Bartholomew's Physical Atlas, vol. V, Atlas of Zoogeography: A Series of Maps Illustrating the Distribution of over Seven Hundred Families, Genera, and Species of Existing Animals

Summary

This review examines the 1911 Atlas of Zoogeography, volume V of Bartholomew’s Physical Atlas, prepared by J. G. Bartholomew, W. Eagle Clarke, and P. H. Grimshaw. It traces the relationship between evolutionary theory and zoogeographical regionalization, explaining the atlas’s adoption of Sclater’s six regions, Wallace’s renaming of the Indian region as Oriental, and its rejection of a combined Holarctic region. The atlas describes regional boundaries, subdivisions, physical features, and distinctive faunas, while thirty-six plates map the distributions of more than seven hundred families, genera, and species of living animals. Coverage includes mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, major fish families, and selected insects and molluscs, with acknowledged limitations arising from insufficient distributional surveys. The reviewer praises the plates and their consistency with the explanatory text, recommends adding leading regional faunal authorities to the bibliography, and criticizes the limited treatment of extinct animals, particularly recently extinct groups that could help explain present distributions.