New Zealand Region 29 



It has been found possible to divide the land-masses of the world into a 

 number of faunal (and floral) areas, each of which is more or less strongly charac- 

 terized by the presence or marked absence of certain dominant or peculiar forms 

 of life. The failure of early attempts at such delimitation was due, as already 

 pointed out, to the effort to make them conform to the lines of political division, 

 or to degrees of latitude and longitude ; and while naturalists are even now not 

 in accord as to the number of primary divisions that should be recognized, Mr. 

 P. L. Sclater was the first to put the subject on a scientific basis by applying to it 

 a logical principle. The contention that "convenience, intelligibility, and cus- 

 tom should largely guide us" in prescribing life areas has long been discredited, 

 for it is now obvious that the mere size of an area can have no real weight so 

 long as it is sufficiently characterized. It should not be inferred, however, that 

 these life areas, whatever their size and grade, are always sharply circumscribed 

 by hard and fast lines ; for while it is possible to define them with considerable 

 definiteness in a general way, it rarely happens that a change from one to another 

 is abrupt. Perhaps the most notable example of a sharp line of demarcation 

 is that passing between the islands of Bali and Lombok and separating the 

 Australian and Indian Regions. There is usually an area of greater or less 

 width in which there is a commingling of the life forms of adjacent divisions, a 

 neutral ground or transition area, as it is called. On the whole, however, it is 

 found that these lines correspond quite closely to isothermal lines, or the lines 

 of equal temperature. 



Sclater demonstrated that the surface of the globe exhibited six great divi- 

 sions, each of which differed in a marked manner from all the rest, though the 

 difference was not always equally important. These divisions, which he called 

 Regions, are as follows: Palaearctic, Ethiopian, Indian, Australian, Nearctic, 

 and Neotropical. For upwards of twenty-five years most writers on the subject 

 accepted this classification with little change, though the conviction slowly gained 

 ground that the distinction between the fauna of the northern portions of the Old 

 and New Worlds was not as pronounced as had been thought. In 1893 Dr. J. A. 

 Allen proposed a new classification, denominating the divisions of the first rank 

 Realms, while those of second rank were called Regions, those of the third rank 

 Provinces, of the fourth rank Subprovinces or Districts, and those of fifth rank 

 Faunas. He recognized seven Realms: Arctic, North Temperate, American 

 Tropical, Indo-African, South American Temperate, Australian, and Lemurian. 

 In the same year Professor Alfred Newton proposed an arrangement which 

 retained the number of Regions recognized by Sclater, but their outlines were 

 very different. They are as follows: New Zealand, Australian, Neotropical, 

 Holarctic, Ethiopian, and Indian, and while in some respects it seems somewhat 

 less logical than Dr. Allen's, it is more conveniently followed here. 



The New Zealand Region. There has been considerable discussion as to 

 the propriety of considering this as a life area of primary rank, but notwith- 

 standing the fact that it is by far the smaller of the areas usually so considered, 

 it is sufficiently well characterized to warrant this distinction, and in fact cannot 

 well be referred to any other Region. Regarding the matter of size it may be 



