544 ^^^ POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



ness was most striking. Yet an entomologist, resting on trifling 

 peculiarities hardly the signs of a variety, described it as a new 

 species.* It is impossible to admit this. It was then learned that 

 the genus Parnassius, which were believed peculiar to the mount- 

 ains of Europe and Asia, existed in California. The species were 

 distinct from those of the Old World ; according to the conven- 

 tional expression, they were typical species. Afterward a species 

 of the same genus was observed on the western coast of North 

 America which was regarded as peculiar to Siberia and Mongolia.f 

 Papilio Hippocrates, a butterfly of a remarkable type, which was 

 known in Japan, has been found in North America. 



Passing to vertebrate animals, I confine myself to the mention 

 of a small number of most characteristic types. Among the 

 rodents we remark the marmot, Ardomys pruniosiis, or sonslik 

 of Siberia, which lives in Kamchatka, on the Alaskan Peninsula, 

 and on the American continent. Among all the carnivorous ani- 

 mals of the family of the Miistelidm, or weasels, we remark the 

 sable of eastern Asia in Kamchatka, Alaska, and other northern 

 parts of the American continent. A carnivorous animal of an- 

 other group, the glutton, or wolverine, is found in the same 

 regions. 



In this latter part of my paper I have spoken wholly of ani- 

 mals and plants common to Asia and America, as in the former 

 part I spoke only of those common to Europe and North America. 

 But while I omit to make long enumerations of species, I insist 

 on the fact that plants and animals are distributed in considerable 

 numbers over the whole extent of the arctic regions in Europe, 

 Asia, and America, having accomplished the whole circuit of that 

 zone at an epoch when the continuity of the land made possible 

 an indefinite dissemination to the full extent that climatic condi- 

 tions were favorable. 



With the present condition exactly determined, and the former 

 condition recognized, a sure foundation is laid for the science of 

 the future ; new changes will be produced in the course of a few 

 centuries in the configurations of the lands and the seas, and then 

 men of science will be able to form theories of Yoliie.— Translated 

 for TJie Popidar Science Monthly from the Revue Scientifique. 



The work of searching for tlie affinities of great groups is declared by Prof. 

 Coulter to be the crying need of systematic botany. There is danger of mag- 

 nifying the importance of certain periods or organs in indicating affinities. 

 For the best and most permanent results of systematic botany, it should take into 

 account development at every period and of every organ, and so obtain a mass 

 of cumulative evidence for safe generalization. 



* The Thecla rnbi of Europe and Asia; the California specimens were described under 

 the name of T. dumetorum (Boisd). f Parnassius Nomion. 



