GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION 417 



Palczarctic Birds (Aves]. Among the genera which are 

 limited to this region are some of those including a number of 

 our familiar British forms, e.g. Grasshopper Warbler (Locustelld], 

 Robin Redbreast (Er it hocus), " Bearded Tit " or Reedling 

 (Panurus), Long- tailed Tit (Acredula)^ Buntings (Emberiza), 

 Chaffinch (Fringilld], Bullfinch (Pyrrhuld], Jay (Garrulus\ Nut- 

 cracker (Nucifragd), and Partridge (Perdix). Ordinary Pheasants 

 (Phasianus) and some of their more ornamental relatives are 

 also very characteristic Palsearctic forms. Some other British 

 birds belong to holarctic genera, e.g. Red Grouse and Ptarmigan 

 (Lagopus), Capercailzie (Tetrad], Divers (Colymbus], Razor- Bills 

 (A lea), Guillemots (Urid), and Puffins (Fraierculd). 



Palczarctic Reptiles (Reptilid]. A solitary species of Alli- 

 gator {Alligator Sinensis] is native to South China. Our 

 indigenous Blind -Worm represents a purely Palaearctic genus 

 (Anguis) of limbless lizards, while that (Lacertd] which includes 

 the Sand -Lizard, Green -Lizard, and Wall -Lizard is hardly 

 represented outside the region. 



Palaarctic Amphibians (Amphibia). Peculiar to this region 

 are the genera including the Fire -bellied Toads (Bombinator), 

 that form (Alytes] in which the male carries about the egg- 

 masses, and the Salamanders (Salamandra). It is also inter- 

 esting to notice that the great majority of Tailed Amphibians 

 (Urodela) are limited to the Northern Hemisphere. 



Palaarctic Fishes (Pisces). Among British freshwater fishes, 

 Carp and Tench may be mentioned as representing genera 

 (Cyprinus and Tinea] peculiar to the region, as also are the Gold- 

 fishes, &c. (Carassius), of China and Japan. There are also some 

 families of fishes which are very characteristic of the Northern 

 Hemisphere, e.g. those containing Pikes (Esocid&\ Sticklebacks 

 (Gasterosteida), and Salmon (Salmonida). Most of the curious 

 archaic Ganoids (Ganoidei) also belong to the same hemisphere. 

 These forms (see vol. i, p. 266) present a good example of a 

 discontinuous area of distribution to be explained in the same 

 way as that of the Lung-Fishes (see p. 266). 



Palczarctic Insects (Insectd). Perhaps the most striking 

 feature of the region is the great abundance of predaceous 

 Ground- Beetles (Carabida) which it possesses, regarding which 

 Wallace says (in Island Life] that "... the large and handsome 

 genus Carabus, with its allies Procerus and Procrustes, contain- 



