8 Suggestions for the Yunan Expedition. [Jan. 



In 1870, Professor Owen described some large mammalian fossils from 

 China. One was alleged to be from marly beds in the neighbourhood of 

 Shanghai ; and others, of much fresher aspect, said to be from a cave near 

 the city of Chunts-king-foo in the province of Sze-chuen. As compared with 

 the condition of the Siwalik fossils, these cave bones present an appearance of 

 comparative unchangedness. Yet Professor Owen unhesitatingly ranked them 

 with that fauna, as older pliocene or miocene. Dr. Anderson's mention of an 

 elephantine fossil tooth " not recent," from the "superficial deposits" of the 

 Taping valley, would seem to confirm the circumstances reported of Pro- 

 fessor Owen's fossils. It would be most interesting to throw further light 

 upon this question. The fauna of the old river deposits of the valleys of 

 India were broadly distinguished by Falconer from that of the Siwaliks. 



Zoology. 



A member of the party being a Zoologist, it will be unnecessary to 

 offer any suggestions on this head. 



Botany. 



The country lying between the Indian Empire and China is almost 

 unknown from a botanical point of view. Many Japanese species have a 

 range as far as to the Khasia hills, and some of them are found also in the 

 Himalayas. It is of high interest to trace their distribution and to find 

 out whether they are out-runners from a central Chinese Hill-Flora, or whe- 

 ther they are of a truly Japanese origin. In order to come to any reliable 

 conclusions in this regard, every plant, species, herb or wood, should be 

 collected. The characteristic of the Chinese Flora consists chiefly in the 

 great preponderance of woody plants (especially trees), and these should 

 specially be looked for. The hill-ranges bordering Burmah are of a more 

 tropical nature (especially in the valleys), and here the collecting of plants 

 will be rather difficult. Further to the east, after crossing the Salween 

 and Mekong rivers (or probably much earlier), a quite temperate vegetation 

 begins, and many of the plateau-lands of Yunan proper bear even a poor 

 vegetation, as is shewn by the explorations of the French Mission to Indo- 

 China under Lieut Lagree. Here the collecting of plants will be as easy 

 as in Europe, and this the more so as the trees are of much lower growth. 



It is thought that 20 bundles (each of about 1^ feet deep) of drying 

 paper will be quite sufficient for the drying and preservation of the plants 

 during the whole tour, but it is suggested that the drying paper should be 

 solely usud for drying and not for packing up the dried specimens, for which 

 latter purpose other paper should be used. Collecting duplicates is al- 

 ways a great incumbrance when travelling, and if it is done by a non-expert, 

 it is very usual that the most common things are those that are gathered in 

 larger quantities. It is therefore suggested that of every species only a 



