346 



THE HOLARCTIC REGION. 



[CHAP. 



Coming to the consideration of sub-regions, we have first of 

 all the Arctic sub-region, which corresponds to the 

 Boreal sub-region of Dr Heilprin, and the Arctic 

 zone of the Boreal region of Dr Merriam, and is of 

 circumpolar extent. According to the former writer, in the Old 

 World it may be defined as the tract lying to the north of a line 

 starting from about the 66th parallel of latitude on the Norwegian 

 coast, and passing south-eastwards to the coast of eastern Asia 

 in about the 5oth parallel, thus including the greater part of 

 Kamschatka, and Amurland. In America, according to Dr 

 Merriam's map, after running just inside the shores of Newfound- 



FIG. 70. MUSK-OX (Ovibos moschatus). 



land and Labrador, the boundary line bends southwards after 

 passing Cape Chudleigh to coincide with the southern shore of 

 Hudson Bay, and then takes a north-westerly direction so as 

 to include within the sub-region only a narrow strip on the north- 

 eastern coast of Alaska, and a somewhat broader one on the 

 north-western shore of the same. In the Old World the boundary 

 line coincides approximately with the northern limit of the cultiva- 

 tion of cereals, and also with that of the southern migrations of 

 the reindeer; but in America certain reindeer (which are regarded 



