ON THE DISTRIBUTION OF MARINE MAMMALIA.[1]
By P.L. Sclater, M.A., Ph.D., F.R.S.
I. Introductory Remarks.
Most of the recent writers on Geographical Distribution have confined their attention to terrestrial mammals, or at any rate have but casually alluded to the marine groups of that Class. On the present occasion I wish to call your attention to some of the principal facts connected with the distribution over the world's surface of the marine or aquatic members of the Class of Mammals.
Aquatic mammals which pass their lives entirely, or, for the greater part, in the water are, of course, subject to very different laws of distribution from those of the terrestrial forms. As regards aquatic mammals, land is of course an impassable barrier to their extension, and, subject to restrictions in certain cases, water offers them a free passage. Just the opposite is the case with the terrestrial mammals, to which in most cases land offers a free passage, while seas and rivers restrain the extension of their ranges.
The groups of aquatic mammals that are represented on the earth's surface at the present time are three in number, viz.:—(1) the suborder of the Carnivora, containing the Seals and their allies, generally called the Pinnipedia, which are semi-aquatic; (2) the Sirenia, which are mainly aquatic; and (3) the Cetacea, which never leave the water, and are wholly aquatic. We will consider briefly the principal representatives of these three groups, following nearly the arrangement of them employed in Flower and Lydekker's 'Mammals Living and Extinct.'
II. Distribution of Pinnipeds.
The Pinnipeds, which I will take first, comprise three distinct families—the Otariidæ, the Trichechidæ, and the Phocidæ.
- ↑ By the courtesy of Dr. Sclater we have received an advance proof of this important paper, read before the Zoological Society of London on March 16th.
