MO Analysis of Ike Lalmirs of the Royal Academy 



each ; and the species even of those which are common to both, 

 present very perceptible differences. The insects of the countries 

 which surround the Mediterranean, those of the Black and Ca- 

 spian Seas, and those also of a great part of Africa, present a 

 great similarity. These countries form particularly the region 

 of the coleoplcra. America presents us, besides the genera pe- 

 culiar to itself, with a great number of herbivorous insects, such 

 as the clirysomela, the cassida, the papilin, &c. Those of Asia 

 beyond the Indus possess a great affinity in respect of the fa- 

 milies and genera of which they make a part. The species of 

 New Holland, although neighbours to those of the Moluccas, are 

 distinguished by some essential characteristics. The isles of the 

 South Sea and of South America seem to indicate in this respect 

 some general affinities, although the entomology of Africa is 

 directly contrasted in many points with that of South America. 

 In the west of Europe the prevalence of meridional insects 

 becomes very manifest, when, going from north to south, we ar- 

 rive at those countries which are favourable to the culture of 

 the olive. The presence of the scorpion announces this re- 

 markable change of temperature ; but in North America the 

 same change does not take place until about five or six degrees 

 of latitude nearer the equator. The form of the new continent 

 and the nature of its soil and climate are the causes of this dif- 

 ference, 



M- Latreille presents us in the sequel with a new division of 

 the earth by climates. Greenland, although very close to Ame- 

 rica, appears, according to Otho Fabricius, rather to ally itself in 

 tiiis respect to the north and west of Europe. It may still, how- 

 everjbe considered as an intermedial land between the two worlds. 

 Adopting this view, M. Latreille takes it as the point of depar- 

 ture of a first meridian, which, passing 34° to the west of that of 

 Paris, extends into the Atlantic Ocean, and terminates at the 

 Sandwich Islands in 60° south lat., being the ne plus ultra of our 

 discoveries towards the antarctic pole. This meridian, from 84" 

 north lat., the last approximative boundary of vegetation, to 64° 

 south lat., is divided at every twelve degrees by circles parallel to 

 the equator. The intervals form so many climates, which M. La- 

 treille designates by the names of polar, subpolar, superior, inter- 

 medial, surtropical, tropical, and equatorial. M. Latreille next 

 divides the two hemispheres by another meridian, which he fixes 

 at 180^ to the east of that of Paris, and then separates each 

 continent into two great parts by means of two other meridians ; 

 the one 62" more easterly than that of Paris, and touching on 

 the western limits of the Indian Sea; the other intersecting 

 America at 160" to the west of the meridian of Paris, and de- 

 •iching the part of that continent which geographically, and also 



perhaps 



