Sonoran Division. 15 



Dud' Author $ame ffivert to region Based on 



1873 Cope .......... Vustroriparian Region.. Repts. and batrchs. 2 



1 S74 Porter ........ Southern District ....... Plants ............. 2 



1SX3 Jordan ....... Southern District ....... Mollusks .......... 4 



1SS4 Sargent ....... Coast Pine Region ...... Forests ............ 2 



ISM). Men-lam ..... Austroripariaii Region. . Animals and plants. 2 



Sonoran Division. 



The term 'Sonoran Region' has been applied by Cope and 

 others to an important life area which enters the southwestern 

 part of the United States from the table-land of Mexico. It was 

 first recognized by a botanist, Richard Brinsley Hinds, R. N., 

 surgeon to H. M. S. Sulphur, who published a description of it 

 in 1843 under the name ''The Chihuahua Region.' He defined it 

 as extending south to the tropic, west to the Gulf of California 

 and the Colorado River, north to the prairie region of the United 

 States, and separated on the east from the Gulf of Mexico by a 

 northward extension of the Central American region along the 

 lowlands bordering the coast. Professor Baird (in 1866) stated 

 that along the valleys of the Rio Grande and Gila the fauna of 

 the Central Province " is greatly mixed up with the peculiar 

 fauna of northern Mexico, which, as far as its summer birds in- 

 dicate, is almost entitled to be considered as a fourth main 

 province." 



The extent to which this region has been recognized will appear 

 from the following table : 



Date Author Name given to region Based on Rank 



1843 Hinds ....... Chihuahuan .......... . . Plants ............. 1 



1859 Le Conte. . . . Southwestern and South- Insects ............ 2 



southwestern Provinces. 



1859 Cooper ...... Arizoniaii Region ....... Forests ............ 2 



1861 Cooper ...... Arizoniaii and Chihua- Forests .......... , . 2 



huan Regions. 



1866 Baird ....... [No name given] ....... . Birds ....... ....... 2 



1870 Brown ...... New Mexican Region. . . Forests ............ 2 



1873 Cope ........ Sonoran ................ Repts. and batrchs. . 2 



1 S74 Porter ....... Cactus Region .......... Plants ............ 1 



1S7S Dyer ........ Mexico-Californian Flora Plants ............. 2 



1SS2 Engler ...... Aztec Province ......... Plants ............. 3 



1 SS4 Sargent ...... Mexican Forest Region . . Forests ............ 1 



1884 Drude ....... North Mexico and Texas Plants. . 



District. 



1887 Heilprin ..... Sonoran Transition Re- Animals .......... (?) 



gion. 



1890 Merriam ..... Sonoran Province ....... Animals and plants . 1 



