The History of the European FaunaScharff, R. F. (Robert Francis)
History
The History of the European Fauna
Scharff, R. F. (Robert Francis)
Animals -- Europe; Zoogeography
Dr. Wallace makes mention of a fairly large number of species and
varieties of Lepidoptera, Coleoptera, and land and freshwater Mollusca,
supposed to be _peculiar to the British Islands_. Even if these were all
found to be of British origin, most of their nearest relatives are
continental species. Many, however, must be looked upon as mere races or
sub-species of familiar continental forms. But others, such as
_Geomalacus maculosus_ and _Asiminea Grayana_, are by no means confined
to the British Islands. Some of the so-called varieties enumerated by
Dr. Wallace are merely slight individual variations in form and colour,
which, only by the extraordinary tendency of the variety-monger to
advertise himself, have received a distinct Latin denomination. The
number of the remaining species, after weeding out the unworthy ones,
will be found to be insignificant.
Similarly, the list of seventy-five species and varieties of flowering
plants included by Dr. Wallace among the forms peculiar to the British
Islands (p. 360) is reduced by Sir Joseph Hooker to twenty. The
remainder are to be considered as varietal forms of a very trifling
departure from the type, or as hybrids.
Just as we distinguish in the British Islands the parts inhabited by
Englishmen, Scotchmen, and Irishmen, so we can recognise three divisions
in the animal world, and these roughly correspond to the boundaries of
England, Scotland, and Ireland. Most of the eastern species inhabit
England, most of the northern ones are confined to Scotland, whilst
Ireland is occupied chiefly by southern animals. This, however, is only
a very rough-and-ready method of sub-dividing the British Islands into
their component parts according to the origin of their faunas. On closer
study such a division is found to be unsatisfactory. The eastern species
do not really stop at the Scottish frontier, they range far into
Scotland. Nor are the northern forms confined to the latter country.
Many of them range into Ireland, and also into England. I have
constructed a map of the British Islands showing approximately the
boundaries of the northern, eastern, and southern species (p. 7), but
even this may not altogether meet with the views of an ornithologist or
conchologist. For every group of animals the boundaries would probably
require to be marked differently. There is also a good deal of
overlapping, so that the attempt to define the limits of the various
elements meets with great difficulties. But the map represents, I think,
fairly well the general impression one receives as to the disposition of
its component elements, after a careful study of the British fauna as a
whole.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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