1896.] Distribution of Batrachia and Reptilia. 887 
he gave the name Antarctogea, omitting New Zealand and 
Polynesia, which he constituted a fourth division, Ornithogea. 
In 1878 Heilprin proposed the name Holarctic, to include 
Sclater’s Palearctic and Nearctic regions. He also proposed 
two transitional regions; that of the Old World he called Medi- 
terranean and that of the New World the Sonoran, the latter 
aterm already introduced by Cope for a division of the Nearctic 
of Sclater. 
In 1884 Gill proposed the following primary divisions or 
realms: 1. Anglogeean (N. American); 2. Eurygeean, or Eura- 
sian; 3. Indogsean; 4. Afrogean; 5. Dendrogeean, or Tropical 
American ; 6. Amphigzean, or Temperate South American; 
7. Austrogeean, or Australian; 8. Ornithogzean, or New Zea- 
land; 10. Nesogeean, or Polynesian. Prof. Gill justly insisted 
-on the importance of fresh water fishes as furnishing definitions 
of natural faunal realms and regions. 
In 1890 Blanford published a system of geographic zoology 
in which he adopted the primary divisions of Huxley, and di- 
vided the Arctogaean region into the following: Malagasy, 
Ethiopian, Oriental, Aqulonian (= Palearctic and northern 
part of Nearctic), and Medio-Columbian (S. part of Nearctic). 
In 1896 Lydekker proposed the following divisions: I. Noto- 
gæic Realm; regions: 1. Australian; 2. Polynesian; 3. Ha- 
waiian; 4. Austromelayau. IL. Neogæic Realm; regions: 
Neotropical. III. Arctogæic Realm; regions: 1. Malagany: : 
2. Ethiopian; 3. Oriental; 4. ikolna 5. Sonoran. Lydek- 
ker makes use of paleontologic evidence in this connection. 
While this treatment of the subject is important from the point 
-of view of origin, it is often irrelevant, since the distribution of 
vertebrate life in each geologic age was different from that in 
-each other geologic age. 
In an essay on the geographical distribution of North Ameri- 
-can Reptilia published in 1875, the present writer adopted the 
first system of Sclater. After a lapse of twenty years, the light 
thrown on the subject by various investigators suggests the fol- 
‘lowing modifications. In the first place the recognition of the 
close similarity of the life of the northern regions of the earth, 
requires more definite formulation than was accorded it in 
