160 National Geographic Magazine. 



REPORT-GEOGRAPHY OF LIFE. 



C. Haet Merriam. 



During the year now drawing to a close not a single work 

 which I conceive to fall legitimately within the scope of the de- 

 partment of Geography of Life has appeared in any part of the 

 world, so far as I am aware. It being manifestly impossible, 

 then, to comply with the requirement of the By-law calling for a 

 summary of the work of the year, I may be pardoned for digress- 

 ing sufficiently to speak of what seems to be thQ function of this 

 Society in its relations to biology. 



The term ' Geography of Life^ applied without limitation or 

 qualification to one of the five departments of the Society is not 

 only comprehensive, but is susceptible of different if not diverse 

 interpretations. Indeed, without great violence it might be con- 

 strued to comprehend nearly the whole domain of systematic bot- 

 any, zoology, and anthropology. As a matter of fact, I believe 

 it was intended to include everything relating directly to the dis- 

 tribution of life on the earth. Thus it would naturally embrace 

 all sources of information which assign localities to species. 

 Local lists and faunal publications of every kind would fall under 

 this head, and also the narratives of travelers who mention the 

 animals and plants encountered in their journeys. In the single 

 branch of ornithology, about fifty per cent, of the current litera- 

 ture would have to be included. The most obvious objection to 

 this comprehensiveness of scope is the circumstance that a mere 

 bibliographic record of titles alone would fill a journal the size of 

 the National Geographic Magazine. 



Hence it may not be amiss to attempt a preliminary reconnois- 

 sance, with a view to what my friend Mr. Marcus Baker has recently 

 defined as " a Survey of Class II, for Jurisdictional purposes." 

 Let us seek therefore to run a boundary line about the territory 

 we may fairly claim without trenching on the possessions of others. 



Before doing this it becomes necessary to bear in mind certain 

 facts and laws without a knowledge of which it is impossible to 

 think intelligently on the subject. It is a matter of common ob- 

 servation that different groups of animals and plants inhabit dif- 

 ferent regions, even in the same latitude ; that some forms are 

 almost world wide in distribution ; that others are restricted to 



