NOTICES OF NEW BOOKS.
Dr. P.L. Sclater has made the problem of the geographical distribution of animals peculiarly his own. By a circumstance which seldom occurs to most specialists, his son has inherited his tastes, and shares his studies on the subject. Most zoologists will have read, or at all events be cognizant of, the latter's papers on the Geography of Mammals published in 'The Geographical Journal' (1894-97), while Dr. Sclater's communication "On the Distribution of Marine Mammalia" appeared in these pages (1897, pp. 217-28). These together are now republished, with many illustrations and some additional matter.
This branch of zoological science in its present conception is inseparable with this country and the present century. Dr. Prichard, in his memorable 'Researches into the Physical History of Mankind,' was one of the first to give a reasonable working hypothesis. This was followed by Swainson in his 'Geography and Classification.' In 1857 Dr. Sclater proposed his divisions as applied to Birds before the Linnean Society, which was further elaborated and upheld at the Bristol Meeting of the British Association in 1875. Wallace in the main adopted these views, and they are now generally accepted, subject, of course, to some criticism in detail incidental to all widely accepted generalizations.
The main divisions or regions are mostly maintained in the sense originally proposed, though some qualification is to be found in the sub-regions. This is to be particularly noticed in the Ethiopian region, in which the Cape sub-region now includes "the whole country as far north as Angola on the west, and up to the Tana river on the east," and may probably in time be made to include Somaliland as well. Many zoologists have advocated
