1544 THE STORY OF THE UNIVERSE 



tive to the European soil. The moufflon of Sardinia 

 was perhaps the ancestor of at least some of our 

 breeds of sheep. 



The birds of Europe display a greater number and 

 variety of species than its land animals. This is es- 

 pecially the case in regard to the family of aquatic 

 birds always most numerous in the higher latitudes. 

 More than thirty species of the duck tribe alone be- 

 long to Northern Europe, some of them being com- 

 mon to the corresponding latitudes of Asia and the 

 New World. The stork and the crane (both of mi- 

 gratory habits) belong to the maritime regions of 

 Western Europe; the pelican, the spoon-bill, and the 

 scarlet flamingo, to the shores of the Mediterranean. 



Europe has fewer species (as well as fewer indi- 

 viduals) of the reptile kind than either of the other 

 divisions of the globe a happy exemption, which is 

 due to its temperate climate. The only venomous 

 serpents found in Europe are three species of viper, 

 all of them confined to its southern snores : the com- 

 mon viper of middle and Northern Europe is innoc- 

 uous. 'Lizards are common in the south, as many as 

 sixty-three species being enumerated. 



The waters of Europe exhibit a rich variety of fish, 

 a vast number of them useful as to the food of man. 

 Each of its inland seas has its own peculiar tribes, the 

 Mediterranean basin displaying the richest diversity. 

 Among the inhabitants of the Mediterranean are sev- 

 eral sharks, swordfish, dolphins, and six species of 

 tunny the last-mentioned the largest of edible fish. 

 The anchovy is peculiar to the Mediterranean. The 

 seas that lie around the British Islands abound in 



