24 Geographical Distribution of Animals. 



per ate zone east of the Ural Mountains, and the American 

 temperate zone, which may be subdivided into two, the eastern 

 and the western — for the animals east and west of the Rocky 

 Mountains differ sufficiently to constitute two distinct zoolo- 

 gical provinces. Next, the tropical zone, containing the 

 African zoological province, which extends over the main part 

 of the African continent, including all the country south of 

 the Atlas and north of the Cape Colonies; the tropical 

 Asiatic province, south of the great Himalayan chain, and 

 including the Sunda Islands, whose Fauna has quite a con- 

 tinental character, and differs entirely from that of the 

 Islands of the Pacific, as well as from that of New Holland ; 

 the American tropical province, including Central America, 

 the West Indies, and tropical South America. Nerc Holland 

 constitutes in itself a special province, notwithstanding the 

 great differences of its northern and southern climate, the 

 animals of the whole continent preserving throughout their 

 peculiar typical character. But it were a mistake to conceive 

 that the Faunw or natural groups of animals are to be 

 limited according to the boundaries of the mainland. On the 

 contrary we may trace their natural limits into the ocean, 

 and refer to the temperate European Fauna the eastern shores 

 of the Atlantic, as we refer its western shores to the Ame- 

 rican temperate Fauna. Again, the eastern shores of the 

 Pacific belong to the western American Fauna, as the western 

 Pacific shores belong to the Asiatic Fauna. In the Atlantic 

 Ocean there is no purely oceanic Fauna to be distinguished, 

 but in the Pacific we have such a Fauna, entirely marine 

 in its main character, though interspread with innumerable 

 islands extending east of the Sunda Islands and New Holland 

 to the western shores of tropical America. The islands west 

 of tliis continent seem, indeed, to have very slight relations 

 in their zoological character with the western parts of the 

 mainland. South of the tropical zone we have the South 

 American temperate Fauna, and that of the Cape of Good 

 Hope, as other distinct zoological provinces. Van Diemen's 

 Land, however, does not constitute a zoological province in 

 itself, but belongs to the province of New Holland, by its 

 zoological character. Finally, the antarctic circle encloses a 



