CHAP. X.] THE PALxg^ARCTIC REGION. 217 



extensive. The former is nearly 1,000 miles long, with a width 

 of from 200 to 350 miles, and is almost as complete a desert as 

 the Sahara. 



With very few exceptions, this vast territory is exposed to 

 an extreme climate, inimical to animal life. All the lower parts 

 heing situated to the north, have an excessively cold winter, so 

 that the limit of constantly frozen ground descends below the 

 ])ea'allel of 60^ north latitude. To the south, the land is greatly 

 elevated, and the climate extremely dry. In summer the heat 

 is excessive, while the winter is almost as severe as further 

 north. The whole country, too, is subject to violent storms, both 

 in summer and winter ; and the rich vegetation that clothes the 

 steppes in spring, is soon parched np and replaced by dusty 

 plains. Under these adverse intiuences we cannot expect 

 animal life to be so abundant as in those sub-regions subject to 

 more favourable physical conditions ; j^et tlie country is so ex- 

 tensive and so varied, that it does actuallj', as we shall see, possess 

 a very considerable and interesting fauna. 



3fammalia. — Four genera seem to be absolutely confined to 

 this sub-region, NedogaU, a peculiar form of the mole family 

 (Talpidas) ; Pocjohagus, the yak, or liairy bison of Thibet ; with 

 Procapra and Pantltolops, Thibetan antelopes. Some other.s 

 more especially belong here, although they just enter Europe, as 

 Saiga, the Tartarian antelope; Sminthus, a desert rat; and 

 Ulhhius, a burrowing mole-rat ; while Mgospalax, a curious 

 rodent allied to tlie voles, is found only in the Altai mountains 

 and North China ; and Mosclius, the musk-deer, is almost confined 

 to this sub-region. Among the characteristic animals of the 

 extreme north, are Mudcla, and Maries, including the ermine 

 and sable; G///(>, tlie glutton ; Ta ranch's, the reindeer; Myodcs, 

 the lemming ; with the lynx, arctic fox, and polar bear ; and 

 here, in the Post-pliocene epoch, ranged the hairy rhinoceros 

 and Siberian mammoth, whose entire bodies still remain preserved 

 in the ice-cliffs near the mouths of the great rivers. Farther 

 south, species of wild cat, bear, wolf, deer, and pika {Lagomys) 

 abound ; while in the mountains we find wild goats and sheep 

 of several species, and in the plains and deserts wild horses 



