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

chap. xi.J THE ETHIOPIAN REGION. 265Here, too, we find some interesting relations with the Orientalregion on the one side, and the Neotropical on the other. Thesnakes of the family Homalopsidse have a wide range, in America,Europe, and all over the Oriental region, but are confined toWest Africa in the Ethiopian region. Dryiophis (Dryiophidoe)and Dipsadoboa (Dipsadidse) on the other hand, are genera oftropical America which occur also in West Africa. The familyof lizards, Acontiadae, are found in West and. South Africa,Ceylon, and the Moluccas. The family of toads, Engystomidse,in West and South Africa and the whole Oriental region ;whilethe Phryniscidse inhabit tropical Africa and Java.Insects.—We have here a large number of peculiar genera.There are 10 of butterflies, Lachnoptera, Amphidema, and Catunabelonging to the Nymphalidse, while four others are Lycsenidae.The genus Euxanthe is common to West Africa and Madagascar.Of Coleoptera there are 53 peculiar genera ; 20 are Carabidse,2 Lucanidse, 12 Cetoniidse, 3 Prionidae, 16 Cerambycidse, and34 Lamiidse. Besides these there are 4 or 5 genera confined toWest Africa and Madagascar.Land Shells.—West Africa is very rich in land shells, but itdoes not appear to possess any well-marked genera, althoughseveral of the smaller groups or sub-genera are confined to it.Helicidse of the genera Nanina, Bulimimis and Achatina areabundant and characteristic.Islands of the West African Sub-region.—The islands in theGulf of Guinea are, Fernando Po, very near the main land, withPrince's Island and St. Thomas, considerably further away to thesouth-west.Fernando Po was once thought to be a remarkableinstance of an island possessing a very peculiar fauna, althoughclose to the main land and not divided from it by a deep sea.This, however, was due to our having obtained considerablecollections from Fernando Po, while the opposite coast wasalmost unknown. One after another the species supposed to bepeculiar have been found on the continent, tillit becomes probable,that, as in the case of other islands similarly situated, itcontains no peculiar species whatever. The presence of numerousmammalia, among which are baboons, lemurs, Hyrax, andVol. L—19