ZOOLOGICAL REGIONS PALAEARCTIC 97 



region, embracing the whole of Europe, Persia, Northern Arabia, 

 and all of Asia northward of the line of the Himalaya proper, 

 Japan, that part of Africa lying northward of the Sahara Desert, 

 and the oceanic islands of the North Atlantic. Secondly, the 

 Ethiopian region, which comprises all Africa lying to the south 

 of the Sahara, the southern part of Arabia, Madagascar, and the 

 Mascarene Islands. Thirdly, the Oriental or Indian region, which 

 is taken to include India south of the Himalaya, and to the 

 north-west as far as Beluchistan, the Malay peninsula, southern 

 China, Sumatra, Java, Borneo, and the Philippines. Fourthly, 

 the Australasian region, which is usually defined as being bounded 

 to the north-west by the deep sea channel lying between Borneo and 

 Celebes known as Wallace's line, and is taken to include Celebes, 

 Lumbok, New Guinea, Australia, Tasmania, New Zealand, and the 

 host of oceanic islands in the South Pacific. Several writers, how- 

 ever, prefer to regard Celebes and some of the adjacent islands as 

 representing a transitional Austro- Malayan region. Fifthly, the 

 Nearctic region, comprising Greenland and North America as far 

 south as the north of Mexico. And, sixthly, the Neotropical 

 region, which embraces the remaining portion of the American 

 continent and the West Indies. 



Various minor modifications of this scheme have been proposed. 

 Thus some writers are disposed to raise India to the rank of a 

 distinct primary region, while others propose the same for New 

 Zealand. The Palaearctic and Nearctic regions have a large number 

 of common types, more especially among the mammals, and Dr. A. 

 Heilprin l has expressed his opinion that they should be regarded 

 as a single primary region under the name of the Holarctic. The 

 same writer would also separate the South Pacific Islands as con- 

 stituting a Polynesian region. 



Minor divisions or sub-regions have also been marked out, but it 

 will be unnecessary to indicate their limits in the present work. 

 We may, however, mention the Mediterranean sub-region of the 

 Palaearctic, which includes the peninsular portion of southern 

 Europe, North Africa, Asia Minor, Persia, Afghanistan, Beluchistan, 

 and Northern Arabia, as a good instance of the transition from one 

 region to another, since its fauna has a mingling of Palaearctic, 

 Ethiopian, and Oriental types, the former being, however, the 

 predominant ones. 



Of the chief mammalian types characteristic of these various 

 regions only a brief sketch can be given in this work. 



Pal&arctic Region. The Palaearctic region is of enormous extent, 



and includes countries varying greatly in their flora, climate, and 



elevation. Thus it embraces the Arctic plains of Siberia, the warm 



regions of Italy, Southern France, and Northern Africa, the forest- 



1 Distribution of Animals. 



7 



