Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XVI.djvu/149

macrocystis, with stems several hundred feet long, and other gigantic algæ, which make fields so dense and extended that navigators carefully avoid them. The partial study that our fresh-water algæ have received shows that this obscure vegetation is rich in interesting forms.—A marked feature of the vegetation of a large portion of our territory is the introduced plants, which are not only numerous as species, but as individuals; the climate being especially favorable to their development, many foreign plants appear to thrive better here than at home. The great majority of the agricultural weeds are of exotic origin; in some of the older states the meadows are white with oxeye daisy or yellow with foreign buttercups, while in Virginia they are blue with viper's bugloss (echium); the thistles, docks, purslane, crab grasses, and other pests of the farmer and gardener, are natives of other countries, as are also the stramoniums, hemlock, and other occupants of waste places around settlements. Many natural meadows are due to foreign grasses, and white clover is so generally introduced that farmers in the eastern states seldom sow it, being quite sure that, with a favorable soil, it will “come in.” Two plants in the southern states afford remarkable instances of rapid naturalization. A few years ago a little prostrate composite (acanthospermum) appeared in the waste places, especially along the railroads, suddenly and completely carpeting the ground; it is a South American plant, the seeds of which were probably introduced with wool. The other is a little leguminous plant called Japan clover (lespedeza striata), which at the close of the civil war appeared all over the southern states. As cattle eat it, the introduction cannot be regarded as a misfortune; but this wide and sudden distribution of a Japanese species still remains a puzzle. Upon the Pacific coast, the most prominent introduced plants are mostly valuable ones; the wild oat (avena fatua), which covers such wide ranges to the exclusion of all other vegetation, is a European species; and bur clover (medicago) and alfilaria (erodium), which in certain seasons are the main reliance of stock growers, are both weeds introduced by the early Spanish settlers.—The zoölogy of the United States is essentially that of North America, nearly every species found on the North American continent having its habitat in some part of the states or territories. The quadrumana, embracing the entire monkey tribe and its congeners, are wanting. Of the cheiroptera, or bat tribe, there are 3 genera and 11 species (outside of Alaska, the fauna of which is not included in this description). Of the carnivora, the largest is the couguar or catamount, a formidable animal, inferior in strength and ferocity to the South American jaguar. There are 6 or 7 species of the fox. Of wolves there are the gray wolf of the wooded districts, of which there are several varieties, and the prairie wolf, the American representative of the jackal. To the digitigrada also belong the pine marten or American sable, the fisher, mink, weasel, skunk, and ermine. Among the plantigrada we have the black bear, the grisly bear, the largest and most formidable of American carnivora, and the California bear. The remaining members of the order found here are the badger, the wolverene or glutton, and the raccoon. Of the pinnigrada, the common seal occurs on the Atlantic coast, and the northern sea bear (callorhinus ursinus), which is taken in great numbers on the Pribyloff islands belonging to Alaska, occurs as far south as the mouth of the Columbia. The ruminantia are represented in considerable numbers. Among the cervidæ or deer family we have the moose and caribou, now confined to the N. E. states, and very scarce even there; the wapiti, incorrectly called the elk; and 5 or 6 species of deer. There is an antelope, the prong-horn, a native of the Rocky mountain region; and a representative of the sheep family, the big-horn or Rocky mountain sheep, found in the region of the Rocky mountains and Sierra Nevada. The bison, usually called the buffalo, is the only wild representative of the ox family. Of the amphibious mammals, a species of the manatee or sea cow frequents the shores of Florida and the gulf of Mexico. The porpoise and 5 or 6 species of the dolphin, among them the white whale, and the narwhal, are found along the coast; and the smaller species of whale are not uncommon, while the great sperm whale appears at some distance from the Pacific coast. The insectivora are represented by the mole, 3 genera and 7 or 8 species, and by 12 species of shrew. Among the rodentia are the beaver, porcupine, 10 or 12 squirrels proper, several flying squirrels, 4 or 5 prairie squirrels, 2 prairie dogs, and the gopher or pouched rat, of which there are several species; the woodchuck or American marmot; the muskrat; the rat tribe, of which 2 genera and 3 or more species are indigenous; the mouse tribe, of which there are 4 genera and about 20 species; the meadow mouse, of numerous species; the hare, of which there are 4 or 5; and the rabbit, of which there are at least 6 species. The marsupialia are represented by a single genus, the opossum. Of birds the genera and species are so numerous, that only the more prominent can be named. Of the order raptores (birds of prey), the eagle, of which 5 species have been ascertained to exist in the United States, takes the first place. Next follow the vultures, of which at least half a dozen species inhabit the United States, from the king vulture of California to the turkey buzzard and carrion crow; the hawks, of which there are not less than 25 aor 30 species, including the falcon, kite, hen hawk, goshawk, sparrow hawk, &c.; and the owls, of which there are at least 40 species. The scansores or climbers are represented by the Carolina parrot and the woodpeckers, a well known genus,