REMARKS UPON THE DISTRIBUTION OF ANIMALS AND PLANTS. 575 



ren, and, probably, to connect with the line passing up from White River 

 Junction to Northumberland. Returning southerly from the south line 

 of Stratford, it curves up the Passumpsic south of the Concord (Vt.) hills 

 an unknown distance. From thence it would naturally follow back the 

 Connecticut, on the west side, to ascend the White River valley. I 

 think it must reach Craftsbury, Vt., from the White river, rather than 

 the Passumpsic valley, this being a point on the line specially men- 

 toned by Prof. Verrill. 



From the facts already presented, one would infer that the six-hun- 

 dred-feet contour line and the upper limit of the white oak approach 

 nearer to the limits of the insect faunas, as given by Mr. Scudder, than 

 the isothermal of fifty degrees. Two considerations, however, are im- 

 portant in this connection : First, the distribution of the insects, birds, 

 and trees may not coincide perfectly with one another. There is no law 

 of nature providing that these areas should coincide with mathematical 

 exactness. Second, these different lines have been drawn only approxi- 

 mately. When the temperature, altitude, and exact limits of all the 

 birds, insects, and trees shall have been studied with special reference to 

 the determination of this point, a closer correspondence may be discov- 

 ered. I have gone as far as possible without making special explorations, 

 using only what has been picked up incidentally. It would be of much 

 importance to the agricultural interests of the state if such investiga- 

 tions could be pursued farther, since the accurate determination of this 

 line shows the proper limits of the cultivation of the grape, cranberry, 

 and the choicer fruits. Their cultivation is not now carried so far 

 north as nature allows. 



EXTENT OF FOREST. 



It is often important to know how extensive the wood-growth of a 

 country is; and, in order to illustrate this subject as far as possible, I 

 have appended a small colored map showing the areas occupied by trees 

 at the present time in New Hampshire, and a short distance into the 

 surrounding territory. It is supposed the whole of the state was origi- 

 nally covered by the forest. The white parts of the map show how 

 much has been cleared, and in what neighborhoods settlements have 

 sprung up. The first glance at the map shows where the woodman's 



