ve to characterise it, as do the fine
laughing-thrushes, forming the genus Garrulax; while the beautiful
grass-green fruit-thrushes (Phyllornis), and the brilliant little minivets
(Pericrocotus), are almost equally universal. Woodpeckers are abundant,
belonging to a dozen peculiar genera; while gaudy barbets and strange forms
of cuckoos and hornbills are also to be met with everywhere. Among game
birds, the only genus that is universally distributed, and which may be
said to characterise the region, is Gallus, comprising the true
jungle-fowl, one of which, Gallus bankiva, is found from the Himalayas and
Central India to Malacca, Java, and even eastward to Timor, and is the
undoubted origin of almost all our domestic poultry. Southern India and
Ceylon each possesses distinct species of jungle-fowl, and a third very
handsome green bird (Gallus aeneus inhabits Java.)

Reptiles are as abundant as in Africa, but they present no well-known
groups which can be considered as specially characteristic. Among insects
we may notice the {46} magnificent golden and green Papilionidae of various
genera as being unequalled in the world; while the great Atlas moth is
probably the most gigantic of Lepidoptera, being sometimes ten inches
across the wings, which are also very broad. Among the beetles the strange
flat-bodied Malayan mormolyce is the largest of all the Carabidae, while
the catoxantha is equally a giant among the Buprestidae. On the whole, the
insects of this region probably surpass those of any other part of the
world, except South America, in size, variety, and beauty.

_Definition and Characteristic Groups of the Australian Region._--The
Australian region is so well marked off from the Oriental, as well as from
all other parts of the world, by zoological peculiarities, that we need not
take up much time in describing it, especially as some of its component
islands will come under review at a subsequent stage of our work. Its most
important portions are Australia and New Guinea, but it also includes all
the Malayan and Pacific Islands to the east of Borneo, Java, and Bali, the
Oriental region terminating with the submarine bank on which those islands
are situated. The island of Celebes is included in this region from a
balance of considerations, but it almost equally well belongs to the
Oriental, and must be left out of the account in our general sketch of the
zoological features of the Australian region.

The great featur