Faunal Regions 
FAUNAL REGIONS 
That branch of zoological science which treats of the geograph¬ 
ical distribution of animals is known as zoogeography. None of the 
zoological sciences has contributed more to a knowledge of the facts 
with which zoogeography deals than the science of entomology. 
Various divisions of the surface of the earth, based upon the 
character of the living beings which inhabit them, have been sug¬ 
gested. At the present time, however, it is agreed that in a 
general way five major subdivisions are sufficient for the purposes 
of the science, and we therefore recognize five faunal regions, 
namely, the Palaearctic, which includes the temperate regions of 
the eastern hemisphere; the Indo-Malayan , covering the tropics 
of Asia and the islands lying south of that great continent, in¬ 
cluding Australia; the Ethiopian , covering the continent of Africa 
south of the lands bordering on the Mediterranean, and extending 
northward into the southern part of Arabia; the Neotropical, 
covering the continent of South America and the islands of the 
Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico; and, finally, the Nearctic , 
covering the temperate and polar regions of North America. The 
butterflies with which this volume deals are mostly nearctic 
species, only a few species representing the neotropical region 
being found as stragglers into the extreme southern portion of 
the United States. 
These five faunal regions are characterized by the presence of 
certain groups of insects which are more or less peculiar to them. 
In the Palsearctic Region, for instance, we find a very great de^ 
velopment of the Satyrince , of the genera Argynnis, Melitcea, 
and Lyccena, and of the genus Colias . The genus Papilio is but 
poorly represented, there being only three species found on the 
entire continent of Europe, and comparatively few in Asia north 
of the Himalayan mountain-ranges. 
As soon as we pass from the boundaries of’the Palsearctic 
Region into India there is discovered a great number of species 
of the genus Papilio. The Euplceince , of various genera, swarm, 
and splendid creatures, magnificent in color, present themselves, 
replacing among the Nymphalince the small and obscurely col¬ 
ored forms which are found among the mountains of Europe and 
on the great Asiatic steppes. In the Indo-Malayan Region one 
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