Muscardinus avellanarius,—the common Dormouse,—though by no means confined to the Alps, has probably originated there. It is found up to a height of nearly 5000 feet in these mountains, and is spread over Europe at nearly equal distances from the Alps in all directions. Being absent from Ireland, Scotland, Norway, and Northern Russia, it seems as if it had only diffused northward in more recent times.
The closely allied genus Myoxus is likewise of European extraction, some species being known from French eocene deposits.
There are only a few typically Alpine Birds. One of these is the Alpine Accentor (Accentor collaris), which on rare occasions visits England, and Northern Europe generally. It is, however, by no means peculiar to the European Alps; a variety of this species occurs in Central Asia, Eastern Siberia, and Japan. The only other Accentor inhabiting our continent is the Hedge Accentor (A. modularis), which is resident over the greater part of it, and also in North Africa and the Mediterranean Islands. It also extends its range across the Ægean Sea to Asia Minor, so that really not a single Accentor is peculiar to Europe.
Both the European species are evidently old forms, and the genus, as might be expected, is certainly Asiatic. No less than ten other species of Accentor are known, all of which are confined to Central Asia and the Himalayan Mountains, and are therefore all Holarctic. I may mention that much difference of opinion still exists as to the true zoological position of this anomalous genus. It has been located in several different families by various ornithologists, but has not yet found a permanent resting-place. Another bird generally considered to be peculiar to Switzerland is the Alpine Chough (Pyrrhocorax alpinus), but its range extends across Asia Minor to the Himalayas. Whether the European Chough should not form a distinct genus is a matter of opinion. Some of our leading ornithologists, like Dr. B. Sharpe, are inclined to separate it from Pyrrhocorax; however, there is no doubt that it is closely related to the Alpine Chough, whatever view we may take of the generic distinctness. It inhabits principally Western and Southern Europe, also North Africa; and its range extends eastward to the Himalayas, China, and Eastern Siberia. If any doubt still existed as to the Asiatic origin of the Choughs, it may be noted that the only two other closely allied genera, viz., Corcorax and Podoces, live in Australia and Central Asia respectively.
There are two other birds to which I should like to refer. These are the Rock Sparrow and the Alpine Snow Finch. The first of these (Petronia stulta) is by no means peculiar to the Alps. It is the only species of the genus inhabiting Europe; and besides the Alps it occurs in Southern Europe generally, and ranges as far west as the Canaries and Madeira. Eastward it is not found beyond Central Asia. Of the remaining five species of Petronia, two occur in Asia (including India) and three in Africa. Whether the genus is African or Asiatic is immaterial for our purpose, since, in any case, the only European species came to us from the east with the Oriental migration. The distribution of the Alpine Snow Finch (Montifringilla nivalis) is very similar to that of the birds we have just been considering. It inhabits the Alps up to a great height, but occurs also on the Pyrenees and other South European mountain ranges as far east as Palestine, where again it is found in the Lebanon. The genus Montifringilla has seventeen other species. Twelve of these live in Central Asia and Japan, extending as far north as Kamtchatka, while five inhabit Western North America right down to Mexico. There is every probability that in this case also we have to deal with an Asiatic genus which spread eastward to America, and westward to Europe.
As regards the Reptiles, there are no peculiar Alpine forms, but among the Amphibia some species deserve to be mentioned. Up to an elevation of 10,000 feet we find in the Alps the Black Salamander (Salamandra atra); and it is apparently quite peculiar to them, never having been observed in the plains. The handsome black and yellow Salamander (Salamandra maculosa)—so well known as a terrarium specimen—likewise occurs in the Alps, and it has besides a fairly wide distribution in Europe. It is known from Southern Germany, the Pyrenees, Spain, Portugal, Sardinia, Corsica, Greece, Syria, and Algiers. A third species (S. caucasica) inhabits the Caucasus. The evidence of distribution here points emphatically to an Alpine origin of the genus Salamandra. We cannot tell where the ancestors of Salamandra may have come from, but several other genera of Salamandridæ are certainly Asiatic. Our common Newt (Molge vulgaris) belongs to a genus with nineteen species, several of which are peculiar to Europe. The general range of the genus, however, extends to North America, and it is more probable therefore that it originated in Asia. If so, it certainly must have passed into Europe at a very early date. Let us assume the first Molges to have traversed the Ægean Sea on terra firma to Greece in miocene times, they might thus have been able to travel straight on to the old Tyrrhenian continent of which Corsica and Sardinia now form the remains, and also on to North-west Africa. Indeed, we find high up in the Corsican mountains an interesting large brownish-grey Newt (Molge montana), and another in Sardinia (Molge Rusconii). Again, in Algiers there are two species, viz., Molge Poireti and M. Hagenmülleri, while the Moroccan M. Waltlii passes into the south of Spain. Here Molge boscæ, M. aspera, and M. marmorata originated, the latter passing into France.
Another branch of the Molge tribe turned northward from Greece towards the newly forming Alps; and there originated Molge alpestris and M. palmata, which more recently have spread into England (one at least), Germany, France, Austria, and Southern Italy. Molge vulgaris is an Asiatic species which wandered northward after entering Europe, covering a large area, but never reached the extreme south or south-west. M. cristata—the large Water Newt—has a similar but not quite so extended a range, while M. vittata never managed to cross the borders of Asia Minor. Some of the other species occur in China, Japan, and North America.
None of the tailless Batrachians—the Frogs and Toads—are peculiar to the Alps, but one, viz. Rana temporaria, ascends to the height of no less than 10,000 feet. It is our common British Frog. No other Frog probably ranges so far north or to such heights.
Let us now inquire what the invertebrate fauna of the Alps teaches us. We are told by Dr. Kobelt, the great authority on European land shells, that a uniformity of character marks the Alpine Molluscan fauna (b, i., p. 251). One of the characteristic genera Campylaea—often looked upon as a sub-genus of Helix—is a group containing somewhat flattened conspicuous snails of large size. These are found everywhere in the Alps, and wherever they occur beyond the confines of these mountains, remarks Dr. Kobelt, their origin from the main stock is easily traced. They have been gathered in the Apennines in Sicily, and even beyond the Mediterranean in Algeria. On the Balkan peninsula they occur right down to the most southern point of Greece, but are not met with either in Crete or Asia Minor. One species has been found sub-fossil in Thuringia in Northern Germany.
Another truly Alpine genus, says Dr. Kobelt, is the operculate Pomatias, which in its geographical distribution offers some interesting modifications from that of Campylaea. Less limited to high elevations, it has spread over a greater part of the plains. This has happened especially in France, while in Germany one species advances almost as far north as Heidelberg. In other directions also the genus has travelled beyond the limits of range of Campylaea. Pomatias occurs in the Pyrenees and Northern Spain, in Sardinia and Crete, and may, according to the same author, be expected in Asia Minor, although no species has as yet been met with there. In Greece, again, it has been observed, and numerous species inhabit Tunis and Algeria. Dr. Kobelt connects the wider range of Pomatias with the geological history of the genus (b, i., p. 253). He tells us that species of Pomatias have been found in eocene deposits differing but little from our present forms, while undoubted Campylaeæ are not met with till we reach the upper Miocene.