20 ANIMALS OF THE SEASHORE 



The region north of Oape Cod is sometimes 

 divided into two zones with a boundary at the Gulf 

 of St. Lawrence. This boundary, like that of 

 southern Florida, is not well defined and the transi- 

 tion between the two is more gradual. 



The following zones may thus be recognized: 

 Arctic Arctic Seas to the Gulf of 



St. Lawrence 

 Acadian Gulf of St. Lawrence to Cape Cod 



Virginian Cape Cod to Cape Hatteras 



Carolinian Cape Hatteras to Florida 

 Caribbean Florida Keys, West Indies, etc. 



The region to be treated in this book lies in the 

 Virginian Zone— between Cape Cod and Cape Hat- 

 teras. Although most of the animals described and 

 illustrated were actually obtained from the coast of 

 New T Jersey, practically the same fauna would be 

 found along the entire coast between the two above 

 mentioned capes. 



Near Cape Cod, however, a large number of 

 species from the Acadian Zone lap over into the 

 region south of Cape Cod. In addition, many rock 

 dwelling forms extend their range as far south as 

 Long Island, the southern limit of the rocky coast- 

 line. Because of this overlapping of faunas, the 

 region in the vicinity of the Marine Biological 

 Laboratory at Woods Hole, Massachusetts has a 

 rather large fauna composed of both northern and 

 southern elements. 



Again, at and near Hatteras we find a mingling 

 of the faunas, and many Carolinian or Caribbean 

 species extend some distance north of that cape. 



As we have seen, this zoning is very arbitrary 

 and the animals will not stay within their "proper" 

 zones. This point is brought out in the following 



