NATURE 



493 



THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 1898. 



THE FAUNA AND FLORA OF THE PAMIR. 



Report on the Natural History Results of the Pamir 

 Boundary Commission. By A. W. Alcock, M.B., 

 Surgeon Naturalist to the Commission. With a List 

 of the Plants, by J. F. Duthie, B.A., F.L.S., and a 

 Notice of the Rock-specimens, by T. H. Holland, 

 A.R.C.S., F.G.S. (Calcutta, 1898.; 



FOR this useful addition to our knowledge of the 

 Pamir plateau we are indebted to the enlightened 

 policy of the Government of India, who, in attaching Mr. 

 Alcock as naturalist to the Commission despatched in 

 1895 to demarcate the boundary between Afghan and 

 Russian territory, followed the course adopted on several 

 previous occasions, as when the late Dr. Stoliczka was 

 sent as naturalist with the Yarkand mission in 1873-74, 

 and when Dr. J. Anderson was added to the two ex- 

 peditions to Yunnan in 1868 and 1875. The Indian 

 Government have added to the value of the observations 

 made by publishing the results, which comprise a few 

 general remarks on the fauna, flora and geology, and a 

 descriptive list of the specimens obtained. 



The Commission left the valley of Kashmir on June 

 21, and returned to it on October 12, so that the journey 

 occupied less than four months, whilst the time actually 

 spent on the Pamir itself extended only from July 20 to 

 September 16. This, however, is probably the best time 

 in the whole year for zoological and botanical collecting 

 at so high an elevation, and is certainly much better than 

 April and May, when Stoliczka's collections were made 

 in the same region. 



The results, as Mr. Alcock points out, appear small, 

 but this must be attributed to the poverty of the fauna 

 and flora, every effort having been " made to get together 

 as complete and representative a collection as possible." 

 Six mammals, yj birds, 4 fishes, 10 butterflies, and a few 

 miscellaneous invertebrates were obtained, besides 105 

 phanerogamous and 10 cryptogamous plants. Four 

 more mammals were seen, but no reptile nor batrachian 

 was met with, despite careful search, and although 

 specimens of both were obtained on the journey between 

 Kashmir and the Pamir. All the fishes, except one loach, 

 belong to the curious group of carps (the Schizothoracina; 

 of McClelland), with enlarged imbricate scales at the 

 base of the anal fin. This group appears to be peculiar 

 to Central Asia. 



In the list of the animals obtained on the road between 

 Kashmir and the Pamir, a very few forms with Indian 

 affinities occur, for instance, a Trochalopterum among 

 the birds, but still the great majority are Palrearctic 

 species ; even three earthworms are identified by Mr. 

 Beddard as European. The Pamir fauna and flora show 

 no trace of Indian affinities, but pertain strictly to the 

 Central Asiatic phase of the Palaearctic (or Holarctic) 

 region. At the same time, now that we know the fauna 

 and flora of the Pamir plateau well, their most striking 

 feature is the distinction shown from the animals and 

 plants of Tibet. There is no great diff'erence between 

 the physical features of the two areas ; they are both 

 from 12,000 to about 18,000 feet in height (the Tibetan 

 NO. 1508, VOL. 58] 



averaging rather the higher, but by not more than 2000 

 feet), and the two are completely united by the table- 

 land of Western Tibet. Nevertheless very few of the 

 animals or plants are identical, and the few that are 

 appear to be forms of very wide range. Nor is this all, 

 for so far as the mammalia, the best known and most im- 

 portant group, are concerned, the fauna of the bleak, 

 barren plateau of Tibet appears to be considerably more 

 numerous than that of the rather less bleak Pamir, 

 despite the well-known rich pasture lands of the latter. 

 Thus, taking the Ungulates alone, only two species, 

 Ovis poll, Marco Polo's sheep, and Capra sibirica, the 

 Asiatic ibex, are known from the Pamir ; whilst in Tibet, 

 the yak, Tibetan antelope {Pantholops), Tibetan gazelle, 

 two if not three wild sheep {Ovis hodgsoni, O. nahura, 

 and probably O. vignei), an ibex, and the kiang {Equus 

 hemionus) occur, without taking into account Budorcas, 

 two species of Cervus and the musk deer, which are 

 found in parts of the plateau. The same difference is 

 found in other mammalia ; thus the golden marmot, 

 Arctomys aureus, of the Pamir replaces A. himalayanus 

 and A. robustus of Tibet, and Lepus tibetanus to the 

 westward represents the L. pallipes and L. hypsibius of 

 the great Eastern plateau. 



As already stated the two plateaus, the Pamir and 

 Tibet, are continuous, and are not separated from each 

 other by any distinct elevation or depression. The cause 

 of the marked difference in the fauna and flora needs 

 explanation, and may not improbably be connected with 

 the geological history of the two areas. It has been 

 already shown that the specialisation of the Tibetan 

 mammalian fauna probably indicates isolation during the 

 latter portion of the Tertiary era, an isolation which can 

 only be attributed to elevation. Whether it should be 

 inferred that the elevation of the Pamir, which is believed 

 to have been connected with the origin of the Himalayas, 

 is of later geological date than that of Tibet, is a question 

 that must be left to future geological explorers. 



The geological observations in the present work are 

 limited to petrological notes, the rocks found having 

 been noted, and specimens brought away, which were 

 e.xamined by Mr. Holland. This proceeding, like the 

 proverbial carrying away of a brick as a sample of a 

 house, though apparently approved by high geological 

 authorities, is extremely unsatisfactory, and it is to Mr. 

 Holland's credit that he has been able to add one inter- 

 esting fact, at all events, to previous observations. This 

 is that certain rhyolites which are found on the Pamir 

 are precisely the rocks that might be expected as the 

 volcanic representatives of Stoliczka's " Central Gneiss," 

 which Mr. Holland agrees with General McMahon in 

 regarding as intrusive. This " Central Gneiss " forms 

 the axis of the Himalayas and, as Stoliczka showed, it 

 occupies an extensive area on the Pamir. It is curious 

 that no allusion to Dr. Stoliczka's observations on the 

 Pamir is to be found in Mr. Holland's notes. 



In conclusion, it may be fairly stated that we are 

 indebted to the Government of India and to Mr. Alcock 

 for a very useful addition to the facts hitherto known as to 

 the distribution of Asiatic animals and plants. Mr. 

 Alcock acknowledges the assistance given by Mr. Finn 

 in determining the birds collected, and by M. de Nic^ville 

 for the Lepidoptera. Mr. Duthie, who supplies the list 



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