652 
PROGRESS OF ZOOLOGY. 
effected not very long antecedent to the commencement of 
the historic era. Zoology does not touch the chronology of 
the question, but it affixes the general conclusion; and we 
begin to discover that, however valuable are the floras and 
faunas of Britain, they tell but half their proper story unless 
considered in connection with the floras and faunas of the 
Continent. 
Two admirable works have recently been published, with 
the object of indicating the relations of British and Conti¬ 
nental zoology. That by Lord Clermont is a compilation, 
but it is accomplished with so much skill and good taste, that 
it acquires a character of originality both by its purpose and 
its merit.* The British fauna is a part of the fauna of 
Europe, just as the fauna of a county is a part of the fauna 
of the country at large; and Lord Clermont's work will tend 
to widen the range of the British naturalist, by showing that 
many of his subjects have an extensive area, and must be 
studied under ail their several geographical conditions for a 
full knowled ge of their habits and physiology. Dr. Bree,+ 
though working in another direction, points to the same 
lesson. By registering the birds of Europe not found in 
Britain, he enables us to estimate the close connection by 
reason of community of species which exists between the 
aves of Britain and the Continent, so that we can lay claim 
to but very few as exclusively British. 
The great scientific question of the day is, What is a 
species ? We shall not attempt to offer a reply. Mr. Darwin 
has made as great an agitation in the world of science as the 
‘ Essays and Reviews' have in theology, but there is no pro¬ 
cess of excommunication known in the zoological establish¬ 
ment; and those who differ from Mr. Darwin can heartily 
thank him for having put their accepted formulae to a severe 
test, and opened an almost new channel of inquiry. If there 
is a vagueness about the characters of species, there is still 
more about the meaning of varieties. Has it never occurred 
to the reader that every animal is, in a certain sense, a 
variety; that every individual creature has a distinctive 
character of its own ; so that our so-called varieties are such 
only by reason of a greater departure from type than usual, 
the fact of departure being itself so universal that type is 
almost undiscoverable. 
(To he continued .) 
* ‘A Guide to the Quadrupeds and Reptiles cf Europe.' By Lord 
Clermont. London: John Van Voorst. 
f ‘ Birds of Europe not observed in the British Isle.' B t y Dr. C. R. 
Bree. London: Groombridge. 
