CURRENT LITERATURE.
NATURAL HISTORY BOOKS.
The Geography of Mammals. By William Lutley Sclater and Philip Lutley Sclater. (Eegan Paul, Trench. and Co. 12s.)—More than forty years ago Dr. Sclater suggested to naturalists that, for zoological purposes, the globe might be divided into six regions. each one of which was characterised by the presence or the absence of certain animals. It had, of course, long been obvious that animals were not distributed according to political boun- daries, and that it was impossible to study zoology without taking account of the strange way in which sonimals are scattered over the earth's surface. The first seven chapters of the present work are from the pen of Dr. Sclater's son (Mr. W. L. Sclater), and they have already appeared in the Geographical Journal. The chapter on "The Distribution of Marine Mammals," which is an interesting branch of the subject, was published some time ago in the "Proceedings" of the Zoological Society. The six regions which Dr. Mater originally suggested have been occasionally criticised, but are now generally accepted. The subject has been most admirably worked out by the authors of this book, which no one who cares for natural history can fail to read without the most profound interest. The work is well illustrated with some fifty woodcuts of mammals typical of the various regions ; and it is also well supplied with maps, which are most necessary if one is to follow the facts and conclusions of the authors. The first region, according to the plan suggested in the present volume, is the Australian, which possesses some striking peculiarities. The Australian region includes Australia, New Guinea, the Moluccas, and also the islands of the Pacific and New Zealand. It is characterised chiefly by the marsupials which abound there. In this region, too, are found the only examples of the lowest order of egg-laying mammals. Bats and some peculiar genera of mice are the chief mammals besides those above mentioned. The orders of mammals most common in other parts of the Old and the New World are absent except in some of the northern islands where a few have become established. The second is the Neotropical region, which consists of the continent of South America, the West Indies, Central America, and a por- tion of Southern Mexico. This is a region of tropical forests, rich in animal life, and eight out of the nine orders of terrestrial mammals are found there. The opossums, which extend into North America, are the only representatives of the marsupials found outside the Australian region. Sloths, ant-eaters, and armadillos are most characteristic of South America ; whilst oxen, horses, elephants, and rhinoceroses are unknown there. Among monkeys, the marmosets and the capuchins are found nowhere else. The next region is the Ethiopian, which includes the vast continent of Africa south of the Sahara, and Southern Arabia, as well as the island of Madagascar, with a fauna so re- markable that some would make a separate region of it. This great region is the richest in species, though not in forms peculiar to itself. The hunter has not yet exterminated the herds of elephants, antelopes, giraffes, and similar large beasts which wander over the interior. Most curious perhaps are the so- called " lipotypes," or families which are wanting in the region, as, for instance, the deer and the bears. And more strange still is it to observe that while both deer and bears are unknown in the Ethiopian region, both are found in Morocco, north of the great Sahara. Fourthly, there is the small and not very characteristic Oriental region. It begins in the West with India and Ceylon, stretches east to include Southern China and the large islands of Java, Sumatra, Borneo, and Celebes, and many smaller ones. It is separated from the Australian region by the line (called 'Wallace's line) which is drawn between the two islands of Lombok and Bali. Although the fauna of the Oriental region is markedly different from the Australian, it bears strong resemblance to the other regions which adjoin it, and from which its mammals have possibly been de- rived. The next region consists of North America and Greenland, and is called the Nearctic, but it contains so few distinctive forms that there is some doubt whether it should not be grouped as a sub-region of that portion of Europe and Northern Asia which is now called the Palearctic region. Monkeys of every sort are un- known; the only marsupial is the Virginian opossum; the only edentate is a single species of armadillo. The musk-ox, the prong-buck, and the Rocky Mountain goat are peculiar to North America; but bisons are found in both the New and the Old World. The families we find absent are the families of swine, horses, dormice, hyenas, and hedgehogs. The sixth and last is the Palwarctic region, which consists of the Northern part of the Old World, beginning with the British Islands in the West and extending across to the Japanese Islands in the Far East. In number of distinct species it ranks fourth. The camel, the roe- deer, the musk-deer, and the chamois are peculiar to the region. Such is the merest outline of a book which is a vcry valuable con- tribution to the literature of zoology. In the latter part of the volume the subject is treated from another point of view, and the several orders of mammals are dealt with in succession, and their distribution is examined.
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