Zoological Regions

Abstract

THE last number of the Archiv für Naturgeschichte, lvii., which has just appeared, contains (pp. 277–291, pl. x.) an article by Prof. Möbius, dealing with the zoological regions of the earth, chiefly with a cartographical and “museological” object, in which a set of regions is proposed differing in some respects from that most generally in use. The number of land regions is raised to twelve instead of the usual five or six, and the marine world is likewise subdivided into a number of regions. A part of what may appear innovations is in fact nothing but a reversion to the zoological subdivisions of the world proposed by Schmarda (“Geographische Verbreitung der Thiere”) in 1853. It seems extraordinary that, although alluding to the works of the principal authorities who have dealt with zoogeography since Schmarda, Prof. Möbius should not have referred to that author otherwise than in a secondhand quotation. For not only did Schmarda lay down the basis on which zoological regions have since been elaborated, but his attempt is, everything considered, in many respects superior to that of his immediate successors in the same field.