428 LIST OE LABRADOR MARINE ANIMALS. 



inense shoal to the northward of that island, which with the opposite 

 coast of Labrador is no doubt occupied by this fauna. Returning 

 down the coast we find it following very closely the line of float- 

 ing ice as laid down in the charts. It includes the Mingan Is- 

 lands, partially embracing Anticosti, and then sweeps around 

 towards Cape Breton, there meeting the warmer waters of the 

 Gulf Stream. 



Thus, south of Labrador, it is apparently a shoal fauna, and we 

 would propose for it the name of the Syrtensian Fauna, indica- 

 tive of the physical features that limit its bounds. 



This fauna seems to have its equivalent upon the European side 

 of the Atlantic in Fin mart, where Lovdu* records the discovery of 

 several newspecies of Mollustsand other invertebrates. The climatic 

 conditions are very similar, and the insect fauna and the flora 

 correspond very exactly with the insects and plants of Labrador, f 

 Indeed, there is apparently a belt of faunae intermediate between 

 the boreal province on both sides of the Atlantic on the one hand, 

 and the circumpolar province, which touches upon the southern 

 point of Greenland, includes Icelaud, and spreads out so as to in- 

 clude Finmart and the neighboring islands. Dr. Gould, in notic- 

 ing the distribution of our mollusks, mentions the fact that 

 " about 20 species may be regarded as intermediate, being found 

 most frequently by fishermen about the Banks, Newfoundland, 

 aud the islands intervening between Greenland and England. 

 (Invertebrates of Massachusetts, p. 3 16). 



Thus with our present knowledge we can approximate very 

 nearly to the southern limits of this shoal fauna, and trace the 

 isolated patches situated upon the cold and unprotected elevations, 

 which rise in the warmer seas of New England ; but our imper- 

 fect information respecting the range northward of its most cha- 

 racteristic species, does not allow us to speak with much certainty 

 how far up the eastern coast of Labrador these species extend, 

 or whether those few species, which reach Greenland and occur 

 there rarely, may not be considered as foreigners to the soil. 

 For example : of Apporhais occideiitalis, which is so profusely 

 abundant in the Straits of Belle Isle, Morch reports but a frag- 

 ment from Greenland. This is analogous to t!ie occurrence of 



* Identified by Dr. William Stimpson.. 



f In a communication to the Boston Society of Natural History, 

 " Proceedings," 1863, Mr. S. H. Scudder has intimated that there is an 

 insect fauna peculiar to Eastern Labrador, and in conversation with the 

 writer, has also spoken of the close analogy, which the insects of La- 

 brador bear to those of Lapland. 



