V " S 1 - XI ] Recent Literature. 3 J 9 



can be found in the separate halves of any of the other [zoological] 

 regions, unless they are so divided as to be very unequal in area or to 

 present very great differences in climate. But the Palaearctic and 

 Nearatic Regions are, roughly speaking, equal in area." As to the latter 

 statement, a glance at a map of these region's shows at once that the land 

 area of the 'Palaearctic' is fully three times that of the 'Nearctic' We are 

 glad to see here, however, a tacit admission that climate may have some- 

 thing to do with the distribution of life. As to the other allegation, if 

 Mr. Wallace will make the same kind of comparison between his Mediter- 

 ranean and Manchurian 'Subregions' as he makes between his Palaearctic 

 and Nearctic 'Regions,' he will find as high, and probably a much 

 higher, ratio of difference than he so ingeniously figures out for the 

 latter; it being in these areas also, that the chief differentiation of the 

 'Pahearctic' from the 'Nearctic' occurs. Of course Mr. Wallace would 

 not think of contrasting the northern and southern halves, respectively, 

 of his Nearctic and Palaearctic, owing to the contrast of climate, but 

 should he be induced to do so he would find not only a far greater 

 contrast between them than he now finds between 'Nearctic' and 

 'Palaearctic,' but that the northern half of the 'Palaearctic' has a far closer 

 resemblance to the northern half of the 'Nearctic' than it has to the 

 southern half of the 'Palaearctic' (C/". Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist., IV, 

 1892, pp. 208-211.) 



Finally Mr. Wallace works himself up to the claim that the 'Palaearctic' 

 and 'Nearctic' Regions, in comparison with other 'Regions,' "are really 

 exceptionally distinct. They are certainly much more distinct than are 

 the Oriental and Ethiopian Regions, and are probably quite as distinct as 

 are any two conterminous regions." We have already intimated how this 

 conclusion is reached. We will only say in conclusion that we regard 

 the so-called Oriental and Ethiopian 'Regions,' and the Palaearctic and 

 Nearctic 'Regions,' as life areas of the second rank, — not as primary 

 areas, as Mr. Wallace does, — the former together forming an Indo- 

 African Realm, and the latter a North Temperate Realm, both being 

 areas of primary grade, and their components respectively areas of 

 secondary grade. {Cf. Bull. U. S. Geogr. and Geol. Surv. Terr., Vol. 

 IV, No. 2, 1878.) Of course, our North Temperate Realm is equivalent 

 to the 'Holarctic' of Newton and some other recent writers, who are 

 unable to see the propriety of longer recognizing the 'Palaearctic' and 

 'Nearctic' as distinct primary regions. The case of Palaearctic and 

 Nearctic all turns on the question of whether life areas shall be laid out 

 in such a way as to give 'convenient and easily-remembered boundaries,' 

 regardless of other contingencies, or whether they shall be based on the 

 actual conditions of life, and their boundaries be so regulated as to 

 conform to, and illustrate, the facts of geographic distribution. — J. A. A. 



Publications Received. — Bendire, Charles. Descriptions of Nests and 

 Eggs of some New Birds, collected on the Island of Aldabra, Northwest 



