454 



THE OEOLOlUST. 



readable. It beuins \ritli an iutvoduot orv chajnor in Forbes' o\yn easy polished 

 stvle ill wliicli The £reneral di^iribuTion of ovg'anie lil'e inio distinct botanieal 

 aiid zooloa'ical provii\ces of a-rearer or le>s extent, aeeording to their degree of 

 limitatiou^bv physical or clnnaial conditions, is snccinctly pointed o\it. Tliesc 

 provinces are not so eiitirely distinct, eacli from its neiu'ltbo\ir, bnt that some coni- 

 miu2:lino- of the characieri.-iic life-forms take place in the bonndary re^-ions 

 Mdiich infringe npon each otlicr. 'riie-e ]n-ovince>. as understood in tliis ^york, 

 are areas ^nthin which tlicre is evidettce of the >^pecial maitifestaliim of tlio 

 Creative Po^ver : tliat is to sav. within vdiiclt tliere liave been called iiuo being 

 the oriirinals. or protoplast-, of auituals cn- platits." 



The ^aiiorio-inc.- of tliose areas in the lapse of titne. or throngh the altered 

 ecosraphical and physical conelitions of onr planet, may bccotne mixed np witli 

 einis:rants from other provhices, and even exceeded by them in nnmhers. Tlte 

 distmaaiishino:. therefore, of the original types and the determination of the 

 canses which'have prodnccd and directed the invasion, are among the problems 

 vsdiich tlic investigator of the di^tribution of attimated creatures has to ettdeavonr 

 to solve. In tlie investigation of tlte fatma or tlora of a province " the di (fusion 

 of the uiilividnals of the eharaeteri^tic species is foitnd to hidicate tliat the 

 manifestation of the creative etiergy has not been cqua.l in all parts of the area, 

 but that ill some portion of it, that usually more or less central, tlie genesis of 

 new beings has been more intensely exerted than eUov hore, lleuee. to re- 

 present a province diagrammatically. wc itiight colonr a tu-bnlons space, in 

 which the uiteusity of the line woidtl be exhilhted towaaxls the centre, and bc- 

 cotne fainter and fainter towards the circuitiferencc."' d'his feature of zoohigical 

 and botanical provinces gives rise to the term "'(>v///v-v of crc((tiu,i.'^ which 

 Foi-bes and others have applied to them, yo^^here do avc tind a province re- 

 peated, or, in other words, "no species has been called forth originally in more 

 areas than one. Similar species, to which the term representative is nuitiially 

 applied, appear in areas distant from each other, bnt under the iniinence of 

 similar physical conditions." The term sjiecijic cc/ifre has been employed to ex- 

 press the point upon which each species had its origin, and ^^'hencc its indivi- 

 duals have spread and radiated. In the course of its diffnsion. or during 

 the lapse of time, a species luav become extingnislied in its original centre, 

 and groups of individuals may tlins become isolated at spots far distant frcnn 

 each other. Indeed, the true specihc centre in some cases may be rightly 

 placed in the rock-strata of the earth, involving the necessity of tracing the 

 lustory of the species backward in time, and of investigating its connection 

 with geological changes. 



Provinces also, like species, must be traced back to their liistory and origin in 

 past time; for palfeontological research exhibits the pheiiomenou of provinces in 

 time, as well as provinces in space. Species, moreover, have a centering in geo- 

 logical time as well as in geographical space, and no species are repeated i/i time, 

 that is, there has been no recreation of any same spccihc form ; while " the distri- 

 bution of the individuals of fossil species also indicates then- diffusion from 

 some unique point of origin, and consequently goes to support the notion of the 

 comiection of these individuals tluongh the relatioiisliip of descent, and the 

 derivation of them all from an originarprotoplast." 



The sea-board of Europe extends tluougli fom' degrees of latitude and six of 

 longitude, from within the Arctic Circle to the Pillars of Hercules, with a last 

 and isolated portion constituting the north-west border of the Caspian Sea. 

 Along such a range of shore, extending throngh various climates, from the 

 warm and sunny confines of Africa to the" ice-bound clilfs of Nova Zcnibla and 

 Spitzbcrgeii, there are many and diversified assemblages of animated creatures. 

 Those which "delight in the chilly waters of the Arctic Ocean must be very 

 different from those mIucIi revel in the genial seas of the sontli; whilst the 



