406 
REVIEWS. 
GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION OF ANIMALS.* 
T O review a work like the present one would be, except to some lialf- 
dozen writers in the same field, an absurdity, if not an impertinence. 
To give even an analysis of its contents would require infinitely more space 
than that of our entire “ Reviews.” What can we do, then, in the present 
instance P We can just briefly give an account of the nature of the volume, 
of what it is the author has attempted to do, and of the time and space' 
which his labours have occupied, and their results have been embodied in. 
We may say that to us Mr. Wallace appears to have very faithfully suc- 
ceeded in doing what he wished, viz. that his “book should bear a similar 
relation to the eleventh and twelfth chapters of the 1 Origin of Species’ as 
Mr. Darwin’s 1 Animals and Plants under Domestication’ does to the first 
chapter of that work.” In this respect we may say that the analogy is com- 
plete. Nay, more; we fancy that Mr. Wallace’s labours, as put forward in 
the two splendid volumes now before us, will be read when Mr. Darwin’s 
volumes on “Animals and Plants” will have fallen into desuetude. Whether 
it will have as long a lease of existence as the “ Origin of Species,” it is, 
of course, impossible to say ; but of its great importance as a scientific treatise 
there cannot be the least doubt in the mind of anyone who is acquainted 
with the history of Nature; and this all the more so because it is a work 
sui generis. Mr. Wallace has had to undertake an entirely novel labour in 
preparing those volumes, and the result is the production of a work that is 
completely new. Not only so, but it is executed by one who is a thorough 
master of the subject ; by the man who might, but for his extreme modesty, be 
now in the proud position which Mr. Darwin holds — that of the first naturalist 
in the world. It is clear, therefore, that we may anticipate a subject dealt 
witli in a philosophic spirit, as such a subject especially requires. And ere 
we take a glance at Mr. Wallace’s labours, let us consider how long they 
have occupied. This is shown in the following passage from the preface 
to the work. Mr. Wallace says: — “The detailed study of several groups 
of the birds and insects collected by myself in the East brought prominently 
before me some of the curious problems of geographical distribution ; but I 
* “The Geographical Distribution of Animals; with a Study of the 
Relations of Living and Extinct Faunas, as elucidating the Past Changes of 
the Earth’s Surface.” By Alfred William Wallace. With Maps and 
Illustrations. 2 vols. London : Macmillan & Co. 1876. 
