764 GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION OF ANIMALS. 



"2. The Ethiopian, embracing all of Africa south of the 

 Atlas Mountains, the southern portion of the Arabian Pen- 

 insula, Madagascar, and the Mascarene Islands, and which, 

 consequently, nearly coincides with the Africa of geo- 

 graphers : 



" 3. The Oriental or Indian, which embraces India south 

 of the Himalayas, Farther India, Southern China, Sumatra, 

 Java, Bali, Borneo, and the Philippines : 



"4. The Australian, comprising the continent of Aus- 

 tralia, with Papua or New Guinea, Celebes, Lombok, and 

 the numerous islands of the Pacific : 



"5. The Nearctic, which embraces Greenland, and the 

 greater portion of the continent of North America (exclud- 

 ing Mexico) : 



" 6. The Neotropical, corresponding to the continent of 

 South America, with Central America, the West Indies, and 

 the greater portion of Mexico." 



Professor Heilprin makes several modifications on this 

 scheme of distribution : (a) uniting Palsearctic and Nearctic 

 in one Holarctic realm ; (b) establishing a special Poly- 

 nesian realm for the scattered island groups of the Pacific ; 

 and (c) defining three transition regions, (i) around the 

 Mediterranean, intermediate between Palaearctic, Ethiopian, 

 and Oriental, (2) Lower California between Western Hoi- 

 arctic and Neotropical, and (3) the Austro-Malaysian islands 

 lying to the east of Bali and Borneo, inclusive of the 

 Solomon islands, a region intermediate between Oriental, 

 Australian, and Polynesian. It seems also convenient to 

 recognise two polar regions, Arctic and Antarctic. Of 

 the last, we have had as yet only glimpses. 



It may be useful to map out the divisions as follows : 



(Arctic. ) 

 NEARCTIC. PAL^ARCTIC. 



| Holarctic. | 



Transition Transition 



to to ORIENTAL. 



I 



Transition to Polynesian 



and to 



Polynesian NEOTROPICAL. ETHIOPIAN. AUSTRALIAN. 

 (Antarctic.) 



