1895. SOME NEW BOOKS. 355 



invertebrates. The plan of the work can be thoroughly commended. 

 The opening chapter deals with the general facts of distribution, 

 giving instances of wide, discontinuous, and restricted ranges, and 

 sketching the distribution of certain selected groups of vertebrates 

 and invertebrates. In compiling his facts as to reptiles, Mr. Beddard 

 makes use of Mr. Boulenger"s recent British ^luseum catalogues. 

 Summaries of the distribution of earthworms and land planarians are 

 specially welcome ; and the main results of ^Ir. Pocock's paper in 

 Natural Science (May, 1894) on the distribution of scorpions are set 

 forth, though it is unfortunate that Mr. Beddard's remarks on the 

 Buthida^ seem to suggest that the archaic character of a pentagonal 

 sternum is usual in that family instead of exceptional. In his 

 chapter on Zoological Geography, Mr. Beddard adopts the well- 

 known six regions of Sclater. It is surprising to find here that the 

 only alternative suggested to the retention of the Palaearctic and 

 Nearctic Regions is the adoption of Heilprin's Holarctic Realm 

 comprising the two. In the concluding chapter, however, a reference 

 to Hart Merriam's proposed Boreal and Sonoran Regions {see Nat. Sci., 

 July, 1S94) is to be found. Mr. Beddard furnishes under each region 

 and sub-region a concise list of the pecuHar and most characteristic 

 vertebrates. He also gives some useful illustrations of graphic methods 

 for indicating the main facts of distribution without maps, by means 

 of lines arranged to form spaces roughly approximating to the relative 

 positions of the various regions. 



The third chapter is devoted to the causes influencing distri- 

 bution ; and here the author discusses what physical features serve 

 as barriers to the extension of various animals and what means 

 special groups have of migrating from country to country. The 

 earthworms are again used in illustration, and Mr. Beddard's remarks 

 on their transmission by human agency are of special interest. In the 

 coast regions and near the towns of tropical countries, European 

 species abound, while in the interior the true indigenous worm-fauna 

 is to be found. In this chapter there is also an impartial summary of 

 the evidence for and against the permanence of oceanic and conti- 

 nental areas. Considerable space is devoted to a discussion of the 

 supposed former northward extension of the Antarctic Continent, and 

 the evidence in favour of such a view to be derived from the presence 

 of identical genera of earthworms (Acanthodrilidae) in New Zealand 

 and Patagonia is stated with much force. From his review of the 

 facts for and against " Lemuria," it appears that Mr. Beddard does 

 not share Dr. Wallace's absolute disbeHef in that much-disputed 

 hypothetical tract. The fourth chapter deals with the fauna of 

 islands, and necessarily recalls " Island Life." The animals of the 

 British Isles, Madagascar, the Galapagos, and New Zealand— all 

 dealt with by Dr. Wallace— are briefly sketched, but new examples 

 of oceanic islands are given by Mr. Beddard in Fernando Noronha 

 and Kerguelen. The sketch of the former — an archipelago not quite 

 200 miles off Brazil— is summarised from a report by Mr. Ridley, and 

 its fauna shows West Indian affinities, though the winged forms have 

 a South American facies. With regard to the animals of Kerguelen, 

 Mr. Beddard points out their poverty in numbers but their wealth in 

 peculiar forms. Some general remarks on the characteristics of island 

 animals conclude the chapter, from which the author surmises that 

 there is a tendency in such forms to darken in colour. 



The section on the British fauna is unsatisfactory. The reader 

 would conclude from Mr. Beddard's remarks (p. 185) that the extinct 

 -' Large Copper " butterfly [Polyommains dispar) was confined to Britain, 



