ZOOLOGICAL REGIONS 185 



I suppose we must regard them as offshoots from a 

 somewhat earher condition of the great northern or 

 " Holarctic " fauna, and as such to represent a state of 

 things that once existed in Europe and the greater part 

 of Asia. To pursue this subject — one of most pleasing 

 speculation — ^would now be impossible. I pray you to 

 pardon my prolixity, and I have done.* 



* Presidential Address to Biological Section, British Association, 

 Manchester, 1887, 



