Island life - or, the phenomena and causes of insular faunas and floras, including a revision and attempted solution of the problem of geological climates (1911) (14577004220)

Identifier: islandlifeorphen001wall (find matches)
Title: Island life : or, the phenomena and causes of insular faunas and floras, including a revision and attempted solution of the problem of geological climates
Year: 1911 (1910s)
Authors: Wallace, Alfred Russel, 1823-1913
Subjects: Biogeography Islands Glacial epoch
Publisher: London : Macmillan
Contributing Library: California Academy of Sciences
Digitizing Sponsor: California Academy of Sciences Library



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ctivora offer the best example of an order, several ofwhose families inhabit areas more or less isolated from therest ; while the Marsupialia have six families in Australia,and one, the opossums, far off in America. Perhaps, more important is the limitation of some entireorders to certain well-defined portions of the globe. Thusthe Proboscidea, comprising the single family and genus ofthe elephants, and the Hyracoidea, that of the Hyrax orSyrian coney, are confined to parts of Africa and Asia;the Marsupials to Australia and America ; and theMonotremata, the lowest of all mammals—comprising theduck-billed Platypus and the spiny Echidna, to Australiaand New Guinea. Among birds the Struthiones or ostrichtribe are almost confined to the three Southern continents,South America, Africa and Australia ; and amongAmphibia the tailed Batrachia—the newts andsalamanders—are similarly restricted to the northernhemisphere. These various facts will receive their explanation in afuture chapter.
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CHAPTER III CLASSIFICATION OF THE FACTS OF DISTRIBUTION.—ZOOLOGICAL REGIONS The Geographical Divisions of the Globe do not correspond to Zoologicaldivisions—The range of British Mammals as indicating a ZoologicalRegion—Range of East Asian and North African Mammals—TheRange of British Birds—Range of East Asian Birds—The limits of thePaLnearctic Region—Characteristic features of the Palsearctic Region—Definition and characteristic groups of the Ethiopian Region—Of theOriental Region—Of the Australian Region—Of the Nearctic Region—Of the Neotropical Region—Comparison of Zoological Regions withthe Geographical Divisions of the Globe. Having now obtained some notion of how animals aredispersed over the earths surface, whether as singlespecies or as collected in those groups termed genera,families, and orders, it will be well, before proceedingfurther, to understand something of the classification ofthe facts we have been considering, and some of thesimpler conclus