As regards mammals and birds, the largest number of generic and specific types peculiar to China are met with in Sze-ch‘uen. Foremost among these is the great panda (Aeluropus melanoleucus), representing a genus by itself, probably related to bears and to the true panda (Aelurus), the latter of which has a local race in Sze-ch‘uen. Next come the snub-nosed monkeys (Rhinopithecus), of which the typical species is a native of Sze-ch‘uen, while a second is found on the upper Mekong, and a third in the mountains of central China. In the Insectivora the swimming-shrew (Nectogale) forms another generic type peculiar to Sze-ch‘uen, which is also the sole habitat of the mole-like Scaptochirus, of Uropsilus, near akin to the Japanese Urotrichus, of Scaptonyx, which connects the latter with the moles (Talpa), and of Neotetracus, a relative of the Malay rat-shrews (Gymnura). Here also may be mentioned the raccoon-dog, forming the subgenus Nyctereutes, common to China and Japan. The Himalayan black and the Malay bear have each a local race in Sze-ch‘uen, where the long-haired Fontanier’s cat (Felis tristis) and the Tibet cat (F. scripta) connect Indo-Malay species with the American ocelots, while the bay cat (F. temmincki), a Malay type, is represented by local forms in Sze-ch‘uen and Fu-chow. The Amurland leopard and Manchurian tiger likewise constitute local races of their respective species.
Among ruminants, the Sze-ch‘uen takin represents a genus (Budorcas) found elsewhere in the Mishmi Hills and Bhutan, while serows (Nemorhaedus) and gorals (Urotragus), allied to Himalayan and Burmo-Malay types, abound. The Himalayan fauna is also represented by a race of the Kashmir hangul deer. Of other deer, the original habitat of Père David’s milu (Elaphurus), formerly kept in the Peking park, is unknown. The sika group, which is peculiar to China, Japan and Formosa, is represented by Cervus hortulorum in Manchuria and the smaller C. manchuricus and sika in that province and the Yangtsze valley; while musk-deer (Moschus) abound in Kan-suh and Sze-ch‘uen. The small water-deer (Hydropotes or Hydrelaphus) of the Yangtsze valley represents a genus peculiar to the country, as do the three species of tufted deer (Elaphodus), whose united range extends from Sze-ch‘uen to Ning-po and I-ch‘ang. Muntjacs (Cervulus) are likewise very characteristic of the country, to which the white-tailed, plum-coloured species, like the Tenasserim C. crinifrons, are peculiar. The occurrence of races of the wapiti in Manchuria and Amurland has been already mentioned.
To refer in detail to the numerous forms of rodents inhabiting China is impossible here, and it must suffice to mention that the flying-squirrels (Pteromys) are represented by a large and handsome species in Sze-ch‘uen, where is also found the largest kind of bamboo-rat (Rhizomys), the other species of which are natives of the western Himalaya and the Malay countries. Dwarf hamsters of the genus Cricetulus are natives of the northern provinces. In the extreme south, in Hai-nan, is found a gibbon ape (Hylobates), while langur (Semnopithecus) and macaque monkeys (Macacus) likewise occur in the south, one of the latter also inhabiting Sze-ch‘uen.
To give an adequate account of Chinese ornithology would require space many times the length of this article. The gorgeous mandarin duck (Aix galerita) has already been mentioned among generic types common to America. In marked distinction to this is the number of species of pheasants inhabiting north-western China, whence the group ranges into the eastern Himalaya. Among Chinese species are two of the three species of blood-pheasants (Ithagenes), two tragopans (Ceriornis or Tragopan), a monal (Lophophorus), three out of the five species of Crossoptilum, the other two being Tibetan, two kinds of Pucrasia, the gorgeous golden and Amherst’s pheasants alone representing the genus Chrysolophus, together with several species of the typical genus Phasianus, among which it will suffice to mention the long-tailed P. reevesi. The Himalayan bamboo-partridges (Bambusicola) have also a Chinese representative. The only other large bird that can be mentioned is the Manchurian crane, misnamed Grus japonensis. Pigeons include the peculiar subgenus Dendroteron; while among smaller birds, warblers, tits and finches, all of an Eastern Holarctic type, constitute the common element in the avifauna. Little would be gained by naming the genera, peculiar or otherwise.
China has a few peculiar types of freshwater tortoises, among which Ocadia sinensis represents a genus unknown elsewhere, while there is also a species of the otherwise Indian genus Damonia. The Chinese alligator, Alligator sinensis, has been already mentioned. Among lizards, the genera Plestiodon, Mabuia, Tachydromus and Gecko, of which the two latter are very characteristic of the Oriental region, range through China to Japan; and among snakes, the Malay python (Python reticulatus) is likewise Chinese. The giant salamander (Cryptobranchus, or Megalobatrachus, maximus) represents, as mentioned above, a type found elsewhere only in North America, while Hynobius and Onychodactylus are peculiar generic types of salamanders. Among fishes, it must suffice to refer to the spoon-beaked sturgeon (Psephurus) of the Yangtsze-kiang, and the numerous members of the carp family to be found in the rivers of China. From these native carp the Chinese have produced two highly coloured breeds, the goldfish and the telescope-eyed carp.
Among the invertebrates special mention may be made of the great ailanthus silk-moth (Attacus cynthia) of northern China and Japan, and also of its Manchurian relative A. pernyi; while it may be added that the domesticated “silkworm” (Bombyx mori) is generally believed to be of Chinese origin, although this is not certain. Very characteristic of China is the abundance of handsomely coloured swallow-tailed butterflies of the family Papilionidae. The Chinese kermes (Coccus sinensis) is also worth mention, on account of it yielding wax. As regards land and freshwater snails, China exhibits a marked similarity to Siam and India; the two groups in which the Chinese province displays decided peculiarities of its own being Helix (in the wider sense) and Clausilia. There are, for instance, nearly half a score of subgenera of Helix whose headquarters are Chinese, while among these, forms with sinistral shells are relatively common. The genus Clausilia is remarkable on account of attaining a second centre of development in China, where its finest species, referable to several subgenera, occur. Carnivorous molluscs include a peculiar slug (Rathouisia) and the shelled genera Ennea and Streptaxis. In the western provinces species of Buliminus are abundant, and in the operculate group Heudeia forms a peculiar type akin to Helicina, but with internal foldings to the shell.
Lastly, it has to be mentioned that the waters of the Yangtsze-kiang are inhabited by a small jelly-fish, or medusa (Limnocodium kawaii), near akin to L. sowerbii, which was discovered in the hot-house tanks in the Botanical Gardens in the Regent’s Park, London, but whose real home is probably the Amazon.
(R. L.*)
Flora.
The vegetation of China is extremely rich, no fewer than 9000 species of flowering plants having been already enumerated, of which nearly a half are endemic or not known to occur elsewhere. Whole provinces are as yet only partially explored; and the total flora is estimated to comprise ultimately 12,000 species. China is the continuation eastward of the great Himalayan mass, numerous chains of mountains running irregularly to the sea-board. Thousands of deep narrow valleys form isolated areas, where peculiar species have been evolved. Though the greater part of the country has long ago been cleared of its primeval forest and submitted to agriculture, there still remain some extensive forests and countless small woods in which the original flora is well preserved. Towards the north the vegetation is palaearctic, and differs little in its composition from that of Germany, Russia and Siberia. The flora of the western and central provinces is closely allied to that of the Himalayas and of Japan; while towards the south this element mingles with species derived from Indo-China, Burma and the plain of Hindostan. Above a certain elevation, decreasing with the latitude, but approximately 6000 ft. in the Yangtsze basin, there exist in districts remote from the traffic of the great rivers, extensive forests of conifers, like those of Central Europe in character, but with different species of silver fir, larch, spruce and Cembran pine. Below this altitude the woods are composed of deciduous and evergreen broad-leafed trees and shrubs, mingled together in a profusion of species. Pure broad-leafed forests of one or two species are rare, though small woods of oak, of alder and of birch are occasionally seen. There is nothing comparable to the extensive beech forests of Europe, the two species of Chinese beech being sporadic and rare trees. The heaths, Calluna and Erica, which cover great tracts of barren sandy land in Europe, are absent from China, where the Ericaceous vegetation is made up of numerous species of Rhododendron, which often cover vast areas on the mountain slopes. Pine forests occur at low levels, but are always small in extent.