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Imperial Gazetteer of India, v. 1, p. 214.

214 TIHE IjYDI.Ar1 EMJIPIRE [CHAP. The Punjab, Sind, and Western Rajputana, however, have a Fauna differing considerably from that of other parts of India, and resembling that found in South-western Asia and Northern Africa, whilst the animals of the Higher Himalayas and the Upper Indus Valley resemble those of Central Asia; and both of these areas belong to the zoological region extending over the greater part of Asia and all Europe, and known as Hol- arctic or Palaearctic. After distinguishing these two areas as the Punjab and Tibetan provinces or sub-regions, the remain- der of the country may be divided into three well-defined zoological areas, each characterized by marked features. These are:- (I) The Indian Peninsula, from the base of the Himalayas and as far east as the head of the Bay of Bengal, together with Ceylon; (2) The forest-clad Himnlayas, Assam, and Burma, as far south as the neighbourhood of Mergui; and (3) Southern Tenasserim, which is part of the Malay Pen- insula, and belongs, with the greater part of the Malay Archipelago, to the Malavan sub-region. The first is known as the Indian or Cis Gangetic sub-region; the second, which includes Southern China, Siam, and Cochin China, as the Himalo-Burmese or Trans-Gangetic. It will easily be understood that animal life is by no means uniform even within these subdivisions: thus, the forests of the Kon- kan, Malabar, and South-western Ceylon harbour a far richer Fauna than that found in the Bombay Deccan, the Carnatic, or Northern Ceylon; and while the animals of the Eastern Hima- layas closely resemble those of Burma, the Burmese types die out gradually in the Himalayas to the westward and are re- placed by kinds inhabiting the temperate parts of Asia. It is proposed in the present sketch to pass briefly in review the principal Vertebrate animals of India, beginning with the higher forms. The Mammals will therefore be first noticed, and among them the monkeys, as being the most highly or- ganized. To deal with the Invertebrata in a similar manner would require more space than can be spared. liam 11als Primates. The monkeys of India are numerous, and some of them are among the commonest wild animals of the country. The Apes (Simiidae), distinguished by the absence of tails, are no longer found in India itself or the Himalayas, though they may