THE NATURAL HISTORY OF CHINA 



By Arthur de Cable Sowbrby, F.R.G.S., F.Z.S. 



[With 4 plates] 



The subject we have before us is a very big one, far too big for 

 anything approaching justice to be done to it in the time at our 

 disposal. It may even be argued that the time is not ripe for any- 

 one to attempt to deal with the natural history of China as a whole ; 

 that our knowledge of the subject is still too fragmentary ; that it is 

 both unsafe and unwise to try and form any far-reaching theories 

 as to the origin, distribution, past and present, and the present status 

 of the animals that inhabit this part of the great Asiatic land mass ; 

 in short, that a great deal more research work has to be done, both 

 in the field and laboratory, before a general survey of the fauna 

 of this ancient land can be brought within the compass of a single 

 discussion. 



This, to a certain extent, is true, for there undoubtedly remains a 

 vast amount of work to be done in China before it may be said 

 that even the vertebrates are all known; while a much greater time 

 must elapse before the invertebrate fauna has been thoroughly ex- 

 plored. Nevertheless it is utterly erroneous, not to say unfair to 

 past workers in this wide field of research, to say, as has been done 

 recently, that the natural history of China is practically unknown. 

 It is true that in certain groups of animals, for the most part orders 

 or families of invertebrates, the Chinese representatives are un- 

 known, but our knowledge of others, birds for instance, is actually 

 nearing completion, and it is hoped to show here that this knowl- 

 edge, coupled with what we know of the faunas of other countries 

 and their distribution throughout the ages, is amply sufficient to en- 

 able us to draw conclusions and put forward theories, tentative 

 though they be, in regard to that of China. 



China is a very big country and comprises within her boundaries 

 a very varied topography and many kinds of climates. In the west 

 mighty mountains rise to heights far above the snow line; in the 

 northeast lie immense alluvial plains; in the south and southeast 

 the country is all broken up by irregular systems of hills and low 



1 Reprinted by permission from the Journal of the North China Branch of the Royal 

 Asiatic Society, Vol. LIII. 1922. 



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