310 



ENTOMOLOGY 



while the genus Morpho is represented by some forty species; of Cole- 

 optera, Buprestidae are important and Lucanidae especially so. 



The Australian realm embodies Australia, New Zealand, the Eastern 

 Malay Islands and Polynesia.' Buprestidae are here represented by 

 forty-seven genera, of which twenty are peculiar; against this showing, 

 the Oriental has forty-one genera and the Neotropical thirty-nine (Wal- 

 lace). Strong affinities are said to exist between the Australian and 

 Neotropical insect faunae. 



Life Zones of North America. Merriam, the chief authority 

 upon the subject, says: "The continent of North America may be di- 

 vided, according to the distribution of its animals and plants, into 

 three primary transcontinental regions Boreal, Austral and Tropical." 

 (Plate IV.) 



FIG. 296. Distribution of Erynnis mani- 

 toba, a butterfly restricted to subarctic and 

 subalpine regions. After SCUDDER. 



FIG. 297. Distribution in the United 

 States of Eudamus proteus, primarily a trop- 

 ical butterfly. After SCUDDER. 



The Boreal region covers the northern part of the continent to about 

 the northern boundary of the United States and continues southward 

 along the higher portions of the mountain ranges. This region is divided 

 into three transcontinental zones: (i) the Arctic- Alpine, lying above the 

 limits of tree growth, in latitude or altitude; (2) the Hudsonian, com- 

 prising the northern part of the great transcontinental coniferous forest 

 and the upper timbered slopes of the highest mountains of the United 

 States and Mexico; (3) the Canadian, covering the remainder of the 

 Boreal region. The butterfly Erynnis Manitoba (Fig. 296) is strictly 

 boreal in distribution. 



The Austral region "covers the whole of the United States and 

 Mexico, except the Boreal mountains and the Tropical lowlands." It 

 comprises three transcontinental belts: (i) the Transition zone, in 

 which the Boreal and the Austral overlap; (2) the Upper Austral; (3) 

 the Lower Austral. The butterfly Eudamus proteus (Fig. 297) is re- 



