III.—The Siberian Sub-region, or Northern Asia.
This large and comparatively little-known subdivision of the Palæarctic region, extends from the Caspian Sea to Kamschatka and Behring's Straits, a distance of about 4,000 miles; and from the shores of the Arctic Ocean to the high Himalayas of Sikhim in North Latitude 29°, on the same parallel as Delhi. To the east of the Caspian Sea and the Ural Mountains is a great extent of lowland which is continued round the northern coast, becoming narrower as it approaches the East Cape. Beyond this, in a general E.N.E. direction, rise hills and uplands, soon becoming lofty mountains, which extend in an unbroken line from the Hindu Koosh, through the Thian Shan, Altai and Yablonoi Mountains, to the Stanovoi range in the north-eastern extremity of Asia. South of this region is a great central basin, which is almost wholly desert; beyond which again is the vast plateau of Thibet, with the Kuenlun, Karakorum, and Himalayan snow-capped ranges, forming the most extensive elevated district on the globe.
The superficial aspects of this vast territory, as determined by its vegetable covering, are very striking and well contrasted. A broad tract on the northern coast, varying from 150 to 300 and even 500 miles wide, is occupied by the Tundras or barrens, where nothing grows but mosses and the dwarfest Arctic plants, and where the ground is permanently frozen to a great depth. This tract has its greatest southern extension between the rivers Obi and Yenesi, where it reaches the parallel of 60° north latitude. Next to this comes a vast extent of northern forests, mostly of conifers in the more northern and lofty situations, while deciduous trees preponderate in the southern portions and in the more sheltered valleys. The greatest extension of this forest region is north of Lake Baikal, where it is more than 1,200 miles wide. These forests extend along the mountain ranges to join those of the Hindu Koosh. South of the forests the remainder of the sub-region consists of open pasture-lands and vast intervening deserts, of which the Gobi, and those of Turkestan between the Aral and Balkash lakes, are the mostextensive. The former is nearly 1,000 miles long, with a width of from 200 to 350 miles, and is almost as complete a desert as the Sahara.
With very few exceptions, this vast territory is exposed to an extreme climate, inimical to animal life. All the lower parts being situated to the north, have an excessively cold winter, so that the limit of constantly frozen ground descends below the parallel of 60° north latitude. To the south, the land is greatly elevated, and the climate extremely dry. In summer the heat is excessive, while the winter is almost as severe as further north. The whole country, too, is subject to violent storms, both in summer and winter; and the rich vegetation that clothes the steppes in spring, is soon parched up and replaced by dusty plains. Under these adverse influences we cannot expect animal life to be so abundant as in those sub-regions subject to more favourable physical conditions; yet the country is so extensive and so varied, that it does actually, as we shall see, possess a very considerable and interesting fauna.
Mammalia.—Four genera seem to be absolutely confined to this sub-region,Nectogale, a peculiar form of the mole family (Talpidæ);Poephagus, the yak, or hairy bison of Thibet; withProcapraandPantholops, Thibetan antelopes. Some others more especially belong here, although they just enter Europe, asSaiga, the Tartarian antelope;Sminthus, a desert rat;, andEllobius, a burrowing mole-rat; whileMyospalax, a curious rodent allied to the voles, is found only in the Altai mountains and North China; andMoschus, the musk-deer, is almost confined to this sub-region. Among the characteristic animals of the extreme north, areMustela, andMartes, including the ermine and sable;Gulo, the glutton;Tarandus, the reindeer;Myodes, the lemming; with the lynx, arctic fox, and polar bear; and here, in the Post-pliocene epoch, ranged the hairy rhinoceros and Siberian mammoth, whose entire bodies still remain preserved in the ice-cliffs near the mouths of the great rivers. Farther south, species of wild cat, bear, wolf, deer, and pika (Lagomys) abound; while in the mountains we find wild goats and sheep of several species, and in the plains and deserts wild horsesand asses, gazelles, two species of antelopes, flying squirrels (Pteromys), ground squirrels (Tamias), marmots, of the genusSpermophilus, with camels and dromedaries, probably natives of the south-western part of this sub-region. The most abundant and conspicuous of the mammalia are the great herds of reindeer in the north, the wolves of the steppes, with the wild horses, goats, sheep, and antelopes of the plateaus and mountains.
Among the curiosities of this sub-region we must notice the seal, found in the inland and freshwater lake Baikal, at an elevation of about 2,000 feet above the sea. It is a species ofCallocephalus, closely allied to, if not identical with, one inhabiting northern seas as well as the Caspian and Lake Aral. This would indicate that almost all northern Asia was depressed beneath the sea very recently; and Mr. Belt's view, of the ice during the glacial epoch having dammed up the rivers and converted much of Siberia into a vast freshwater or brackish lake, perhaps offers the best solution of the difficulty.[9]
Plate II.—Characteristic Mammalia of Western Tartary.—Several of the most remarkable animals of the Palæarctic region inhabit Western Tartary, and are common to the European and Siberian sub-regions. We therefore choose this district for one of our illustrative plates. The large animals in the centre are the remarkable saiga antelopes (Saiga Tartarica), distinguished from all others by a large and fleshy proboscis-like nose, which gives them a singular appearance. They differ so much from all other antelopes that they have been formed into a distinct family by some naturalists, but are here referred to the great family Bovidæ. They inhabit the open plains from Poland to the Irtish River. On the left is the mole-rat, or sand-rat (Spalax murinus). This animal burrows under ground like a mole, feeding on bulbous roots. It inhabits the same country as the saiga, but extends farther south in Europe. On the right is a still more curious animal, the desman (Myogale Muscovitica), a long-snouted water-mole. This creature is fifteen inches long, including the tail; it burrows in the banks of streams, feeding on insects,worms, and leeches; it swims well, and remains long under water, raising the tip of the snout, where the nostrils are situated, to the surface when it wants to breathe. It is thus well concealed; and this may be one use of the development of the long snout, as well as serving to follow worms into their holes in the soft earth. This species is confined to the rivers Volga and Don in Southern Russia, and the only other species known inhabits some of the valleys on the north side of the Pyrenees. In the distance are wolves, a characteristic feature of these wastes.
Plate II.
CHARACTERISTIC MAMMALIA OF WESTERN TARTARY.
CHARACTERISTIC MAMMALIA OF WESTERN TARTARY.
Birds.—But few genera of birds are absolutely restricted to this sub-region.Podoces, a curious form of starling, is the most decidedly so;MycerobasandPyrrhospizaare genera of finches confined to Thibet and the snowy Himalayas;Leucosticte, another genus of finches, is confined to the eastern half of the sub-region and North America;Tetraogallus, a large kind of partridge, ranges west to the Caucasus;Syrrhaptes, a form of sand-grouse, andLerwa(snow-partridge), are almost confined here, only extending into the next sub-region; as doGrandala, andCalliope, genera of warblers,Uragus, a finch allied to the North American cardinals, andCrossoptilon, a remarkable group of pheasants.
Almost all the genera of central and northern Europe are found here, and give quite a European character to the ornithology, though a considerable number of the species are different. There are a few Oriental forms, such asAbrornisandLarvivora(warblers); withCeriornisandIthaginis, genera of pheasants, which reach the snow-line in the Himalayas and thus just enter this sub-region, but as they do not penetrate farther north, they hardly serve to modify the exclusively Palæarctic character of its ornithology.
According to Middendorf, the extreme northern Asiatic birds are the Alpine ptarmigan (Lagopus mutus); the snow-bunting (Plectrophanes nivalis); the raven, the gyrfalcon and the snowy-owl. Those which are characteristic of the barren "tundras," but which do not range so far north as the preceding are,—the willow-grouse (Lagopus albus); the Lapland-bunting (Plectrophaneslapponica); the shore-lark (Otocorys alpestris); the sand-martin (Cotyle riparia), and the sea-eagle (Haliæetus albicilla).
Those which are more characteristic of the northern forests, and which do not pass beyond them, are—the linnet; two crossbills (Loxia LeucopteraandL. Curvirostra); the pine grosbeak (Pinicola enucleator); the waxwing; the common magpie; the common swallow; the peregrine falcon; the rough-legged buzzard; and three species of owls.
Fully one-half of the land-birds of Siberia are identical with those of Europe, the remainder being mostly representative species peculiar to Northern Asia, with a few stragglers and immigrants from China and Japan or the Himalayas. A much larger proportion of the wading and aquatic families are European or Arctic, these groups having always a wider range than land birds.
Reptiles and Amphibia.—From the nature of the country and climate these are comparatively few, but in the more temperate districts snakes and lizards seem to be not uncommon.Halys, a genus of Crotaline snakes, andPhrynocephalus, lizards of the family Agamidæ, are characteristic of these parts.Simotes, a snake of the family Oligodontidæ, reaches an elevation of 16,000 feet in the Himalayas, and therefore enters this sub-region.
Insects.—MesapiaandHypermnestra, genera of Papilionidæ, are butterflies peculiar to this sub-region; andParnassiusis as characteristic as it is of our European mountains. Carabidæ are also abundant, as will be seen by referring to the Chapter on the Distribution of Insects in the succeeding part of this work. The insects, on the whole, have a strictly European character, although a large proportion of the species are peculiar, and several new genera appear.
IV.—Japan and North China, or the Manchurian Sub-region.
This is an interesting and very productive district, corresponding in the east to the Mediterranean sub-region in the west, or rather perhaps to all western temperate Europe. Its limits are not very well defined, but it probably includes all Japan; the Corea and Manchuria to the Amour river and to the lowerslopes of the Khingan and Peling mountains; and China to the Nanlin mountains south of the Yang-tse-kiang. On the coast of China the dividing line between it and the Oriental region seems to be somewhere about Foo-chow, but as there is here no natural barrier, a great intermingling of northern and southern forms takes place.
Japan is volcanic and mountainous, with a fine climate and a most luxuriant and varied vegetation. Manchuria is hilly, with a high range of mountains on the coast, and some desert tracts in the interior, but fairly wooded in many parts. Much of northern China is a vast alluvial plain, backed by hills and mountains with belts of forest, above which are the dry and barren uplands of Mongolia. We have a tolerable knowledge of China, of Japan, and of the Amoor valley, but very little of Corea and Manchuria. The recent researches of Père David in Moupin, in east Thibet, said to be between 31° and 32° north latitude, show, that the fauna of the Oriental region here advances northward along the flanks of the Yun-ling mountains (a continuation of the Himalayas); since he found at different altitudes representatives of the Indo-Chinese, Manchurian, and Siberian faunas. On the higher slopes of the Himalayas, there must be a narrow strip from about 8,000 to 11,000 feet elevation intervening between the tropical fauna of the Indo-Chinese sub-region and the almost arctic fauna of Thibet; and the animals of this zone will for the most part belong to the fauna of temperate China and Manchuria, except in the extreme west towards Cashmere, where the Mediterranean fauna will in like manner intervene. On a map of sufficiently large scale, therefore, it would be necessary to extend our present sub-region westward along the Himalayas, in a narrow strip just below the upper limits of forests. It is evident that the large number of Fringillidæ, Corvidæ, Troglodytidæ, and Paridæ, often of south Palæarctic forms, that abound in the higher Himalayas, are somewhat out of place as members of the Oriental fauna, and are equally so in that of Thibet and Siberia; but they form a natural portion of that of North China on the one side, or of South Europe on the other.
Mammalia.—This sub-region contains a number of peculiar and very interesting forms, most of which have been recently discovered by Père David in North and West China and East Thibet. The following are the peculiar genera:—Rhinopithecus, a sub-genus of monkeys, here classed underSemnopithecus;Anurosorex,Scaptochirus,UropsilusandScaptonyx, new forms of Talpidæ or moles;Æluropus(Æluridæ);Nyctereutes(Canidæ);Lutronectes(Mustelidæ);Cricetulus(Muridæ);Hydropotes,Moschus, andElaphodus(Cervidæ). TheRhinopithecusappears to be a permanent inhabitant of the highest forests of Moupin, in a cold climate. It has a very thick fur, as has also a new species ofMacacusfound in the same district. North China and East Thibet seem to be very rich in Insectivora.Scaptochirusis like a mole;Uropsilusbetween the JapaneseUrotrichusandSorex;ScaptonyxbetweenUrotrichusandTalpa.Æluropusseems to be the most remarkable mammal discovered by Père David. It is allied to the singular panda (Ælurus fulgens) of Nepal, but is as large as a bear, the body wholly white, with the feet, ears, and tip of the tail black. It inhabits the highest forests, and is therefore a true Palæarctic animal, as most likely is theÆlurus.Nyctereutes, a curious racoon-like dog, ranges from Canton to North China, the Amoor and Japan, and therefore seems to come best in this sub-region;HydropotesandLophotragusare small hornless deer confined to North China;Elaphodus, from East Thibet, is another peculiar form of deer; while the musk deer (Moschus) is confined to this sub-region and the last. Besides the above, the following Palæarctic genera were found by Père David in this sub-region:Macacus: five genera or sub-genera of bats (Vespertilio,Vesperus,Vesperugo,Rhinolophus, andMurina);Erinaceus,Nectogale,Talpa,CrociduraandSorex, among Insectivora;Mustela,Putorius,Martes,Lutra,Viverra,Meles,Ælurus,Ursus,Felis, andCanis, amongCarnivora;Hystrix,Arctomys,Myospalax,Spermophilus,Gerbillus,Dipus,Lagomys,Lepus,Sciurus,Pteromys,Arvicola, andMus, among Rodentia;Budorcas,Nemorhedus,Antilope,Ovis,Moschus,CervulusandCervusamong Ruminants; and the wide-spreadSusor wild boar. The following Oriental genera are alsoincluded in Père David's list, but no doubt occur only in the lowlands and warm valleys, and can hardly be considered to belong to the Palæarctic region:Paguma,Helictis,Arctonyx,Rhizomys,Manis. TheRhizomysfrom Moupin is a peculiar species of this tropical genus, but all the others inhabit Southern China.
A few additional forms occur in Japan:Urotrichus, a peculiar Mole, which is found also in north-west America;Enhydra, the sea otter of California; and the dormouse (Myoxus). Japan also possesses peculiar species ofMacacus,Talpa,Meles,Canis, andSciuropterus.
It will be seen that this sub-region is remarkably rich in Insectivora, of which it possesses ten genera; and that it has also several peculiar forms of Carnivora, Rodentia, and Ruminants.
Birds.—To give an accurate idea of the ornithology of this sub-region is very difficult, both on account of its extreme richness and the impossibility of defining the limits between it and the Oriental region. A considerable number of genera which are well developed in the high Himalayas, and some which are peculiar to that district, have hitherto always been classed as Indian, and therefore Oriental groups; but they more properly belong to this sub-region. Many of them frequent the highest forests, or descend into the Himalayan temperate zone only in winter; and others are so intimately connected with Palæarctic species, that they can only be considered as stragglers into the border land of the Oriental region. On these principles we consider the following genera to be confined to this sub-region:—
Grandala,Nemura(Sylviidæ);Pterorhinus(Timaliidæ);Cholornis,Conostoma,Heteromorpha(Panuridæ);Cyanoptila(Muscicapidæ);Eophona(Fringillidæ);Dendrotreron(Columbidæ);Lophophorus,Tetraophasis,Crossoptilon,Pucrasia,Thaumalea, andIthaginis(Phasianidæ). This may be called the sub-region of Pheasants; for the above six genera, comprising sixteen species of the most magnificent birds in the world, are all confined to the temperate or cold mountainous regions of the Himalayas, Thibet, and China; and in addition we havemost of the species of tragopan (Ceriornis), and some of the true pheasants (Phasianus).
The most abundant and characteristic of the smaller birds are warblers, tits, and finches, of Palæarctic types; but there are also a considerable number of Oriental forms which penetrate far into the country, and mingling with the northern birds give a character to the Ornithology of this sub-region very different from that of the Mediterranean district at the western end of the region. Leaving out a large number of wide-ranging groups, this mixture of types may be best exhibited by giving lists of the more striking Palæarctic and Oriental genera which are here found intermingled.
Sylviidæ.Erithacus.Ruticilla.Locustella.Cyanecula.Sylvia.Potamodus.Reguloides.Regulus.Accentor.
Cinclidæ.Cinclus.
Troglodytidæ.Troglodytidæ.
Certhiidæ.Certhia.Sitta.Tichodroma.
Paridæ.Parus.Lophophanes.Acredula.
Corvidæ.Fregilus.Nucifraga.Pica.Cyanopica.Garrulus.
Ampelidæ.Ampelis.
Fringillidæ.Fringilla.Chrysomitris.Chlorospiza.Passer.Coccothraustes.Pyrrhula.Carpodacus.Uragus.Loxia.Linota.Emberiza.
Sturnidæ.Sturnus.
Alaudidæ.Otocorys.
Picidæ.Picoides.Picus.Hyopicus.Dryocopus.
Yungidæ.Yunx.
Pteroclidæ.Syrrhaptes.
Tetraonidæ.Tetrao.Tetraogallus.Lerwa.Lagopus.
Vulturidæ.Gypaëtus.Vultur.
Falconidæ.Archibuteo.
Sylviidæ.Suya.Calliope.Larvivora.Tribura.Horites.Abrornis.Copsychus.
Turdidæ.Oreocincla.
Timaliidæ.Alcippe.Timalia.Pterocyclus.Garrulax.Trochalopteron.Pomatorhinus.Suthora.
Panuridæ.Paradoxornis.
Cinclidæ.Enicurus.Myiophonus.
Troglodytidæ.Pnœpyga.
Liotrichidæ.Liothrix.Yuhina.Pteruthius.
Pycnonotidæ.Microscelis.Pycnonotus.Hypsipetes.
Campephagidæ.Pericrocotus.
Dicruridæ.Dicrurus.Chibia.Buchanga.
Muscicapidæ.Xanthopygia.Niltava.Tchitrea.
Corvidæ.Urocissa.
Nectarineidæ.Æthopyga.
Motacillidæ.Nemoricola.
Dicæidæ.Zosterops.
Fringillidæ.Melophus.Pyrgilauda.
Ploceidæ.Munia.
Sturnidæ.Acridotheres.Sturnia.
Pittidæ.Pitta.
Picidæ.Vivia.Yungipicus.Gecinus.
Coraciidæ.Eurystomus.
Alcedinidæ.Halcyon.Ceryle.
Upupidæ.Upupa.
Psittacidæ.Palæornis.
Columbidæ.Treron.Ianthænas.Macropygia.
Phasianidæ.Phasianus.Ceriornis.
Strigidæ.Scops.
In the above lists there are rather more Oriental than Palæarctic genera; but it must be remembered that most of the former are summer migrants only, or stragglers just entering the sub-region; whereas the great majority of the latter are permanent residents, and a large proportion of them range over the greater part of the Manchurian district. Many of those in the Oriental column should perhaps be omitted, as we have no exact determination of their range, and the limits of the regions are very uncertain. It must be remembered, too, that the Palæarctic genera of Sylviidæ, Paridæ, and Fringillidæ, are often represented by numerous species, whereas the corresponding Oriental genera have for the most part only single species; and we shall then find that, except towards the borders of the Oriental region the Palæarctic element is strongly predominant. Four of the more especially Oriental groups are confined to Japan, the southernextremity of which should perhaps come in the Oriental region. The great richness of this sub-region compared with that of Siberia is well shown by the fact, that a list of all the known land-birds of East Siberia, including Dahuria and the comparatively fertile Amoor Valley, contains only 190 species; whereas Père David's catalogue of the birds of Northern China with adjacent parts of East Thibet and Mongolia (a very much smaller area) contains for the same families 366 species. Of the Siberian birds more than 50 per cent, are European species, while those of the Manchurian sub-region comprise about half that proportion of land-birds which are identical with those of Europe.
Japan is no doubt very imperfectly known, as only 134 land-birds are recorded from it. Of these twenty-two are peculiar species, a number that would probably be diminished were the Corea to be explored. Of the genera, only nine are Indo-Malayan, while forty-three are Palæarctic.
Plate III.—Scene on the Borders of North-West China and Mongolia with Characteristic Mammalia and Birds.—The mountainous districts of Northern China, with the adjacent portions of Thibet and Mongolia, are the head-quarters of the pheasant tribe, many of the most beautiful and remarkable species being found there only. In the north-western provinces of China and the southern parts of Mongolia may be found the species figured. That in the foreground is the superb golden pheasant (Thaumalea picta), a bird that can hardly be surpassed for splendour of plumage by any denizen of the tropics. The large bird perched above is the eared pheasant (Crossoptilon auritum), a species of comparatively sober plumage but of remarkable and elegant form. In the middle distance is Pallas's sand grouse (Syrrhaptes paradoxus), a curious bird, whose native country seems to be the high plains of Northern Asia, but which often abounds near Pekin, and in 1863 astonished European ornithologists by appearing in considerable numbers in Central and Western Europe, in every part of Great Britain, and even in Ireland.
Plate III.
CHARACTERISTIC ANIMALS OF NORTH CHINA.
CHARACTERISTIC ANIMALS OF NORTH CHINA.
The quadruped figured is the curious racoon dog (Nyctereutes procyonoides),an animal confined to North China, Japan, and the Amoor Valley, and having no close allies in any other part of the globe. In the distance are some deer, a group of animals very abundant and varied in this part of the Palæarctic region.
Reptiles and Amphibia.—Reptiles are scarce in North China, only four or five species of snakes, a lizard and one of the Geckotidæ occurring in the country round Pekin. The genusHalysis the most characteristic form of snake, whileCallophis, an oriental genus, extends to Japan. Among lizards,Plestiodon,Maybouya,Tachydromus, andGeckoreach Japan, the two latter being very characteristic of the Oriental region.
Amphibia are more abundant and interesting;Hynobius,Onychodactylus, andSieboldtia(Salamandridæ) being peculiar to it, while most of the European genera are also represented.
Fresh-water Fish.—Of these there are a few peculiar genera; asPlecoglossus(Salmonidæ) from Japan;Achilognathus,Pseudoperilampus,Ochetobius, andOpsariichthys(Cyprinidæ); and there are many other Chinese Cyprinidæ belonging to the border land of the Palæarctic and Oriental regions.
Insects.—The butterflies of this sub-region exhibit the same mixture of tropical and temperate forms as the birds. Most of the common European genera are represented, and there are species ofParnassiusin Japan and the Amoor.Isodema, a peculiar genus of Nymphalidæ is found near Ningpo, just within our limits; andSericinus, one of the most beautiful genera of Papilionidæ is peculiar to North China, where four species occur, thus balancing theThaisandDoritisof Europe. The genusZephyrus(Lycænidæ) is well represented by six species in Japan and the Amoor, against two in Europe.Papilio parisandP. bianor, magnificent insects of wholly tropical appearance, abound near Pekin, and allied forms inhabit Japan and the Amoor, as well asP. demetriusandP. alcinousbelonging to the "Protenor" group of the Himalayas. Other tropical genera occurring in Japan, the Amoor, or North China are,Debis,Neope,Mycalesis,Ypthimia(Satyridæ);Thaumantis(Morphidæ), at Shanghae;Euripus,Neptis,Athyma(Nymphalidæ);Terias(Pieridæ); and the above-mentioned Papilionidæ.
Coleoptera.—The beetles of Japan decidedly exhibit a mixture of tropical forms with others truly Palæarctic, and it has been with some naturalists a matter of doubt whether the southern and best known portion of the islands should not be joined to the Oriental region. An important addition to our knowledge of the insects of this country has recently been made by Mr. George Lewis, and a portion of his collections have been described by various entomologists in theTransactions of the Entomological Society of London. As the question is one of considerable interest we shall give a summary of the results fairly deducible from what is now known of the entomology of Japan; and it must be remembered that almost all our collections come from the southern districts, in what is almost a sub-tropical climate; so that if we find a considerable proportion of Palæarctic forms, we may be pretty sure that the preponderance will be much greater a little further north.
Of Carabidæ Mr. Bates enumerates 244 species belonging to 84 genera, and by comparing these with the Coleoptera of a tract of about equal extent in western Europe, he concludes that there is little similarity, and that the cases of affinity to the forms of eastern tropical Asia preponderate. By comparing his genera with the distributions as given inGemminger and Harold's Catalogue, a somewhat different result is arrived at. Leaving out the generic types altogether peculiar to Japan, and also those genera of such world-wide distribution that they afford no clear indications for our purpose, it appears that no less than twenty-two genera, containing seventy-four of the Japanese species, are either exclusively Palæarctic, Palæarctic and Nearctic, or highly characteristic of the Palæarctic region; then come thirteen genera containing eighty-seven of the species which have a very wide distribution, but are also Palæarctic: we next have seventeen genera containing twenty-four of the Japanese species which are decidedly Oriental and tropical. Here then the fair comparison is between the twenty-two genera and seventy-four species whose affinities are clearly Palæarctic or at least north temperate, and seventeen genera with twenty-four species which are Asiatic and tropical; and this seems to prove that, although SouthJapan (like North China) has a considerable infusion of tropical forms, there is a preponderating substratum of Palæarctic forms, which clearly indicate the true position of the islands in zoological geography. There are also a few cases of what may be called eccentric distribution; which show that Japan, like many other island-groups, has served as a kind of refuge in which dying-out forms continue to maintain themselves. These, which are worthy of notice, are as follows:Orthotrichus(1 sp.) has the only other species in Egypt;Trechichus(1 sp.) has two other species, of which one inhabits Madeira, the other the Southern United States;Perileptus(1 sp.) has two other species, of which one inhabits Bourbon, the other West Europe; and lastly,Crepidogaster(1 sp.) has the other known species in South Africa. These cases diminish the value of the indications afforded by some of the Japanese forms, whose only allies are single species in various remote parts of the Oriental region.
The Staphylinidæ have been described by Dr. Sharp, and his list exhibits a great preponderance of north temperate, or cosmopolitan forms, with a few which are decidedly tropical. The Pselaphidæ and Scydmenidæ, also described by Dr. Sharp, exhibit, according to that gentleman, "even a greater resemblance to those of North America than to those of Europe," but he says nothing of any tropical affinities. The water-beetles are all either Palæarctic or of wide distribution.
The Lucanidæ (Gemm. and Har. Cat., 1868) exhibit an intermingling of Palæarctic and Oriental genera.
The Cetoniidæ (Gemm. and Har. Cat., 1869) show, for North China and Japan, three Oriental to two Palæarctic genera.
The Buprestidæ collected by Mr. Lewis have been described by Mr. Edward Saunders in theJournal of the Linnæan Society, vol. xi. p. 509. The collection consisted of thirty-six species belonging to fourteen genera. No less than thirteen of these are known also from India and the Malay Islands; nine from Europe; seven from Africa; six from America, and four from China. In six of the genera the Japanese species are said to be allied to those of the Oriental region; while in three they are allied to European forms, and in two to American. Consideringthe southern latitude and warm climate in which these insects were mostly collected, and the proximity to Formosa and the Malay Islands compared with the enormous distance from Europe, this shows as much Palæarctic affinity as can be expected. In the Palæarctic region the group is only plentiful in the southern parts of Europe, which is cut off by the cold plateau of Thibet from all direct communication with Japan; while in the Oriental region it everywhere abounds and is, in fact, one of the most conspicuous and dominant families of Coleoptera.
The Longicorns collected by Mr. Lewis have been described by Mr. Bates in theAnnals of Natural History for 1873. The number of species now known from Japan is 107, belonging to sixty-four genera. The most important genera areLeptura,Clytanthus,Monohammus,Praonetha,Exocentrus,Glenea, andOberea. There are twenty-one tropical genera, and seven peculiar to Japan, leaving thirty-six either Palæarctic or of very wide range. A number of the genera are Oriental and Malayan, and many characteristic European genera seem to be absent; but it is certain that not half the Japanese Longicorns are yet known, and many of these gaps will doubtless be filled up when the more northern islands are explored.
The Phytophaga, described by Mr. Baly, appear to have a considerable preponderance of tropical Oriental forms.
A considerable collection of Hymenoptera formed by Mr. Lewis have been described by Mr. Frederick Smith; and exhibit the interesting result, that while the bees and wasps are decidedly of tropical and Oriental forms, the Tenthredinidæ and Ichneumonidæ are as decidedly Palæarctic, "the general aspect of the collection being that of a European one, only a single exotic form being found among them."
Remarks on the General Character of the Fauna of Japan.—From a general view of the phenomena of distribution we feel justified in placing Japan in the Palæarctic region; although some tropical groups, especially of reptiles and insects, have largely occupied its southern portions; and these same groups have in many cases spread into Northern China, beyond theusual dividing line of the Palæarctic and Oriental regions. The causes of such a phenomenon are not difficult to conceive. Even now, that portion of the Palæarctic region between Western Asia and Japan is, for the most part, a bleak and inhospitable region, abounding in desert plateaus, and with a rigorous climate even in its most favoured districts, and can, therefore, support but a scanty population of snakes, and of such groups of insects as require flowers, forests, or a considerable period of warm summer weather; and it is precisely these which are represented in Japan and North China by tropical forms. We must also consider, that during the Glacial epoch this whole region would have become still less productive, and that, as the southern limit of the ice retired northward, it would be followed up by many tropical forms along with such as had been driven south by its advance, and had survived to return to their northern homes.
It is also evident that Japan has a more equable and probably moister climate than the opposite shores of China, and has also a very different geological character, being rocky and broken, often volcanic, and supporting a rich, varied, and peculiar vegetation. It would thus be well adapted to support all the more hardy denizens of the tropics which might at various times reach it, while it might not be so well adapted for the more boreal forms from Mongolia or Siberia. The fact that a mixture of such forms occurs there, is then, little to be wondered at, but we may rather marvel that they are not more predominant, and that even in the extreme south, the most abundant forms of mammal, bird, and insect, are modifications of familiar Palæarctic types. The fact clearly indicates that the former land connections of Japan with the continent have been in a northerly rather than in a southerly direction, and that the tropical immigrants have had difficulties to contend with, and have found the land already fairly stocked with northern aborigines in almost every class and order of animals.
General Conclusions as to the Fauna of the Palæarctic Region.—From the account that has now been given of the faunaof the Palæarctic region, it is evident that it owes many of its deficiencies and some of its peculiarities to the influence of the Glacial epoch, combined with those important changes of physical geography which accompanied or preceded it. The elevation of the old Sarahan sea and the complete formation of the Mediterranean, are the most important of these changes in the western portion of the region. In the centre, a wide arm of the Arctic Ocean extended southward from the Gulf of Obi to the Aral and the Caspian, dividing northern Europe and Asia. At this time our European and Siberian sub-regions were probably more distinct than they are now, their complete fusion having been effected since the Glacial epoch. As we know that the Himalayas have greatly increased in altitude during the Tertiary period, it is not impossible that during the Miocene and Pliocene epochs the vast plateau of Central Asia was much less elevated and less completely cut off from the influence of rain-bearing winds. It might then have been far more fertile, and have supported a rich and varied animal population, a few relics of which we see in the Thibetan antelopes, yaks, and wild horses. The influence of yet earlier changes of physical geography, and the relations of the Palæarctic to the tropical regions immediately south of it, will be better understood when we have examined and discussed the faunas of the Ethiopian and Oriental regions.
TABLES OF DISTRIBUTION.
In constructing these tables showing the distribution of various classes of animals in the Palæarctic region, the following sources of information have been chiefly relied on, in addition to the general treatises, monographs, and catalogues used in compiling the fourth part of this work.
Mammalia.—Lord Clement's Mammalia and Reptiles of Europe; Siebold's Fauna Japonica; Père David's List of Mammalia of North China and Thibet; Swinhoe's Chinese Mammalia; Radde's List of Mammalia of South-Eastern Siberia; Canon Tristram's Lists for Sahara and Palestine; Papers by Professor Milne-Edwards, Mr. Blanford, Mr. Sclater, and the local lists given by Mr. A. Murray in the Appendix to his Geographical Distribution of Mammalia.
Birds.—Blasius' List of Birds of Europe; Godman, On Birds of Azores, Madeira, and Canaries; Middendorf, for Siberia; Père David and Mr. Swinhoe, for China and Mongolia; Homeyer, for East Siberia; Mr. Blanford, for Persia and the high Himalayas; Mr. Elwes's paper on the Distribution of Asiatic Birds; Canon Tristram, for the Sahara and Palestine; Professor Newton, for Iceland and Greenland; Mr. Dresser, for Scandinavia; and numerous papers and notes in the Ibis; Journal für Ornithologie; Annals and Mag. of Nat. History; and Proceedings of the Zoological Society.
Reptiles and Amphibia.—Schreiber's European Herpetology.
TABLE I.
FAMILIES OF ANIMALS INHABITING THE PALÆARCTIC REGION.
Explanation.
Names initalicsshow families peculiar to the region.Names inclosed thus (......) barely enter the region, and are not considered properly to belong to it.Numbers are not consecutive, but correspond to those in Part IV.
Names initalicsshow families peculiar to the region.
Names inclosed thus (......) barely enter the region, and are not considered properly to belong to it.
Numbers are not consecutive, but correspond to those in Part IV.
Hyracoidæ
Columbæ.
Lacertilia.
Ganoidei.
Coleoptera.—Of about 80 families into which the Coleoptera are divided, all the more important are cosmopolite, or nearly so. It would therefore unnecessarily occupy space to give tables of the whole for each region.
Land Shells.—The more important families being cosmopolite, and the smaller ones being somewhat uncertain in their limits, the reader is referred to the account of the families and genera under each region, and to the chapter on Mollusca in the concluding part of this work, for such information as can be given of their distribution.