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Provinces of the Animal World. 305 
reference to species. Like the eastern realm, this European world 
may be subdivided into a number of distinct faune, characterized 
each by a variety of peculiar animals. In Western Asia we find, for 
instance, the common camel, instead of the Bactrian; while Mount 
Sinai, Mounts Taurus and Caucasus, have goats and wild sheep which 
differ as much from those of Asia as they differ from those of 
Greece, of Italy, of the Alps, of the Pyrenees, of the Atlas, and of 
Egypt. Wild horses are known to have inhabited Spain and Ger- 
many ; and a wild bull extended over the whole range of Central 
Europe, which no longer exists there. The Asiatic origin of our 
domesticated animals may, therefore, well be questioned, even if we 
were still to refer Western Asia to the Asiatic realm; since the ass, 
and some of the breeds of our horse, only belong to the table-lands 
of Iran and Mongolia, whilst the other species, including the cat, 
may all be traced to species of the European realm. The domesti- 
cated cat is referred by Riippell to Felis maniculata of Egypt; by 
others, to Felis catus-ferus of Central Europe ; thus, in both cases, to 
an animal of the European realm. Whether the dog be a species by 
itself, or its varieties derived from several species which have com- 
pletely amalgamated, or be descended from the wolf, the fox, or the 
jackal, every theory must limit its natural range to the European 
world. The Merino sheep is still represented in the wild state by 
the moufion of Sardinia, and was formerly wild in all the mountains of 
Spain; whether the sheep of the patriarchs was derived from those 
of Mount Taurus or from Armenia, still they differed from those 
of Western Europe ; since, a thousand years before our era, the Phe- 
nicians preferred the wool from the Iberian peninsula to that of their 
Syrian neighbours. The goats differ so much in different parts of 
the world, that itis still less possible to refer them to one common 
stock ; and while Nepaul and Cashmere have their own breeds, we 
may well consider those of Egypt and Sinai as distinct, especially as 
they differ equally from those of Caucasus and of Europe. The 
common bull is derived from the wild species which has become ex- 
tinct in Europe, and is not identical with any of the wild species of 
Asia, notwithstanding some assertions to the contrary. The hog 
descends from the common boar, now found wild over the whole 
temperate zone inthe Old World, Both ducks and geese have their 
wild representatives in Europe; so also the pigeon. As for the 
common fowls, they are decidedly of east Asiatic origin; but the 
period of their importation is not well known, nor even the wild 
species from which they are derived. The wild turkey is well known 
as an inhabitant of the American continent. 
Now, taking further into account the special distribution of all 
the animals, wild as well as domesticated, of the European temperate 
zone, we may subdivide it into the following eight faunze :— 
1. Scandinavian fauna; 2. Russian fauna; 3. The fuuna of 
Central Europe; 4. The fauna of Southern Europe ; 5. The fauna 
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