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ISLAND LIFE 



PART II 



and this may be an indication that the connection between 

 the islands and the continent is of rather ancient date. 

 At the Straits of Corea the distance from the main land 

 is about 120 miles, while at the northern extremity of 

 Yesso it is about 200. The island of Saghalien, however, 

 separated from Yesso by a strait only twenty-five miles 

 wide, forms a connection with Amoorland in about 52° N. 

 Lat. A southern warm current flowing a little to the 

 eastward of the islands, ameliorates their climate much 

 in the same way as the Gulf Stream does ours, and added 

 to their insular position enables them to support a more 

 tropical vegetation and more varied forms of life than are 

 found at corresponding latitudes in China. 



Zoological Features of Japan. — As we might expect from 

 the conditions here sketched out, Japan exhibits in all its 

 forms of animal life a close general resemblance to the 

 adjacent continent, but with a considerable element of 

 specific individuality ; while it also possesses some remark- 

 able isolated groups. Its fauna presents indications of there 

 having been two or more lines of migration at different 

 epochs. The majority of its animals are related to those 

 of the temperate or cold regions of the continent, either 

 as identical or allied species ; but a smaller number have 

 a tropical character, and these have in several instances 

 no allies in China but occur again only in Northern India or 

 the Malay Archipelago. There is also a slight American 

 element in the fauna of Japan, a relic probably of the 

 period when a land communication existed between the 

 two continents over what are now the shallow seas of 

 Japan, Ochotsk, and Kamschatka. We will now proceed 

 to examine the peculiarities and relations of the fauna. 



Mammalia. — The mammalia of J apan at present known 

 are forty-two in number ; not very many when compared 

 with the rich fauna of China and Manchuria, but contain- 

 ing monkeys, bears, deer, wild goats, and wild boars, as 

 well as foxes, badgers, moles squirrels, and hares, so that 

 there can be no doubt whatever that they imply a land 

 connection with the continent. No complete account of 

 Japan mammals has been given by any competent 

 zoologist since the publication of Von Siebold's Fauna 



