Fig. 87.—Prairie-Dog (Cynomys ludovicianus).—By permission of the N.Y. Zoölog. Soc.
The Neotropical, which is the only region of the Neogæic realm, comprises the West Indian islands, all of Central and South America and the lowlands of Mexico, extending a short distance into southeastern Texas. Of its four subregions, the most typical is (1) the Brazilian, which includes not only Brazil, but all of South America east of the Andes and as far south as Paraguay, and is a vast area of tropical forests. (2) The Chilian subregion takes in the west coast, the high Andes and the southern end of the continent, south of the Brazilian subregion; it is a country chiefly of open plains and high mountains, and a few deserts, of which South America has less than any other continent, except Europe, which has none. (3) The Central American subregion reaches from the Isthmus of Panama to Mexico, the lowlands of which are included and even a small portion of southeastern Texas. (4) The West Indian subregion includes all the islands of that archipelago, except Trinidad, which is a fragment of the continent, detached at a comparatively recent date; the southern extremity of Florida also belongs to this subregion.
The two subregions into which continental South America is divided are not altogether satisfactory and will doubtless require change when the distribution of South American mammals has been more accurately determined.
Fig. 88.—Map of the Neotropical region. (After Wallace.) Mexico inaccurate; cf. [Fig. 53, p. 147].
Fig. 89.—Fox-like Wolf (Cerdocyon gracilis).—By permission of W. S. Berridge, London.
“Richness combined with isolation is the predominant feature of Neotropical Zoölogy, and no other region can approach it in the number of its peculiar family and generic types” (Wallace). Just as North America has received many immigrants from the Old World, so it has sent many migrants into South America, materially changing the character of the Neotropical mammalian fauna, but these intruders may be readily identified and almost seem to be out of place in their new surroundings. Not all of these northern migrants were able to maintain their footing in the southern continent and several became extinct during and at the close of the Pleistocene epoch, as was even more markedly the case with the southern forms which invaded the northern continent.
