GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION OF ANIMALS. 195 
solid lingular quadrupeds, are not less suited to the boundless 
plains of Asia and Africa ; the vast assemblages of the elk and 
buffalo to the uninhabited wilds of America; and the tiger to 
the jungles and thickets of the East Indies. 
“Even where the external circumstances are nearly alike, remote 
regions are occupied, in most cases, by distinct genera or species. 
The lion so common in Africa is hardly found in Asia, while the 
tiger is peculiar to the latter.” 
Even marine animals are confined to particular situations; 
although it might appear so probable, a priori, that the waves 
and currents of the ocean would carry them in all situations. 
But if all the difficulties, with the facts I have mentioned, were 
removed, insurmountable obstacles would still be found to .the 
hypothesis of the whole globe having received its supply of 
animals from one quarter. How could all living beings have been 
assembled in one climate, when many, as the polar bear, the 
walrus, the manati, can exist only in the cold of the polar regions— 
while to others the warmth of the tropics is essential? How 
could all have been supplied with food in one spot, since many 
live entirely on vegetables produced only in certain districts? 
How could many have passed from the point of assemblage to 
their actual abode, over mountains, through deserts, and even 
across seas —for this they must have accomplished if the Mosaic 
history be correct? Let any one look at a map of the world, and 
inform me if he can satisfactorily explain how did the sloths, the 
anteaters, and the armadillos, get to South America, or the 
kangaroo, the cola, the emu, and several others, that arc found 
in no other country, get to New Holland. 
I maintain that these instances of America and New Holland 
alone afford unanswerable arguments against the creation of all 
animals in one spot. 
None of the mammalia,’’ says Cuvier, “of the southern 
hemisphere, the torrid zone, or even the two northern temj)eratc 
regions, are common to the two continents.” When the Spaniards 
landed in the new world, they did not find a single animal they 
were acquainted with—not one of the quadrupeds of Europe, 
Asia, or Africa—whilst, on the other hand, the horse, dog, and 
other animals, that were introduced for the first time by the 
Spaniards, were objects of terror and astonishment to the abori¬ 
gines of America. ” 
A very easy method of explaining these queries would be to 
suppose that immediately subsequent to the deluge, America 
and New Holland, and the various other islands that are 
inhabited by ])eculiar animals, were once connected with Asia 
and Africa by the intervention of lands tliat have since 
