_Birds._--Peculiar forms of birds are hardly to be found here; we only meet with two--_Hypocolius_, a genus of shrikes in Abyssinia; and _Balæniceps_, the great boat-billed heron of the Upper Nile. Yet throughout the country birds are abundant, and most of the typical Ethiopian forms are well represented. _Reptiles._--Of reptiles, the only peculiar forms recorded are _Xenocalamus_, a genus of snakes, belonging to the Calamariidæ; and _Pythonodipsas_, one of the Dipsadidæ, both from the Zambesi; and among lizards, _Pisturus_, one of the Geckotidæ, from Abyssinia. _Amphibia and Fishes._--There are no peculiar forms of amphibia or of fresh-water fishes. _Insects._--Insects are almost equally unproductive of peculiar forms. Among butterflies we have _Abantis_, one of the Hesperidæ, from Mozambique; and in Coleoptera, 2 genera of Cicindelidæ, 8 of Carabidæ, 1 or 2 of Cetoniidæ, and about half-a-dozen of Longicorns: a mere nothing, as we shall see, compared with the hosts of peculiar genera that characterise each of the other sub-regions. Neither do land-shells appear to present any peculiar forms. The fact that so very few special types characterise the extensive area now under consideration is very noteworthy. It justifies us in uniting this large and widespread tract of country as forming essentially but one sub-division of the great Ethiopian region, and it suggests some curious speculations as to the former history of that region, a subject which must be deferred to the latter part of this chapter. In none of the other great tropical regions does it occur, that the largest portion of their area, although swarming with life, yet possesses hardly any distinctive features except the absence of numerous types characteristic of the other sub-regions. Plate IV. [Illustration] CHARACTERISTIC ANIMALS OF EAST AFRICA.