CHAP. IX.] 
TABLES OF DISTRIBUTION. 
177 
to warm regions, and becoming very scarce in the temperate 
zones. 
Among the Diurnal and Crepuscular Lepidoptera (butterflies 
and sphinges) the following families are cosmopolitan : — Satyridae, 
Nymphalkke, Lycsenidee, Pieridae, Papilionidae, Hesperidae, 
^ , Lycaenid ae, and Sphingidae. 
Of the Coleoptera almost all, except some of the small and 
obscure families, are cosmopolitan. 
Of the terrestrial Mollusca, the Helicidae alone are true cos- 
mopolites. 
Tables of Distribution of Families and Genera , — Having been 
obliged to construct numerous tables of the distribution of the 
various groups for the purposes of the descriptive part of the 
work, I have thought it well to append the most important of 
them, in a convenient form, to the chapter on each region ; as 
much information will thereby be given, which can only be 
obtained from existing works at the cost of great labour. All 
these tables are drawn up on a uniform plan, the same generic 
and family names being used in each ; and all are arranged in 
the same systematic order, so as to be readily comparable 
with each other. This, although it seems a simple and natural 
tiling to do, has involved a very great amount of labour, because 
hardly two authors use the same names or follow the same 
arrangement. Hence comparison between them is impossible, till 
all their work has been picked to pieces, their synonymy un- 
ravelled, their differences accounted for, and the materials recast; 
and this has to be done, not for two or three authors only, but 
for the majority of those whose works have been consulted on 
the zoology of any part of the globe. 
Except in the two higher orders — Mammalia and Birds— 
materials do not exist for complete tables of the genera brought 
down to the present time. We have given therefore, first, a 
complete table of all the families of Yertebrata and Diurnal 
Lepidoptera found in each region, showing the sub-regions in 
which they occur, and their range beyond the limits of the 
region. Families which are wholly peculiar to the region, or 
!N 
