APPENDIX.

THE names of the distinguished persons affixed to the following papers on natural history are of themselves sufficient to command attention to their productions; but I feel called on again to state that the merit of making the collection of which they give an account is entirely due to Mr. King, who, I am convinced, had our means and opportunities of conveyance been more favourable, would have still added to the number of specimens brought home. We were without the kind of shot calculated for killing small birds, inconvenienced by want of room in our single boat, and assailed by almost constant rain, while the barren grounds afforded little beyond moss for fuel. In such circumstances, much credit is due to him for the zeal and perseverance which he evinced, amid difficulties of so varied a nature.-G. B.

No. I.

ZOOLOGICAL REMARKS,

BY JOHN RICHARDSON, M.D. F.R.S. &c.

FEW people in this country have a correct notion of the magnitude of that part of America which lies to the north of the great Canada lakes; and it may not therefore be out of place to inform the reader, that the area of the

territory in question is about equal to the portion of the old continent which would be cut off to the northward by an imaginary line running from the Bay of Biscay, through the Gulf of Lyons, the Adriatic and Black Seas, to the Caspian and Lake Aral, and from thence north-eastwardly to the sea of Ochotsk, thus comprising twenty-seven degrees of latitude, and in the sixtieth parallel upwards of one hundred degrees of longitude: or, Captain Back's journey from New York to the Gulf of Boothia may be likened to that of a traveller who should embark in a canoe at Naples, and proceed up or down various rivers, and across portages, until he reach Arkhangel and the entrance of the White Sea. In a country embracing so many parallels of latitude, and presenting a surface so greatly varied by hill and dale, woods and prairies, we may naturally expect a considerable variety in its ferine inhabitants; and those which exist in America are highly interesting to the zoologist, as being less perfectly known than their European representatives, while, at the same time, their range having been as yet scarcely restricted, or their habits influenced, by man, they offer instructive studies to the naturalist. It is in North America alone that opportunities occur for observing the curious operations of the beaver, which are guided by an instinct almost surpassing human reason: there too we may watch the regular migrations of the bison and reindeer to their wonted feeding-places or remote retreats where they bring forth their young; and note the periodical flights of birds proceeding in immense flocks from warmer and more populous climes to the secluded shores of the Arctic Sea. The ichthyologist too, who shall devote his time to the investigation of the fresh waters of that country, and of its several bounding seas, will reap a rich harvest; and

the entomologist who may travel thither, will be delighted with the unexpected burst of insect life which enlivens the air and fills the waters as soon as winter

has passed away.

The distribution of animals has a close connection with climate; and though this is not the place to enter into a lengthened discussion on that important subject, yet a few remarks may be appropriately made on the difference between the climate of Europe, and especially of its sea-coasts, and that of the interior of North America. In the former, the winter is tempered by the warm breezes which sweep over an open sea; and, except in very high latitudes, the ground is seldom covered with snow for a great length of time, or vegetation completely arrested by frosts of long duration. Most of the grass seeds (not objects of culture) that have been matured in the summer fall to the ground in the autumn, and, if the season be moist, have already germinated before the conclusion of winter. The perfection of what has been termed by way of distinction a maritime climate may be observed on the west of Ireland, or, still more evidently, in the islets or "holmes" of the Shetland and Orkneys, which, lying between the sixtieth and sixtyfirst parallels, are green during the whole winter, affording pasture to numerous flocks of sheep: but this mild winter is coupled with a less genial summer. The growth of the cerealia and of the most useful vegetables depends chiefly on the intensity and duration of the summer heats, and is comparatively little influenced by the severity of the winter cold, or the lowness of the mean temperature of the year. Thus, in France, though the isothermal lines, or lines of equal annual heat, bend to the southward as they recede from the coast, the bounding lines of culture of the olive, maize, and vine,

have a contrary direction- that is, incline to the northeastward,-which is attributed to the low summer temperature along the coast.

In North America, the decrement of the mean annual temperature incident to the increase of latitude is much greater than in Europe; and there is also, especially in the interior, a much wider difference between the summer heat and winter cold, — the increase of vernal heat being sudden and great. On the north shore of Lake Huron, which is nearly in the same parallel with the bottom of the Gulf of Venice, the snow covers the ground for nearly half the year; though the mean heat of the three summer months, amounting to 70° of Fahrenheit's scale, equals that experienced at Bourdeaux. Cumberland House, having the same latitude with the city of York in England, stands on the isothermal line of 32°, which in Europe rises to the North Cape in latitude 71°; but its summer heat exceeds that of Brussels or Paris. Humboldt informs us that, in countries whose mean temperature is below 63°, spring, or the renewal of vegetation, takes place in that month which has a mean heat of 33° or 34°, and deciduous trees push out their leaves when the mean reaches to 52°; thus, the sum of the temperatures of the months which attain the latter heat furnishes a measure of the strength and continuance of vegetation. Lake Huron, in latitude 44°, enjoys five of these months; Cumberland House, three; and Bear Lake and Fort Enterprise, both in latitude 64°, only two all these places have an interior or continental climate. At Winter Island, on the eastern coast, in latitude 644°, and at Igloolik, in latitude 663°, no month in the year attains a mean heat of 52°; and at Churchill, in latitude 59°, the summer heat does not exceed that of Bear Lake, being 10° less than that which is ex