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

—;390 ZOOLOGICAL GEOGRAPHY. [part hi.Hebrides have rather an uncertain position, and it is difficulttodecide whether to class them with the Austro-Malay Islands,the Pacific Islands,"or Australia.The. islands of the west Pacific,north of the equator, also probably come into this region,although the Ladrone Islands may belong tothe Philippinesbut as the fauna of all these small islets is very scanty, andvery little known, they are not at present of much importance.There remains the islands of New Zealand, with the surroundingsmall islands, as far as the Auckland, Chatham, and NorfolkIslands. These are situated in the south temperateforest-zone. They are mountainous, and have a moist, equable,and temperate climate. They are true oceanic islands, and thetotalabsence of mammalia intimates that they have not beenconnected with Australia or any other continent in recent geologicaltimes. The general character of their zoology, no lessthan their botany, affiliates them however, to Australia as portionsof the same zoological region.General Zoological Characteristics of the Australian Region.—For the purpose of giving an idea of the very peculiar andstriking features which characterise the Australian region, itwill be as well at first to confine ourselves to the great centralland masses of Australia and New Guinea, where those featuresare manifested in their greatest force and purity, leaving thevarious peculiarities and anomalies of the outlying islands to bedealt with subsequently.Mammalia.—The Australian region is broadly distinguishedfroni all the rest of the globe by the entire absence of all theorders of non-aquatic mammalia that abound in the OldWorld, except two—the winged bats (Chiroptera), and the equallycosmopolite roderijts (Ptodentia). Of these latter however, onlyone family is represented—the Muridse — (comprising the ratsand mice), and the Australian representatives of these are all ofsmall or moderate size—a suggestive fact in appreciating the truecharacter of the Australian fauna.In place of the Quadrumana,Carnivora, and Ungulates, which abound in endless varietyin all the other regions under equally favourable conditions,Australia possesses two new orders (or perhaps sub-classes)