PDF - Wallace Online

CHAPTER XVII.
THE DISTKIBUTION OF THE FAMILIES AND GENERA OF MAMMALIA.
Neotropical
Sub-regions.
Order I.—PRIMATES.
Family 1.—SIMIID^. (4 Genera, 12 Species).
Nearctic
Sub-regions.
General Distribution.
Pal^arctic
Sub- REGIONS.
Ethiopian
Sub-regions.
Oriental
Sub-regions.
3.4
Australian
Sub-regions.
The Simiidfe, or Anthropoid Apes, comprehend those forms of
the monkey-tribe which, in general organization, approach nearest
to man. They inhabit the tropics of the Old World, and are
most abundant near the equator ; but they are limited to certain
districts, being quite unknown in eastern and southern Africa,
and the whole peninsula of Hindostan.
The genus Troglodytes (or Mimetes, as it is sometimes named)
comprehends the chimpanzee and gorilla. It is confined to the
West African sub-region, being found on the coast about 12°
North and South of the equator, from the Gambia to Benguela, and
as far inland as the great equatorial forests extend. There are
perhaps other species of chimpanzee ;
since Livingstone met with
what he supposed to be a new species in the forest region west
of Lake Tanganyika, while Dr. Schweinfurth found one in the
country beyond the western watershed of the Nile. The gorilla
is confined within narrower limits on and near the equator.