THE GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION OF ANIMALS |
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Results 6-10 of 72
Page 53
... possess some of the characteristics of two well - marked regions , with a few special features of their own , or perhaps with none ; and it will be a difficult question to decide in all cases which region should possess this doubtful ...
... possess some of the characteristics of two well - marked regions , with a few special features of their own , or perhaps with none ; and it will be a difficult question to decide in all cases which region should possess this doubtful ...
Page 57
... possess the additional advantage of being the most highly developed class of organized beings , and that to which we ourselves belong . We should therefore construct our typical or standard Zoological Regions in the first place , from a ...
... possess the additional advantage of being the most highly developed class of organized beings , and that to which we ourselves belong . We should therefore construct our typical or standard Zoological Regions in the first place , from a ...
Page 62
... possesses three families of birds ( Apterygidæ living , Dinornithidæ and Palapterygidæ extinct ) , and a peculiar lizard - like reptile , Hatteria , which has to be classed in a distinct order , Rhyncho- cephalina , that the rank of a ...
... possesses three families of birds ( Apterygidæ living , Dinornithidæ and Palapterygidæ extinct ) , and a peculiar lizard - like reptile , Hatteria , which has to be classed in a distinct order , Rhyncho- cephalina , that the rank of a ...
Page 64
... possess , the Australian and Neotropical regions are undoubtedly each com- parable with the rest of the earth ( Arctogæa ) . But in richness and variety of forms , they are both very much inferior , and are much more nearly comparable ...
... possess , the Australian and Neotropical regions are undoubtedly each com- parable with the rest of the earth ( Arctogæa ) . But in richness and variety of forms , they are both very much inferior , and are much more nearly comparable ...
Page 65
... possess fifty - five families , a number very disproportionate to those of the remaining two . Another consideration is , that although the absence of certain forms of life makes a region more isolated , it does not make it zoologically ...
... possess fifty - five families , a number very disproportionate to those of the remaining two . Another consideration is , that although the absence of certain forms of life makes a region more isolated , it does not make it zoologically ...
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Common terms and phrases
absence abundant Abyssinia affinities Africa and Madagascar allied Amphibia animals antelopes arctic Asia Austral Australian Australian region Austro-Malaya belong birds Borneo Burmah Carnivora Celebes Central Ceylon characteristic China climate confined CORVIDA Cosmopolite Cosmopolite Cosmopolite deposits distribution east Eocene epoch Ethiopian Ethiopian region Europe European excl existing extend extinct fauna forests Formosa genera genus geographical globe groups Guinea Himalayas hyænas India Indo-Malay inhabit Insectivora insects islands Japan Java land land-birds large number less lizards Machairodus Madagascar Malacca Malay Malaya Malayan mammalia migration Miocene Miocene period Moluccas mountains Nearctic Neotropical North northern occur ocean Oriental genus Oriental region Palearctic Palearctic genus Palearctic region Papuan peculiar forms peculiar genera peculiar genus peculiar species perhaps Philippines Pliocene possesses Post-Pliocene probably range regions but Australian remarkable represented reptiles rhinoceros South America southern sub-region Sumatra tapir Tasmania temperate Tertiary Thibet Timor Tropical Africa types whole region wholly Zealand zoological regions
Popular passages
Page 150 - Yet it is surely a marvellous fact, and one that has hardly been sufficiently dwelt upon, this sudden dying out of so many large mammalia, not in one place only but over half the land surface of the globe.
Page 328 - India consisting mainly of granite and old-metamorphic rocks, while the greater part of the peninsula is of tertiary formation, with a few isolated patches of secondary rocks. It is evident, therefore, that during much of the tertiary period,* Ceylon and South India were bounded on the north by a considerable extent of sea, and probably formed part of an extensive Southern Continent or great island. The very numerous and remarkable cases of affinity with Malaya, require, however, some closer approximation...
Page 37 - Straits, so that it is possible to go from Cape Horn to Singapore or the Cape of Good Hope without ever being out of sight of land ; and owing to the intervention of the numerous islands of the Malay Archipelago the journey might be continued under the same conditions as far as Melbourne and Hobart...
Page 278 - ... wonderful aye-aye (Chiromys) , the insectivorous Centetidae, and carnivorous Cryptoprocta, among the Mammalia. They speak to us plainly of enormous antiquity, of long-continued isolation, and not less plainly of a lost continent or continental island, in which so many, and various, and peculiarly organized creatures, could have been gradually developed in a connected fauna, of which we have here but the fragmentary remains.
Page 328 - ... much of the Tertiary period, Ceylon and South India were bounded on the north by a considerable extent of sea, and probably formed part of an extensive Southern Continent or great island. The very numerous and remarkable cases of affinity with Malaya require, however, some closer approximation with these islands, which probably occurred at a later period. When, still later, the great plains and tablelands of Hindostan were formed and a permanent land communication effected with the rich and highly...
Page 57 - Eegions in the first place, from a consideration of the distribution of mammalia, only bringing to our aid the distribution of other groups to determine doubtful points. Regions so established will be most closely in accordance with those long-enduring features of physical geography, on which the distribution of all forms of life fundamentally depends;* and all discrepancies in the distribution of other classes of animals must be capable of being explained, either...
Page 67 - ... who cannot recognize the essential diversity of structure in such groups as swifts and swallows, sun-birds and humming-birds, under the superficial disguise caused by adaptation to a similar mode of life. The application of Mr. Allen's principle leads to equally erroneous results, as may be well seen by considering his separation of 'the southern third of Australia' to unite it with New Zealand as one of his secondary zoological divisions."t Leaving Mr.
Page 44 - The introduction of goats into St. Helena utterly destroyed a whole flora of forest trees, and with them all the insects, mollusca, and perhaps birds directly or indirectly dependent on them.
Page 290 - The enormous disproportion between the mean height of the land and the mean depth of the ocean, which would render it very difficult for new land to reach the surface till long after the total submergence of the sinking continent. (2) The wonderful uniformity of level over by far the greater part of the ocean floor, which indicates that it is not subject to the same disturbing agencies which...
Page 76 - is undoubtedly a legitimate and highly probable supposition, and it is an example of the way in which a study of the geographical distribution of animals may enable us to reconstruct the geography of a bygone age. ... It...