1556 CRUSTACEA. 



coast of Africa, north of the parallel of 30 south, the coasts of India 

 and the East India Islands, and the northern half of Australia, 

 together with the numerous islands of the Pacific, belong alike to 

 the Torrid zone. In the American Seas, the torrid coasts make a 

 single range, and have many species in common throughout. In the 

 Oriental Seas, they reach with an uninterrupted surface over one-half 

 of the circumference of the globe, and there is room for many distinct 

 provinces within the same temperature region. The space for Torrid 

 zone species along the American coasts in the Atlantic or Pacific, or 

 that of the whole Atlantic Ocean, is small compared with the vast 

 extent of the East Indies, Indian Ocean, and Middle Pacific, and this 

 fact is more striking, if we consider that the Atlantic east of the West 

 Indies contains no islands in the Torrid zone, besides St. Helena, 

 Ascension, and the Cape Verdes, all of which are of small size. 



Again, in order to compare the coasts of America and Europe, we 

 must observe that the warm temperate region is represented along the 

 former by a small district from Northern Florida to Cape Hatteras, 

 while this region does not reach at all the latter, and only the Cana- 

 ries in the eastern Atlantic are within it. Moreover, the temperate 

 and subtemperate regions are mere points on the North American 

 coast at Cape Hatteras; while on the European side, the former 

 embraces the larger part of the Mediterranean, and a portion of North- 

 western Africa, and the latter includes the Atlantic coast of Portugal. 

 But north of Cape Hatteras, the coast of America is rightly compared 

 with that of Europe, north of Portugal. 



To compare the coast of Asia and Europe, we first observe in the 

 same manner the temperature regions. There is in fact a striking 

 similarity with the coast of the United States. Yet, the torrid and 

 subtorrid regions are confined to limits much nearer the equator ; and 

 the warm temperate, although embracing as many degrees of latitude 

 as the warm temperate on the United States, does not on the China 

 coast extend farther north than the subtorrid region of the Florida 

 coast. The temperate region hardly has a place on the coast of 

 China, while the subtemperate occupies the Yellow Sea. North of 

 this Gulf, the coast corresponds mostly with the coast of the United 

 States, north of Cape Cod. 



It is unnecessary to adduce other explanations, as the chart fur- 

 nishes all that is needed for a ready comparison between the diffe- 

 rent coasts. 



