CHAPTER I. 
INTRODUCTORY. 
Remarkable Contrasts in distribution of Animals — Britain and Japan — 
Australia and New Zealand — Bali and Lombok — Florida and Bahama 
Islands — Brazil and Africa — Borneo, Madagascar, and Celebes — 
Problems in distribution to be found in every country — Can be solved 
only by the combination of many distinct lines of inquiry, biological 
and physical — Islands offer the best subjects for the study of distribu- 
tion — Outline of the subjects to be discussed in the present volume. 
When an Englishman travels by the nearest sea-route from 
Great Britain to Northern Japan he passes by countries very 
unlike his own, both in aspect and natural productions. The 
sunny isles of the Mediterranean, the sands and date-palms of 
Egypt, the arid rocks of Aden, the cocoa groves of Ceylon, the 
tiger-haunted jungles of Malacca and Singapore, the fertile 
plains and volcanic peaks of Luzon, the forest-clad mountains 
of Formosa, and the bare hills of China, pass successively in 
review ; till after a circuitous voyage of thirteen thousand miles 
he finds himself at Hakodadi in Japan. He is now separated 
from his starting-point by the whole width of Europe and 
Northern Asia, by an almost endless succession of plains and 
mountains, arid deserts or icy plateaux, yet when he visits the 
interior of the country he sees so many familiar natural objects 
that he can hardly help fancying he is close to his home. He 
finds the woods and fields tenanted by tits, hedge-sparrows, 
wrens, wagtails, larks, redbreasts, thrushes, buntings, and house- 
sparrows, some absolutely identical with our own feathered 
friends, others so closely resembling them that it requires a 
