ACADEMY OP SCIENCES] BIOGRAPHY 9 



therms of the continents are widely deflected by the irregularities of the surface of the land, 

 running nearly straight and parallel across level areas; but in mountainous districts they bend 

 abruptly northward or southward, following along the sides of mountains instead of crossing 

 them. In the same manner are species, and faunae and florae, limited — a coincidence clearly 

 indicative of the strong influence climates exert in determining their geographical limits." 



In defining the boundaries of faunal areas and in the nomenclature adopted for them Doctor 

 Allen exhibited characteristic common sense and independence of thought: " The boundaries of 

 realms and provinces," he wrote, "have often been arbitrarily fixed, inasmuch as they have been 

 frequently limited and named in conformity to the continental areas, regardless of the funda- 

 mental law of the distribution of life in circumpolar zones." He protested against " the arbi- 

 trary partitioning of an almost homogeneous Arctic Realm between two implied totally distinct 

 life regions, and also a similar division of the two slightly differentiated regions of the North 

 Temperate Realm. For nearly all the species, and hence of course the genera and families, of 

 the Arctic Realm, and a considerable percentage of the species, a large proportion of the genera, 

 and nearly all the families of the Temperate Realm, occur in the northern parts of both the 

 so-called 'Neogean' and 'Palaeogean Creations.' " These terms, he added in a footnote, together 

 with "Palaearctic," "Nearctic," etc., "like those of 'Old World' and 'New World,' have been 

 given with reference solely to the length of time the different land areas of the earth's surface 

 have been known to the dominant race of mankind, and hence regardless of the zoological history 

 of these different land areas. Modern science has taught us that the latest discovered continent 

 (Australia) is peopled with the most ancient types of animals and plants now in existence, and 

 that it is, zoologically considered, the ancient continent. Also that North and South America 

 are behind Europe, Asia, and Africa in their zoological and geological development, while they 

 are far in advance of Australia. To apply the term ' ancient ' to what is really the most recent 

 and 'modern' to what is mediaeval, is evidently too great a misuse of language to be allowable 

 in scientific nomenclature. The sciences of geographical zoology and geographical botany 

 concern not merely the geographical distribution of the animals and plants now living, but also 

 those of the past. If such descriptive terms as the above are to be employed, it is evidently 

 important that they should be used in their legitimate sense. In the present paper it has 

 hence been considered advisable to altogether discard these terms, since to use them properly 

 would necessitate their adoption in a manner directly opposite to their original and generally 

 accepted application." 



" Neotropical," as applied to southern Mexico, Central and South Americans also shown 

 to be misleading, since it includes also the South American Temperate Realm. 



The terms employed by Doctor Allen for the eight major faunal areas, or "realms," call 

 for no explanation and are, therefore, far more preferable than those which disguise an old 

 fact under a new name. They are: 



I, an Arctic Realm; II, a North Temperate Realm; III, an American Tropical Realm; IV, an Lido-African 

 Tropical Realm; V, a South American Temperate Realm; VI, an African Temperate Realm; VII, an Ant- 

 arctic Realm; VIII, an Australian Realm. 



Doctor Allen followed Baird in recognizing two provinces, an eastern and a western, within 

 the limits of the American portion of the North Temperate Realm, andhe then treated of thefaunas, 

 or minor divisions of his eastern province, in so adequate a manner that the lines he laid down 

 have not been essentially changed, and this treatise remains to-day an authoritative exposition 

 on the causes governing the distribution of life in eastern North America. 



This publication won for its author the Humboldt scholarship of the Lawrence Scientific 

 School and at once placed him in the first rank of American naturalists. It was characterized 

 by Coues (Bibliography of North American Ornithology, p. 686) as "a highly important philo- 

 sophic treatise upon the general subject, which is discussed at length with force and logical 

 consistency; the author's broad views upon this subject had at once a marked influence upon 

 ornithological thought." 

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