TABLE I. Approximate Numbers of Families, Genera, and Species of Numbers given in Table I. reduced to Percentages of Total The groups entirely confined to each region are classed as "endemic"; those that cross the frontiers slightly as "quasi-endemic "; all others are considered as "wide-spread." The percentages, it will be observed, on account of the omission of fractions, do not exactly make up one hundred in every case. SHOWING THE 6 REGIONS OF THE GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION OF MAMMALS. AUS RAL AN 20 REGION 30 40 W. & A.K.Johnaton. Edinburgh & London LIST OF THE PRINCIPAL AUTHORITIES REFERRED TO IN CHAPTER I. (1) ALLEN, J. A.—"The Geographical Distribution of Mammals." Bull. U.S. Geol. Surv. IV., p. 376 (1878). (2) "The Geographical Distribution of North American Mammals." Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist. IV., p. 199 (1892). (3) FLOWER, W. H., and LYDEKKER, R.-" An Introduction to the Study of Mammals, Living and Extinct." London (1891). (4) GILL, T.-"The Principles of Zoo-Geography." Proc. Biol. Soc. Washington, II., p. 1 (1885). (5) HEILPRIN, A.-"The Geographical and Geological Distribution of Animals." London (1887). (6) HUXLEY, T. H.-"On the Classification and Distribution of the Alectoromorphæ and Heteromorpha." Proc. Zool. Soc., 1868, p. 294. (7) NEWTON, A.-Article on Geographical Distribution in the "Dictionary of Birds," p. 311. London (1893). (8) SALVADORI, T.-"Catalogue of the Psittaci or Parrots in the Collection of the British Museum." London (1891). (9) SCLATER, P. L.-" On the General Geographical Distribution of the Members of the Class Aves." Journ. Proc. Linn. Soc. (Zool.), vol. ii., p. 130 (1858). (10) Address to Section D. (Biology). 'Report of the FortyFifth Meeting of the British Association at Bristol," p. 85 (1876). (11) "On the recent Advances in our Knowledge of the Geographical Distribution of Birds." Ibis (6), vol. iii., p. 514 (1891). (12) SHARPE, R. B.-"On the Zoo-Geographical Areas of the World." Nat. Science III., p. 100 (1893). (13) WALLACE, A. R.-"The Geographical Distribution of Animals." 2 vols. London (1876). B CHAPTER II THE AUSTRALIAN REGION (PLATE II., p. 50) SECTION I.-BOUNDARIES OF THE AUSTRALIAN REGION THE Australian Region, as will be seen by the map (Plate II.), includes Australia, New Guinea, and the Moluccas, together with all the Pacific Islands and New Zealand. It is divided from the Oriental, the next adjacent region, by a line drawn between the two small islands of Bali and Lombok (called Wallace's Line), and passing thence through the Flores and Molucca Seas, between the islands of Celebes on the one side, and Sumbawa, Flores, Bouru, Sula, and Gilolo on the other. All the islands westwards of this line (i.e. Bali, Java, Sumatra, Borneo, Celebes, and the Philippines) are included in the Oriental Region; while all the islands to the eastwards, from Lombok to Timor, the Moluccas, and New Guinea, are referred to the Australian Region. Besides this, the Australian Region includes all the islands of the Pacific, from the Pelews and Ladrones in the north-west, to the Sandwich Islands in the northeast, the Marquesas in the south-east, and New Zealand and its neighbouring islands in the south-west. The boundaries, as above given, correspond with those laid down by Wallace in his work on Geographical Distribution, with the exception that the island of Celebes has been transferred to the Oriental Region. |