{202}_Mammalia._--There are a few groups of Palæarctic Mammalia that are peculiar to this sub-region. Such are, _Dama_, the fallow deer, which is now found only in South Europe and North Africa; _Psammomys_, a peculiar genus of Muridæ, found only in Egypt and Palestine; while _Ctenodactylus_, a rat-like animal classed in the South American family Octodontidæ, inhabits Tripoli. Among characteristic genera not found in other sub-regions, are, _Dysopes_, a bat of the family Noctilionidæ; _Macroscelides_, the elephant shrew, in North Africa; _Genetta_, the civet, in South Europe; _Herpestes_, the ichneumon, in North Africa and (?) Spain; _Hyæna_, in South Europe; _Gazella_, _Oryx_, _Alcephalus_, and _Addax_, genera of antelopes in North Africa and Palestine; _Hyrax_, in Syria; and _Hystrix_, the porcupine, in South Europe. Besides these, the camel and the horse were perhaps once indigenous in the eastern parts of the sub-region; and a wild sheep (_Ovis musmon_) still inhabits Sardinia, Corsica, and the mountains of the south-east of Spain. The presence of the large feline animals--such as the lion, the leopard, the serval, and the hunting leopard--in North Africa, together with several other quadrupeds not found in Europe, have been thought by some naturalists to prove, that this district should not form part of the Palæarctic region. No doubt several Ethiopian groups and species have entered it from the south; but the bulk of its Mammalia still remains Palæarctic, although several of the species have Asiatic rather than European affinities. The _Macacus innuus_ is allied to an Asiatic rather than an African group of monkeys, and thus denotes an Oriental affinity. Ethiopian affinity is apparently shown by the three genera of antelopes, by _Herpestes_, and by _Macroscelides_; but our examination of the Miocene fauna has shown that these were probably derived from Europe originally, and do not form any part of the truly indigenous or ancient Ethiopian fauna. Against these, however, we have the occurrence in North Africa of such purely Palæarctic and non-Ethiopian genera as _Ursus_, _Meles_, _Putorius_, _Sus_, _Cervus_, _Dama_, _Capra_, _Alactaga_; together with actual European or West Asiatic species of _Canis_, _Genetta_, _Felis_, _Putorius_, _Lutra_, many bats, _Sorex_, _Crocidura_, _Crossopus_, _Hystrix_, {203}_Dipus_, _Lepus_, and _Mus_. It is admitted that, as regards every other group of animals, North Africa is Palæarctic, and the above enumeration shows that even in Mammalia, the intermixture of what are now true Ethiopian types is altogether insignificant. It must be remembered, also, that the lion inhabited Greece even in historic times, while large carnivora were contemporary with man all over Central Europe.