THE AMOUR-LITTOKAL BOEDER LAND. 63 



and Transbaikalia. Of these, three climbers are the lianas of the woods here. They are first of 

 all. a beautiful plant belonging to the rare family of schizandraceae with pale rose-scented 

 flowers and red berries, (maximoviczia chinensis Rupr.), spread from northern China through 

 Manchuria to the Amour country ; a species of vine, very slightly distinguished from the true 

 vine (vitis amurensis Rupr.); and iiually the wild vine (cissus brevipedunculata Max.). The 

 species of clematis appearing here for the first time, clematis mandshurica Rupr. and aethus- 

 aefolia Turcz., belong to the non-climbing shrubby varieties of this genus. Of the two species 

 of local berberry one is also peculiar to northern China (berberis sinensis Desf.); another, 

 local (berberis amurensis). The very curious shrub of the Amour country, actinidia kolomikta 

 Rupr., covered with large Avhite scented flowers, has not yet found a strictly definite position 

 in systematic botany, it being now referred to one now to another of the exotic families. Of the 

 four local varieties of spindle-tree there is one Japanese (evonymus alatus Th.) and three 

 local (evonymus pauciflorus Max., evonymus Maackii Rupr. and evonymus macropterusRupr.). 

 Of the leguminosae the small shrub found here lespedeza stipulacea Max., also grows in the 

 environs of Pekin. Of the rose family, the local species of cherry (prunus glandulifolia Rupr. 

 and meadowsweet (spiraea amurensis Max.) are shrubs. Two local species, belonging to the 

 same genus as our so-called garden jasmine (philadelphus) are a conspicuous adornment of the 

 forests, philadelphus tenuifolius Rupr. and philadelphus Schrenkii Rupr. The beautiful local 

 shrub of the same family Deutzia parviflora Bge. is a Chinese plant, spread by cultivation. 

 To the family of araliaceae not to be met with in Siberia belong two shrubs common to this 

 flora and that of northern China (panax sessiliflorum Rupr. and eleutherococcus senticosus 

 Max). Of the honeysuckles there are here one Chinese species (lonicera chrysantha Turcz.) 

 and two local (lonicera Maackll Rupr. and lonicera Maximowiczii Ptupr.). Common to northern 

 China is a species of lilac occurring here on the skirts of the woods with somewhat minute 

 whitish flowers (syringa amurensis Rupr.). A vaiety of laurel, met with on the lower Amour 

 Is that called after Kamchatka (daphne kamtchatica Max.). 



Among the herbs of the Amour country, not less than 110 species are exclusively pe- 

 culiar to this region, the rest are common to the Amour with China, Japan, Kamchatka and 

 even America, but especially with Transbaikalia and Siberia. The whole flora of the Amour 

 has 340 plants common with that of European Russia, that is, 38 per cent, while with Trans- 

 baikalia it has 527, or more than 58 per cent. 



Equally peculiar with the flora of the Amour country is its Invertebrate fauna and 

 particularly the insects which are dependent on the same climatic comlltions as the plants. 

 Not less than GO per cent of all the species of insects occurring in the Amour country are 

 unknown to Europe, although the general character of the fauna is palearctie, that is, 

 proper to the whole sub-polar and temperate zones of the Old World. 



As for the vertebrata, in Amourla associated with the mammals occurring in the for- 

 est zone of Siberia are not only those animals which were mentioned in the survey of the 

 fauna of Transbaikalia, but also some others. There belong the maral (cervus elaphus L.), 

 whose horns are so highly prized by the Chinese, the tiger (fells tigris L.), the Irbis (felis 

 iibis Pall.), the mountain wolf (canis alpiuus Pall.) and the thibetan bear (ursus tibetanus). 

 The fish of the Amour country are in the highest degree interesting, the river and its trib- 



