Corollary and Commentary for "Climate and Evolution"

Abstract

In its principal outlines, the history of th-e st-udy of animal geography has been a simple one. The mass of geographic data on the distribution of animals, accumulating from the time of Linnaeus and before, could not be integrated or interpreted while the doctrine of special creation was current. Once a belief in evolution gained acceptance, animal and plant geography became of great interest in any broad review of biological problems, in the description of the host of new forms being discovered, and in any general account of the life of the world as a whole.