162 GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION OF ANIMALS. 



appertain to both hemispheres, as we recede from the equa- 

 tor towards the north or south poles. It will hereafter be 

 shown that the tropical and temperate faunas may be again 

 divided into several zoological provinces, depending on 

 longitude or on the peculiar configuration of the continents. 



414. No continent is better calculated to give a correct 

 idea of distribution into faunas, as determined by climate, 

 than the continent of America ; extending as it does across 

 both hemispheres, and embracing all latitudes, so that all 

 climates are represented upon it, as shown by the chart on 

 the following page. 



415. Let a traveller embark at Iceland, which is situated 

 on the borders of the polar circle, with a view to observe, 

 in a zoological aspect, the principal points along the eastern 

 shore of America. The result of his observation will be 

 very much as follows. Along the coast of Greenland and 

 Iceland, and also along Baffin's Bay, he will meet with an 

 unvaried fauna composed of the same animals, which are 

 also for the most part identical with those of the arctic 

 shores of Europe. It will be nearly the same along the 

 Labrador coast. 



416. As he approaches Newfoundland, he will see the 

 landscape, and with it the fauna, assuming a somewhat 

 more varied aspect. To the wide and naked or turfy 

 plains of the boreal regions succeed forests, in which he 

 will find various animals which dwell only in forests. Here 

 the temperate fauna commences. Still the number of spe- 

 cies is not yet very considerable ; but as he advances 

 southwardly, along the coasts of Nova Scotia and New 

 England, he finds these species gradually increasing, while 

 those of the cold regions diminish, and at length entirely 

 disappear, some few accidental or periodical visitors excepted, 

 who wander during winter, as far south as the Carolinas. 



417. But it is after having passed the boundaries of the 

 United States, among the Antilles, and more especially on 



