DISTRIBUTION OF OPHIDIAN?!. 207 



and Pyrenees, or in Sonthern Africa. The geographic 

 distribution furnishes numerous facts for illustrating our 

 position. It is well known that there exist, in different 

 parts of Europe, and of the north in general, Lynxes 

 differing more or less from each other, which seem dis- 

 tinct races, produced by the influence of climate on the 

 fur.* The Fox of the north t is of a stronger make, and 

 has a thicker fur, than that of the south of Europe : in 

 Italy it remains very small, and has a black belly (Canis 

 melanogaster, Bon.) The Stoat (Mustela erminea) of 

 Sardinia and of Sicily, | differs a little in tint from indi- 

 viduals found in the rest of Europe. The Rat (Mus de- 

 cumanus) is replaced in the south of Italy by a race 

 somewhat different : it is the Mus tectorum of the 

 Prince of Musignano. Another very curious animal, 

 which in many places represents our Mole, is the Blind 

 Mole (Talpa Typhlops). It is known that the Chamois of 

 the Alps presents slight differences from that of the Py- 

 renees ; it would be interesting to know, if it also holds 

 of the Bouquetins (Capra ibex) of those two chains of 

 mountains. Reptiles, in like manner, present many ex- 

 amples of these local differences : our aquatic Salaman- 

 ders frequently exhibit in the south more vivid colours 

 than in the west of Europe ; while the common Toads of 

 Italy have more uniform colours than usual, and the body 

 is rough with spines. Slight differences exist between 

 the Greek Tortoise of Italy, of Greece, of Syria, and of 

 the north of Africa. The common Frog often has, in 

 Sardinia, the body covered with large obsolete spots : in 



* The same thinj^ is remarked in the Tigers of the north of Asia, 

 compared to those of Bengal, or even of Sumatra and Java ; similar 

 phenomena are remarked in certain plants with smooth leaves, which, 

 carried into a cold climate, hecome clothed with hairs, to defend them 

 from the cold. 



t Japan, situated under the same parallel as the south of Europe, 

 produces Foxes of a strong make, and of a beautiful fur, but much re- 

 sembling our European Fox ; of which a fine variety is also known in 

 the north of America (Canis argentatus, Geoff). 



j Species have been created on a pretended difference in the num- 

 ber of the grinders — an observation which it is scarcely necessary to 

 refute. 



