8 Merriarn — (Jeograpltic Distribution, of Life. 



Hemsley 1SS7 Plants Map 



Brendel 1887 Plants No map 



Nelson ] 887 Birds No map 



Schwarz 1888 Insects No map 



Bessey 1888 Plants No map 



Pvid.oway 1889 Birds No map 



^Mei'riain 1890. . Animals and plants. jNIap 



Keeler 1891 Birds Map 



The principal l;)io-geographic divisions tliat have heen recog- 

 nized by a kxrge numl)er of writers, and as a rule have been 

 proposed independently and under different names, resulting 

 from the study of different groups, are described in the following 

 synopses, each of which may be regarded as a chronologic syn- 

 onymy of the region to which it refers. 



Arctic Division (Above Limit of Trees). 



An Arctic circumpolar division north of the limit of tree 

 growth was recognized as a distinct region by European writers 

 long before the earliest attempts were made to maj) the faunal 

 and Horal areas of North America.* Hence the following table 

 is necessarily incomplete, since it shows only the extent to Avhich 

 this zone has l)een recognized l)y those who have actually defined 

 faunal and floral areas in North America. 



Date Author Name given to vegion >StU(h/ bdsed on Rank 

 1820 De Candolle. . . Hyperboreal Eegion. . . . Plants 1 



1822 Schouw Realm of Mosses and Sax- Plants 1 



ifrages. 



1830 Pickering Arctic Region Plants 1 



1831 Lesson Arctic Region Birds 1 



1835 De Candolle.. . Arctic Region Plants 1 



1836 Meyen Polar Zone Plants 1 



1838 Berghaus Realm of Mosses and Sax- Plants 1 



ifrages. 



184:3 Hinds Greenland Region Plants 1 



1 844 Wagner Polar Province IMammals 2 



* This region, however, is not nniversally recognized. Wallace and a 

 few others refuse to accept it. Agassiz, Allen, and most botanical writers, 

 on the other hand, regard it as one of the best defined of the pi-imary 

 divisions. An important recent treatise on the suliject, from the stand- 

 point of the distribution of mammals, is the following : ^'JJieavktisdu- ,Suh- 

 region — Ein Beitrag znr geographiMchen VerbreUung der Thiere," })y Dr. August 

 Brauer (ZoologLsche .Tahrl)UcluT, .\l>th. fur. Syst. 11 1, .Ian., 1SS8, 1S9-.308, 

 taf VIII). 



