en species, the Accentors with twelve species, and
about a dozen other genera of warblers, including the robins; the bearded
titmouse and several allied genera; the long-tailed titmice forming the
genus Acredula; the magpies, choughs, and nut-crackers; a host of finches,
among which the bullfinches (Pyrrhula) and the buntings (Emberiza) are the
{42} most important. The true pheasants (Phasianus) are wholly Palaearctic,
except one species in Formosa, as are several genera of wading birds.
Though the reptiles of cold countries are few as compared with those of the
tropics, the Palaearctic region in its warmer portions has a considerable
number, and among these are many which are peculiar to it. Such are four
genera of snakes, seven of lizards, five of frogs and toads, and twelve of
newts and salamanders; while of fresh-water fishes there are about twenty
peculiar genera.[7] Among insects we may mention the elegant Apollo
butterflies of the Alps as forming a peculiar genus (Parnassius), only
found elsewhere in the Rocky Mountains of North America, while the
beautiful genus Thais of the south of Europe and Sericinus of North China
are equally remarkable. Among other insects we can only now refer to the
great family of Carabidae, or predaceous ground-beetles, which are
immensely numerous in this region, there being about fifty peculiar genera;
while the large and handsome genus Carabus, with its allies Procerus and
Procrustes, containing nearly 300 species, is almost wholly confined to
this region, and would alone serve to distinguish it zoologically from all
other parts of the globe.

{43}

Having given so full an exposition of the facts which determine the extent
and boundaries of the Palaearctic region, there is less need of entering
into much detail as regards the other regions of the Eastern Hemisphere;
their boundaries being easily defined, while their forms of animal life are
well marked and strongly contrasted.

_Definition and Characteristic Groups of the Ethiopian Region._--The
Ethiopian region consists of all tropical and south Africa, to which are
appended the large island of Madagascar and the Mascarene Islands to the
east and north of it, though these differ materially from the continent,
and will have to be discussed in a separate chapter. For the present, then,
we will take Africa south of the tropic of Cancer, and consider how far its
animals are distinct from those of the Palaearctic region.

Taking firs