chap, iv.] ZOOLOGICAL REGIONS. 59 



one, should very nearly represent the distribution of the other. 

 Mr. Sclater's regions are as follows : — 



1. The Palrearctic Region ; including Europe, Temperate Asia, 

 and N. Africa to the Atlas mountains. 



2. The Ethiopian Region ; Africa south of the Atlas, Mada- 

 gascar, and the Mascarene Islands, with Southern Arabia. 



3. The Indian Region ; including India south of the Hima- 

 layas, to South China, and to Borneo and Java. 



4. The Australian Region ; including Celebes and Lombock, 

 eastward to Australia and the Pacific Islands. 



5. The Nearctic Region ; including Greenland, and N. 

 America, to Northern Mexico. 



6. The Neotropical Region ; including South America, the 

 Antilles, and Southern Mexico. 



This division of the earth received great support from Dr. 

 Giinther, who, in the Proceedings of the Zoological Society for 

 1858, showed that the geographical distribution of Reptiles 

 agreed with it very closely, the principal difference being that 

 the reptiles of Japan have a more Indian character than the 

 birds, this being especially the case with the snakes. In the 

 volume for 1868 of the same work, Professor Huxley discusses 

 at considerable length the primary and secondary zoological 

 divisions of the earth. He gives reasons for thinking that the 

 most radical primary division, both as regards birds and mam- 

 mals, is into a Northern and Southern hemisphere (Arctoga?a 

 and Notogeea), the former, however, embracing all Africa, while 

 the latter includes only Australasia and the Neotropical or 

 Austro-Columbian region. Mr. Sclater had grouped his regions 

 primarily into Palreogaea and Neogaea, the Old and New 

 Worlds of geographers ; a division which strikingly accords 

 with the distribution of the passerine birds, but not so well 

 with that of mammalia or reptiles. Professor Huxley points 

 out that the Nearctic, Palrearctic, Indian, and Ethiopian 

 regions of Mr. Sclater have a much greater resemblance to 

 each other than any one of them has to Australia or to South 

 America ; and he further suggests that New Zealand alone has 

 peculiarities which might entitle it to rank as a primary region 



