180 GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION OF ANIMALS. 



a supposition is in direct opposition to the immutability of 

 the laws of Nature. 



450. We shall hereafter see that the same laws of distri- 

 bution are not limited to the actual creation only, but that 

 they have also ruled the creations of former geological 

 epochs, and that the fossil species have lived and died, most 

 of them, in the spot where their remains are found. 



451. Even Man, although a cosmopolite, is subject, in a 

 certain sense, to this law of limitation. While he is every- 

 where the one identical species, yet several races, marked 

 by certain peculiarities of features, are recognized ; such as 

 the Caucasian, Mongolian, and African races, of which we 

 are hereafter to speak. And it is not a little remarkable, 

 that the abiding places of these several races correspond 

 very nearly, with some of the great zoological regions. 

 Thus we have a northern race, comprising the Samoyedes 

 in Asia, the Laplanders in Europe, and the Esquimaux in 

 America, corresponding to the arctic fauna (400), and 

 like it, identical on the three continents, having for its 

 southern limit the region of trees (422). In Africa, 

 we have the Hottentot and Negro races, in the south 

 and central portions respectively, while the people of 

 northern Africa are allied to their neighbors in Europe ; 

 just as we have seen to be the case with the zoologi- 

 cal fauna in general (403). The inhabitants of New 

 Holland, like its animals, are the most grotesque and un- 

 couth of all races (433). 



452. The same arrangement holds good elsewhere, 

 though not always in so remarkable a degree. In America, 

 especially, while the aboriginal race is as well distinguished 

 from other races as is its flora, the minor divisions are not 

 so decided. Indeed, the facilities, or sometimes we might 

 rather say necessities, arising from the varied supplies of 



