VIII. 



THE DISTKIBUTION OF ANIMALS 

 AS INDICATING GEOGEAPHICAL CHANGES.' 



Old Opinions on Continental Changes — Theory of Oceanic Islands — Present 

 and Past Distribution of Land and Sea— Zoological Kegions — The 

 Palaearctic Region — The Ethiopian Region — The Oriental Region — Past 

 Changes of the Great Eastern Continent — Regions of the New World — 

 Past History of the American Continents— The Australian Region — 

 Summary and Conclusion. 



There is a curious old book entitled Restitution of De- 

 cayed Intelligence in Antiquities Concerning the Most 

 Noble and Eenowned English Nation, written in 1605, 

 by K. Verstegen. The fourth chapter treats Of the 

 Isles of Albion, and how it is showed to have been con- 

 tinent or firm land with Gallia, now named France, since 

 the Flood of Noe ; " and after referring to several ancient 

 writers who had held this opinion but without giving any 

 reasons for it, the author proceeds to argue the point, 

 referring to the narrowness of the straits, their extreme 

 shallowness, the similarity of the opposite coasts both in 

 height and character, the meaning of the word cliff" 



^ This is one of the Lectures on Scientific Geography delivered before the 

 Royal Geographical Society, but the introductory portion has been rewritten. 

 The original Lecture appeared in the Proceedings of the Society for September, 

 1877, under the title : " On the Comparative Antiquity of Continents, as 

 indicated by the Distribution of Living and Extinct Animals." 



