The geographical distribution of animals, with a study of the relations ...

—chap, xl] THE ETHIOPIAN REGION. 255of lizards are the most characteristic:Monotrophis(Lepidosternidse);Cordylus, Pseudocordylus, Platysaurus, Cordylosaurus,Pleurostichus, Saurophis and Zonurus (Zormridse) ; Sphamops,Scelotes, Sphcenocephalus and Sepsina (Sepidaj) ; Pachydactylu's(Geckotidas) ;Agama (Agamidae); and Chameleon (Chaineleonidae).Of tortoises, Cynyxis, Pyxis and Chersina (Testudinidse), andCycloderma (Trionychidae) are the most characteristic.Amphibia.—Of the 9 families of amphibia there is only1 peculiar, the Dactylethridae, a group of toads; but theAlytidae, a family of frogs, are abundant.Fresh-water Fish.—Oi the 14 families of fr-^-water fishes3 are peculiar: Mormyridae and Gynmarchidse, small groupsnot far removed from the pikes ; and Polypteridaa, a small groupof ganoid fishes allied to the gar-pikes (Lepidosteidte) of NorthAmerica.Summary of Ethiopian Vertebrates.—Combining the resultshere indicated and set forth in greater detail in the tables ofdistribution, we find that the Ethiopian region possesses examplesof 44 familiesof mammalia, 72 of birds, 35 of reptiles,9 of amphibia, and 15 of fresh-water fishes. It has 23 (orperhaps 25) families of Vertebrata altogether peculiar to it outof a total of 175 families, or almost exactly one-eighth of thewhole. Out of 142 genera of mammalia found within theregion, 90 are peculiar to it ; a proportion not much short oftwo-thirds. Of land birds there are 294 genera, of which179 are peculiar; giving a proportion of a little less thanthree-fifths.Compared with the Oriental region this shows a considerablylarger amount of speciality under all the heads;but the superiority is mainly due to the wonderful and isolatedfauna of Madagascar, to which the Oriental region hasnothing comparable. Without this the regions would be nearlyequal.Insects: Lepidoptera,— 11 out of the 16 families of butterflieshave representatives in Africa, but none are peculiar.Acrseidae is one of the most characteristic families, and there