MAMMALS FiiOM WES'lERX CHINA. 159 



hitherto entii'ely uurepreseiited in our National Museum. The 

 collection there made and now described is of the utmost interest 

 and greatly inci'eases our knowledge of the Chinese Fauna. 



Then a move was made southward into Western 8ze-chwa.n, 

 the main objective of Mr. Anderson's long journey. For it was 

 in this region that the famous collections of Pere David were 

 formed, and authentic specimens of the many species he dis- 

 covered were vital desiderata for all satisfactory work on Chinese 

 Mammals. Collections were made at and near Ta-tsien-lu, and 

 again with great success on the sacred mountain Omi-san, near 

 Kia-ting-fu. 



The result of the party's lal)oui\s forms, I believe, the finest 

 collection of small mammals that has ever come from China. No 

 less than 16 species and subspecies have had to be described as 

 new*, while authentic specimens have been obtained of nearly 

 all Pere David's discoveries. 



Special mention may be made of the series of Xeotetracv.s, a 

 peculiar Insectivore recently described by Prof. Trouessart, of the 

 black-striped Shrews, no such coloration having been previously 

 described in the Family, of the specimens of Uropsilus and 

 Marinella, and of the remarkable Vole Proedromj/s hedfordi, the 

 type of a new genus. In all there are 360 specimens, belonging 

 to 48 species and subspecies. 



The collection, as a whole, gives striking evidence of the uni- 

 formity of the mammal fauna of China north of an east and west 

 line at about 34° N., corresponding in its western part with the 

 Tsin-ling range of mountains. Specimens from Korea on the 

 east, through Shantung, Shan-si and Shen-si to Ka,n-su on the 

 west, are all remarkably uniform in character, while there is 

 an abrupt change on passing fi-om Kan-su to the southei-n side 

 of the range into Sze-chwan. The inhabitants of the former are 

 all " desert-coloured " animals, and of the latter dark Kiiimals — ■ 

 no doubt because of the more forested nature of the country. 



Zoologists have every reason to be grateful to the Society's 

 President for this fine addition to the available material for 

 working out the Eastern Asiatic Fauna. It forms a worthy 

 supplement to the results that have been already attained by the 

 same means in Japan, Korea, and other pnrts of China, the whole 

 constituting one of the most magnificent series of collections that 

 has ever been obtained. 



Considering again the hardships that had to be undergone, the 

 roughness and wild nature of the country, the unfriendliness of 

 the natives, at whose hands Mr. J. W. Brooke had recently met 

 his death, and the severe climatic conditions, we must extend our 

 admiration to Messrs. Anderson, Smith, and Ward, for the 

 extent of the collection and the excellent condition in which they 

 have succeeded in sending it home. 



* The complete account of these new forms appears in this communication, but 

 since the names and piTli-minavy "rlin.wnoses wpve published in the ' Abstract,' No. 90 

 1911, these species are distinguished by the namrs being underlined. - -Kdjtok. 



