76 GEOGKAPHICAL blSTlllliUTlON OF ANIMALS. 



612. In America, as in the Old World, the temperate 

 fauna is further subdivided into several districts, which may 

 be regarded as so many zoological provinces, in each of which 

 there is a certain number of animals differing from those in 

 the others, though very closely allied to them. Temperate 

 America presents us with a striking example in this respect. 

 We have, on the one hand : 



1st. The fauna of the United States properly so called, on 

 this side of the Rocky Mountains. 



2d. The fauna of Oregon and California, beyond those 

 mountains. 



Though there are some animals which traverse the chain 

 of the Rocky Mountains, and are found in the prairies of the 

 Missouri as well as on the banks of the Columbia, as, for 

 example, the Rocky Mountain deer (Antilope fnrcifer), yet, 

 if we regard the whole assemblage of animals, they are found 

 to differ entirely. Thus, the rodents, part of the ruminants, 

 the insects, and all the mollusks, belong to distinct species. 



613. The faunas or zoological provinces of the Old World 

 corresponding to these are : 



1st. The fauna of Europe, which is very closely related to 

 that of the United States proper. 



2d. The fauna of Siberia, separated from the fauna of 

 Europe by the Ural Mountains. 



3d. The fauna of the Asiatic table-land, which, from what 

 is as yet known of it, appears to be quite distinct. 



4th. The fauna of China and Japan, which is analogous to 

 that of Europe in the birds, and to that of the United States 

 in the reptiles as it is also in the flora. 



Lastly, it is in the temperate zone of the northern hemi- 

 sphere that we meet with the most striking examples of 

 those local faunas which have been mentioned above. Such, 

 for example, is the fauna of the Caspian Sea, of the steppes 

 of Tartary, and of the Western prairies. 



614. The faunas of the southern temperate regions differ 

 from those of the tropics as much as- the northern temperate 



Crustacea. Among the types which are wanting in temperate America, 

 and which are found in Europe, may be cited the horse, the wild boar, 

 and the true mouse. All the species of domestic mice living in America, 

 have been brought from the Old World. 



