In this preliminary attempt to define faunal areas on the basis of the distribution patterns of the species of Muridae occurring in Southern Africa, the problem has been approached with the Aethiopian Geographical Region as background and with the simplest classification of biotic zones based on the major vegetation types as a starting point. The murids of Southern Africa (south of the Kunene-Zambezi) show varying degrees of attachment to the biotic zones Savanna, South West Arid and South-West Cape (Fig. 1). A consideration of their distribution within these zones brings to light a degree of correspondence sufficiently close to give reality to the approach made here of taking vegetation types as a starting point. Subdivisions of the zones, especially of the diversified Savanna zone, on the basis of murid distribution gives even more support for regarding vegetation as the most meaningful ecological summary of the influences of soil, climate, topography and other static and dynamic environmental factors.