DISTRIBUTION OF THE FAUNAS. 369 



after a very long journey return again in autumn to their quar- 

 ters, where their approach is anxiously awaited by the hunters, 

 on account of the fine furs to be obtained from the numerous 

 carnivora which always follow in their train. The migrations 



v O 



of the Lemmings are marked by the devastations they commit 

 along their course, as they come down from the borders of the 

 Frozen Ocean to the valleys of Lapland and Norway ; but their 

 migrations are not periodical. 



SECTION II. 



DISTRIBUTION OF THE FAUNAS. 



595. WE have stated that all the faunas of the globe may 

 be divided into three groups, corresponding to as many 

 great climatal divisions, namely, the glacial or arctic, the tem- 

 perate, and the tropical faunas. These three divisions apper- 

 tain to both hemispheres, as we recede from the equator to- 

 wards 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. 



596. 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 hemi- 

 spheres, and embracing all latitudes, so that all climates are 

 represented upon it, as shown by the chart on the following 

 page. 



597. 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 observations will be very much 

 as foUows. Along the coast of Greenland and Iceland, and 

 also along Baffin's Bay, he will meet with an unvaried fauna 



/ J 



composed throughout 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 coast of Labrador. 

 598. 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 dwelling only therein. Here the temperate fauna 



