504 



NA TURE 



{April '^o, 1874 



which are the spider monkeys, the howlers, and the mar- 

 mosets, are found in the Neotropical region, except in its 

 southern and western parts. The lemurs are mostly con- 

 fined to the island of Madagascar, some few inhabiting 

 Eastern India, and two forms occurring in Western 

 Africa. 



Among the large order of the Carnivora the lion is a 

 denizen of the forests of the Ethiopian region, and spreads 

 slightly beyond it into India. The tiger is found in the 

 Indian region, and spreads up into China and Central 

 Asia, where its coat becomes coarser in texture. The 

 leopard is distributed over the districts of the lion and 

 tiger ; it is also found in Borneo and Ceylon, whilst the 

 lynx occurs in the Neartic and Palaearctic regions. The 

 dogs are cosmopolitan, though it is doubtful whether the 

 single form of Australia has not been introduced by man 

 in early times. The bears inhabit the Pala;arctic, the 

 Nearctic, and the Indian regions, being also found in the 

 Andes of Peru. 



Among the odd-toed, or Perissodactylate Ungulates, 

 the horses and asses are strictly 01d-\Vorld forms, the 

 exact place of origin of the former being uncertain. The 

 asses are spread over the Indian and Ethiopian regions. 

 The tapir is very aberrant in its distribution, one species 

 appearing only in Sumatra and the Malay Peninsula, while 

 in the northern portion of South America and Central 

 America three others occur. The rhinoceroses are from 

 the Indian and Ethiopian regions only, the Asiatic species 

 all being now or having lately been exhibited in the Zoo- 

 logical Gardens. Those from Africa are less perfectly 

 known, only two species having been accurately deter- 

 mined. 



Among the even-toed, or Artiodactylate Ungulates, the 

 camels are very peculiar in their habitats, the Llamas of 

 the Andes and the camels of Africa, Arabia, and part of 

 Russian Asia being the only known forms ; those from the 

 last-named locality being the only known wild true camels 

 of the present day. The giraffe is purely Ethiopian. The 

 bison in North America represents the oxen of the Indian 

 region, which in Africa and Arabia are in great measure 

 replaced by the antelopes, so varied in form and size. 

 The Cervida; are not found in the Ethiopian nor Aus- 

 tralian regions. The hippopotamus inhabits all the large 

 rivers of Africa, the smaller species being found in and 

 about Liberia. Of the Swine-family the peccaries are the 

 representatives in the Neotropical region, whilst the 

 quaint Wart-Hog and Red River Hog are exclusively 

 African. 



The hyrax, or coney of Scripture, whose zoological 

 position is so uncertain, is found in Arabia and parts of 

 Africa only. 



There are only two species of elephant known, the Indian 

 being from the Indian region, and the African from the 

 Ethiopian. In very recent times they abounded in 

 Siberia, \ and earlier stdl in many other parts of the 

 world. 



The Neotropical region abounds in peculiar Edentate 

 animals, as the armadillos, sloths, and ant-eaters. The 

 scaly ant eaters or Pangolins, and the ant-bears or 

 Oiycteropu", are found, the former in India and Africa, 

 the latter in Africa only. 



Among the Insectivora, the peculiar Solenodon inhabits 

 St. Domingo ; the gilded mole, South Africa ; the 

 Tenrec, M.idagascar ; and the Tupaias, the Malay 

 districts. 



Among the Rodentia the porcupines, divided into two 

 well-distinguished sub-families, inhabit, one the Old and 

 the other the New World. The Neotropical region, how- 

 ever, is the head-quarters of the Hystricidie ; the capybara, 

 together with the agoutis, and numerous other forms 

 bemg from that locality. There are also found the 

 chinchilla and viscacha. The beaver abounds in the 

 Nearctic r<>gion, and used to do so in Europe, till the 



increase of population has almost exterminated it. The 

 hare and rabbits have a wider distribution, as have also 

 the squirrels. 



It will be noticed that Australia has been scarcely men- 

 tioned in the above remarks, and that the dog which is 

 spoken of in connection with it is not known certainly to 

 be indigenous. This is because the mammalian fauna is 

 almost entirely represented by animals of the Marsupial 

 order, the kangaroos, bandicoots, phalangers, wombat, 

 koala, thylacinc, and dasyures being peculiar to it and 

 Van Dieman's land. Among Marsupialia the group of 

 opossums is only found in the Neotropical region, extend- 

 ing quite through Mexico into the United States. 



Tiie Monotremata, including only the duck-bill or 

 ornithorhynchus and the echidna, arc confined to New 

 South Wales and Tasmania. 



{To be continued.) 



THE FLUCTUATIONS OF THE AMERICAN 

 LAKES AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF 

 SUN-SPOTS 



IN the course of an investigation, undertaken in my 

 capacity as Geologist to the B.N. A. Boundary Com- 

 mission, as to late changes of level in the Lake of the 

 Woods, bearing on the accuracy of certain former sur- 

 veys, I found it desirable to tabulate the better-known 

 fluctuations of the great lakes for a series of years as a 

 term of comparison. The observations of secular change 

 in Lake Erie are the most complete, and these, when 

 plotted out to scale, showed a series of well-marked un- 

 dtdations which suggested the possibility of a connection 

 with the eleven-yearly period of sun-spot maxima. A 

 comparison with Mr. Carrington's diagram of the latter 

 confirmed this idea, and as I do not remember to have 

 seen these phenomena connected previously, I have been 

 induced to draw out the reduction of both curves here 

 presented, and the table of the height of water ia the 

 lakes. 



The changes of level affecting the great lakes are 

 classed as follows by Colonel Whittlesey, who has given 

 much attention to the subject : — 



1. General rise and fall, extending through a period of 

 many years, which may be called the " Secular Variation." 



2. Annual rise and fall within certain limits, the period 

 of which is completed in abuut twelve months. 



3. A sudden, frequent, but irregular movement varying 

 from a few inches to several feet. This is of two kinds, 

 one due to obvious causes, such as winds and storms ; 

 another, described as a slow pendulum-like oscillation, has 

 been somewhat fully discussed by Whittlesey in a paper 

 read before the American Association at its last meeting, 

 and is due probably to barometric changes in the super- 

 incumbent atmosphere. 



The first class is the only one directly included in the 

 present inquiry. 



I. — Table of Great Lakes. — In Mr. Lockyer's new work 

 on Solar Physics, chap, xxvi., entitled " The Meteorology 

 of the Future," exhibits the parallelism of periods of 

 solar energy, as denoted by the outburst of sun-spots, 

 with the maximum periods of rainfall and cyclones, and 

 for the southern hemisphere, by a discussion of his own 

 and Mr. Meldrum's results. In the table (p. 505) I have 

 arranged the more accurate numerical observations of 

 the height of the lakes from registers kept for the last 

 few years, in a method similar to that there adopted. 



Prof. Kingston's observations of Lake Ontario were 

 taken at Toronto, and measuied upward from an arbi- 

 trary mark. They extend from the jear 1S54 to 1S69, and 

 include the minimum periods of 1856 and 1S67, and the 

 maximum of i860. Taking the mean annual level for 



