been found in the caves of Brazil, together with many extinct genera--_Hoplophorus_, _Euryodon_, _Heterodon_, _Pachytherium_, and _Chlamydotherium_, the latter as large as a rhinoceros. _Eutatus_, allied to _Tolypeutes_, is from the Pliocene deposits of La Plata.

FAMILY 74.--ORYCTEROPODIDÆ. (1 Genus, 2 Species.)

The Aard-vark, or Cape ant-eater (_Orycteropus capensis_) is a curious form of Edentate animal, with the general form of an ant-eater, but with the bristly skin and long obtuse snout of a pig. A second species inhabits the interior of North-East Africa and Senegal, that of the latter country perhaps forming a third species (Plate IV. vol. i. p. 261).

_Extinct Orycteropodidæ._--The genus _Macrotherium_, remains of which occur in the Miocene deposits of France, Germany, and Greece, is allied to this group, though perhaps forming a separate family. The same may be said of the _Ancylotherium_, a huge animal found only in the Miocene deposits of Greece.

{247}FAMILY 75.--MYRMECOPHAGIDÆ. (3 Genera, 5 Species.)

The true ant-eaters are strictly confined to the wooded portions of the Neotropical region, ranging from Honduras to Paraguay on the East side of the Andes. The three genera now generally admitted are: _Myrmecophaga_ (1 sp.), the great ant-eater, Northern Brazil to Paraguay; _Tamandua_ (2 sp.), 4-toed ant-eaters, Guatemala, Ecuador to Paraguay (Plate XIV. vol. ii. p. 24); _Cyclothurus_ (2 sp.), 2-toed ant-eaters, Honduras and Costa Rica to Brazil.

_Extinct Ant-eaters._--The only extinct form of this family seems to be the _Glossotherium_, found in the caves of Brazil, and the Tertiary deposits of Uruguay. It is said to be allied to _Myrmecophaga_ and _Manis_.

_General Remarks on the Distribution of the Edentata._

These singular animals are almost confined to South America, where they constitute an important part of the fauna. In Africa, two family types are scantily represented, and one of these extends over all the Oriental region. In Pliocene and Post-Pliocene times the Edentata were wonderfully developed in South America, many of them being huge animals, rivalling in bulk, the rhinoceros and hippopotamus. As none of these forms resemble those of Africa, while the only European fossil Edentata are of African type, it seems probable that South Africa, like South America, was a centre of development for this group of mammalia; and it is in the highest degree probable that, should extensive fluviatile deposits of Pliocene or Miocene age be discovered in the former country, an extinct fauna, not less strange and grotesque than that of South America, will be brought to {248}light. From the fact that so few remains of this order occur in Europe, and those of one family type, and in Miocene deposits only, it seems a fair conclusion, that this represents an incursion of an ancient Ethiopian form into Europe analogous to that which invaded North America from the south during the Post-Pliocene epoch. The extension of the Manididæ, or scaly ant-eaters, over tropical Asia may have occurred at the same, or a somewhat later epoch.

For a summary of the Numerous Edentata of North and South America which belong to extinct families, see vol. i. p. 147.

_Order XII.--MARSUPIALIA._

FAMILY 76.--DIDELPHYIDÆ. (3 Genera, 22 Species.)

The Didelphyidæ, or true opossums, range throughout all the wooded districts of the Neotropical region from the southern boundary of Texas to the River La Plata, and on the west coast to 42° S. Lat., where a species of _Didelphys_ was obtained by Professor Cunningham. One species only is found in the Nearctic region, extending from Florida to the Hudson River, and west to the Missouri. The species named _Didelphys californica_ inhabits Mexico, and only extends into the southern extremity of California. The species are most numerous in the great forest region of Brazil, and they have been recently found to the west of the Andes near Guayaquil, as well as in Chili. The exact number of species is very doubtful, owing to the difficulty of determining them from dried skins. All but two belong to the genus _Didelphys_, which has the range above given for the family (Plate XIV., vol. ii. p. 24); _Chironectes_ (1 sp.), the yapock or water opossum, inhabits Guiana and Brazil; _Hyracodon_ (1 sp.), is a small {249}rat-like animal discovered by Mr. Fraser in Ecuador, and which may perhaps belong to another family.

_Extinct Didelphyidæ._--No less than seven species of _Didelphys_ have been found in the caves of Brazil, but none in the older formations. In North America the living species only, has been found in Post-Pliocene deposits. In Europe, however, many species of small opossums, now classed as a distinct genus, _Peratherium_, have been found in various Tertiary deposits from the Upper Miocene to the Upper Eocene.

We have here a sufficient proof that the American Marsupials have nothing to do with those of Australia, but were derived from Europe, where their ancestors lived during a long series of ages.

FAMILY 77.--DASYURIDÆ. (10 Genera, 30 Species.)

The Dasyuridæ, or native cats, are a group of carnivorous or insectivorous marsupials, ranging from the size of a wolf to that of a mouse. They are found all over Australia and Tasmania, as well as in New Guinea and the adjacent Papuan islands. Several new genera and species have recently been described by Mr. G. Krefft, of the Sydney Museum, and are included in the following enumeration. _Phasgogale_ (3 sp.), New Guinea, West, East, and South Australia; _Antechinomys_ (1 sp.), Interior of South Australia; _Antechinus_ (12 sp.), Aru Islands, all Australia, and Tasmania; _Chætocercus_ (1 sp.), South Australia; _Dactylopsila_ (1 sp.), Aru Islands and North Australia; _Podabrus_ (5 sp.), West, East, and South Australia, and Tasmania; _Myoictis_ (1 sp.), Aru Islands; _Sarcophilus_ (1 sp.), Tasmania; _Dasyurus_ (4 sp.), North, East, and South, Australia, and Tasmania; _Thylacinus_ (1 sp.), Tasmania (Plate XI., vol. i. p. 439).

Extinct species of _Dasyurus_ and _Thylacinus_ have been found in the Post-Pliocene deposits of Australia.

{250}FAMILY 78.--MYRMECOBIIDÆ. (1 Genus, 1 Species.)

The only representative of this family is the _Myrmecobius fasciatus_, or native ant-eater, a small bushy-tailed squirrel-like animal, found in the South and West of Australia.

FAMILY 79.--PERAMELIDÆ. (3 Genera, 10 Species.)

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The Geographical Distribution of Animals, Volume 2Chapter XXI: Part IV: Geographical Zoology (3)

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