98 



Recent Literature. jjanuary 



sadlj needs rigorous sifting, and placing on a basis comparable with 

 the terms used for groups in zoology, and in geological terminology.* 

 Some twenty years since North America east of the Great Plains was 

 subdivided, on the basis of bird life, into a series of minor areas termed 

 faunas, eight in number, including the whole Atlantic coast region, from 

 the southern extremity of Florida to the Arctic coast. At that time our 

 knowledge of the North America fauna at large was too imperfect to per- 

 mit the extension of similar generalizations to other parts. Although 

 our knowledge of the middle and western portions of the continent has 

 since greatly increased, it is still insufficient for final work in respect to 

 the minor faunal areas, coordinate in rank with the 'faunas' recognized 

 for the Atlantic coast region. In Dr. Merriam's 'Map of Arizona show- 

 ing the Life Areas of the Colorado Plateau south of the Grand Canon' 

 (Map i), and in his maps 2, 3, and 4 of 'San Francisco Mountain and 

 Vicinity,' devoted to the distribution of various species of forest trees, a 

 model is set which may well be emulated in the prosecution of similar 

 work. Investigation of large areas on this minute scale, however, is beyond 

 the means of individual workers; on this account, and from its high eco- 

 nomic importance, it is a proper undertaking for a Bureau of the Govern- 

 ment; and it is most gratifying that the appropriations for such work — 

 this 3'car fortunately much increased — are sure to be so wisely and eco- 

 nomically expended. The present report is an emphatic illustration of 

 the practicability, the scientific interest, and the economic importance of 

 a careful biologic survey of our vast territory. 



The pujjlication of these results will doubtless incite other investigators 

 to activity, and it is hence important that certain questions of nomencla- 

 ture should be speedily settled. At the last Congress of the A. O. U., Dr. 

 Merriatn presented in abstract an extended paper on 'The Primary P\iunal 

 Regions of North America,' illustrated by colored maps on a uniform 

 scale, showing comparatively the results of all previous work on the sub- 

 ject, and presenting a bibliographical and historic resume of each contri- 

 bution to the general subject of North American life areas, including the 

 work of botanists as well as zoologists. Such a summary should present 

 a basis for a consistent scheme of terminology and nomenclature, based 

 as far as possible on the rule of priority. The terms 'fauna,' 'area,' 

 'region,' etc., are used cominonly in a general 01 non-technical sense, but 

 often also technically, to designate a definite grade in the scale of sub- 

 divisions. In like manner "transitional area," or "transitional region," 

 is of necessity used in a general and non-technical sense, but is reprehen- 

 sible when used in a specific sense, as has been sometimes the case, since 

 any region lying between two others, is, in the very nature of things, 

 more or less transitional in character; hence the term is better reserved 

 for the designation of a condition rather than for the indication, in the 

 sense of a nomenclatural term, of any geographic area. — ^J. A. A. 



*C/. Allen, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zoology, Vol. Ill, No. 2, 1871, pp. 378,379. 



