2 THE WANDERINGS OF ANIMALS 



require a great stretch of imagination. It is another 

 thing to be told that such an essentially Asiatic beast 

 as the camel had its origin in North America, where 

 now there are none, whilst, to balance the account, 

 the American bison is a rather recent immigrant from 

 the Old World, where he lingers now in the Caucasus 

 only. We may well feel bewildered *by such ex- 

 changes, and are forced to give up the cherished 

 notion that the original home of a creature is that 

 country where it is now most abundant. If this 

 were always the case, zoological geography would 

 be an easy matter. To trace the animals back to 

 their original home, to follow their wanderings, suc- 

 cesses and failures, the changes which they have 

 undergone by adaptation to new and altered environ- 

 ment, and to account for the composition of faunas 

 of the various countries and seas, is the fascinating 

 study of animal distribution. 



This study has itself passed through various 

 stages. The legend of Noah's flood contains a con- 

 siderable amount of shrewd sense. It is the first 

 treatise on geographical distribution. Given the 

 animals and in spite of all the advances of modern 

 science we have to abide by the same premises the 

 limited fauna of that part of the world started afresh 

 on Mount Ararat, the only remaining land, or, as we 

 put it now in scientific terms, the only continental 

 remnant which was not atfected by a world-wide 



