The group of the Tiger-hunt indicates some of the zoological features of the low country and jungles of India and the warm regions of Asia. The tiger is indeed one of the most characteristic animals of the Tropical Asiatic provinces, as is also the Indian elephant. The one-horned rhinoceros, the Indian hyæna, humped oxen of various kinds, a few peculiar deer, the scaly ant-eater, the bonnet-monkey, the Hoonuman (Semnopithecus entellus), and the wanderoo, are all well-marked and conspicuous Indian mammals. Some of the larger quadrupeds are common to Europe and Africa. The birds of India are numerous, and often very beautiful.
By bamboos and orange-trees, and a few forms of vegetation capable of cultivation under the conditions and within the space of our Garden, a very slight indication indeed is afforded of the general Indian flora. But in the back-ground of the Indian group, the rich assemblage of Indian rhododendrons and azaleas, the Juniperus recurva and the Ficus elastica, serve to represent one of the most beautiful floras in the world, that of the mountain ranges of India, whilst on its eastern-side, camellias, tea-plants, Carphon laurels, and magnolias exemplify the change in Asiatic vegetation with the great Chinese province.
NORTH AFRICA.
The portion of this continent, north of Sahara, west of the Libyan desert, and including the chains of the Atlas, is clothed with a very different vegetation, and peopled by a distinct set of land animals from those occupying the greater and more characteristic African regions. In many respects, it has more affinity in its natural history and features with the southern countries of Europe, especially Spain and Sicily, than with Africa. Even its most characteristic mammal, the Barbary ape, has apparently an indigenous stronghold in Gibraltar. The wild boar, genet, porcupine, and fallow deer, the last alone of its tribe in Africa, indicate European affinities, whilst southern relations are marked by a few forms of antelope and by the lion. Some small rodents are peculiar. The traveller passing from temperate Europe to Barbary, sees in the domesticated camel and many plants—the date-palm, the opuntia, and the agave—distinguishing and peculiar features of its landscape; yet none of these is an original native of the region. Even the date-palm belongs properly to the countries south of the Atlas. The truly characteristic plants—such as the carob, fig, and palmetto, are all of Mediterranean types and South European forms. The sea that separates Europe and Africa has an uniform population nearly throughout; and, in the main, is not more than a colony of the Atlantic.
NORTH-EASTERN AND EASTERN AFRICA.
Egypt is a truly African province, and is linked by many of its productions with Nubia, Abyssinia, and the countries that border on the Indian Ocean. The crocodile and the hippopotamus, now confined to the higher portions of the Nile, are essentially African types. The fishes of the Nile have close affinities with those of the rivers of the Senegal streams. Among them the polypterus is remarkable for its approach to the ancient and extinct forms of ganoids. From Sennaar, southwards, we find the elephant and one-horned rhinoceros. Monkeys, species of Cercopithecus, occur in the same region.
In the highlands of Shoa, the undulating surfaces of the table-lands are covered with green bushes of euphorbia; lions and hyænas are common. In the lower country of the Danakils, palms abound, with acacias and aloes; and the wart-hog, small antelopes and guinea-fowls, are among the animals. Crocodiles and hippopotami haunt the streams and marshes. On the plains are the Koodoo antelope and zebra; ostriches are hunted below the Galla country, and leopards and buffaloes abound.
Taking the vegetation from the north southwards, not a few conspicuous plants are distinctive of successive districts; thus, the date-palm, the papyrus, and the bean of Pythygoras may be cited for Egypt Proper; the doom, the coffee, and acacias to the more southern provinces. Some curious affinities with South African vegetation are indicated by Abyssinian species of pelargonium and protea.
There is a close relationship between the natural history of the Eastern African region and that of Arabia; so near, indeed, that in many respects we may regard these provinces as subdivisions of one great region. Many of the most striking plants are common to both, and the same may be said of not a few characteristic animals. The Red Sea, that separates them, proves, when its animal and vegetable inhabitants are explored, to be only a colony of the great Indian Ocean marine province, the most extensive of all the natural-history regions of the ocean, and the most varied in its contents. These are remarkable for brilliancy of colouring and beauty or singularity of shape and sculpture, as well as for the richness of the fauna in the number of generic and specific types.