■CHAP. III.J 
ZOOLOGICAL REGIONS. 
33 
primary zoological divisions of the globe are called “ regions,” 
and we will begin by ascertaining the limits of the region of 
which our own country forms a part. 
The Range of British Mammals as indicating a Zoological 
Region. — We will first take our commonest wild mammalia and 
■see how far they extend, and especially whether they are con- 
fined to Europe or range over parts of other continents : 
1 . Wild Cat 
Europe 
N. Africa 
2. Fox 
Europe 
N. Africa 
3. Weasel 
Europe 
N. Africa 
4. Otter 
Europe 
N. Africa 
5. Badger 
Europe 
N. Africa 
6. Stag 
Europe 
N. Africa 
7. Hedgehog 
Europe 
— 
8. Mole 
Europe 
— 
9. Squirrel 
Europe 
— 
10. Dormouse 
Europe 
— 
11. Water-rat 
Europe 
— 
12. Hare 
Europe 
— 
13. Rabbit 
Europe 
N. Africa 
Siberia, Afghanistan. 
Central Asia to Amoor. 
Central Asia to Amoor. 
Siberia. 
Central Asia to Amoor. 
Central Asia to Amoor. 
Central Asia to Amoor. 
Central Asia. 
Central Asia to Amoor. 
Central Asia to Amoor. 
W. Siberia, Persia. 
We thus see that out of thirteen of our commonest quad- 
rupeds only one is confined to Europe, while seven are found 
also in Northern Africa, and eleven range into Siberia, most of 
them stretching quite across Asia to the valley of the Amoor 
on the extreme eastern side of that continent. Two of the 
above-named British species, the fox and weasel, are also in- 
habitants of the New World, being as common in the northern 
parts of North America as they are with us ; but with these ex- 
ceptions the entire range of our commoner species is given, and 
they clearly show that all Northern Asia and Northern Africa 
must be added to Europe in order to form the region which they 
collectively inhabit. If now we go into Central Europe and 
take, for example, the quadrupeds of Germany, we shall find 
that these too, although much more numerous, are confined to 
the same limits, except that some of the more arctic kinds, as 
already stated, extend into the colder regions of North America. 
Range of East Asian and North African Mammals. — Let us 
now pass to the other side of the great northern continent, and 
examine the list of the quadrupeds of Amoorland, in the same 
D 
