CHAPTER XVIII 



JAPAX AND FORMOSA 



Japan, its Position and Physical Features — Zoological Features of Japan- 

 Mammalia — Birds — Birds Common to Great Britain and Japan — Birds 

 Peculiar to Japan — Japan Birds Recurring in Distant Areas — Formosa — 

 Physical Features of Formosa — Animal Life of Formosa— Mammalia — 

 Land-birds Peculiar to Formosa— Formosan Birds Recurring in India or 

 Malaya — Comparison of Faunas of Hainan, Formosa, and Japan- 

 General Remarks on Recent Continental Islands, 



Japan. 



The Japanese Islands occupy a very similar position on 

 the eastern shore of the great Euro-Asiatic continent to 

 that of the British Islands on the western, except that 

 they are about sixteen degrees further south, and having 

 a greater extension in latitude enjoy a more varied as 

 well as a more temperate climate. Their outline is also 

 much more irregular and their mountains loftier, the 

 volcanic peak of Fusiyama being 14,177 feet high ; while 

 their geological structure is very complex, their soil 

 extremely fertile, and their vegetation in the highest 

 degree varied and beautiful. Like our own islands, too, 

 they are connected with the continent by a marine bank 

 less than a hundred fathoms below the surface — at all 

 events towards the north and south ; but in the inter- 

 vening space the Sea of Japan opens out to a width of 

 six hundred miles, and in its central portion is very deep, 



