CHAP. III.] 



ZOOLOGICAL REGIONS. 



53 



of the great zoological regions of the globe, we find that they 

 do not differ so much from the old geographical divisions as our 

 first example might have led us to suppose. Europe, Asia, 

 Africa, Australia, North America, and South America, really 

 correspond, each to a zoological region, but their boundaries 

 require to be modified more or less considerably; and if we 

 remember this, and keep their extensions or limitations always 

 in our mind, we may use the terms South American " or 

 ' North American," as being equivalent to Neotropical and 

 Nearctic, without much inconvenience, while ''African" and 

 Australian " equally well serve to express the zoological type 

 of the Ethiopian and Australian regions. Europe and Asia 

 require more important modifications. The European fauna 

 does indeed well represent the Palaearctic in all its main 

 features, and if instead of Asia we say tropical Asia we have the 

 Oriental region very fairly defined ; so that the relation of the 

 geographical and the zoological primary divisions of the earth is 

 sufficiently clear. In order to make these relations visible to 

 the eye and more easily remembered, we will put them into 

 a tabular form: 



Regions. Geographical Equivalent. 



Palaearctic Europe, with north temperate Africa and Asia. 



Ethiopian Africa (south of the Sahara) with Madagascar. 



Oriental Tropical Asia, to Philippines and Java. 



Australian Australia, with Pacific Islands, Moluccas, &c. 



Nearctic North America, to North Mexico. 



Neotropical... South America, with tropical N. America and W. Indies. 



The following arrangem.ent of the regions will indicate their 

 geographical position, and to a considerable extent their relation 

 to each other. 



N E A R C T I C P AL^ARCTIC 



I I 



I Oriental 

 Ethiopian | 

 Neo- I 

 tropical Ausa'RALIAN 



