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GIS for Web Developers Adding Where to Your Web
Applications 1st Edition Scott Davis Digital Instant
Download
Author(s): Scott Davis
ISBN(s): 9780974514093, 0974514098
Edition: 1
File Details: PDF, 3.61 MB
Year: 2007
Language: english
 GIS for Web Developers
Adding Where to Your Web Applications

Scott Davis

The Pragmatic Bookshelf

Raleigh, North Carolina Dallas, Texas
Many of the designations used by manufacturers and sellers to distinguish their prod-
ucts are claimed as trademarks. Where those designations appear in this book, and The
Pragmatic Programmers, LLC was aware of a trademark claim, the designations have
been printed in initial capital letters or in all capitals. The Pragmatic Starter Kit, The
Pragmatic Programmer, Pragmatic Programming, Pragmatic Bookshelf and the linking g
device are trademarks of The Pragmatic Programmers, LLC.

Every precaution was taken in the preparation of this book. However, the publisher
assumes no responsibility for errors or omissions, or for damages that may result from
the use of information (including program listings) contained herein.

Our Pragmatic courses, workshops, and other products can help you and your team
create better software and have more fun. For more information, as well as the latest
Pragmatic titles, please visit us at

http://www.pragmaticprogrammer.com

Copyright © 2007 The Pragmatic Programmers LLC.

All rights reserved.

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmit-

ted, in any form, or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or
otherwise, without the prior consent of the publisher.

ISBN-10: 0-9745140-9-8
ISBN-13: 978-0-9745140-9-3
 Contents
Preface 10
Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

1 Introduction 13
1.1 Demystifying GIS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
1.2 Finding Free Data Sources and Applications . . . . . . 14
1.3 Becoming a GIS Programmer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
1.4 What Are You Getting Yourself Into? . . . . . . . . . . . 16

2 Vectors 19
2.1 Raw Materials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
2.2 Raster Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
2.3 Vector Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
2.4 Types of Vector Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
2.5 What Data Is Available? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
2.6 Know Your File Formats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
2.7 Anatomy of a Shapefile . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
2.8 The Downloadable States of America . . . . . . . . . . . 32
2.9 Downloading a Viewer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
2.10 Styling Your Layers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
2.11 Viewing Multiple Basemap Layers . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
2.12 More Data, Please . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
2.13 More International Data, Please . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
2.14 When Good Data Goes Bad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
2.15 Saving Your Map in ArcExplorer . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
2.16 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

3 Projections 45
3.1 The Round Earth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
3.2 Cartesian Planes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
3.3 What Is a Projection? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
3.4 Changing Projections in ArcExplorer . . . . . . . . . . . 54
 CONTENTS 8

3.5 What Does Round Really Mean, Anyway? . . . . . . . . 55

3.6 Coordinate Reference Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
3.7 Getting Your Data Layers Aligned . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
3.8 Reprojection Utilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
3.9 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70

4 Rasters 71
4.1 Getting Started with Raster Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
4.2 Terraserver-USA: Another Source of Free Raster Imagery 74
4.3 Mosaics and Tessellation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
4.4 Temporal Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
4.5 Panchromatic vs. Multispectral . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
4.6 Scale and Resolution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
4.7 Orthorectification . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
4.8 Downloading Free Rasters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
4.9 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106

5 Spatial Databases 108

5.1 Why Bother with a Spatial Database? . . . . . . . . . . 108
5.2 Installing PostgreSQL and PostGIS . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
5.3 Adding Spatial Fields . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
5.4 Inserting Spatial Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
5.5 Querying Spatial Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
5.6 Introspection of Spatial Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
5.7 Importing Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
5.8 Manipulating Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
5.9 Exporting Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
5.10 Indexing Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
5.11 Spatial Queries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128
5.12 Visualizing Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
5.13 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133

6 Creating OGC Web Services 134

6.1 Sharing the Wealth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
6.2 OGC SOA for GIS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
6.3 Installing GeoServer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
6.4 Adding Shapefiles Using the GUI . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
6.5 Adding Shapefiles Manually . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
6.6 Adding PostGIS Layers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148
6.7 Styling with SLD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
6.8 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156
 CONTENTS 9

7 Using OGC Web Services 157

7.1 Understanding WMS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157
7.2 WMS GetCapabilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158
7.3 WMS GetMap . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164
7.4 Understanding WFS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165
7.5 WFS GetCapabilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166
7.6 WFS DescribeFeatureType . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
7.7 WFS GetFeature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170
7.8 Filtering WFS GetFeature Requests . . . . . . . . . . . 171
7.9 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177

8 OGC Clients 179

8.1 Mapbuilder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179
8.2 OpenLayers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190
8.3 uDig . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199
8.4 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201

9 Bringing It All Together 202

9.1 From CSV to SQL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202
9.2 Geocoding Your Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215
9.3 Adding PostGIS Fields . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223
9.4 Setting Up OGC Services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 226
9.5 Tiling vs. Styling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229
9.6 Creating a Slippy Map . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233
9.7 Beyond the Web: 3D Viewers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237
9.8 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 242

A Mac/Linux Installation 243

A.1 Installing GDAL/Proj/Geos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 243
A.2 Installing PostgreSQL and PostGIS . . . . . . . . . . . . 245
A.3 LibTIFF and LibGeoTIFF . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 248

B Installing Groovy 249

B.1 Unix, Linux, and Mac OS X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249
B.2 Windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 250

Index 253
 Preface
We are on the edge of the next big wave of technology, and it has
GIS written all over it. Soon every new cell phone will have GPS (or
some form of location-based services) built in as a standard feature.
Nearly every major database vendor now includes native geographic
data types. Free sources of geographic data and free applications are
just waiting for you to pull them together and do something clever. You
might create a simple digital version of the pushpin map, or you might
write the next Google Maps killer.
All of our lives we’ve asked “Where am I?” and “How do I get from here
to there?”
You start by rolling over, then crawling, and then walking. You walked
to school or were driven or took the bus. Maybe you eventually drove
yourself. When you got older, you joined a society of people who use
different modes of transportation every day. We ride subways to work.
We take airplane flights to far-off places. We visit client locations. We
attend conferences or night classes. We go shopping. We eat out at
restaurants. Unless you spend your days physically tied to something
large, heavy, and immobile, you probably spend a significant portion of
your time thinking about how to get from here to there and back again.
And how does traditional geography make that easier? It offers you vec-
tor and raster data, orthographically rectified and portrayed in the Uni-
versal Transverse Mercator projection. (Don’t you feel better already?)
Even asking a simple question like “What is your current latitude and
longitude?” will likely cause most people to back away slowly, hands
up, muttering, “That’s OK—I’ll ask someone else for directions.”
In GIS for Web Developers we’ll talk about GIS in simple terms and
demonstrate its real-world uses.
 A CKNOWLEDGMENTS 11

We have always been awash in spatial data: houses and buildings

have street addresses, customers cluster together in cities and states,
you probably store your friends and family in one or more electronic
address books. What has been missing up until now are tools targeted
at developers without formal training in GIS. What was once a special-
ized field is now open to new class of technically savvy but untrained
map hackers—neogeographers1 . This book is squarely targeted at this
new generation of mapmakers.
A word of warning to the faint of heart: you will be forced to wade
through a quagmire of polysyllabic jargon. My apologies in advance.
What you have to look forward to is that by the end of the book you’ll
be able to sling these phrases around with confidence, much like saying
“instantiate” and “polymorphic” to your fellow software developers.
Every application and API presented in this book is free or open source.
I have taken great pains to make sure that they are supported on all
the major operating systems (Mac OS X, Linux, and Windows). You will
have enough on your plate simply battling the obscure lingo and the
incompatible file formats. The last things you need to worry about are
platform-specific solutions, let alone expensive platform-specific solu-
tions.
Thanks for your interest in GIS for Web Developers. Welcome to the
brave new world of neogeography.

Acknowledgments
Big thanks go to Dave Thomas and Andy Hunt for creating the Prag-
matic Bookshelf. It is truly a company that is “of the developer, by
the developer, and for the developer.” You have no idea how happy it
makes me writing my prose in TextMate, using make to build the book,
and using Subversion to keep track of the revisions. Or maybe you do,
which is exactly my point.
Thanks also go to Daniel Steinberg, my editor, and all of the rest of the
PragProggers who copy edited, indexed, and did all of the other behind-
the-scenes machinations necessary to get this book from bits to atoms.
The crack team of tech reviewers went to extraordinary lengths to beat
my factual and stylistic errors into submission: Schuyler Erle, Jody

1. http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2006/04/0425_060425_map_blogs.html
 A CKNOWLEDGMENTS 12

Garnett, Chris Holmes, Ken Kousen, Donald Marino, Tyler Mitchell,

Greg Ostravich, Paul Ramsey, and Christopher Schmidt. I’d also like to
thank the folks who read the manuscript way back when it was called
Pragmatic GIS: Tom Bender, Erik Hatcher, Matthew Lipper, Garth Patil,
Gary Sherman, Eitan Suez, Alex Viggio, and I’m sure many others
whose names have been lost to the fog of time and/or the inadver-
tent deletion of ancient email. Much appreciation goes to everyone who
purchased this book online when it was still in beta and submitted
errata.
Many thanks to Jay Zimmerman for the No Fluff, Just Stuff symposium
tour. Jay, along with Bruce Tate and Brian Sletten (also NoFluffers),
made my transition from corporate developer to independent consul-
tant not only possible but painless as well. Your support and advice
throughout the process was more valuable than you’ll ever know. As for
the rest of the NoFluffers—David Bock, Scott Delap, Neal Ford, David
Geary, Justin Gehtland, Andy Glover, Brian Goetz, Ben Hale, Stu Hal-
loway, Jason Hunter, David Hussman, Ted Neward, Mark Richards,
Jared Richardson, Nate Schutta, Howard Lewis Ship, Venkat Subra-
maniam, Glenn Vanderburg, and everyone else—let’s just say that it is
an ongoing honor and privilege to get to hang out with folks of your
caliber 30 weekends out of the year. As for the heaping servings of grief
you give me on the rare occasions I get us lost when I’m driving—“Nice
job, MapGuy!”—remember that not all who wander are lost. Except me.
I’m usually lost.
Finally, I’d like to thank my family. My wife, Kim, offered the same
unique combination of supportive encouragement and taskmasterly
discipline to this book that she does to our life in general. I had no idea
there were so many subtle nuances to the seemingly innocent phrase,
“So, how are things going?” My son, Christopher, has many maps up
on his wall. He has toy compasses and knows the cardinal directions.
With a bit of luck, the time he spends now drawing treasure maps will
save him in the future from the genetic predisposition to getting lost
that plagues his dad. And to Young Elizabeth, who joined us midway
through the writing of this book, your snuggles and full-body smiles
were just what I needed. Much love to each of you.
 Chapter 1

Introduction
Developing geographic applications is far more complicated than it
should be. I have several goals for this book. The first is to demystify
geographic information systems (GIS) and teach you a bit of the lingo.
The second goal is to help you download some free data and learn a
programmatic API or two. These lead to the final goal of turning you
into a GIS developer.

1.1 Demystifying GIS

Many popular websites have GIS underpinnings (and you don’t need a
PhD to use them). MapQuest1 is perhaps one of the most well known.
In the late 1990s, it virtually owned the online mapping market.
In the following years, additional players joined the game. All the major
search engines now have GIS offerings. For example, take a look at
Google Maps.2 You simply enter a street address, and it shows you the
location on a map. Yahoo3 and MSN4 offer similar functionality.
Although all these sites provide a valuable service, they do little to raise
the geographic literacy of the general public. I can’t criticize them too
much for this—I’m sure that ease of use was their primary design goal.
But by shielding us from the complexity of the GIS problems they solve,
they don’t help us build GIS solutions of our own. They are “black
boxes” of geographical wonder.

1. http://www.mapquest.com
2. http://maps.google.com
3. http://maps.yahoo.com
4. http://maps.msn.com
 F INDING F REE D ATA S OURCES AND A PPLICATIONS 14

Similarly, most consumer-grade global positioning system (GPS) devices

are sold as black boxes as well. In-dash GPS is fast becoming the de
rigueur option in high-end automobiles, but most drivers would no
more consider customizing them than they would try to change the
sound of their horn or the wiring of their radio.
I am not suggesting that everyone who drives a car should be a mecha-
nic, or even want to be. But for those of us who are just the slightest
bit curious, it would be nice to be able to crack open the hood and poke
around. Maybe I’ve just been spoiled by my years as a web developer.
When I come across a cool website, I can not only appreciate it as an
end user but also choose View > Source to see how it was put together.
To me, this is the best of all worlds—let it be a black box to those who
don’t care to look any further, but also cater to those who want to lift
up the corner and nose around the insides a bit. I firmly believe that
this democratic approach to the technology is one of the primary forces
behind the Web’s rapid growth and widespread adoption.
Unfortunately, this do-it-yourself, learn-from-others gestalt is missing
from the GIS examples we’ve discussed so far. The fact that there isn’t a
baby step up to the next level of difficulty only compounds the problem.
There seems to be very little middle ground when it comes to complex-
ity in GIS applications. Compared to MapQuest, programs that expose
their GIS underpinnings are a giant leap up in terms of complexity. The
good news is even with just a little bit of industry knowledge, you can
put together some impressive results with the free tools and data out
there.
So, regarding my first goal for the book, the “blithely ignorant end user”
segment and the “all-knowing industry veteran” segment are both well
represented in the GIS space. My hope is that this book will allow you to
join the small but growing middle class of GIS users—those who “know
more than some but not as much as others.” (The cool kids are calling
these folks neogeographers.)

1.2 Finding Free Data Sources and Applications

With only a little bit of vernacular, you can access significantly more
“white-box” GIS resources. The trick is finding them. The second goal
of the book is to show you where they are and how to assemble them
into a meaningful application.
 F INDING F REE D ATA S OURCES AND A PPLICATIONS 15

You should be reasonably comfortable downloading and configuring

popular open source programs. Java developers pull down Ant, JUnit,
and the JDK all the time. Rubyists install MySQL and Rails regularly.
These are not niche applications; they are core to the development pro-
cess.
The GIS domain is no different. A number of free and open source appli-
cations are crucial to your success as a GIS developer. In fact, some
open source desktop GIS applications rival the capabilities of their com-
mercial counterparts. There are standards-based web frameworks that
allow you to display GIS data in a browser. There are GIS databases and
command-line utilities—all free and released under the usual assort-
ment of open source licenses.
The one area that might seem a bit more foreign to nonmapping pro-
grammers is the quest for downloadable free GIS data. Unlike tradi-
tional programs where the majority of the data is generated by the
application itself, most GIS applications need to be seeded with some
preexisting data.
For example, consider a GPS application. As you hike up a path or
drive along a road, your GPS unit can be configured to periodically drop
digital bread crumbs called waypoints. This allows you to see where
you’ve been and backtrack along the same path if necessary. Although
the waypoints are a major part of the application, they are only part of
the picture (literally!). If the screen simply shows a series of black dots
floating on a white background, it doesn’t do you much good. In other
words, showing only the generated data isn’t enough. Showing those
points in relation to a basemap (a map showing the roads or hiking
trails in the area) is where the real value comes into play.
There is a vast amount of free basemap data on the Web. The problem is
it isn’t gathered together in one place, and the popular search engines
don’t have targeted searches for geographic data like they do for web
pages, images, music files, and so forth. Finding the right basemap
data for your application is often more of a challenge than using it once
you have it.
Sometimes simply combining existing map data in a unique and mean-
ingful way is all you need to do. For example, you might choose to
display all cities in the United States over a basemap of state bound-
aries. This data is available and requires no further manipulation. Your
job is to bring it together and display it.
 B ECOMING A GIS P ROGRAMMER 16

Other times the data your application generates needs to appear in

the context of a known set of data. You might decide to display cities
with populations over a certain number and then overlay that data with
sales regions where profit margins exceed a certain percentage. The
combinations of generated data and basemap data are endless, and
the tools to help you display and manipulate them are out there just
waiting to be used.
So, as I mentioned, the second goal of this book is to give you a guided
tour of the Internet, showing you where all the best nooks and crannies
are for finding free GIS applications and data sets. (Check out the com-
panion site for this book—http://www.mapmap.org—for up-to-date links
to all the data and applications mentioned here.)

1.3 Becoming a GIS Programmer

The third goal of the book is to show you how to become a GIS program-
mer. Once you have the vocabulary, the applications, and the basemap
data in place, you are going to want to generate and customize your
own sources of data.
For example, the free data you download will rarely be in the format
you’d like it to be. You’ll learn how to convert it among different file
formats and move it in and out of a database freely. You’ll learn how to
query certain pieces of it and use the tools to create entirely new data
sets.
If the second goal of the book is to show you how to be a consumer of
the data, the third goal is to show you how to become a producer of the
data.

1.4 What Are You Getting Yourself Into?

With these three goals in mind, let’s see how this book is laid out.
The first half of the book lets you get your feet wet and your hands
dirty. We download common GIS applications and free basemap data.
In the second half we get several samples working to show you how
everything comes together.
Chapter 1—Introduction
You’re reading it right now—need I say more?
 W HAT A RE Y OU G ETTING Y OURSELF I NTO ? 17

Chapter 2—Vectors
This chapter offers you your first taste of assembling maps from the
freely available geodata out there. Vector maps are line maps (as op-
posed to maps that use satellite or aerial imagery). We’ll pull down
vector data from a variety of different sources, learn some basic file
formats, and pull them all together in a free viewer.
Chapter 3—Projections
The previous chapter ends on a bit of a cliff-hanger: sometimes map
data gathered from disparate sources just snaps together; other times
it doesn’t. The main culprit for “snap-together failure” is when the base
layers are in different projections. This chapter explains what projec-
tions are, covers why data ends up in different projections in the first
place, and shows you how to reproject your data layers to restore the
“snap-together” magic that you were promised in the previous chapter.
Chapter 4—Rasters
Once you get comfortable with vector data, you might be interested
in adding some photographic data layers to your map as well. In this
chapter, you see the ins and outs of dealing with raster (photographic)
data, including where to find it, how to view it, and, most important,
how to get at the hidden metadata that moves it from being simply
pretty pixels to true geographic data.
Chapter 5—Spatial Databases
You’re probably going to want to store your geodata in a database for
all of the same reasons you typically store your plain old nonmapping
data in a database: speed, security, queries, and remote users. In some
cases, your database supports geodata natively. Other times you have
to spatially enable it. This chapter shows you how to take PostgreSQL—
a popular open source database—and spatially enable it using PostGIS
so that you can centralize the storage of all of your newfound vector
data.
Chapter 6—Creating OGC Web Services
Whether you’re interested in publishing a finished map in a web brow-
ser or want to provide access to the raw data via a web service, there
is no denying that putting your geodata on a web server is the quick-
est way to reach the broadest audience. This chapter introduces the
standard interfaces provided by the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC)
that allow you to do both.
 W HAT A RE Y OU G ETTING Y OURSELF I NTO ? 18

You’ll install and configure GeoServer, a Java servlet–based OGC server.

GeoServer allows you to share your shapefiles and PostGIS data sets via
the Web in a standardized way.
Chapter 7—Using OGC Web Services
This chapter digs deeper into two of the most popular OGC services—
Web Map Service (WMS) and Web Feature Service (WFS). WMS services
allow you to create viewable maps suitable for a web browser from dis-
parate sources across the Web. WFS services give you access to the raw
data as Geographic Markup Language (GML). Now that GeoServer is
fully installed and configured, you’ll start reaping the benefits of your
standards-based infrastructure. You’ll combine data from your local
GeoServer installation with remote OGC services from NASA and oth-
ers. These remote services aren’t running GeoServer, but you (and your
users) won’t be able to tell the difference.
Chapter 8—OGC Clients
As a reward for wading through the low-level OGC APIs in the previous
chapter, this chapter shows you how to take advantage of your new-
found knowledge at a much higher level. We look at three client-side
applications that consume OGC data with great aplomb while hiding
much of the complexity. Mapbuilder is an OGC Ajax web framework
that comes with GeoServer. OpenLayers is another web-based slippy
map interface that not only supports OGC services but also allows you
to mix in data from proprietary interfaces such as Google Maps. And
finally, we’ll look at uDig, a rich desktop client that offers strong OGC
support alongside the other data formats such as shapefiles and Post-
GIS.
Chapter 9—Bringing It All Together
In this chapter, you see a real-world use of everything you’ve learned.
You take a data set that contains addresses but no geodata and spa-
tially enable it. You combine it with existing basemap layers culled from
across the Web. You store it in a database, expose it as an OGC web
service, and ultimately create a interactive web map.
Now that you know what to expect out of this book, let’s get started.
 Chapter 2

Vectors
In this chapter we talk about getting your hands on vector basemap
data. Prepare yourself for a bit of a scavenger hunt—there isn’t a single
place where you can download everything you need. Once you have it,
you’ll probably want to see it as well. We download a free viewer so that
you can gaze lovingly at the hard-earned results of your work.

2.1 Raw Materials

Most traditional software development projects start from bare dirt—
clean, pristine, empty database tables. . . sketches of screens and work-
flow diagrams on notebook paper and cocktail napkins. . . nothing but
hope and potential.
Data is rarely a consideration during the early stages of development.
Sure, one of the first steps you generally take is to plan your data struc-
tures. You might even create a sample or two of how the data will look
for prototyping and testing purposes. But the bulk of the production
data is usually generated by the software once it goes live.
GIS projects are unique in that they depend on having some existing
data in place. Thankfully you are not expected to draw the outline of the
United States or sketch in the highways and cities to the best of your
recollection. This preexisting data, called basemap data, is generally
created and maintained by someone else. Your job as a GIS developer
is to find it and incorporate it into the finished product.
For example, let’s say you are creating a new system to keep track of
your customers. If your goal is to eventually display your customers’
locations on a map, you’ll need to create a spatial field to store their
Random documents with unrelated
content Scribd suggests to you:
Madagascar. Of the remainder, 3 genera, comprising 15 species, are
spread over tropical Africa; while three other genera with 5 species,
inhabit certain restricted portions of India and the Malay islands.
These curious facts point unmistakably to the former existence of a
large tract of land in what is now the Indian Ocean, connecting
Madagascar on the one hand with Ceylon, and with the Malay
countries on the other. About this same time (but perhaps not
contemporaneously) Madagascar must have been connected with
some portion of Southern Africa, and the whole of the country would
possess no other Primates but Lemuroidea. After the Madagascar
territory (very much larger than the existing island) had been
separated, a connection appears to have been long maintained
(probably by a northerly route) between the more equatorial portions
of Asia and Africa; till those higher forms had become developed,
which were afterwards differentiated into Simia, Presbytes, and
Cynopithecus, on the one hand, and into Troglodytes, Colobus, and
Cynocephalus, on the other. In accordance with the principle of
competition so well expounded by Mr. Darwin, we can understand
how, in the vast Asiatic and African area north of the Equator, with a
great variety of physical conditions and the influence of a host of
competing forms of life, higher types were developed than in the less
extensive and long-isolated countries south of the Equator. In
Madagascar, where these less complex conditions prevailed in a
considerable land-area, the lowly organized Lemuroids have diverged
into many specialized forms of their own peculiar type; while on the
continents they have, to a great extent, become exterminated, or
have maintained their existence in a few cases, in islands or in
mountain ranges. In Africa the nocturnal and arboreal Galagos are
adapted to a special mode of life, in which they probably have few
competitors.

How and when the ancestors of the Cebidæ and Hapalidæ entered
the South American continent, it is less easy to conceive. The only
rays of light we yet have on the subject are, the supposed affinities
of the fossil Cænopithecus of the Swiss, and the Lemuravidæ of the
North American Eocene, with both Cebidæ and Lemuroids, and the
fact that in Miocene or Eocene times a mild climate prevailed up to
the Arctic circle. The discovery of an undoubted Lemuroid in the
Eocene of Europe, indicates that the great Northern Continent was
probably the birthplace of this low type of mammal, and the source
whence Africa and Southern Asia were peopled with them, as it was,
at a later period, with the higher forms of monkeys and apes.

Order II.—CHIROPTERA.

Family 9.—PTEROPIDÆ. (9 Genera, 65 Species.)

General Distribution.

Neotropical Nearctic Palæarctic Ethiopian Oriental Australian

Sub-regions. Sub-regions. Sub-regions. Sub-regions. Sub-regions. Sub-regions.

——— ——— ——— 1. 2. 3. 1. 2. 3. 1. 2. 3

— — 4 4 4 —

The Pteropidæ, or fruit-eating Bats, sometimes called flying-foxes,

are pretty evenly distributed over the tropical regions of the Old
World and Australia. They range over all Africa and the whole of the
Oriental Region, and northward, to Amoy in China and to the South
of Japan. They are also found in the more fertile parts of Australia
and Tasmania, and in the Pacific Islands as far east as the Marianne
and Samoa Islands; but not in the Sandwich Islands or New Zealand.

The genera of bats are exceedingly numerous, but they are in a very
unsettled state, and the synonymy is exceedingly confused. The
details of their distribution cannot therefore be usefully entered into
here. The Pteropidæ differ so much from all other bats, that they are
considered to form a distinct suborder of Chiroptera, and by some
naturalists even a distinct order of Mammalia.

No fossil Pteropidæ have been discovered.

Family 10.—PHYLLOSTOMIDÆ. (31 Genera, 60 Species.)

General Distribution.

Neotropical Nearctic Palæarctic Ethiopian Oriental Australian

Sub-regions. Sub-regions. Sub-regions. Sub-regions. Sub-regions. Sub-regions.

1. 2. 3. 1—— ——— ——— ——— ———

— — — — — —

The Phyllostomidæ, or simple leaf-nosed Bats, are confined to the

Neotropical region, from Mexico and the Antilles to the southern
limits of the forest region east of the Andes, and to about lat. 33° S.
in Chili. None are found in the Nearctic region, with the exception of
one species in California (Macrotus Californicus), closely allied to
Mexican and West Indian forms. The celebrated blood-sucking
vampyre bats of South America belong to this group. Two genera,
Desmodus and Diphylla, form Dr. Peters' family Desmodidæ. Mr.
Dobson, in his recently published arrangement, divides the family
into five groups:—Mormopes, Vampyri, Glossophagæ, Stenodermata,
and Desmodontes.

Numerous remains of extinct species of this family have been found

in the bone-caves of Brazil.

Family 11.—RHINOLOPHIDÆ. (7 Genera, 70 Species.)

 General Distribution.

Neotropical Nearctic Palæarctic Ethiopian Oriental Australian

Sub-regions. Sub-regions. Sub-regions. Sub-regions. Sub-regions. Sub-regions.

——— ——— 1. 2. 3. 1. 2. 3. 1. 2. 3. 1. 2. —
— — 4 4 4 —

The Rhinolophidæ, or Horse-shoe Bats (so-called from a curiously-

shaped membranous appendance to the nose), range over all the
Ethiopian and Oriental regions, the southern part of the Palæarctic
region, Australia and Tasmania. They are most abundant and varied
in the Oriental region, where twelve genera are found; while only
five inhabit the Australian and Ethiopian regions respectively. Europe
has only one genus and four species, mostly found in the southern
parts, and none going further north than the latitude of England,
where two species occur. Two others are found in Japan, at the
opposite extremity of the Palæarctic region.

The genera Nycteris and Megaderma, which range over the Ethiopian
and Oriental regions to the Moluccas, are considered by Dr. Peters to
form a distinct family, Megadermidæ; and Mr. Dobson in his recent
arrangement (published after our first volume was printed) adopts
the same family under the name of Nycteridæ. The curious Indian
genus Rhinopoma, which, following Dr. J. E. Gray, we have classed in
this family, is considered by Mr. Dobson to belong to the
Noctilionidæ.

Fossil Rhinolophidæ.—Remains of a species of Rhinolophus still living

in England, have been found in Kent's Cavern, near Torquay.

Family 12.—VESPERTILIONIDÆ (18 Genera, 200 Species.)

 General Distribution.

Neotropical Nearctic Palæarctic Ethiopian Oriental Australian

Sub-regions. Sub-regions. Sub-regions. Sub-regions. Sub-regions. Sub-regions.

1. 2. 3. 1. 2. 3. 1. 2. 3. 1. 2. 3. 1. 2. 3. 1. 2. 3.
4 4 4 4 4 4

The small bats constituting the family Vespertilionidæ, have no nose-

membrane, but an internal earlet or tragus, and often very large
ears. They range over almost the whole globe, being apparently only
limited by the necessity of procuring insect food. In America they are
found as far north as Hudson's Bay and the Columbia river; and in
Europe they approach, if they do not pass the Arctic circle. Such
remote islands as the Azores, Bermudas, Fiji Islands, Sandwich
Islands, and New Zealand, all possess species of this group of bats,
some of which probably inhabit every island in warm or temperate
parts of the globe.

The genus Taphozous, which, in our Tables of Distribution in vol. i.

we have included in this family, is placed by Mr. Dobson in his family
Emballonuridæ, which is equivalent to our next family, Noctilionidæ.

Fossil Vespertilionidæ.—Several living European bats of this family—

Scotophilus murinus, Plecotus auritus, Vespertilio noctula, and V.
pipestrellus—have been found fossil in bone-caves in various parts of
Europe.

Extinct species of Vespertilio have occurred in the Lower Miocene at

Mayence, in the Upper Miocene of the South of France, and in the
Upper Eocene of the Paris basin.

Family 13.—NOCTILIONIDÆ. (14 Genera, 50 Species.)

 General Distribution.

Neotropical Nearctic Palæarctic Ethiopian Oriental Australian

Sub-regions. Sub-regions. Sub-regions. Sub-regions. Sub-regions. Sub-regions.

1. 2. 3. 1—— —2— 1. 2. 3. 1. 2. 3. ———

4 — — 4 4 4

The Noctilionidæ, or short-headed Bats, are found in every region,

but are very unequally distributed. Their head-quarters is the
Neotropical region, where most of the genera occur, and where they
range from Mexico to Buenos Ayres and Chili, while in North America
there is only one species in California. They are unknown in
Australia; but one species occurs in New Zealand, and another in
Norfolk Island. Several species of Dysopes (or Molossus) inhabit the
Oriental region; one or two species being widely distributed over the
continent, while two others inhabit the Indo-Malayan Islands. A
species of this same genus occurs in South Africa, and another in
Madagascar and in the Island of Bourbon; while one inhabits
Southern Europe and North Africa, and another is found at Amoy in
China. It will be seen therefore, that these are really South American
bats, which have a few allies widely scattered over the various
regions of the globe. Their affinities are, according to Mr. Tomes,
with the Phyllostomidæ, a purely South American family. The species
which forms the connecting link is the Mystacina tuberculata, a New
Zealand bat, which may, with almost equal propriety be placed in
either family, and which affords an interesting illustration of the
many points of resemblance between the Australian and Neotropical
regions.

Dr. Peters has separated this family into three,—Mormopidæ, which

is wholly Neotropical, and is especially abundant in the West Indian
Islands; Molossidæ, chiefly consisting of the genus Molossus; and
Noctilionidæ, comprising the remainder of the family, and wholly
Neotropical. Mr. Dobson, however, classes the Mormopes with the
Phyllostomidæ, and reduces the Molossi to the rank of a sub-family.
In our first volume we have classed Rhinopoma with the
Rhinolophidæ, and Taphozous with the Vespertilionidæ; but
according to Mr. Dobson both these genera belong to the present
family.

Remarks on the Distribution of the Order Chiroptera.

Although the bats, from their great powers of flight, are not
amenable to the limitations which determine the distribution of other
terrestrial mammals, yet certain great facts of distribution come out
in a very striking manner. The speciality of the Neotropical region is
well shown, not only by its exclusive possession of one large family
(Phyllostomidæ), but almost equally so by the total absence of two
others (Pteropidæ and Rhinolophidæ). The Nearctic region is also
unusually well marked, by the total absence of a family
(Rhinolophidæ) which is tolerably well represented in the Palæarctic.
The Pteropidæ well characterize the tropical regions of the Old World
and Australia; while the Vespertilionidæ are more characteristic of
the Palæarctic and Nearctic regions, which together possess about
60 species of this family.

The bats are a very difficult study, and it is quite uncertain how many
distinct species are really known. Schinz, in his Synopsis Mammalium
(1844) describes 330, while the list given by Mr. Andrew Murray in
his Geographical Distribution of Mammalia (1866), contains 400
species. A small number of new species have been since described,
but others have been sunk as synonyms, so that we can perhaps
hardly obtain a nearer approximation to the truth than the last
number. In Europe there are 35 species, and only 17 in North
America.
Fossil Chiroptera.—The fossil remains of bats that have yet been
discovered, being chiefly allied to forms still existing in the same
countries, throw no light on the origin or affinities of this remarkable
and isolated order of Mammalia; but as species very similar to those
now living were in existence so far back as Miocene or even Eocene
times, we may be sure the group is one of immense antiquity, and
that there has been ample time for the amount of variation and
extinction required to bring about the limitation of types, and the
peculiarities of distribution we now find to exist.

Order III.—INSECTIVORA.

Family 14.—GALEOPITHECIDÆ. (1 Genus, 2 Species.)

General Distribution.

Neotropical Nearctic Palæarctic Ethiopian Oriental Australian

Sub-regions. Sub-regions. Sub-regions. Sub-regions. Sub-regions. Sub-regions.

——— ——— ——— ——— ——— ———

— — — — 4 —

The singular and isolated genus Galeopithecus, or flying lemur, has

been usually placed among the Lemuroidea, but it is now considered
to come best at the head of the Insectivora. Its food however, seems
to be purely vegetable, and the very small, blind, and naked young,
closely attached to the wrinkled skin of the mother's breast, perhaps
indicates some affinity with the Marsupials. This animal seems, in
fact, to be a lateral offshoot of some low form, which has survived
during the process of development of the Insectivora, the
Lemuroidea, and the Marsupials, from an ancestral type. Only two
species are known, one found in Malacca, Sumatra, and Borneo, but
not in Java; the other in the Philippine islands (Plate VIII. vol. i. p.
337).

Family 15.—MACROSCELIDIDÆ. (3 Genera, 10 Species.)

General Distribution.

Neotropical Nearctic Palæarctic Ethiopian Oriental Australian

Sub-regions. Sub-regions. Sub-regions. Sub-regions. Sub-regions. Sub-regions.

——— ——— —2— 1—3— ——— ———

— — — — —

The Macroscelides, or elephant shrews, are extraordinary little

animals, with trunk-like snout and kangaroo-like hind-legs. They are
almost confined to South Africa, whence they extend up the east
coast as far as the Zambezi and Mozambique. A single outlying
species of Macroscelides inhabits Barbary and Algeria; while the two
genera Petrodromus, and Rhyncocyon, each represented by a single
species, have only been found at Mozambique.

Family 16.—TUPAIIDÆ. (3 Genera, 10 species.)

General Distribution.

Neotropical Nearctic Palæarctic Ethiopian Oriental Australian

Sub-regions. Sub-regions. Sub-regions. Sub-regions. Sub-regions. Sub-regions.

——— ——— ——— ——— — 2. 3. ———

— — — — 4 —
The Tupaiidæ are squirrel-like shrews, having bushy tails, and often
climbing up trees, but also feeding on the ground and among low
bushes. The typical Tupaia (7 species), are called ground squirrels by
the Malays. They are most abundant in the Malay islands and Indo-
Chinese countries, but one species is found in the Khasia Mountains,
and one in the Eastern Ghauts near Madras. The small shorter-tailed
Hylomys (2 species) is found from Tenasserim to Java and Borneo;
while the elegant little Ptilocerus (1 species) with its long pencilled
tail, is confined to Borneo; (Plate VIII. vol. i. p. 337). The family is
therefore especially Malayan, with outlying species in northern and
continental India.

Extinct Species.—Oxygomphus, found in the Tertiary deposits of

Germany, is believed to belong to this family; as is Omomys, from
the Pliocene of the United States.

Family 17.—ERINACEIDÆ. (2 Genera, 15 Species.)

General Distribution.

Neotropical Nearctic Palæarctic Ethiopian Oriental Australian

Sub-regions. Sub-regions. Sub-regions. Sub-regions. Sub-regions. Sub-regions.

——— ——— 1. 2. 3. ——3 1. 2. — ———

— — 4 — 4 —

The Hedgehogs, comprised in the genus Erinaceus (14 species), are

widely distributed over the Palæarctic, and a part of the Oriental
regions; but they only occur in the Ethiopian region in South Africa
and in the Deserts of the north, which more properly belong to the
Palæarctic region. They are absent from the Malayan, and also from
the Indo-Chinese sub-regions; except that they extend from the
north of China to Amoy and Formosa and into the temperate
highlands of the Western Himalayas. The curious Gymnura (1
species) is found in Borneo, Sumatra, and the Malay peninsula.

Extinct Species.—The common hedgehog has been found fossil in

several Post-tertiary deposits, while extinct species occur in the lower
Miocene of Auvergne and in some other parts of Europe. Many of
these remains are classed in different genera from the living species;
—(Amphechinus, Tetracus, Galerix.)

Family 18.—CENTETIDÆ. (6 Genera, 10 Species.)

General Distribution.

Neotropical Nearctic Palæarctic Ethiopian Oriental Australian

Sub-regions. Sub-regions. Sub-regions. Sub-regions. Sub-regions. Sub-regions.

——— ——— ——— ——— ——— ———

4 — — 4 — —

The Centetidæ are small animals, many of them having a spiny

covering, whence the species of Centetes have been called
Madagascar hedgehogs. The genera Centetes (2 species),
Hemicentetes (1 species), Ericulus (1 species), Echinops (3 species),
and the recently described Oryzorictes (1 species), are all exclusively
inhabitants of Madagascar, and are almost or quite tail-less. The
remaining genus, Solenodon, is a more slender and active animal,
with a long, rat-like tail, shrew-like head, and coarse fur; and the two
known species are among the very few indigenous mammals of the
West Indian islands, one being found in Cuba (Plate XVII., vol. ii., p.
67), the other in Hayti. Although presenting many points of
difference in detail, the essential characters of this curious animal
are, according to Professors Peters and Mivart, identical with the rest
of the Centetidæ. We have thus a most remarkable and well-
established case of discontinuous distribution, two portions of the
same family being now separated from each other by an extensive
continent, as well as by a deep ocean.

Extinct Species.—Remains found in the Lower Miocene of the South

of France are believed to belong to the genus Echinops, or one
closely allied to it.

Family 19.—POTAMOGALIDÆ. (1 Genus, 1 Species.)

General Distribution.

Neotropical Nearctic Palæarctic Ethiopian Oriental Australian

Sub-regions. Sub-regions. Sub-regions. Sub-regions. Sub-regions. Sub-regions.

——— ——— ——— —2— ——— ———

— — — — — —

The genus Potamogale was founded on a curious, small, otter-like

animal from West Africa, first found by M. Du Chaillu at the Gaboon,
and afterwards by the Portuguese at Angola. Its affinities are with
several groups of Insectivora, but it is sufficiently peculiar to require
the establishment of a distinct family for its reception. (Plate V., vol.
i., p. 264.)

Family 20.—CHRYSOCHLORIDÆ. (2 Genera, 3 Species.)

General Distribution.
Neotropical Nearctic Palæarctic Ethiopian Oriental Australian
Sub-regions. Sub-regions. Sub-regions. Sub-regions. Sub-regions. Sub-regions.

——— ——— ——— — — 3. ——— ———

— — — — — —

The Chrysochloridæ, or golden moles, of the Cape of Good Hope

have been separated by Professor Mivart into two genera,
Chrysochloris and Chalcochloris. They are remarkable mole-like
animals, having beautiful silky fur, with a metallic lustre and
changeable golden tints. They are peculiar to the Cape district, but
one species extends as far north as the Mozambique territory. Their
dentition is altogether peculiar, so as to completely separate them
from the true moles.

Family 21.—TALPIDÆ. (8 Genera, 19 Species.)

General Distribution.

Neotropical Nearctic Palæarctic Ethiopian Oriental Australian

Sub-regions. Sub-regions. Sub-regions. Sub-regions. Sub-regions. Sub-regions.

——— 1. 2. 3. 1. 2. 3. ——— ——3 ———

— 4 4 — — —

The Moles comprise many extraordinary forms of small mammalia

especially characteristic of the temperate regions of the northern
hemisphere, only sending out a few species of Talpa along the
Himalayas as far as Assam, and even to Tenasserim, if there is no
mistake about this locality; while one species is found in Formosa,
the northern part of which is almost as much Palæarctic as Oriental.
The genus Talpa (7 species), spreads over the whole Palæarctic
region from Great Britain to Japan; Scaptochirus (1 species) is a
recent discovery in North China; Condylura (1 species), the star-
nosed mole, inhabits Eastern North America from Nova Scotia to
Pennsylvania; Scapanus (2 species) ranges across from New York to
St. Francisco; Scalops (3 species), the shrew-moles, range from
Mexico to the great lakes on the east side of America, but on the
west only to the north of Oregon. An allied genus, Myogale (2
species), has a curious discontinuous distribution in Europe, one
species being found in South-East Russia, the other in the Pyrenees
(Plate II., vol. i., p. 218). Another allied genus, Nectogale (1 species),
has recently been described by Professor Milne-Edwards from Thibet.
Urotrichus is a shrew-like mole which inhabits Japan, and a second
species has been discovered in the mountains of British Columbia; an
allied form, Uropsilus, inhabits East Thibet. Anurosorex and
Scaptonyx, are new genera from North China.

Extinct Species.—The common mole has been found fossil in bone-

caves and diluvial deposits, and several extinct species of mole-like
animals occur in the Miocene deposits of the South of France and of
Germany. These have been described under the generic names
Dimylus, Geotrypus, Hyporissus, Galeospalax; while Palæospalax has
been found in the Pliocene forest-beds of Norfolk and Ostend.
Species of Myogale also occur from the Miocene downwards.

Family 22.—SORICIDÆ. (1 Genus, 11 Sub-genera, 65 Species.)

General Distribution.

Neotropical Nearctic Palæarctic Ethiopian Oriental Australian

Sub-regions. Sub-regions. Sub-regions. Sub-regions. Sub-regions. Sub-regions.

——3 1. 2. 3. 1. 2. 3. 1. 2. 3. 1. 2. 3. ———
 — 4 4 4 4 —

The Shrews have a wide distribution, being found throughout every

region except the Australian and Neotropical; although, as a species
is found in Timor and in some of the Moluccas, they just enter this
part of the former region, while one found in Guatemala brings them
into the latter. A number of species have recently been described
from India and the Malay Islands, so that the Oriental region is now
the richest in shrews, having 28 species; the Nearctic comes next
with 24; while the Ethiopian has 11, and the Palæarctic 10 species.
The sub-genera are Crossopus, Amphisorex, Neosorex, Crocidura,
Diplomesodon, Pinulia, Pachyura, Blarina, Feroculus, Anausorex.

Extinct Species.—Several species of Sorex have been found fossil in

the Miocene of the South of France, as well as the extinct genera
Mysarachne and Plesiosorex; and some existing species have
occurred in Bone Caves and Diluvial deposits.

General Remarks on the Distribution of the Insectivora.

The most prominent features in the distribution of the Insectivora

are,—their complete absence from South America and Australia; the
presence of Solenodon in two of the West Indian islands while the
five allied genera are found only in Madagascar; and the absence of
hedgehogs from North America. If we consider that there are only
135 known species of the order, 65 of which belong to the one genus
Sorex; while the remaining 26 genera contain only 70 species, which
have to be classed in 8 distinct families, and present such divergent
and highly specialized forms as Galeopithecus, Erinaceus, Solenodon,
and Condylura, it becomes evident that we have here the detached
fragments of a much more extensive group of animals, now almost
extinct. Many of the forms continue to exist only in islands, removed
from the severe competition of a varied mammalian population, as in
Madagascar and the Antilles; while others appear to have escaped
extermination either by their peculiar habits—as the various forms of
Moles; by special protection—as in the Hedgehogs; or by a
resemblance in form, coloration, and habits to dominant groups in
their own district—as the Tupaias of Malay which resemble squirrels,
and the Elephant-shrews of Africa which resemble the jerboas. The
numerous cases of isolated and discontinuous distribution among the
Insectivora, offer no difficulty from this point of view; since they are
the necessary results of an extensive and widely-spread group of
animals slowly becoming extinct, and continuing to exist only where
special conditions have enabled them to maintain themselves in the
struggle with more highly organized forms.

The fossil Insectivora do not throw much light on the early history of
the order, since even as far back as the Miocene period they consist
almost wholly of forms which can be referred to existing families. In
North America they go back to the Eocene period, if certain doubtful
remains have been rightly placed. The occurrence of fossil Centetidæ
in Europe, supports the view we have maintained in preceding
chapters, that the existing distribution of this family between
Madagascar and the Antilles, proves no direct connection between
those islands, but only shows us that the family once had an
extensive range.

Order IV—CARNIVORA.

Family 23.—FELIDÆ. (3 Genera, 14 Sub-genera, 66 Species.)

General Distribution.

Neotropical Nearctic Palæarctic Ethiopian Oriental Australian

Sub-regions. Sub-regions. Sub-regions. Sub-regions. Sub-regions. Sub-regions.
 1. 2. 3 1. 2. 3. 1. 2. 3. 1. 2. 3. 1. 2. 3. ———
— 4 4 — 4 —

The Cats are very widely distributed over the earth—with the
exception of the Australian region and the island sub-region of
Madagascar and the Antilles—universally; ranging from the torrid
zone to the Arctic regions and the Straits of Magellan. They are so
uniform in their organization that many naturalists group them all
under one genus, Felis; but it is now more usual to class at least the
lynxes as a separate genus, while the hunting leopard, or cheetah,
forms another. Dr. J. E. Gray divides these again, and makes 17
generic groups; but as this subdivision is not generally adopted, and
does not bring out any special features of geographical distribution, I
shall not further notice it.

The genus Felis (56 species) has the same general range as the
whole family, except that it does not go so far north; the Amoor river
in Eastern Asia, and 55° N. Lat. in America, marking its limits. Lyncus
(10 species) is a more northern group, ranging to the polar regions
in Europe and Asia, and to Lat. 66° N. in America, but not going
further south than Northern Mexico and the European shores of the
Mediterranean, except the caracal, which may be another genus, and
which extends to Central India, Persia, North Africa and even the
Cape of Good Hope. The lynxes are thus almost wholly peculiar to
the Nearctic and Palæarctic regions. Cynælurus (1 species) the
hunting leopard, ranges from Southern and Western India through
Persia, Syria, Northern and Central Africa, to the Cape of Good Hope.

Extinct Felidæ.—More than twenty extinct species of true Felidæ

have been described, ranging in time from the epoch of prehistoric
man back to the Miocene or even the Eocene period. They occur in
the south of England, in Central and South Europe, in North-West
India, in Nebraska in North America, and in the caves of Brazil. Most
of them are referred to the genus Felis, and closely resemble the
existing lions, tigers, and other large cats. Another group however
forms the genus Machairodus, a highly specialized form with serrated
teeth. Five species have been described from Europe, Northern
India, and both North and South America; and it is remarkable that
they exhibit at least as wide a range, both in space and time, as the
more numerous species referred to Felis. One of them undoubtedly
coexisted with man in England, while another, as well as the allied
Dinictis, has been found in the Mauvaises Terres of Nebraska,
associated with Anchitherium and other extinct and equally
remarkable forms, which are certainly Miocene if not, as some
geologists think, belonging to the Eocene period. These facts clearly
indicate that we have as yet made little approach to discovering the
epoch when Felidæ originated, since the oldest forms yet discovered
are typical and highly specialized representatives of a group which is
itself the most specialized of the Carnivora. Another genus,
Pseudælurus, is common to the Miocene deposits of Europe and
North America.

Family 24.—CRYPTOPROCTIDÆ. (1 Genus, 1 Species.)

General Distribution.

Neotropical Nearctic Palæarctic Ethiopian Oriental Australian

Sub-regions. Sub-regions. Sub-regions. Sub-regions. Sub-regions. Sub-regions.

——— ——— ——— ——— ——— ———

— — — 4 — —

The Cryptoprocta ferox, a small and graceful cat-like animal, peculiar

to Madagascar, was formerly classed among the Viverridæ, but is
now considered by Professor Flower to constitute a distinct family
between the Cats and the Civets.
 Family 25.—VIVERRIDÆ. (8-33 Genera, 100 Species.)

General Distribution.

Neotropical Nearctic Palæarctic Ethiopian Oriental Australian

Sub-regions. Sub-regions. Sub-regions. Sub-regions. Sub-regions. Sub-regions.

——— ——— —2— 1. 2. 3. 1. 2. 3. 1——

— — — 4 4 —

The Viverridæ comprise a number of small and moderate-sized

carnivorous animals, popularly known as civets, genets, and
ichneumons, highly characteristic of the Ethiopian and Oriental
regions, several of the genera being common to both. A species of
Genetta, and one of Herpestes, inhabit South Europe; while Viverra
extends to the Moluccas, but is doubtfully indigenous. The extreme
geographical limits of the family are marked by Genetta in France
and Spain, Viverra in Shanghae and Batchian Island, and Herpestes
in Java and the Cape of Good Hope.

The following are the genera with their distribution as given by Dr. J.
E. Gray in his latest British Museum Catalogue:

Sub-family Viverrinæ.—Viverra (3 species), North and tropical Africa,

the whole Oriental region to the Moluccas; Viverricula (1 species)
India to Java; Genetta (5 species), South Europe, Palestine, Arabia,
and all Africa; Fossa (1 species), Madagascar; Linsang (2 species),
Malacca to Java; Poiana (1 species), West Africa; Galidia (3 species),
Madagascar; Hemigalea (1 species), Malacca and Borneo; Arctictis (1
species) Nepal to Sumatra and Java; Nandinia (1 species), West
Africa; Paradoxurus (9 species), the whole Oriental region; Paguma
(3 species), Nepal to China, Sumatra, and Borneo; Arctogale (1
species), Tenasserim to Java.
Sub-family Herpestinæ.—Cynogale (1 species), Borneo; Galidictis (2
species), Madagascar; Herpestes (22 species), South Palæarctic,
Ethiopian, and Oriental regions; Athylax (3 species), Tropical and
South Africa; Galogale (13 species), all Africa, North India, to
Cambodja; Galerella (1 species), East Africa; Calictis (1 species),
Ceylon (?); Ariella (1 species), South Africa; Ichneumia (4 species),
Central, East, and South Africa; Bdeogale (3 species), West and East
Africa; Urva (1 species), Himalayas to Aracan; Tæniogale (1 species),
Central India; Onychogale (1 species), Ceylon; Helogale (2 species)
East and South Africa; Cynictis (3 species), South Africa.

Sub-family Rhinogalidæ.—Rhinogale (1 species), East Africa; Mungos

(3 species), all Africa; Crossarchus (1 species), Tropical Africa;
Eupleres (1 species), Madagascar; Suricata (1 species), South Africa.

Fossil Viverridæ.—Several species of Viverra and Genetta have been

found in the Upper Miocene of France, and many extinct genera have
also been discovered. The most remarkable of these was Ictitherium,
from the Upper Miocene of Greece, which has also been found in
Hungary, Bessarabia, and France. Some of the species were larger
than any living forms of Viverridæ, and approached the hyænas.
Other extinct genera are Thalassictis and Soricictis from the Upper
Miocene, the former as large as a panther; Tylodon, of small size,
from the Upper Eocene; and Palæonyctis from the Lower Eocene,
also small and showing a very great antiquity for this family, if really
belonging to it.

Family 26.—PROTELIDÆ. (1 Genus, 1 Species.)

General Distribution.

Neotropical Nearctic Palæarctic Ethiopian Oriental Australian

Sub-regions. Sub-regions. Sub-regions. Sub-regions. Sub-regions. Sub-regions.
 ——— ——— ——— ——3 ——— ———
— — — — — —

The curious Proteles or Aard-wolf, a highly-modified form of hyæna,

approaching the ichneumons, and feeding on white ants and carrion,
is peculiar to South Africa.

Family 27.—HYÆNIDÆ. (1 Genus, 3 Species.)

General Distribution.

Neotropical Nearctic Palæarctic Ethiopian Oriental Australian

Sub-regions. Sub-regions. Sub-regions. Sub-regions. Sub-regions. Sub-regions.

——— ——— —2— 1. 2. 3 1—— ———

— — — — — —

The Hyænas are characteristically Ethiopian, to which region two of

the species are confined. The third, Hyæna striata, ranges over all
the open country of India to the foot of the Himalayas, and through
Persia, Asia Minor, and North Africa. Its fossil remains have been
found in France.

Extinct Species.—The cave hyæna (H. spelæa) occurs abundantly in

the caverns of this country and of Central Europe, and is supposed to
be most nearly allied to the H. crocuta of South Africa. Another
species is found in some parts of France. The earliest known true
hyænas occur in the Pliocene formation in France, in the Red Crag
(Older Pliocene) of England, and in the Upper Miocene of the Siwalik
hills. In the Miocene period in Europe, quite distinct genera are
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