DISTRIBUTION OF THE FAUNAS. 203 



1st. The fauna of Europe, which is very closely related to 

 that of the United States proper. 



2d. The fauna of Siberia, separated from the fauna of 

 Europe by the Ural Mountains. 



3d. The fauna of the Asiatic table-land, which, from what 

 is as yet known of it, appears to be quite distinct. 



4th. The fauna of China and Japan, which is analogous 

 to that of Europe in the Birds, and to that of the United 

 States in the Reptiles as it it also in the flora. 



Lastly, it is in the temperate zone of the northern hemi- 

 sphere that we meet with the most striking example of 

 those local faunas which have been mentioned above. 

 Such, for example, is the fauna of the Caspian Sea, of the 

 steppes of Tartary, and of the Western prairies. 



432. The faunas of the southern temperate regions differ 

 from those of the tropics as much as the northern temperate 

 faunas do ; and, like them also, may be distinguished into 

 two provinces, the colder of which embraces Patagonia. 

 But besides differing from the tropical faunas, they are also 

 quite unlike each other on the different continents. Instead 

 of that general resemblance, that family likeness which we 

 have noticed between all the faunas of the temperate zone 

 of the northern hemisphere, we find here the most complete 

 contrasts. Each of the three continental peninsulas which 

 jut out southerly into the ocean represents, in some sense, a 

 separate world. The animals of South America, beyond the 

 tropic of Capricorn, are in all respects different from those 

 at the southern extremity of Africa. The hyenas, wild- 

 boars, and rhinoceroses of the Cape of Good Hope have no 

 analogues on the American continent ; and the difference is 

 equally great between the birds, reptiles and fishes, insects 

 and mollusks. Among the most characteristic animals of 



O 



the southern extremity of America are peculiar species of 

 seals, and especially, among aquatic birds, the penguins. 



