region of Professor Schouw (that of Solidagos and Asters), equivalent to the great Mediterranean flora (the third province, that of Labiatæ and Caryophylliæ, in Schouw's arrangement)—and the southern bound of the characteristic flora of Labrador, which is equivalent to that of Northern Scandinavia; there being no intermediate flora equivalent to the Germanic in Europe. It indicates, in like manner, the point of meeting of two great zoological regions, the one northern, the American province of fur-bearing animals, the European equivalent of which must be sought in the north of Scandinavia—the other southern and characterized through a great part of its extent by the presence of the opossum (Didelphus virginiana), and the racoon (Procyon lotor); there being no intermediate mammalian province comparable with that of which the wild cat and the mole are typical in Europe. The distribution of the great marine mammals corresponds; the region of habitual haunt of whales, of the range of the walrus, Phoca leporina and Phoca groenlandica, corresponding in the American Seas to the extension southwards of the Boreal American zoological and botanical land provinces and extending many degrees south of the ranges of the same animals in the European Seas. It is remarkable that the southern limit of the occasional range of whales in the European Seas, corresponds to that of the newer pliocene deposits containing Arctic fossils—doubtless their ancient habitual range.[1]
The great Boreal American land province is a tract including the Canadas, Labrador, Rupert's Land and the countries northwards. It equals Europe in extent. Its zoological features have been investigated by Sir John Richardson, its botanical by Mr. Robert Brown and Sir William Hooker. Both zoologically and botanically it is divisible into two great regions. The northern, known to the hunters as the "barren grounds," is a treeless tract extending from Hudson's Bay in the 60th parallel of north latitude to the great Bear Lake in the 65th. It corresponds to the American division of Schouw's first botanical province. The southern division is wooded (Pinus microcarpus and Pinus Banksiana are characteristic trees) and embraces many degrees of latitude presenting a surprising uniformity every where in its ferine inhabitants.[2]
- ↑ The facts respecting the distribution of existing animals and plants in the northern hemisphere, bearing so importantly upon the subject of this essay, which I have attempted thus briefly to sketch out, may be understood much better by the reader if he will consult maps 1 and 4 of the phytological and zoological series, in the 'Physical Atlas' of Mr. Johnston and Professor Berghaus. I should be extremely remiss in duty, if I did not take this opportunity of acknowledging my obligations to that admirable and beautiful publication, which, by bringing vividly before the student the leading features of geography, in connexion with meteorology, geology, and natural history, promises to be of incalculable benefit to the progress of the sciences in Britain.
- ↑ See Richardson's Report on North American Zoology, in the Reports of the British Association for 1836.
