chap, ix.] TABLES OF DISTRIBUTION. 177 



to warm regions, and becoming very scarce in the temperate 

 zones. 



Among the Diurnal and Crepuscular Lepidoptera (butterflies 

 and sphinges) the following families are cosmopolitan : — Satyridse, 

 Nymphalidae, Zygoenidas, Pieridse, Papilionidae, Hesperidae, 

 Lycaenidse, and Sphingidse. 



Of the Coleoptera almost all, except some of the small and 

 obscure families, are cosmopolitan. 



Of the terrestrial Mollusca, the Helicidse alone are true cos- 

 mopolites. 



Tables of Distribution of Families and Genera. — Having been 

 obliged to construct numerous tables of the distribution of the 

 various groups for the purposes of the descriptive part of the 

 work, I have thought it well to append the most important of 

 them, in a convenient form, to the chapter on each region ; as 

 much information will thereby be given, which can only be 

 obtained from existing works at the cost of great labour. All 

 these tables are drawn up on a uniform plan, the same generic 

 and family names being used in each ; and all are arranged in 

 the same systematic order, so as to be readily comparable 

 with each other. This, although it seems a simple and natural 

 thing to do, has involved a very great amount of labour, because 

 hardly two authors use the same names or follow the same 

 arrangement. Hence comparison between them is impossible, till 

 all their work has been picked to pieces, their synonymy un- 

 ravelled, their differences accounted for, and the materials recast ; 

 and this has to be done, not for two or three authors only, but 

 for the majority of those whose works have been consulted on 

 the zoology of any part of the globe. 



Except in the two higher orders — Mammalia and Birds — 

 materials do not exist for complete tables of the genera brought 

 down to the present time. We have given therefore, first, a 

 complete table of all the families of Vertebrata and Diurnal 

 Lepidoptera found in each region, showing the sub-regions in 

 which they occur, and their range beyond the limits of the 

 region. Families which are wholly peculiar to the region, or 



