CHAPTER I 



INTRODUCTORY 



Remarkable Contrasts in distribution of Animals — Britain and Japan — 

 Australia and New Zealand — Bali and Lombok — Florida and Bahama 

 Islands — Brazil and Africa— Borneo, Madagascar, and Celebes — 

 Problems in distribution to be found in every country — Can be solved 

 only by the combination of many distinct lines of inquiry, biological 

 and physical — Islands otfer the best subjects for the study of distribu- 

 tion — Outline of the subjects to be discussed in the present volume. 



When an Englishman travels by the nearest sea-route from 

 Great Britam to Northern Japan he passes by countries 

 very unlike his own, both in aspect and natural productions. 

 The sunny isles of the Mediterranean, the sands and date- 

 palms of Egypt, the arid rocks of Aden, the cocoa groves 

 of Ceylon, the tiger-haunted jungles of Malacca and 

 Singapore, the fertile plains and volcanic peaks of Luzon, 

 the forest- clad mountains of Formosa, and the bare hills of 

 China, pass successively in review ; till after a circuitous 

 voyage of thirteen thousand miles he finds himself at 

 Hakodadi in Japan. He is now separated from his 

 starting-point by the whole width of Europe and Northern 

 Asia, by an almost endless succession of plains and 

 mountains, arid deserts or icy plateaux, yet when he visits 

 the interior of the country he sees so many familiar 

 natural objects that he can hardly help fancying he is close 

 to his home. He finds the woods and fields tenanted by 

 tits, hedge-sparrows, wrens, wagtails, larks, redbreasts, 

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