292 THE FAUNA AND FLOKA OF ALLEGANY COUNTY 



within the Austral region. This region is commonly divided into 

 several belts, known to naturalists as Lower Austral, Upper Austral, 

 and Transition. The Transition, as its name implies, is a belt of 

 overlapping of northern and southern types. The Lower Austral, or 

 Austroriparian, belt begins on the east coast at the mouth of Chesa- 

 peake Bay and takes a southerly and westerly course around the south- 

 ern end of the Alleghanies. The Upper Austral, or Carolinian, belt 

 extends from the neighborhood of New York City southerly along 

 the coast to Chesapeake Bay and includes the whole state of Mary- 

 land except the mountains. The mountains fall mainly within the 

 Alleghanian division of the Transition zone, and, as already remarked, 

 a few of their higher summits are strongly tinged with Boreal forms. 

 While the Boreal region has too cold a climate for successful agri- 

 culture, all of the Austral zones are of agricultural importance. The 

 whole of the state of Maryland, therefore, so far as its climatic con- 

 ditions and life zones are concerned, is an agricultural state no part 

 being too cold for the cultivation of crops. The rainfall and humidity 

 also are neither too scanty nor too excessive for agriculture; hence, 

 except where unfavorable topographic and soil conditions prevent, the 

 whole state may be made productive. 



A very hasty examination of Allegany and Garrett counties 

 recently made by my assistants, Yernon Bailey and E. A. Preble, at 

 the request of Professor William Bullock Clark, Director of the 

 Maryland Geological Survey, shows that Garrett county and the 

 western part of Allegany county (west of Piney Mountain and the 

 Potomac valley) are mainly in the Alleghanian area of the Transition 

 zone, and that the eastern part of Allegany county (east of Cumber- 

 land) is mainly in the Carolinian area of the Upper Austral zone. 



Tongues of the Carolinian fauna, characterized by the tulip tree, 

 sycamore, red bud, sassafras, sweet gum, dogwood, and scrib pine/ 

 occupy the narrow valleys of the North Branch of the Potomac 

 river, Wills Creek, Jennings Run and Bradclock Run, and reach up, 



' Among the characteristic animals of the Carolinian area of Maryland are the 

 opossum, fox squirrel, cardinal bird, Carolina wren, tufted titmouse, gnatcatcher, 

 Carolina chickadee and summer tanager. 



