52 DISTRIBUTION OF ANIMALS. [part i. 



genus ; and that belongs to an Order, " Insectivora," entirely- 

 absent from South America, and to a family, " Centetidse," all 

 the other species of which inhabit Madagascar only. And as 

 if to add force to this singular correspondence we have one 

 Madagascar species of a beautiful day-flying Moth, Urania, all 

 the other species of which inhabit tropical America. These 

 insects are gorgeously arrayed in green and gold, and are quite 

 unlike any other Lepidoptera upon the globe. 



The island of Ceylon generally agrees in its productions with 

 the Southern part of India ; yet it has several birds which are 

 allied to Malayan and not to Indian groups, and a fine butterfly 

 of the genus Hestia, as well as several genera of beetles, which 

 are purely Malayan. 



Various important groups of animals are distributed in a 

 way not easy to explain. The anthropoid apes in West Africa 

 and Borneo ; the tapirs in Malaya and South America ; the 

 camel tribe in the deserts of Asia and the Andes ; the trogons 

 in South America and Tropical Asia, with one species in Africa; 

 the marsupials in Australia and America, are examples. 



The cases here adduced (and they might be greatly multiplied) 

 are merely to show the kind of problems with which the 

 naturalist now has to deal ; and in order to do so he requires 

 some system of geographical arrangement, which shall serve 

 the double purpose of affording a convenient subdivision of bis 

 subject, and at the same time of giving expression to the main 

 results at which he has arrived. Hence the recent discussions* 

 on " Zoological Eegions," or, what are the most natural 

 primary divisions of the earth as regards its forms of animal 

 life. 



The divisions in use till quite recently were of two kinds ; 

 either those ready made by geographers, more especially the 

 quarters or continents of the globe ; or those determined by 

 climate and marked out by certain parallels of latitude or by 

 isothermal lines. Either of these methods was better than 

 none at all; but from the various considerations explained in 

 the preceding chapters, it will be evident, that such divisions 

 must have often been very unnatural, and have disguised many 



