[34] 



and Western and Shenandoah Valley Railways. The last buf- 

 falo in the Kanawha Valley was killed on a branch of Elk River 

 in 1815 and the last elk in 1S20, about five and a half miles from 

 Charleston.* Martin in his Gazetteer of Virginia (1^35) men- 

 tions the Elk as still abounding in Elk Mountain in Pocahontas 

 County, and Howe (Historical Collections of Va., 1845) speaks 

 of Elk and Beaver having been seen in small numbers within 

 twelve years in Randolph County. 



The rattlesnake is common in the mountain districts which are 

 however singularly exempt from the black flies and mosquitoes, 

 that occasion so much annoyance farther north. 



Trout, Salvelinus fonthialis abound in the clear mountain 

 streams and Black Bass are found in the rivers of the interior. 

 Cat-fish of remarkable size are found in the New River. On the 

 coast of Virginia among the best known food fishes are tlie Drum, 

 Pogonias cromis^ the Striped Bass or Rock Fish, Roccus lin- 

 eatuSi the Sea-Bass or Black Will, Serran74S furvus^ the Weak 

 Fish, (usually called Trout) Cynoscion regalis and C. macula- 

 tus^ the Sheepshead, Archosargus pi-obatocephalus^ the Blue 

 Fish, Pomatomus saltatrix^ the Spanish Mackerel, Scombero- 

 fnorus maculaius^ the Hog Fish, Pomodasys fulvo-maculatus 

 and the Spot, I^eiostonius xanthurus. 



In considering the ornithological position of the Virginias, it 

 is to be remembered that according to the classification and 

 nomenclature of Prof. J. A. Alien,! which has been generally 

 followed, the eastern province of North America may be con- 

 sidered as embracing seven ornithcjlogical faunae or smallest of 

 the natural divisions in zoological geography. These are (i) 

 the American Arctic, (2) the Hudsonian, (3) the Canadian, 

 (4) the Alleghanian, (5) the Carolinian, (6) tlie Louisianian, 

 (7) the Floridian.J By far the larger portion of the Virginias 



•Trans- Allegheny Pioneers. By John P. Hale — Cincinnati 1886, p. 62. 



tOn the Mammals and Winter Birds of East Florida with an examination of 

 certain assumed Specific Characters in Birds, and a sketch of the Bird Faunsc 

 of Eastern North America, by J. A. Allen. Part V. On the Geopraphical Distri- 

 bution of the Birds of Eastern North America, with special reference to the 

 Number and Circumscription of the Ornithological Fa-anse. Bulletin Harvard 

 Museum of Comparative Zo61og3'. Vol. II. No. 3. 



JFurther observations have shown that the faunal areas as thus defined re- 

 quire to be somewhat modified. The Louisianian and mijch gf the Floridian 



