422 Reviews — ScJiarff's Origin of the European Fauna. 



Taking the fauna as a whole, we find that we can establish three 

 distinct divisions as follows : — 



T. Animals with a wide distribution, 

 11. Animals with a Northern distribution. 

 Ill, Animals with a Southern distribution. 



"I. Those of the first division comprise all animals whose origin 

 is obscure. Many of them may, at some time or other, have been 

 introduced by man, such as the rat or the mouse. The majority, 

 however, I think, are of great antiquity, and their origin dates from 

 some remote geological age. They appear to be mostly indifferent 

 to changes of temperature, and many thrive equally well in cold and 

 in hot countries. The small brown slug [Agriolimax Icevis), the 

 painted lady butterfly {Vanessa cardui), and the barn owl (Strix 

 flammea) are familiar examples. 



" II. To the animals of the second division belong those of which 

 we have distinct evidence, from their geographical range, that they 

 are of Arctic origin. As I hope to prove later on, they have arrived 

 in Ireland directly from the north. Among the ruammals the 

 reindeer (Rangifer tarandus, Linn.), which formerly inhabited this 

 country, the Irish stoat, and the Irish hare form part of this 

 northern section. The beetles PelopMla borealis and Blethisa 

 multipunctata, the butterfly Ccenonymplia typhon, the small shell 

 Vertigo alpestrts, as well as the common stickleback (Gasterosteus 

 aculeatus), have all reached Ireland from the north. ^ 



" III. The third division includes the bulk of the Irish fauna. 

 In the first place, we have to consider those animals whose birth- 

 place appears to be in South- Western Europe, then we have those 

 which originated in the South or South-Central Europe, whilst there 

 are others which came to Ireland from the south-west, though they 

 may primarily have migrated there from Central Asia across 

 Southern Europe. Xo very strict line can be drawn between the 

 animals of South-Central and those of South- Western European 

 origin, but we may with Edward Forbes^ regard the most southern 

 as the oldest. A good many of these are altogether absent from 

 England, whilst they are mostly confined to the west coast in 

 Ireland. Taking all the Irish southern types into account, we find 

 that the majority are confined, in the remainder of the British Isles, 

 to the south-western parts of England and Wales. In some cases 

 they appear again in the extreme north of England and in Scotland, 

 without, however, being known in the intermediate tracts. 



" We can subdivide this southern fauna, therefore, into a south- 

 western and a south-central one : to the former belong the well- 

 known bullfinch {Pyrrhula PJuropcea), the dipper (Cinclus aquaticus), 

 and the natterjack toad (Bnfo calamita) ; also the following 



^ Among the Irish plants we have some species, such as Spiranthes Homan- 

 zoviana, Eriocaulon septangulare, and Sisyrhynchium angustifolium, which appear 

 to belong to the same division. 



^ " The Connection between the Distribution of the existing Fauna and Flora of 

 the British Isles with the Geological Changes which have affected their area " : 

 Mem. Oeol. Surv., vol, i, 1S46. 



