The study of the geographical distribution of animals, regarding which
Buffon first advanced general, and, in most instances, very correct views,
has been considerably aided in its advance by the progress made in modern
times in the geography of plants. The curves of the isothermal lines, and
more especially those of the isochimenal lines, correspond with the limits
which are seldom passed by certain species of plants, and of animals which
do not wander far from their fixed habitation either with respect to
elevation or latitude.*
[footnote] *[The following valuable remarks by Professor Forbes, on the
correspondence existing between the distribution of existing faunas and
floras of the British Islands, and the geological changes that have affected
their area, will be read with much interest; they have been copied, by the
author's permission, from the 'Survey Report', p. 16:
"If the view I have put forward respecting the origin of the flora of the
British mountains be true -- and every geological and botanical probability,
so far as the are is concerned, favors it -- then must we endeavour to find
some more plausible cause than any yet shown for the presence of numerous
species of plants, and of some animals, on the higher parts of Alpine ranges
in Europe and Asia, specifically identical with animals and plants
indigenous in the regions very far north, and not found in the intermediate
lowlands.
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