. Atlas of zoogeography; a series of maps illustrating the distribution of over seven hundred families, genera, and species of existing animals. Zoology; Zoogeography. GENERAL PRINCIPLES OE DISTRIBUTION tion in any detail may upset the balance of the whole and lead to far- reaching and unforeseen results. Interference by man himself has entirely changed the faunal aspect of certain countries. Examples may be found in the disappearance of animals like the American Bison, Quagga, Dodo, Great Auk and many others, which have succumbed to the sporting or destructive propensities of the human specie
. Atlas of zoogeography; a series of maps illustrating the distribution of over seven hundred families, genera, and species of existing animals. Zoology; Zoogeography. GENERAL PRINCIPLES OE DISTRIBUTION tion in any detail may upset the balance of the whole and lead to far- reaching and unforeseen results. Interference by man himself has entirely changed the faunal aspect of certain countries. Examples may be found in the disappearance of animals like the American Bison, Quagga, Dodo, Great Auk and many others, which have succumbed to the sporting or destructive propensities of the human species or the so-called march of civilisation, while the opposite result has been reached in the case of certain species introduced purposely or by accident into regions far removed from their native home. Such a case is that of the Rabbit in Australia, which, intro- duced a comparatively short time ago, has increased and spread with amazing rapidity. OTHER CONDITIONS AFFECTING DISTRIBUTION. There is strong evidence in support of the theory that all the great continental areas and all the chief ocean basins have been for a vast period in the same general position. At the same time the presence of sedimentary rocks over all the great land masses proves that practically every portion has been at one time or another under water. This general permanence of situation, coupled with a constant change of form, must have exercised a paramount influence on the distribution of animal life. Attention has been drawn by more than one authority to the fact that at the present day all the greatest masses of land appear to radiate from the Arctic Regions. Behring Strait is the only break, and this is not only shallow, but inter- rupted by islands. Hence it is possible for a traveller to start at Cape Horn and finish at the Cape of Good Hope without ever being out of sight of land. Let us now consider the effect of past changes. As one portion of a continent gradually became submerged its inhabitants
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Keywords: ., bookauthorcl, bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, booksubjectzoology
