52 



THE CABINET OF NATURAL HISTORY, 



These phenomena, although few in number relatively to 

 the whole animate creation, were so striking and so posi- 

 tive in their nature, that the French naturalist caught 

 sight at once of a general law in the geographical distribu- 

 tion 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 philosophical spirit, that relying on the clearness of 

 the evidence obtained respecting the larger quadrupeds, 

 he ventured to call in question the identifications announced 

 by some contemporary naturalists, of species of animals 

 said to be common to the southern extremities of Ame- 

 rica and Africa. 



The migration of quadrupeds from one part of the globe 

 to the other, observes one of our ablest writers, is prevent- 

 ed by uncongenial climates, and the branches of the ocean 

 which intersect continents. "Hence, by a reference to 

 the geographical site of countries, we may divide the earth 

 into a certain number of regions fitted to become the abodes 

 of particular groups of animals, and we shall find, on in- 

 quiry, that each of these provinces, thus conjecturally 

 marked out, is actually inhabited by a distinct nation of 

 quadrupeds." 



Where the continents of the old and new world approxi- 

 mate to each other towards the north, the narrow straits 

 which separate them are frozen over in winter, and the 

 distance is further lessened by intervening islands. Thus 

 a passage from one continent to another becomes practica- 

 ble to such quadrupeds as are fitted to endure the intense 

 cold of the arctic circle. Accordingly, the whole arctic 

 region has become one of the provinces of the animal king- 

 dom, and contains many species common to both the great 

 continents. But the temperate regions of America, which 

 are separated by a wide extent of ocean from those of 

 Europe and Asia, contain each a distinct nation of indige- 

 nous quadrupeds. There are three groups of tropical 

 mammalia, belonging severally to America, Africa, and 

 continental India, each inhabiting lands separated from 

 each other by the ocean. 



In Peru and Chili, says Humboldt, the region of the 

 grasses, which is at an elevation of from twelve thousand 

 three hundred to fifteen thousand four hundred feet, is in- 

 habited by crowds of lama, guanaco, and alpaca. These 

 quadrupeds, which here represent the genus camel of the 

 ancient continent, have net extended themselves either to 

 Brazil or Mexico, because, during their journey, they 

 must necessarily have descended into regions that were too 

 hot for them. 



New Holland is well known to contain a most singular 

 and characteristic assemblage of mammiferous animals, con- 

 sisting of more than forty species of the marsupial family, 



of which no congeners even occur elsewhere, with the 

 exception of a few American opossums. This exclusive 

 occupation of the Australian continent by the kangaroos 

 and other tribes of pouched animals, although it has justly 

 excited great attention, is a fact, nevertheless, in strict 

 accordance with the general laws of the distribution of 

 species; since, in other parts of the globe, we find pecu- 

 liarities of form, structure, and habit, in birds, reptiles, 

 insects, or plants, confined entirely to one hemisphere, or 

 one continent, and sometimes to much narrower limits. 



The southern region of Africa, where that continent 

 extends into the temperate zone, constitutes another sepa- 

 rate zoological province, surrounded as it is on three sides 

 by the ocean, and cut off from the countries of milder 

 climate, in the northern hemisphere, by the intervening 

 torrid zone. In many instances, this region contains the 

 same genera which are found in temperate climates to the 

 northward of the line; but then the southern are different 

 from the northern species. Thus in the south we find the 

 quagga and the zebra; in the north, the horse, the ass, and 

 thejiggetai of Asia. 



The south of Africa is spread out into fine level plains 

 from the tropic to the Cape; in this region, says Pennant, 

 besides the horse genus, of which five species have been 

 found, there are also peculiar species of rhinoceros, the 

 hog, and the hyrax, among pachydermatous races; and 

 amongst the ruminating the giraffe, the Cape buffalo, and 

 a variety of remarkable antelopes, as the springbok, the 

 oryx, the gnou, the leucophoe, the pygarga, and several 

 others. 



The Indian archipelago presents peculiar phenomena in 

 regard to its indigenous mammalia, which, in their gene- 

 ric character, recede in some respects from that of the 

 animals of the Indian continent, and approximate to the 

 African. The Sunda isles contain a hippopotamus, which 

 is wanting in the rivers of Asia; Sumatra, a peculiar spe- 

 cies of tapir, and a rhinoceros resembling the African 

 more than the Indian species, but specifically distinguish- 

 able from both. 



Beyond the Indian archipelago, is an extensive region, 

 including New Guinea, New Britain, and New Ireland, 

 together with the archipelago of Solomon's Islands, the 

 New Hebrides, and Louisiade, and the more remote 

 groups of isles in the great southern ocean, which may be 

 considered as forming one zoological province. Although 

 these remarkable countries are extremely fertile in their 

 vegetable productions, they are almost wholly destitute of 

 native warm-blooded quadrupeds, except a few species of 

 bats, and some domesticated animals in the possession of 

 the natives. 



Quadrupeds found on islands situated near the conti- 



