The arctic fauna extends to the utmost limits of the cold and barren
regions of the North. But from the moment that forests appear,
and a more propitious soil permits a larger development of animal
life and of vegetation, we see the fauna and flora, not only diversified
according to the continents on which they exist, but we observe also
striking distinctions between different parts of the same continent;
thus, in the old world, the animals vary; not only from the polar
'circle to the equator, but also in the opposite direction — those of the
western coast of Europe are not the same as those of the basin of the
Caspian Sea, or of the eastern coast of Asia, nor are those of the
eastern coast of America the same as those of the western.
The first fauna, the limits of which we Would determine with precision,
is the arctic. It offers, as we have just seen, the same aspects
in three parts of the world, which converge towards the North Pole.
The uniform distribution of the animals by which it is inhabited
forms its most striking character, and gives rise to a sameness of
general features which is not found in any other region. Though the
air-breathing species are not numerous here, the large number of
individuals compensates for this deficiency, and among the marine
animals we find an astonishing profusion and variety of forms. -
In this respect the vegetable and animal kingdoms differ entirely
from each other, and the measure by which we estimate the former
is quite false as applied to the latter. Plants become stunted in their
growth or disappear before the rigors of the climate, while, on the
contrary, all classes of the animal kingdom have representatives,
more or less numerons, in the arctic fauna.
Neither can they be said to diminish in size under these influences;
for, if the arctic representatives of certain classes, particularly the
insects,, are smaller than the analogous types in the tropics, we must
not forget, on the other hand, that the whales and larger cetacea
have here their most genial home, and make amends, by their more
powerful structure, for the inferiority of other classes. Also, if the
animals of the North are less striking in external ornament—■ if their
colors are less brilliant—:yet we cannot say that they are more
uniform, for though their tints are not so bright, they are none the
less varied in their distribution and arrangement.
The limits of the arctic fauna are very easily traced. We must
include therein all animals living beyond the line where forests cease,
and inhabiting countries entirely barren. Those which feed upon
flesh seek fishes, hares, or lemmings, a rodent of the size of our rat.
Those which live on vegetable substances are not numerous. Some
gramineous plants, mosses, and lichens, serve as pasture to the ruminants
and rodents, while the seeds of a few flowering plants, and
of the dwarf birches, afford nourishment to the little granivorous
birds, such as linnets and buntings. The species belonging to the
sea-shore feed upon marine animals, which live, themselves, upon
each other, or upon marine plants.
The larger mammalia which inhabit this zone are — the white
bear, the walrus, numerous species of seal, the reindeer, the musk
ox, the narwal, the cachalot, and whales in abundance. Among the
smaller species we may mention the white fox, the polar hare, and
the lemming. The birds are not less characteristic. Some marine
eagles,,and wading birds in smaller number, are found; but the
aquatic birds of the family of palmipedes are those which especially
prevail. The coasts of the continents and of the numerous islands
in the arctic seas are peopled by clouds of gannets, of cormorants,
of penguins, of petrels, of ducks, of geese, of mergansers, and of
gulls, some of which are as large as eagles, and, like them, live on
prey. No reptile is known in this zone. Eishes are, however, very
numerous, and the rivers especially swarm with a variety of species
of the salmon family. A number of representatives of the inferior
classes of worms, of crustacea, of mollusks, of echinoderms, and of
medusae, are also found here.
Within the limits of this fauna we meet a peculiar race of men,
known in America under the name of Esquimaux, and under the
names of Laplanders, Samojedes, and Tchuktshes in the north of
Asia. This race, so well known since the voyage of Capt. Cook and
the arctic expeditions of England and Russia, differs alike from the
Indians of North America, from the whites of Europe, and the Mongols
of Asia, to whom they are adjacent. The uniformity of their
characters along the whole range of the arctic seas forms one of the
most striking resemblances which these people exhibit to the fauna
with which they are so closely connected.
The semi-annual alternation of day and night in the arctic regions
has a great influence upon their modes of living.. They are entirely
dependent upon animal food for their sustenance, no farinaceous
grains, no nutritious tubercles, no juicy fruits, growing under those
inhospitable latitudes. Their domesticated animals are the reindeer
in Asia, and a peculiar variety of dog, the Esquimaux dog, in North
America, where even the reindeer is not domesticated.
Though the arctic fauna is essentially comprised in the arctic circle,
its organic limit does not correspond rigorously to this, line, but
rather to the isotherme of 32° Fahr., the outline of which presents
numerous undulations. This limit is still more natural when it is
made to correspond with that of the disappearance of forests. It
then circumscribes those immense plains of the North, which the
Samoyedes call tundras, and the Anglo-Americans, barren lands.