Eastern. Central, and Wcxlcvii f*rovinC68. 57 



Pacific or Califurnian ' subregions.' lie admits that the Eastern 

 division is characterized l>y hut a single mammalian genus. 

 namely, the star-nosed mole (('ondi/hn-a). 



In characterizing the so-called Central or Rocky Mountain 

 subregion, he states that the prong-horned antelope, the moun- 

 tain goat, the mountain sheep, and the prairie dog are peculiar 

 to it, forgetting that the antelope ranges from the Mexican plateau 

 northward over the Great Plains and Great Basin, and westward 

 over much of California ; that the mountain goat inhabits British 

 Columbia and the Cascade Range as well as the Rocky Moun- 

 tains ; that the mountain sheep is common in the High Sierra in 

 California and ranges northward to the Arctic Circle in Alaska ; 

 leaving the prairie dog as the only one confined to the region. 



The Pacific or ' California!! subregion ' he defines as " the 

 comparatively narrow strip of country between the Sierra Nevada 

 and the Pacific. To the north it may include Vancouver's Island 

 and the southern part of British Columbia. 1 ' Under the head of 

 the mammalia of this area, he enumerates 8 genera as " not found 

 in any other part of the Nearctic region," namely, Mct<rotii*, 

 Antrowus, Urotrichtis, Xe.n*orr..r, Ba**r>*, EiiJit/drn. Moi'intf/d, and 

 Haploodon. A more erroneous statement could kardly be made. 

 Of the two pelagic genera, Monnu/ft and EnJu/dra [= Lata-x], 

 the former does not enter the region at all and the latter barely 

 reaches it ; while of the non-pelagic genera three, Macrotti*\_ Otop- 

 tei'ii*], Antrozoux, and Safaris [= Bassariscm}, range over the 

 Sonoran region from Texas and the Mexican plateau across New 

 Mexico, Arizona, and parts of southern Nevada and California : 

 and the subgenus Neosorex occurs over pretty much the whole 

 of Boreal America from the Atlantic to the Pacific. The two 

 remaining genera only are confined to the California!! division, 

 namely, I Vo/nV7///.-? [==Newrotrichu8\ and Haploodon [***Aplodontia]. 

 Both are isolated types, inhabiting the Pacific coast country from 

 northern California to British Columbia (the latter having no 

 near relative in any part of the world, the former closely related to 

 genera now living in'Eastern Asia). 



Hence it appears, so far as the mammalia are concerned, that 

 these three supposed primary subdivisions of North America 

 rest upon a misconception of fact, the CnJifornidn division pos- 

 sessing two peculiar genera, and the Eastern and Central divisions 

 but a single peculiar genus each a quantity of difference it 

 would be absurd to recognize as of sufficient weight to warrant 

 the erection of zoogeographical divisions. 



8-Hioi,. Soc., WASH.. Vui.. VII, isii-j. 



