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

;chap, xii.] THE ORIENTAL REGION. 315boundary, which are wholly wanting in the Malayan subregion.The Philippine islands are best classed with the Indo-Malay group, although they are strikingly deficient in manyMalayan types, and exhibit an approach to the Celebesian divisionof the Austro-Malay sub-region.Zoological Characteristics of the Oriental Region.—The OrientalEegion possesses examples of 35 families of Mammalia, 71 ofBirds, 35 of Eep tiles, 9 of Amphibia, and 13 of Fresh-waterFishes. Of these 163 families, 12 are peculiar to the region;namely, Tarsiidae, Galeopithecidse, and Tupaiidse among Mammalia,while iEluridse, though confined to the higher Himalayas,may perhaps with more justice be claimed by the Palaearctic region;Liotrichidse, Phyllornithidae, and Eurylaemidae among birdsXenopeltidse (extending, however, to Celebes), Uropeltidae, andAcrochordidse among reptiles ;Luciocephalidse, Ophiocephalidseand Mastacembelidae among fresh-water fishes.A number ofandother families are abundant, and characteristic of the region ;it possesses many peculiar and characteristic genera, which mustbe referred to somewhat more in detail.Mammalia.—The Oriental region is richin quadrumana, andis especially remarkable for its orang-utans and long-armed apes(Simia, Hylohates, and Siamanga) ; its abundance of monkeysof the genera Presbytes and Macacus ; its extraordinary long-nosedmonkey (Presbytes nasalis) ;its Lemuridse {Nycticebus and Loris);and its curious genus Tarsius, forming a distinct family oflemurs. All these quadrumanous genera are confined to it,except Tarsius which extends as far as Celebes. It possessesmore than 30 genera of bats, which are enumerated inthe lists given at the end of this chapter. In Insectivora it isvery rich, and possesses several remarkable forms, such as theflying lemur (Galcopithecus) ; the squirrel-like TupaiidsB consistingof three genera ; and the curious Gymnura allied to the hedgehogs.In Carnivora, it is especially rich in many forms of civets(Viverridse), possessing 10 peculiar genera, among which Prionodonand Cynogale are remarkable; numerous Mustelidae, ofwhich Gymnopus, Mydaus, Aonyx and Helictis are the most conspicuous;JElurus, a curious animal, cat-like in appearance but