Eastern, Cenfrah (ind Wrxicvn Provinces. 57 



Pacific or Calit'oniian " suln'ciiions.' lie ndniits that the Eastern 

 division is characterized l)y Imt a single mammalian t;tMuis, 

 namely, the star-nosed mole (Coiidi/hira). 



In characterizing the so-called Central or Rocky Mountain 

 siihregion, he states that th(> iironu-horned antelojie, the moun- 

 tain goat, the mountain slieej), and the prairie dog arc ])eculiar 

 to it, forgetting that the antelope ranges from the Mexican i)lateau 

 northward over the Great Plains and (Ireat Basin, and wes-tward 

 over much of California ; that the mountain goat inha])its 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 ' Californian suhregion ' he defines as "the 

 com])aratively narrow strip of country between the Sierra Nevada 

 and the Pacific. To the north it may include Vancou^'er's Island 

 and the southern part of British Columbia.'' Under the liead of 

 the mammalia of this area, h(^ enumerates 8 genera as " not found 

 in any other part of the Nearctic region," namely, Mdcrotns, 

 Aiitrozovs, Vmirirhii^, Xeoxorex, Bassaris^ Enhi)(Jra, Mnriniga, and 

 Hnp/noiJoi). A more erroneous statement could hardly be made. 

 Of the two pelagic genera. Momuf/a and Enhydra [= Liit(ix~\, 

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

 reaches it ; while of the non-iu'lagic genera three, M(irmtiis\^= (H(,j>- 

 k'riiif\, Aiiirozoiix. and Bot^saris [= BasMarisrvJ], range ovei' tlie 

 Sonoran region from Texas and the Mexican plateau across New 

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

 and the suljgenus Xeosorex occurs over j)retty much the whole 

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

 remaining genera only are confined to the Californian division, 

 namely, Umfriclms [=A>///-o?r/V7///.s] and HapJnndon \_=Apln(J(>iifi(i^. 

 Both are isolated types, inhabiting the Pacific coast country from 

 northern California to British Columbia fthe latter having no 

 near relative in any i)art 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 sul)divisions of North America 

 rest upon a misconception of fact, the Californian divisioii pos- 

 sessing two peculiar genera, and the Eastern and Central divisions 

 but a single peculiar genus each— a (piantity of difienMice it 

 would be absurd to recognize as of sufiieient weight to warrant 

 the erectio)! of zoogeographical divisions. 



s-Bioi.. S,H ., Wash.. Vol. VII, l.sii.'. 



