THE NE ARCTIC REGION 163 



provinces are divided into various minor divisions termed 

 districts and faunas. 



It will be sufficient for our present purpose to divide 

 the North American or Nearctic Kegion into three Sub- 

 regions; these may be termed, (1) the Canadian or Cold 

 Sub-region, (2) the Western or Humid Sub-region, and 

 (3) the Eastern or Arid Sub-region. 



Mr. Wallace has recognized four Sub-regions in the 

 Nearctic Region. His Canadian Sub-region corresponds 

 fairly well to the Canadian or North Temperate of Mr. 

 Allen, except for the fact that it has not been made by Mr. 

 Wallace to extend southward down the mountain ranges. 

 The Alleghany Sub-region of Mr. Wallace, again, practically 

 corresponds to the " Humid " of Mr. Allen. The two others, 

 the Rocky Mountain and Californian, correspond to Mr. 

 Allen's " Arid," the Californian Sub-region being composed 

 of a narrow strip of coast country between the Sierra 

 Nevada and the sea, and extending from Queen Charlotte's 

 Sound in the north to the south-western corner of Cali- 

 fornia. The differences, therefore, between Mr. Wallace's 

 and Mr. Allen's views are not so fundamental as one 

 would gather from the critical remarks of the latter 

 author. 



The boundaries of the Sub-regions here adopted will 

 be best understood by reference to the accompanying 

 map (Plate VI., p. 176). 



The Canadian or Cold Sub-region embraces the whole 

 of the northern portion of North America, including 

 Greenland. The southern limit of this Sub-region com- 

 mences, on the Atlantic side, on the coast of Maine, in 

 the neighbourhood of Augusta, and thence runs to Quebec 

 and through the Great Lakes. Further west it is bounded 



