52 
THE CABINET OF NATURAL HISTORY, 
These phenomena, although few in number relatively to 
the whole animate creation, were so striking and so posi- 
tive in their nature, that the French naturalist caught 
sight at once of a general law in the geographical distribu- 
tion of organic beings, namely, the limitation of groups of 
distinct species to regions separated from the rest of the 
globe by certain natural barriers. It was, therefore, in a 
truly philosophical spirit, that relying on the clearness of 
the evidence obtained respecting the larger quadrupeds, 
he ventured to call in question the identifications announced 
by some contemporary naturalists, of species of animals 
said to be common to the southern extremities of Ame- 
rica and Africa. 
The migration of quadrupeds from one part of the globe 
to the other, observes'one of our ablest writers, is prevent- 
ed by uncongenial climates, and the branches of the ocean 
which intersect continents. “ Hence, by a reference to 
the geographical site of countries, we may divide the earth 
into a certain number of regions fitted to become the abodes 
of particular groups of animals, and we shall find, on in- 
quiry, that each of these provinces, thus conjecturally 
marked out, is actually inhabited by a distinct nation of 
quadrupeds.” 
Where the continents of the old and new world approxi- 
mate to each other towards the north, the narrow straits 
which separate them are frozen over in winter, and the 
distance is further lessened by intervening islands. Thus 
a passage from one continent to another becomes practica- 
ble to such quadrupeds as are fitted to endure the intense 
cold of the arctic circle. Accordingly, the whole arctic 
region has become one of the provinces of the animal king- 
dom, and contains many species common to both the great 
continents. But the temperate regions of America, which 
are separated by a wide extent of ocean from those of 
Europe and Asia, contain each a distinct nation of indige- 
nous quadrupeds. There are three groups of tropical 
mammalia, belonging severally to America, Africa, and 
continental India, each inhabiting lands separated from 
each other by the ocean. 
In Peru and Chili, says Humboldt, the region of the 
grasses, which is at an elevation of from twelve thousand 
three hundred to fifteen thousand four hundred feet, is in- 
habited by crowds of lama, guanaco, and alpaca. These 
quadrupeds, which here represent the genus camel of the 
ancient continent, have net extended themselves either to 
Brazil or Mexico, because, during their journey, they 
must necessarily have descended into regions that were too 
hot for them. 
New Holland is well known to contain a most singular 
and characteristic assemblage of mammiferous animals, con- 
sisting of more than forty species of the marsupial family, 
of which no congeners even occur elsewhere, with the 
exception of a few American opossums. This exclusive 
occupation of the Australian continent by the kangaroos 
and other tribes of pouched animals, although it has justly 
excited great attention, is a fact, nevertheless, in strict 
accordance with the general laws of the distribution of 
species; since, in other parts of the globe, we find pecu- 
liarities of form, structure, and habit, in birds, reptiles, 
insects, or plants, confined entirely to one hemisphere, or 
one continent, and sometimes to much narrower limits. 
The southern region of Africa, where that continent 
extends into the temperate zone, constitutes another sepa- 
rate zoological province, surrounded as it is on three sides 
by the ocean, and cut off from the countries of milder 
climate, in the northern hemisphere, by the intervening 
torrid zone. In many instances, this region contains the 
same genera which are found in temperate climates to the 
northward of the line; but then the southern are different 
from the northern species. Thus in the south we find the 
quagga and the zebra; in the north, the horse, the ass, and 
the jiggetai of Asia. 
The south of Africa is spread out into fine level plains 
from the tropic to the Cape; in this region, says Pennant, 
besides the horse genus, of which five species have been 
found, there are also peculiar species of rhinoceros, the 
hog, and the byrax, among pachydermatous races; and 
amongst the ruminating the giraffe, the Cape buffalo, and 
a variety of remarkable antelopes, as the springbok, the 
oryx, the gnou, the leucophoe, the pygarga, and several 
others. 
The Indian archipelago presents peculiar phenomena in 
regard to its indigenous mammalia, which, in their gene- 
ric character, recede in some respects from that of the 
animals of the Indian continent, and approximate to the 
African. The Sunda isles contain a hippopotamus, which 
is wanting in the rivers of Asia; Sumatra, a peculiar spe- 
cies of tapir, and a rhinoceros resembling the African 
more than the Indian species, but specifically distinguish- 
able from both. 
Beyond the Indian archipelago, is an extensive region, 
including New Guinea, New Britain, and New Ireland, 
together with the archipelago of Solomon’s Islands, the 
New Hebrides, and Louisiade, and the more remote 
groups of isles in the great southern ocean, which may be 
considered as forming one zoological province. Although 
these remarkable countries are extremely fertile in their 
vegetable productions, they are almost wholly destitute of 
native warm-blooded quadrupeds, except a few species of 
bats, and some domesticated animals in the possession of 
the natives. 
Quadrupeds found on islands situated near the conti- 
