THE GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION OF ANIMALS |
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Page 15
... barriers as the mammalia ; and from their larger numbers and the avidity with which they have been collected , they furnish materials of the greatest value for our present study . CHAP . II . ] 15 DISPERSAL AND MIGRATION .
... barriers as the mammalia ; and from their larger numbers and the avidity with which they have been collected , they furnish materials of the greatest value for our present study . CHAP . II . ] 15 DISPERSAL AND MIGRATION .
Page 16
ALFRED RUSSEL WALLACE. materials of the greatest value for our present study . The different groups of birds offer remarkable contrasts in the extent of their range , some being the most cosmopolite of the higher animals , while others ...
ALFRED RUSSEL WALLACE. materials of the greatest value for our present study . The different groups of birds offer remarkable contrasts in the extent of their range , some being the most cosmopolite of the higher animals , while others ...
Page 19
... present study than the movements of birds , to which we shall now confine ourselves . Migrations of Birds . — In all the temperate parts of the globe there are a considerable number of birds which reside only a part of the year ...
... present study than the movements of birds , to which we shall now confine ourselves . Migrations of Birds . — In all the temperate parts of the globe there are a considerable number of birds which reside only a part of the year ...
Page 23
... present some interesting features . The birds of the eastern parts of North America are pre - eminently migratory , a much smaller pro- portion being permanent residents than in corresponding latitudes in Europe . Thus , in ...
... present some interesting features . The birds of the eastern parts of North America are pre - eminently migratory , a much smaller pro- portion being permanent residents than in corresponding latitudes in Europe . Thus , in ...
Page 36
... present ; just as South America would be if North America were submerged , or as Australia would become if the Malay Archipelago were to sink beneath the ocean . It is also very important to bear in mind the fact insisted on by Sir ...
... present ; just as South America would be if North America were submerged , or as Australia would become if the Malay Archipelago were to sink beneath the ocean . It is also very important to bear in mind the fact insisted on by Sir ...
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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...