Verrill.] 334 



The Acalephs of this region have been noticed by Mr. A. Agassiz 

 in these Proceedings, Vol. viii. p. 224, and in other publications. 

 More recently in the Illustrated Catalogue of the Museum of Comp. 

 Zoology, Yol. II. p. 221, he has presented the subject more fully. 

 The geographical distribution of the Acalephs agrees to a considera- 

 ble extent with that of the groups now under consideration, but we 

 find no reason for considering the Bay of Fundy a zoological region 

 distinct from Massachusetts Bay on one side, and Nova Scotia on the 

 other. Possibly this discrepancy may be due to the lack of suffi- 

 ciently numerous observations upon the Acalephs at various points 

 along that portion of the coast. 



The present groups indicate that there are portions of three dis- 

 tinct Faunas to be distinguished on the coast of New England, viz. : 

 First, that known as the Virginian Fauna, extending from Cape 

 Hatteras, Va., to the southern side of Cape Cod, which is in many 

 respects closely related to the Carolinian Fauna, farther south, many 

 species being identical ; while in its northern portions, some species 

 belonging properly to more northern faunse, occur. Second, that 

 known as the Acadian or Nova Scotian Fauna, which extends along 

 the shore from Cape Cod to the mouth of the St. Lawrence River, 

 and includes the greater part of the Gulf of St. Lawrence ; the shal- 

 lower parts of the Bay of Fundy, and the waters of the coast of 

 Maine ; Massachusetts Bay, and many of the banks to the southward 

 of Cape Cod, such as Nantucket Shoals ; and, perhaps, the extreme 

 eastern end of Long Island, where many of its characteristic species 

 of shells, etc., occur. Off the coast of New Jersey, also, there are 

 deep-lying banks or shoals, which may be referred to this fauna on 

 account of northern species found there, but as there are also several 

 peculiar species, they may prove, when better known, to be deep 

 water localities, belonging rather to the Virginian. Third, a more 

 arctic Fauna characterizes the eastern coast of Labrador and New- 

 foundland, and the Grand Banks, which extends far southward along 

 our coast in deep water, influenced by the polar current of cold water, 

 which skirts the northern part of our coast. This includes most of 

 the banks and deep-lying shoals off Nova Scotia and Maine, espe- 

 cially the deep waters about the mouth of the Bay of Fundy, and St. 

 George's Bank, which is covered by from thirty to fifty fathoms of 

 water. 



In fact, we may consider the marine animals as limited by laws 

 similar to that of land animals, and that an increase in depth of water, 

 has the same effect as increase in the elevation of land, — that of caus- 

 ing a lower temperature, and consequently bringing northern animals 

 doAvn to lower latitudes than they can inhabit in shallower waters 

 along the shore, thus giving rise to outlying patches of more northern 



