t the mammalia, we find the following remarkable animals at once
separating it from the Palaearctic and every other region. The gorilla and
chimpanzee, the baboons, numerous lemurs, the spotted hyaena, the aard-wolf
and hyaena-dog, zebras, the hippopotamus, giraffe, and more than seventy
peculiar antelopes. Here we have a wonderful collection of large and
peculiar quadrupeds, but the Ethiopian region is also characterised by the
absence of others which are not only abundant in the Palaearctic region but
in many tropical regions as well. The most remarkable of these deficiencies
are the bears the deer and the wild oxen, all of which abound in the
tropical parts of Asia while bears and deer extend into both North and
South America. Besides the large and conspicuous animals mentioned above,
Africa possesses a number of completely isolated groups; such are the
potamogale, a curious otter-like water-shrew, discovered by Du Chaillu in
West Africa, so distinct as to constitute a new family, Potamogalidae; the
goldenmoles, also forming a peculiar family, Chrysochloridae; as do the
elephant-shrews, Macroscelididae; the singular aard-varks, or earth-pigs,
forming a peculiar family of Edentata called Orycteropodidae; while there
are numerous peculiar genera of monkeys, swine, civets, and rodents.

Among birds the most conspicuous and remarkable are, the great-billed
vulture-crows (Corvultur), the long-tailed {44} whydah finches (Vidua), the
curious ox-peckers (Buphaga), the splendid metallic starlings
(Lamprocolius), the handsome plantain-eaters (Musophaga), the
ground-hornbills (Bucorvus), the numerous guinea-fowls belonging to four
distinct genera, the serpent-eating secretary-bird (Serpentarius), the huge
boat-billed heron (Balaeniceps), and the true ostriches. There are also
three quite peculiar African families, the Musophagidae or plantain-eaters,
including the elegant crested touracos; the curious little finch-like
colies (Coliidae), and the Irrisoridae, insect-eating birds allied to the
hoopoes but with glossy metallic plumage and arboreal habits.

In reptiles, fishes, insects, and land-shells, Africa is very rich, and
possesses an immense number of peculiar forms. These are not sufficiently
familiar to require notice in a work of this character, but we may mention
a few as mere illustrations: the puff-adders, the most hideous of poisonous
snakes; the chameleons, the most remarkable of lizards; the
goliath-beetles, the larg