The geographical distribution of animals, with a study of the relations ...

;GO DISTRIBUTION OF ANIMALS. [part i.along with Australasia and South America ;and that a CircumpolarProvince might be conveniently recognised as of equalrank with the Palsearctic and Nearctic provinces.In 1866, Mr. Andrew Murray published a large and copiouslyillustrated volume on the Geograjihical Distribution of Mammals,in which he maintains that the great and primarymammalian regions are only four : 1st. The Palrearctic regionof Mr. Sclater, extended to include the Sahara and Nubia2nd. the Indo-African region, including the Indian and Ethiopianregions of Mr. Sclater; 3rd. the Australian region (unaltered);4th. the American region, including both North and SouthAmerica. These are the regions as described by Mr. Murray,but his coloured map of " Great Mammalian Regions " showsall Arctic America to a little south of the Isothermal of 32°Fahr. as forming with Europe and North Asia one great region.At the meeting of the British Association at Exeter in 1869,Mr. W. T.Blanford read a paper on the Fauna of British India,in which he maintained that a large portion of the peninsulaof India had derived its Fauna mainly from Africa ;and that theterm "Indian region" of Mr. Sclater was misleading, becauseIndia proper, if it belongs to it at all, is the least typical portionof it. He therefore proposes to call it the " Malayan region,"because in the Malay countries it is most highly developed.Ceylon and the mountain ranges of Southern India have markedMalay affinities.In 1871 Mr. E. Blyth published in Nature "A suggested newDivision of the Earth into Zoological Regions," in which heindicates seven primary divisions or regions, subdivided intotwenty-six sub -regions. The seven regions are defined asfollows: 1. The Boreal region; including the whole of thePalsearctic and Nearctic regions of Mr. Sclater along with theWest Indies, Central America, the whole chain of the Andes,with Chili and Patagonia. 2. The Columbian region ; consistingof the remaining part of South America. 3. The Ethiopianregion ;comprising besides that region of Mr. Sclater, the valleyof the Jordan, Arabia, and the desert country towards India,with all the plains and table lands of India and the northern