CHAPTER X. 



BIOLOGICAL WORK — BY A. DE C. SOWERBY. 



nPHE narrative of the expedition having been set forth in the preceding 

 pages, this chapter takes the form of a general description of the 

 biological work, which was entrusted to me. The specimens which I collected 

 were presented by Mr. Clark to the United States National Museum. Captain 

 Douglas made an interesting collection of insects, which were presented to 

 the British Museum. As our route has already been described, it is needless 

 for me to do more than mention the names of places from which specimens 

 were taken. 



My outfit for the work was very simple and somewhat incomplete. 

 Except for a few traps and instruments, which I already had, I was obliged 

 to get all my requisites locally. The chief trouble was the lack of a good 

 supply of traps, especially those for large animals. The main object of my 

 work was the collecting of mammals. Birds were taken whenever interesting 

 species were seen, and I was not too busy with mammals to prepare 

 them. Reptiles, batrachians and fishes were caught whenever met with, and 

 were preserved in alcohol. Captain Douglas confined his attention chiefly to 

 blood-sucking and parasitical insects, such as fleas, ticks, and mosquitoes, but 

 he also collected a few beetles, spiders, and flies. I made a large collection of 

 butterflies and dragonflies towards the end of our expedition in Eastern Kansu 

 and Central Shensi. 



Before going into further details of the present work, it might be well to 

 say something about that already done in the same districts. In connection 

 with the Duke of Bedford's Exploration of Eastern Asia in the early part of 

 igo8, Mr. ^ftilcolm P. Anderson and the writer had already made collections of 

 mammals in Shensi, at Yen-an Fu and Yii-Hn Fu. We also collected in the 

 mountains of Shansi, north-west of T'ai-yuan Fu. Mr. Anderson visited the 

 Chiao-ch'^ng Shan district towards the latter part of 1907. From these 



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