DISTRIBUTION OF OPHIDIANS. 199 



matters for observation. One of the most curious is, with- 

 out doubt, the total absence of serpents in the numerous 

 isles of the Pacific Ocean,* — a phenomenon the more re- 

 markable, that the islands forming the Great Indian 

 Archipelago appertain to those regions of the earth most 

 abounding in serpents. Another point no less interesting 

 to know is, that the serpents, and all the reptiles of the 

 New World, constantly belong to species different from 

 those of the ancient world, f — a proved and very curious 

 fact"; because a great many birds, and several mammals, of 

 North America, are precisely the same as those of Europe, 

 as also of a great part of Asia ; and because several of 

 our reptiles are found all over temperate Asia, even in 

 Japan, often without presenting the slightest difference. 

 South America, in general, produces different species from 

 North America, although several of them are perfectly 

 identical in those two great regions. Some species of the 

 first region also inhabit the Antilles, and are even found 

 in the southern countries of the United States, where thev 

 sometimes form climatal varieties ; other species, common 

 in North America, are found in Mexico, and are often met 

 with also in the Antilles. America, in general, especially 

 in its equatorial regions, is almost as rich in serpents as 

 Malayan Asia. It is not thus with New Holland, which 

 seems to be inhabited by only a small number of Ophi- 

 dians ; forming, perhaps with the exception of some few 

 in the northern parts, species peculiar to that vast island. 

 The serpents of Japan pertain, without exception, to pe- 

 culiar species which have not yet been observed in any 

 other spot on the globe. The numerous Isles of the 

 Archipelago of Malayan Asia often support species en- 



on the perpendicular distribution, that is to say, with regard to the 

 heights at which they are found, I here omit to speak of it. 



* Lessox (^Voyage ZooL, ii. 2, p. 9) relates some observations which 

 tend to confirm the presence of serpents in the isles of Botouma at 

 Oualan ; but these observations want confirmation. The Mariannes, 

 however, support several snakes; and Dampier, Voy. i. p. 113, speaks 

 of green serpents in the Galapagos Isles. I need not refute the hypo- 

 thesis advanced by Quo v and Gaimard ( Fow. de VUranie Part. Zooloq., 

 p. Ill), that these animals do not inhabit those isles and similar places, 

 because of their volcanic nature. 



t It may be conceived that I except from this number Sea Tortoises. 



