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CHAPTER XVIII.

Natural History of the Quadrupeds of Africa.*

A KNOWLEDGE of the geographical distribution of animals, and of the laws which regulate that distribution, has excited a considerable degree of attention since the time of Buffon, whose writings may fairly be regarded as the first to create an interest in favour of this branch of natural history. The slight observance of the physical characters and other local peculiarities of countries, which prevailed prior to that period, rendered the precise induction of general views a matter of extreme difficulty; and, as navigators and naval adventurers of every class were indifferent to the accuracy of science, and ignorant of the valuable results which might spring from a more correct record of the localities of species, our knowledge of these localities did not increase in the same proportion as the species themselves. Even at

* I think it proper to apprise the reader that in the three following chapters, devoted to the Zoology of Africa, several well-known and interesting species, such as the Egyptian Ichneumon, the Fennec of Bruce, the Sacred Ibis, &c., are intentionally omitted, as being characteristic of certain portions of the African continent, the general history of which does not fall within the scope of the present volume.-J. W.

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the present day our collections are frequently rendered of little avail for the purposes of zoological geography, by the products of one country being intermingled with those of another: thus, the splendidly-feathered tribes of Rio Janeiro are frequently combined with the scarcely less brilliant birds of New Holland and Van Diemen's Land; while the student of Indian entomology labours under a similar chance of error, in finding the Asiatic insects arranged by the merchant along with an additional supply from the Cape of Good Hope. These and other sources of confusion have long retarded our knowledge of the geography of animals.

The habits and dispositions of animals result from their structure, and that structure is invariably adapted to the local circumstances under which they are naturally placed. It must not, however, be supposed that the geographical distribution of species can ever form a proper basis for their zoological classification. Many natural families and genera are so extensively distributed as to be almost equally characteristic of every quarter of the globe. The wolf and the rein-deer are common both to Europe and America; and the lion occurs in the forests of Asia as well as among the African deserts. These, however, are exceptions to the general rule; for it will be found, on examination, that every great continent, or extensive tract of country, though possessed of features which, to a certain degree, assimilate it to those of other regions, is yet distinguished by many characters entirely peculiar to itself, and which constitute its zoological aspect. Thus the kangaroo and the ornithorynchus are characteristic of, because peculiar to New Holland; the lamas and

vicunhas are only found in South America; the ostrich and the camelopard are proper to Africa; the lemurs to Madagascar; the pongo, or gigantic orang-outang, to the great Asiatic islands; and the common toad to the western countries of Europe. So also, in the order of quadrumanous, or fourhanded animals, such as apes and monkeys, the division, called Platyrrhini, distinguished by the breadth of the partition which separates the nostrils, occurs only in South America; while another great division, named Catarrhini, of which the nostrils are contiguous, is found only in the Old World. A naturalist

would therefore find no difficulty in determining, merely from a glance at the muzzle, whether a species of this order was native to the ancient continent or the new.

Wherever the observant traveller turns his steps, he finds in every country animals peculiar to itself; and many of these, occupying the most remote and insulated spots, are the most inadequately supplied with the means of locomotion. The mode of their original dispersion, whether from a single position, or from multiplied centres of creation, has therefore been a theme which has not unfrequently exercised the ingenuity of naturalists. The subject, however, seems to be one which scarcely falls within the scope of human intelligence; although a most ample source of interesting and legitimate speculation may be made to flow from an accurate and extended record of facts illustrative of their present distribution, the amount of genera and species, the relation which that amount bears to the animal productions of other countries, and similar numerical details.

In the present chapter, we propose to exhibit a brief

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