GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION 



OF 



ANIMALS AND PLANTS. 

 



The observations recorded iu the following pages were made prin- 

 cipally to ascertain the geographical distribution of animals and 

 plants. However fimiliar one may be with distant countries, per- 

 sonal experience is not easily communicated ; I have sought, therefore, 

 to supply a groundwork of facts, that may remain, whatever may be 

 the deductions drawn from them. In general, I have avoided discus- 

 sion; but at the outset, some expression of views respecting species 

 and their origin seems to be required. 



Geological investigations have shown that our Earth was once 

 inhabited by animals and plants, all of them widely different from 

 those now found upon its surface. The course of generations has been 

 interrupted, a whole system of species has been swept away, and a 

 new system established upon every part of the Earth's surf^ice. 



It is clear, then, from Geology, that the human family has had a 

 beginning; the future, too, seems distinctly foreshadowed; but, in 

 the subject under consideration, our business is with the present and 

 the past. 



How long has the present system of species been in existence ? — It 

 is a fact, so familiar as to escape notice, that all civilized nations are 

 engaged in keeping a reckoning of the days. However various the 



/'I ■} '! cr 



CHAPTER I. 



INTRODUCTION. 



1 



