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Show 32 ISLAND LIFE. [rAit'l' r. . t. 011 of Europe. There are, of distribution occ.upie.s ~ large por I I or Western or Southern indeed a few species hmited to Centra. . hi'ch 'ne can ' 1 t th only cases In w " Europe, and these are amos . e 'thout havin<Y to add to use the word for zoological pur~?ses t WI Still less u~eful is tho it some portion of another con men . . b bl . l A . £ this purpose, since there IS pro a y no smg o ter.m I sia our p confined to Asi. a wh I' c h I·S not also more or less anima or gro h t . l or the temperate portion of it. nearly confined t.o t ~ ropwa h t' r which may really bo The only exceptwn IS perhaps t e Ige ' . . . . 1 't occupies nearly two-thirds of tho called an Asiatic amma' as 1 . 1 while the cases in continent. but this is an umque. examp e, . . . which As'.t ati.c aru. ma1 s and groups are stnct.l y hAm 1t.e d to a porti.O n of Asi.a , or ex t en d a lso into Europe or mtSo f. n€aA fo r. to the Malay Islands, are exceedingly numerous. o, ~n . nca, very few groups of am.m a1 s range over the. who.l e of It Witho·u t gom. <Y beyon d e1' th er m. to Europe or As1a Mmor or Arabia, whil: those which are purely African are generally con~ned to the port·w n sou th of the tropic of Cancer. Am;trahaf anbd A men·c a are terms which better ser.v e. the purpose. o t e l · t The former defines the hm1t of many Important zoo og1s . · d f h 1 tt groups of am·r naI s,. and the same may be sa1 . o t. e da er, but t h e dI.V ·I S·lO n 1'n to North and South Amenca mtro. .u ces difficulties, for almost all the groups especially charactenstw of South America are found also beyond the isthmus. of Panama, in what is geographically part of the northern coi~ti?~nt. It being thus clear that the old and popular .diVISions of the globe are very inconvenient when used to descnbe the ra.n~e. of animals, we are naturally led to ask whether a~y other diVISion can be made which will be more useful, and w1ll serve to gr~up toaether a considerable number of the facts we have to deal w1th. s:ch a division was made by Mr. P. L. Sclater n:ore ~han twenty years ago, and it has, with some slight modificatiOns, come into pretty general use in this country, and to some e~te~t also on the continent; we shaH therefore proceed to expl~m ~ts nature and the principles on which it is established, as It Will have to be often referred to in future chapters of this work, and will take the place of the old geographical divisions whose extreme inconvenience has already been pom· te d ou t · The (;HAP. III.J ZOOLOGICAL UEGIONS. 33 primary z~ologic~l divisions of the globe are called "regions," and we w1ll begm by ascertaining the limits of the reaion of which our own country forms a part. 0 T_he Range o[ British Mam,rnals as indicating a Zoological Regwn.-We Will first take our commonest wild mammalia and see how far they extend, and especially whether they are confined to Europe or range over parts of other continents: f. Wild Oat ......... . .. 2. Fox ................. . 3. Weasel.. ............ . 4. Otter ............ , .... . 5. Badger .............. . 6. Stag ..... .... ........ . 7. Hedgehog ....... .. 8. Mole ................ .. 9. Squirrel .......... .. 10. Dormouse .......... .. l.l. Water-rat ......... .. 12. Hare ................ .. 13. Rabbit .............. . Europe Europe Europe Europe Europe Europe Europe Europe Europe Europe Europe Europe Europe N. Africa N. Mrica N. Africa N. Africa N. Africa N. Africa 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 quadrupeds 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 .A.moor ()n the extreme eastern side of that continent. Two of the above-named British species, the fox and weasel, are also inhabitants of the New V\T orld, being as common in the northern parts of North America as they are with us ; but with these exceptions the entire range of our commoner species is given, ~nd 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 .A.moorland, in the same D |