OUR ALPINE REMNANTS OF THE LABRADOR FAUNA. 34I 



On the top of Mount Washington, the last five hundred 

 feet exhibit a purely sub-arctic or Labrador vegetation. 

 We can scarcely call it arctic, for the dwarf spruces and 

 firs are of the same size as' in the more unprotected places 

 in Labrador. The same species of v\reasel which abounds 

 in Labrador we have seen on the summit of Mount 

 Washington. The insect fauna we must believe is an 

 outlier of the Labrador sub-arctic assemblage of insects, 

 though with certain features of its own. While some 

 Diptera, Coleoptera, and Lepidoptera are identical, cer- 

 tain species, such as Chionobas semidea, Argynnis mon- 

 tinus Scudder, differ slightly from any yet found in Lab- 

 rador, though they may yet be found farther north, or 

 may prove to be local species, remnants of a sub-arctic 

 fauna which peopled the surface of New England, living 

 between the coast and the snow line in the interior. As 

 the line of perpetual snow retreated up the mountain 

 sides, the more hardy species followed, while many 

 others doubtless died in the great changes of climate and 

 topography which ushered in the historic period. As 

 there are aerial or alpine outliers, relics of this ancient 

 sub-arctic fauna and flora, so we must consider the pres- 

 ent abyssal forms, and outliers of the Labrador marine 

 fauna, — such as inhabited the Banks of Nova Scotia and 

 northern New England, and the cold waters of the 

 mouth of the Bay of Fundy, — as the remnants of the 

 Syrtensian fauna, which during the glacial period must 

 have been spread very uniformly over this area. 



The arctic sea-birds even now breed upon the islands 

 in the mouth of the Bay of Fundy, as they do on the 

 coast of Labrador. I am told by fishermen that the 

 Puffin, Mormon arctica, used to breed on Mount Desert. 



