GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION 



ANIMALS AND PLANTS, 



CHAPTER I. 



ANIMALS AND PLANTS REMOVED FROM THEIR NATIVE LOCALITIES 

 BY THE HAND OF MAN. 



In taking up the subject of the Geographical Distribution of species, 

 it will at once be perceived, that human interference must be taken 

 into consideration ; the face of nature having been greatly changed 

 by the removal of the forest, the cultivation of the soil, and the intro- 

 duction and dissemination of foreign animals and plants. 



Detached observations, tending to show the amount of this interfe- 

 rence, are given in the twenty-first and succeeding chapters of my 

 Races of Man. To extend similar observations to all the countries of 

 the globe, seems an endless task ; and it becomes necessary, with the 

 accumulation of facts, that some general plan should be adopted in 

 arranging the results. 



On reflection, the subject of the introduction of foreign animals and 

 plants, will be found to resolve itself into tracing out the history of 

 each species. A list will, therefore, naturally assume the chronolo- 

 gical order : and Egypt, from its containing the earliest records of the 

 human family, and from its geographical position and other collateral 

 circumstances, becomes the most convenient country for a point of 

 reference. 



