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CHAPTER VII. 



DISTRIBUTION AND MIGRATION OF ANIMALS. 



THE distribution of animals over the globe is a 

 curious subject, and one involving many difficul- 

 ties, which philosophers have not the means of 

 fully elucidating. In each of the different regions 

 of the earth, there are not only plants, but also 

 different animals, which appear to be natural, as 

 it were, to the soil. In many instances, these 

 differences involve whole families of animals, 

 which are confined to certain districts ; but in 

 the majority of cases, they extend only to certain 

 species, each of which has its own particular 

 habitat. Nor is this peculiarity confined to one 

 particular class of animals, but extends equally 

 throughout all the divisions of quadrupeds, birds, 

 reptiles, fishes and insects. Man alone, of all 

 animals, is the inhabitant of every region of the 

 earth which has hitherto been explored. With 

 respect to quadrupeds, some, as the lion, ele- 

 phant, camel, hippopotamus, tiger, panther, leo- 

 pard, hyaena, giraffe, &c., are found only in hot 

 climates ; while the Avhite bear, the seal, and 

 many others, are met with only in the colder re- 

 gions near the poles. Of birds, also, the cocka- 



