342 MR. R. BROWN ON THE MAMMALS OF GREENLAND. [May 28, 



In addition to these well-established species there are others fre- 

 qneatly entered among the Greenland Mammalia, some of which 

 have but scant right to a place, and others are entirely mythical, 

 as I will show in a section on these animals. Among these I class 

 Gulo borealis (Ursus iuscus), Phoca ursina (Callorhinus ursinus), 

 and Trichechus manatus {Rhytina gigas) as animals with little or no 

 claim to be admitted members of the Arctic fauna. 



The columns for the "local distribution in Greenland" are ar- 

 ranged solely with reference to our present knowledge of the range 

 of the species in the country, and, being only temporary and to a 

 great extent artificial, are subject to changes as our knowledge of the 

 species extends. At the same time I think it only right to say that 

 tliey have been very carefully compiled, after considerable study of 

 the natural range of the species, and upon principles akin to those 

 for the general distribution of the species. 



The column headed " East coast only " I have erected for the 

 reception of Myodes torquatus solely, all the species of the east 

 coast, so far as we know, being, with this exception, also common to 

 the west. The east coast has, however, been very little explored, 

 and no doubt something remains to be added to our knowledge of 

 the range of species on that coast. 



On a comparison of the Greenland fauna with that of other por- 

 tions of the Arctic regions, we can see no reason for looking upon it, 

 in common with the flora and the avi- and icthyo-faunas, as other than 

 essentially Arctic-European, all of the species of Mammalia, with 

 the exception of Ovibos moschatos, being found in either Spitzbergen 

 or Nova Zembla, while many of the Arctic-American species are not 

 found in Greenland. The only true American Mammal found in 

 Greenland is the Musk-Ox, which might have crossed from the 

 western shores of Smith's Sound (where Eskimo tradition describes 

 it as once abundant) on the ice to the eastern shore, where alone in 

 Greenland it seems to be now found, the great glaciers and ice-floes 

 about Melville Bay seeming to act as a barrier to the southern and 

 northern migrations of the animals on cither side of them, and of 

 Man equally with the lower animals. 



Looking at the fimna of Spitzbergen *, if we take exception to the 

 very dubious omission which Malmgren has made, we find that there 

 is only one species of mammal found in these islands not found in 

 Greenland ; and this exception is Miistela erminea, which the autlior 

 named even marks as doubtful (?) ; and the same is true of the 

 mammals of Nova Zembla, if we take Von Baer's list f as represent- 

 ing the present state of our knowledge, though published more than 

 thirty years ago. In this the exception is also a doubtful one ("a 

 little white animal, species uncertain"), but probably an Ermine. I 

 therefore think that we are justified in looking upon the mamma- 

 lian fauna of Greenland as Arctic-European, and not Arctic- Ame- 



* Malmgren, loc. cit ; Scoresby, 'Arctic Regions ;' Phipps's ' Yoynge ;' Parry's 

 'Attempt ;' Laing's 'Voyage to Spitzbergen,' &c. &c. 



t K. E. von Baer, Wiegmann's Arcbiv fiir Naturgeschichte (1839), pt. vii. 

 {vide Murray, ' Qcogr. Distrib. Mamm.'). 



