ZOO-GEOGKAPHY* 

 A Study of Life Zones 



BY C. S. BEIMLEY 



The intention of this paper is to discuss briefly, first, the 

 primary life areas of the world, second, the life zones of ]!^orth 

 America, and thirdly the zoo-geographical divisions of our own 

 state, l^orth Carolina. 



The primary life areas of the world appear to me to be five 

 in number, namely: 



An Australian Realm, consisting of Australia proper, ISTew 

 Guinea and the adjacent islands as far west as Celebes and Lom- 

 bok. To these are also added ]^ew Zealand and the islands of 

 Oceania. 



A Neo-tropical Realm., comprising South America, Central 

 America, the West Indies, and the coasts of Mexico. 



An Ethiopian Realm, consisting of Africa south of the Sahara 

 Desert, southern Arabia, and the island of Madagascar. 



An Indian or Oriental Realm, including India, Further In- 

 dia, part of southern China, and the neighboring islands of the 

 Malay Archipelago as far east as Borneo and Java. 



A Northern Realm, comprising ISTorth America, Europe, 

 northern and central Asia, and northern Africa, being equiva- 

 lent to the combined ISTearctic and Palsearctic Realms of Sclater 

 and later writers. 



This is practically the first system ever proposed, that of 

 Sclater, 1858, with only one alteration, the combining of his 

 Palaearctic and ISTeartic Realms into a single' ISJ'orthern Realm. 

 Many systems have been suggested since, these consisting largely 

 of different groupings of Sclater's original six realms, with or 

 without the addition of certain others, constructed either of 

 single islands as in the case of Madagascar, or of groups, as in 

 the case of Oceania. The Arctic regions have also been set off 

 as a distinct realm but this does not seem to be a tenable po- 

 sition as all the Arctic animals belong to families attaining their 

 full development further south. An Antarctic realm has also 



*Presidential address before the North Carolina Academy of Science, Greens- 

 boro, N. C, April 25, 1913. 



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