114- IIYDRACAKINA 



the Da5s the forest disappears entirely even below 3000 m., the whole of Indian Tibet being 

 arid or semi-arid. The winters must be very severe, though with little snow, but certain 

 springs remain open all through the winter. This may be true of the spring at Shimsha 

 Karbu at 2S19 meters, where Prut del la hutchinsoni, Kashniirotliyas liutchinsoni and Megapus 

 proximalis live at a temperature of 8.0"C. However, some of the small streams in this dis- 

 trict are heated up relatively high by day, to over 20^0., and cool off to around 8.0X. at 

 night, owing to the rarity of the atmosphere. In such a stream Parathyas primitiva was 

 collected at Dras at about 3100 meters in a temperature of 19.0-24.3C., and Calonyx 

 tnontainis in 19.0" C. At Bao, at an altitude <>i 4100 meters, ProtzicUa hutchinsoni was 

 found in 7.2^ C. in a spring. For Calonyx flagclhun, found only in a rapid stream at 

 Shimsha Karbu at an altitude of 2819 meters, there are no temperature records. It may be 

 mentioned also that Kashniirotliyas hutchinsoni, l)esides in die above reported spring, was col- 

 lected in a stream at Sonamarg, altitude 2590 meters, in 7.0 C. Lastly Eylais haiiiata was 

 taken in ponds at Chushol, near the Tibet frontier, at an altitude of about 4340 meters. 

 Unfortunately there are no precise temperature data availal)le in this case, but the ponds in 

 question very likely freeze comj)letely solid during the winter. It is rather strange to find 

 that this mite, which lives even at the level of the sea, is able to thri\c at such ;i height. But 

 we have noticed already that Eylais haiiiata is one of those species which forces its way far- 

 thest up the Alps, where it lives above the forest limit. The ])onds at Chushol are the highest 

 records for mites in this region, and in the world, and though there were a number of ponds 

 at still much higher altitudes, no mites were found therein. It is a matter of interest that 

 the species from the highest locality is a widely distributed one and not an exclusively mountain 

 form. Thus only two species, Eylais haiiiata and ProtcicUa hutchinsoni, extend their range 

 above the forest limit as defined on the eastern slopes of the Kashmir \'alley, while two more 

 species, Calonyx iiinntanus and Parathyas primitiva, ju.st reach this limit.'" It is likely that 

 still mnre species do so though they have hitherto escaped discovery. 



The watermite fauna of the Western Himalayas appears, in the present state of our 

 knowledge, to l)e much less rich than that of other districts enjoying a somewhat similar 

 climate, either in the far North or at high elevations in temperate or tropical countries. It is 

 difificult to decide with absolute certainty whether this difference is due to the \\'estern I lima- 

 layan fauna l)eing less well known, or to actual poverty of species. One would expect not 

 only a greater assemlilage of endemic cold-water forms, but also a greater number of lowland 

 species in the Kashmir Valley. 



It is not advisable to give any detailed opinion as to the composition and immigration 

 of the watermite fauna of Kashmir, owing to the poverty of the data at present available, 

 founded as they are on but a few months' collecting. But even if we postulate the occur- 

 rence of more species, the fauna seems to be very poor. The reason fcir this is jjrobably that 

 mountain barriers have prevented the mites fr.)m .s])reading. The most characteristic high- 

 land forms, such as Protziclla and Kashinirolhyas, are probably endemic and of ancient, 

 perhaps preglacial, origin, while the other element in the fauna comprises such easily dis- 

 tributed species as Eylais haiiuita and E. degencrata; the immigration of this latter element is 

 presumably .still occurring, though more slowlv than in m^st other parts of the world. 



'"But in ttie Dras basin where they occur the country is too arid to support forest, though at this altitude on 

 the opposite side of the Zoji-La about 35 miles to the west there are numerous trees.— C E. II. 



