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 scent, t 

 betweei! 



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329 



CHAPTER XXXVIII. 



ON THE GEOGRAPHICAL DISTEIEUTION OP SPECIES. 



GEOGRAPHIC2VL DISTRIBUTION OF AXIMALS — EUFFOX ON SPECIFIC DISTINCT- 

 NESS OF QUADRUPEDS OF THE OLD AND NP:^' "^'OELDS DOCTRINE OF 'NATURAL 



BARRIERS ' — AUSTRALIAN MARSUPIALS — GEOGRAPHICAL RELATION OF EXTINCT 

 FOSSIL FORMS TO THEIR NEAREST ALLIED LIFTING GENERA AND SPECIES 



GEOGRAPHICAL PROVINCES OF BIRDS ACCORDING TO DR. SCLATER — THEIR 

 APPLICABITJTY TO ANIMALS AND PLANTS GENERALLY NEOTROPICAL REGION 



NEARCTIC — PALiEARCTIC ETHIOPIAN INDIAN AUSTRALIAN AVALLACE ON 



THE LIMITS OF THE INDIAN AND AUSTRALIAN REGIONS IN THE MALAY ARCHI- 

 PELAGO. 



Geocrafhical distribution of animals.— 



speculating on ^ philosopliical possibilities/ said Bnffon, 



■Altliougli in 



mi 



cumstance 



same beings in different parts of tbe globe^ both in tbe 

 animal and vegetable kingdoms^ yet it is an nndonbted fact^ 

 that when America was discovered^ its indigenous quadrupeds 

 were all dissimilar to those previously knowm in the Old 

 World. The elephant, the rhinoceros, the hippopotamus, 



the 



camelopard, the camel, the dromedary, the buffalo, the 

 horse, the ass, the lion, the tiger, the apes, the baboons, and 



mammalia 



to be met with 



on tlie new continent ; wliile in the old, the American species, 

 of the same great class, were nowhere to be seen — the tapir, 

 the lama, the pecari, the jaguar, the conguar, the agouti, the 

 paca, the coati, and the sloth.' 



These phenomena, although few in number relatively to 

 the whole animate creation, were so striking and so positive 

 in their nature, that the great French naturalist caught sight 

 at once of a general law in the geographical distribution of 

 organic beings, namely, the limitation of groups of distinct 

 species to regions separated from the rest of the globe by 

 certain natural barriers. It was, therefore, in a truly philo- 



