62 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



carry the northern zones southward, and hot, dr/ plains bend the southern 

 zones toward the north. Finally a zone may become locally broken into 

 islands, as when a cool mountain chain is interrupted by warm valleys 

 and plains, or cold swamps are scattered in hot lowlands. In North 

 America there are seven of these life areas, each characterized by the 

 predominance of a particular assemblage of animals and plants. Begin- 

 ning at the north they are the arctic zone, Hudsonian zone, Canadian 

 zone, transition zone, upper austral zone, lower austral zone and tropical 

 zone. The last two lie south of the region included within the scope of 

 this paper. The areas covered by the Atlantic divisions of the five others 

 are as follows : 



Arctic zone. Treeless northeastern coasts of Labrador and New- 

 foundland ; above timber line on the highest mountain peaks of New 

 England, and perhaps of the Adirondacks also. 



Hudsonian zone. Wooded portions of Labrador, Newfoundland, 

 northern Ontario, northern and eastern Quebec and northern New 

 Brunswick ; region immediately below timber line on the mountains of 

 New England and New York and possibly in the highest southern 

 AUeghanies. 



Canadian zone. Eastern Nova Scotia; the greater part of New 

 Brunswick; southern Quebec; eastern central Ontario; northern and 

 western Maine ; the higher parts of New Hampshire, Vermont and 

 western Massachusetts ; the Adirondacks, Catskills and higher parts 

 of the AUeghanies. 



Transition zone. Western Nova Scotia; eastern and southern 

 Maine ; southern Ontario (except north shore of Lake Erie) ; ' the greater 

 part of the lowlands of New York, Vermont, New Hampshire, Massa- 

 chusetts, Connecticut and Pennsylvania; the lower slopes of the 

 AUeghanies to their extreme southern limit. 



Upper austral zone. North shore of Lake Erie in southern 

 Ontario; south shore of Lake Ontario, "lake region", lower Hudson 

 valley and western end of Long Island in New York; southern Con- 

 necticut ; lowlands of New Jersey, Delaware, eastern Pennsylvania, 

 eastern Maryland and northeastern Virginia; belt (extending northeast 

 and southwest) in Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina and 

 Georgia, covering the higher land east of the mountains. 



