Pacific or California Division. 13 



Pacific or California Din'sion. This name has been very gen- 

 erally applied to the Pacific coast region of the United States. 

 It was first recognized by the botanist De Candolle in 1820. 

 Pickering, in 1830, named it the Californian Flora, but, knowing 

 little or nothing of the Sierra Nevada and believing the Rocky 

 Mountains to be the only mountain system of importance in 

 North America, extended its eastern boundary to that range. 

 In this he was followed by the botanist Hinds, in 1843 ; by the 

 conchologists, Amos Binney, in 1851, and Woodward, in 1856. 

 Agassiz, in 1854, was first to fix its eastern limit at the Sierra 

 Nevada and Cascade mountains, where it has been permitted to 

 rest. Its north and south boundaries have undergone consid- 

 erable fluctuations. 



The extent to which the Pacific or Californian region has been 

 recognized will appear from the following table : <: 



* Engler's ' California Coast Province ' is not included in this table, be- 

 cause it consists only of the narrow strip of land between the Coast Range 

 and the Pacific. 



t Named from the Sierra Nevada not the State of Nevada. 



