THE NATURAL HISTORY OF CHINA H 



Closely related to the rodents are the lagomorphs or 

 .hares and pikas These used to be classed with^he rodents 



losT%Wl ed , UP ° n aS bel °^ in ^ t0 ' * dif " orde?! 



whose development was, nevertheless, closely parallel 



I here are numerous subspecies of the common hare (Levus 



if&oei) m China north of the Yangtse. South of that 



njer occurs a totally different animal, namely the Chinese 



a,e(L f ™ ] ; ThlS 1S a rather unic t ue distribution and 

 division of habitats, since the rim of the Yangtse basin and 

 not the river itself usually forms the boundary line between 

 the ranges of any two forms of animal in China, Apparently 

 the Yangtse Paver has proved sufficient of a barrier to keep 

 the one form to the south and the other to the north and 

 this in spite of the fact that hares are well known to be 

 expert swimmers. 



The pikas {Ochotona) are really small hares or rabbits, 



and the} an- confined to the north and the higher regions 



" f t,lr centre and west. Strangely enough they occur on 



flat plains of Mongolia, in the lowest ravines of Shensi 



i Kansu, in the forested areas of Shansi, and also at the 



rj summits of the highest mountain ranges. This is 



dently because they belong to a very old group of 



m ammals , and so have had a long period in the country 



m which to spread and adapt themselves to all kinds of 



environment. They once inhabited Europe, but became 



. iinnct, there along with all the other "steppe" animals. 



\ \\ tho\ are confined to certain parts of Asia and North 



a. 



The bate and insectivores are two other groups of 



mammal that are well represented in China, some very 



markable forms of the latter occurring in the west. In 



the north hedgehogs and shrews are fairly common, as also 



• tain 1'< no- of mole. One of the most interesting of 



the Chinese insectivores is the peculiar Neotetracus sinensis 



mi the west, which combines the characters of the shrews 



and the hedgehog 



( >] apes and monkeys China does not boast a large 

 Dumber or variety, though it is interesting to note that the 

 most aorthly representatives of this great group of mammals 

 the world to-day are to be met with in this country. In 

 the area to the north-east of Peking, known as the Tung 

 Ling, the fine Chihli macaque still occurs. In Ssuchuan 

 the famous golden-haired monkey (Rhinopithecus roxellanae), 

 one i l the only two known monkeys that possesses a nasal 

 append found. This is a very large animal _ with a 



long tail and s< nictimes a long main of golden hair down 



