32 NATUEAL HiSTOKY COLLECTIONS IN ALASKA. 



Siuce these species are uuknown, or are much rarer elsewhere iu the Territory, they become 

 characteristic of this district. They are as follows: 



Cyanecula suecica. 

 Phyllopseustes borealis. 

 Charadrius domiiuctis fulvus. 

 Tringa couesi. 



Tringa acuminata, 

 j^gialitis mongola. 

 Eurynorhynclius pygmoBus. 



The characteristic mainmals of this faiuial area are— 



Rangifer tarandus grcenlandicus. 

 Odohmnus obesus. 

 Histriophoca fasciata. 

 Monodon monoceros. 



Ursus maritimus. 

 Vulpes lagopus. 

 Myodes obensis. 

 Cuniculus torquatus. 



The people of this district are typical Eskimo, much more closely related to the Greenland- 

 ers than to their Aleutian neighbors, although belonging to the same family. 



(4) Alaskan-Canadian District. 



This district is coincident with the distribution of timber on the Alaskan mainland north of 

 the mountains bordering the south coast (the Alaskan Eange). 



Its southern point is near the head of Bristol Bay, in about latitude 58°, and its northern limit 

 in about 69°, where the tree limit is reached. 



Upon the south, as already noted, lie the Alaskan Mountains; the entire western and north- 

 ern boundary is the inland border of the treeless belt of tundra which skirts the coast. In two 

 places this district approaches the coast, first, at the head of Norton Sound, and next, at the head 

 of Kotzebue Sound. The treeless coast belt gradually increases in width to the north until it 

 becomes, in places, 100 miles wide. 



On the east this district merges into other faunal areas in British America. In its southern 

 half the country is mountainous, but the mountains become fewer and lower to the north, until 

 the low, rolling plain bordering the coast is reached. The district lies almost wholly within the 

 drainage basin of the Yukon and Kuskoquim Eivers, except its northern portion, wliich is drained 

 into Kotzebue Sound and the Arctic by several small rivers. The greater portion of this region 

 is covered with trees., but numerous tracts of open tundra and marshy plains like those near the 

 sea-coast are found throughout its extent, and under much of it is a substratum of permanently 

 frozen earth. This latter is less widespread and deep than it is on the coast. The White Spruce 

 {Abies alba) is the most abundant tree, becoming dwarfed near the coast and at a few hundred feet 

 elevation, but along the course of the Yukon it sometimes attains a height of 100 feet and measures 

 3 feet at the butt. It is ordinarily about one-half this size or less. 



The birch {Betula glandulpsa) reaches from 30 to 50 feet in height, and is sometimes 2 feet in 

 diameter, but is usually very much smaller. 



The poplars [Populus balsimifera and P. tremuloides) are abundant in lower parts of the river 

 valleys, and the former species is particularly common on the sandy islands in the rivers. Several 

 species of alders, including AJmus viridis, A. incana, and A. rubra, attain the size of trees; another 

 birch {Betula nana) and several large willows (some of these growing 50 or 60 feet high), with the 



alders, are very plentiful along the streams. A small larch {Larix sp.?) is found scattered over 



some of the partly- wooded uplands. From the accounts of the fur traders I am inclined to believe 

 that other species of trees are found, but I cannot name them. All over this district a luxuriant 

 growth of grasses and flowering plants covers the soil. In the bogs and other suitable places on the 

 open barrens occur large areas of sphagnum mosses and an accompanying Arctic vegetation. We 

 have few records of the climate from within this district, but all agree in crediting it with a dry 

 and hot summer, much pleasant weather, and not uncommon thunder-showers at that season. The 

 winters, on tie other hand, are very severe; From 6 to 10 feet of snow falls, and the temperature 

 frequently ranges to the vicinity of —60°. 



