356 THE HOLARCTIC REGION. [CHAP. 



common to Japan and North China, the larger Mantchurian deer 

 (C. mantchuricus\ and Dybowski's deer (C. dybowskii) from the 

 upper Ussuri district of Mantchuria, in the neighbourhood of 

 Vladivostock. Elsewhere the group is represented in Formosa, 

 and also in the Caspian provinces of Persia. In addition to 

 these, there are the hornless Chinese water-deer (Hydropoles), and 

 the two species of tufted deer (Elaphodus)\ the latter being closely 

 allied to the Oriental muntjacs. What is known of the palseonto- 

 logical history of the southern portion of this area indicates that 

 during the Pliocene epoch its mammalian fauna was closely allied 

 to that of the Siwalik Hills, thus showing that at this time there 

 was no distinction between the Oriental and Holarctic regions, 

 which even now grade imperceptibly into one another in this 

 district. 



The remains of fossil elephants from Japan 1 are referable to 

 Elephas clifti, insignis, and namadicus, of which the two first are 

 common to the Siwaliks, while the third occurs typically in the 

 Plistocene Narbada beds of India. From the known distribution 

 of these elephants, it is probable that Japan was connected with 

 the mainland during the Pliocene epoch by way of the Corean 

 peninsula, although Dr Wallace is of opinion that its latest con- 

 nection was to the north. Of existing animals common to Japan 

 and the mainland, allusion has already been made to Cervus sica : 

 and another common type is the giant salamander Megalobatra 

 chus. The latter genus is represented in a fossil state in the 

 Miocene of Baden, and as it is closely allied to the North American 

 CryptobranchuS) there is clear evidence of the eastern migration of 

 this ancient type, of which the two survivors are respectively con- 

 fined to China and Japan on the one hand, and North America 

 on the other. Further evidences of affinity between the fauna of 

 Japan and North America are afforded by the circumstance that 

 one species of the mole-like genus Urotrichus is confined to the 

 former islands, while the other is an inhabitant of the north- 

 western districts of the latter continent. The sea-otter (Latax] is 

 likewise common to the coasts of Japan, the Kurile Islands, and 

 Kamschatka, and the Pacific shores of North America. More 

 remarkable, however, is the fact that a North American scincoid 

 1 See Naumann, Palceontographica, Vol. xxvm. Art. r (1881). 



