288 University of California Publications in Zoology [ VoL - 23 



Verrill (1914, p. 18) undertakes to divide the region with which we 

 are here concerned into three ' ' f aunal districts ' ' : 



"The Columbia- Alaskan," including "the coasts and islands of Alaska, south 

 of the Aleutian Islands, and the entire coast of British Columbia, with Vancouver 

 Island; Puget Sound, and the northwestern coast of Washington; the Gulf of 

 Georgia; and the Straits of Fuca"; "The Calif ornian," including "the middle 

 and southern parts of the coast of Washington; all of the Oregon coast; and the 

 coast of California to Point Conception, or the north end of the Santa Barbara 

 Channel"; and "The South Calif ornian," including "the coast of southern Cali- 

 fornia, from the Santa Barbara Channel, Santa Rosa Island, and Santa Cruz 

 Island to the middle part of the Lower California coast. ' ' 



His districts, however, in the light of the remarks he makes con- 

 cerning them, do not seem to be very well founded and can without 

 difficulty be merged into the one large area of which they are but 

 arbitrary subdivisions. For example, regarding his Columbia-Alaskan 

 and Calif ornian faunae he says (1914, p. 348) : 



The former includes a total of eighty-five species and named varieties; the 

 latter includes forty altogether. For my present purpose these may best be con- 

 sidered collectively, as they have many species in commons The two lists include 

 ninety-nine species, subspecies and varieties. Of these, only sixteen species and 

 varieties are not known to occur in the Columbia-Alaskan fauna, while twenty- 

 four are common to both. Of the ninety-nine forms, only eight are of Arctic 

 origin ... leaving nine [ty] -one that may be considered as characteristic of the 

 region. 



And, with respect to the South California fauna (1894, pp. 345 and 



349): 



So far as known, this fauna has few species peculiar to it. The species are 

 largely members of the more northern faunae that extend far south, and partly 

 species of the more southern fauna of Lower California and the Gulf of California 

 that range northward beyond the normal limits of that fauna. . . . The list given 

 . . . includes twenty -nine species and varieties. Of these, twenty-two occur farther 

 norths Of the remaining six species, three are known to occur in the Panamie 

 fauna, and probably find here their northern limits. . . . The remaining three, at 

 present, seem to belong particularly to this fauna. . . . This faunal district, as 

 now known, does not show any special peculiarities of its own. It is a meeting 

 'ground, so to speak, between the Panamie and Californian faunae. 



According to Dr. Wesley R. Coe, the "Nemerteans of the Pacific 

 Coast" (1910, p. 118), also exhibit considerable continuity in their 

 distribution. Of the thirty-two species enumerated from Alaska 

 nearly one half, fourteen, "were found also on the California coast 

 during a single summer. 



Eleven of these forms, which are common both to the California 

 coast and to Alaska, were found at Monterey Bay, ten at San Pedro 

 or in the deep water in the vicinity, while only two were collected at 



s Italics inserted by the author. 



