File:The geography of mammals (1899) (14765727972).jpg

Identifier: geographyofmamma00scla (find matches)
Title: The geography of mammals
Year: 1899 (1890s)
Authors: Sclater, William Lutley, 1863- Sclater, Philip Lutley, 1829-1913
Subjects: Mammals Zoogeography
Publisher: London, K. Paul, Trench, Trübner & co., ltd.
Contributing Library: Smithsonian Libraries
Digitizing Sponsor: Smithsonian Libraries

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, but with two endemic forms ofCetaceans (Neobal&na and Berardius). In conclusion, attention may be called to some of themore remarkable points in the general distribution of themarine mammals and to their apparent significance. In the first place it is evident that the Pacific hasmuch more in common with the Notopelagian Region thanthe Atlantic. Otaria and Macrorhinus, quite unknownin the Atlantic, extend themselves to the northern ex-tremity of the Pacific, the former pervading that oceanup to Behrings Strait, and the latter reaching to theCalifornian coast. It follows that in former ages theremust have been some barrier in the Atlantic which didnot exist in the Pacific to stop their progress northwards.The only barrier one can imagine that would have effectedthis must have been a land uniting South America andAfrica, across which they could not travel. Adoptingthis hypothesis, we have at the same time an explanationof the presence of the Manatee on both the American PLATE VIII.
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OUTLINE MAP OF THE WORLP SHOWING THE 6 SEA-REGIONS . MARINE MAMMALS 217 and African coasts. The Manatee could hardly live tocross the Atlantic. It is only found close to the coast,in estuaries and rivers, where it browses on sea-weeds andother vegetable food in shallow water. How did it travelfrom America to Africa (or vice versa), unless there were acontinuous shore-line between them ? The same may besaid of the Monk-Seal (Monachus), of which one specieslives in the Mediterranean and on the African coastand islands, and another in the West Indies. We canhardly believe that these creatures could easily traversethe whole Atlantic. The hypothesis of a former barrierof land between Africa and America, which we know issupported by other facts of distribution,1 would alone ex-plain the difficulty. On the other hand, in the Pacific we find no suchbreak between the north and south. The aquatic mammalsof Notopelagia have evidently had free access to the wholeof the Pacific for a long period,

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