38 THE TAIGA, OR CONIFEROUS 
their slow rate of transpiration makes conifers more 
tolerant than broad-leaved trees of unfavourable con- 
ditions. The consequence is that in Asia we find 
a band of predominantly coniferous forest separating 
the tundra from the steppes of the central region, this 
forest, which is markedly uniform in character, being 
called the tacga. Its important trees are the Siberian 
larch and the Siberian fir ; the Cembra pine, important 
for its edible seeds, eagerly relished by many animals ; 
with many minor forms, such as juniper, bird cherry, 
mountain ash, &c., important in that they bear edible 
fruits. In addition the taiga resembles the tundra in 
its great wealth of berry-bearing bushes, such as 
cranberries, crowberries, whortleberries, &c., especially 
abundant in clearings, and in areas devastated by 
forest fires. 
Lianes and creepers are typically absent, and the 
taiga as a whole is much less dense than the tropical 
forest. The result is that we have no animals of purely 
arboreal habit, such as occur in the equatorial forests, 
and on the whole arboreal adaptations are few. Very 
many of the inhabitants of the taiga possess the power 
of climbing without showing any great modification of 
structure. 
In North America, especially in the eastern part of 
Canada, a belt of forest of very similar characters occurs. 
The species of conifers are different, but the general 
aspect of the forest is the same, and its inhabitants 
show a general resemblance to those in the Old World. 
Under the name of taiga animals, therefore, we shall 
describe the inhabitants of the coniferous forests of 
both the eastern and western hemispheres. 
The important mammals of the taiga belong to three ~ 
orders; they are ungulates, or rodents, or carnivores. 
