86 GEOGRAPHY OF ANIMALS IN SOUTH DEVON. 



pose to apply them within limits of which we have 

 some knowledge ; in doing which we must in limine 

 survey the circumstances existing in them ; the phy- 

 sical conditions of the country ; these are climate, 

 food, geographical situation, and arrangement of 

 land and water, melioration, cultivation, and planting ; 

 whilst, lastly, a most important influence on the 

 limits, and existence of animals, will be found in the 

 hostile efforts of man. In no country perhaps are 

 these influences on the Geography of Animals, more 

 amply illustrated than in this : and certainly the im- 

 portance of attending to them must be correspond- 

 ingly increased. 



By the term climate, we shall here understand, 

 the temperature of the seasons, the winds usually 

 prevalent in them, the dryness, or humidity of the 

 atmosphere experienced in each, the occurrence of 

 rains, drought, continued cold, or heat, and indeed 

 every other phenomenon of "weather," the result 

 of meteorological, astronomical, or geological causes. 

 If temperature depended solely on proximity to, or 

 distance from, the equator, we could readily calcu- 

 late upon the occurrence of animals of a certain or- 

 ganization, by comparison with other countries ; but 

 we find that other causes are in operation, such as 

 the adjacency of the ocean, rivers, hills. Sec, the 

 state of vegetation, and so forth. From the circum- 

 stance of our latitude, it might be concluded that 

 our winters would be severe : yet such is not the 

 case generally ; and it has been clearly shewn that 

 situations even nearer to the equator, provided they 

 are not bordering on the sea, have a winter colder 

 by several degrees than ours : neighbourhood to the 

 sea must then be accounted the cause of the usual 

 mildness of winters in this island and especially in 

 its south ; the temperature of the ocean, indeed, va- 

 ries little compared with that of the land, and thus it 

 is that, being influenced by the temperature wafted to 

 us, we. experience less decided changes in the seasons 

 throughout the year than inland localities. Prox- 



