CHAPTER III 



CLASSIFICATION OF THE FACTS OF DISTRIBUTION. — 

 ZOOLOGICAL REGIONS 



The Geographical Divisions of the Globe do not correspond to Zoological 

 divisions — The range of British ]\Iammals as indicating a Zoological 

 Region — Range of East Asian and North African ^Mammals — The 

 Range of British Birds — Range of East Asian Birds — The limits of the 

 Palfiearetic Region — Characteristic features of the Palaearctic Region — 

 Definition and characteristic groups of the Ethiopian Region — Of the 

 Oriental Region — Of the Australian Region — Of the Nearctic Region — 

 Of tlie Neotropical Region — Comparison of Zoological Regions with 

 the Geographical Divisions of the Globe. 



Having now obtained some notion of how animals are 

 dispersed over the earth's sm'face, whether as single 

 species or as collected in those groups termed genera, 

 families, and orders, it will be w^ell, before proceeding 

 further, to understand something of the classification of 

 the facts we have been considering, and some of the 

 simpler conclusions these facts lead to. 



We have hitherto described the distribution of species 

 and groups of animals by means of the great geographical 

 divisions of the globe in common use ; but it will have 

 been observed that in hardly any case do these define the 

 limits of anytbing beyond species, and very seldom, or 

 perhaps never, even those accurately. Thus the term 

 " Euroj^e " will not give, with any approacli to accuracy, 

 the range of any one genus of mammals or birds, and 



