ARCTIC • ZOOGEOGRAPHY 1 65 



of series of males and females in the various seasonal plumages from 

 all the critical localities, would be utterly inadequate for a conclusive 

 study of the zoogeographical problems involved. Even while this 

 was being penned, a Russian ornithologist, P. Serebrovski, after 

 examining 205 ptarmigans from America and Eurasia (except Scot- 

 land!) in the Leningrad Museum, came to the conclusion that the 

 material was utterly inadequate^'^. Nevertheless, he described and 

 named four new subspecies from various parts of Siberia (the type of 

 one in a private collection) and indicated two more as possibly distinct, 

 one from Kamchatka and the other from Korovi Island at the entrance 

 to Taui Bay on the northern shore of the Sea of Okhotsk, the material 

 at hand being insufficient to decide. 



It goes without saying that all the Arctic zoogeographical problems 

 need not be attacked simultaneously, if only their interrelation be kept 

 in mind. As will be understood from the above, much material must 

 yet be collected, and the accumulation of a sufficient quantity may 

 take time, but it is necessary that the collecting campaigns should be 

 so conducted that the separate efforts may supplement one another 

 and have a concerted bearing on the problems in their totality. 



Study of the Bering Strait Region of Immediate Promise 



The whole Arctic zoogeographical problem naturally falls into 

 several subordinate problems of greater or lesser importance and 

 urgency. Of these the most immediately promising one would be a 

 very detailed biological survey of both sides of Bering Strait and 

 adjacent regions, carried out in an advanced spirit of problem investi- 

 gation as indicated above and for a series of years in succession until 

 finished. A standard for similar and coordinated work in the other 

 parts of the Arctic area might thus be established, justifying the 

 hope that in this way one of the more momentous zoogeographical 

 investigations may reach a satisfying conclusion within a reasonable 

 time. 



1' p. Sserebrowsky (P. Serebrovski) : Ubersicht der in Russland vorkommenden Formen von 

 Lagopus mutus Montin, Journ. fiir Ornilhol. Vol. 74, 1926, pp. 691-698. 



