very distinct.
15. ,, hortensis, _var._ FALLAX. England. Common at Boxhill.
16. GEOMALACUS MACULOSUS. Kerry and Cork. Three varieties have been
described, one of which occurs in Portugal.
17. Helix aspersa, _var._ LUTESCENS. England. Not rare perhaps in
France.
18. ,, nemoralis, _var._ HIBERNICA. Ireland.
19. ,, rufescens, _var._ MANCHESTERIENSIS. England.
20. ,, hispida, _var._ SUBGLOBOSA. England.
21. ,, ,, ,, DEPILATA. England.
22. ,, ,, ,, MINOR. England, Ireland.
23. ,, granulata, _var._ CORNEA. Lulworth, Dorset.
24. ,, virgata, _var._ SUBAPERTA. Bath.
25. ,, ,, ,, SUBGLOBOSA. England, Wales, Bantry Bay.
26. ,, ,, ,, CARINATA. Wareham, Dorset.
27. ,, caperata, _var._ MAJOR. England, Wales, Scotland. Distinct.
28. ,, ,, ,, NANA. England.
29. ,, ,, ,, SUBSCALARIS. Wales, Ireland.
30. ,, ,, ,, ALTERNATA. England, Kent.
31. ,, acuta, _var._ NIGRESCENS. England.
PUPIDAE.
32. Pupa anglica, _var._ PALLIDA. Not rare.
33. ,, lilljeborgi, _var._ BIDENTATA. Ireland.
{358} 34. ,, pygmea, _var._ PALLIDA. Dorset and Devon.
35. Clausilia rugosa, _var._ PARVULA. Ireland.
STENOGYRIDAE.
36. Cochlicopa lubrica, _var._ HYALINA. Wales, Scotland.
37. Coecilianella acicula, _var._ ANGLICA. England.
SUCCINEIDAE.
38. Succinea putris, _var._ SOLIDULA. Wiltshire.
39. ,, virescens, _var._ AUREA. Ireland.
40. ,, pfeifferi, ,, RUFESCENS. England, Ireland.
41. ,, ,, ,, MINOR. England.
LIMNAEIDAE.
42. Planorbis fontanus, _var._ MINOR. England.
43. ,, carinatus, ,, DISCIFORMIS. England.
44. ,, contortus, ,, EXCAVATUS. Ireland.
45. ,, ,, ,, MINOR.
46. Physa fontinalus, _var._ OBLONGA. England, Wales, Ireland.
47. LIMNAEA INVOLUTA. Ireland.
48. Limnaea glutinosa, _var._ MUCRONATA.
49. ,, peregra, _var._ BURNETTI. Scotland. Very distinct.
50. ,, ,, ,, LACUSTRIS. Perhaps in C. Verde Islands.
51. ,, ,, ,, MARITIMA. Great Britain.
52. ,, ,, ,, LINEATA. England.
53. ,, ,, ,, STAGNALIFORMIS. England.
54. ,, stagnalis, _var._ ELAGANTULA. Curious. In a pond at
Chislehurst.
55. ,, palustris, _var._ CONICA. England, Ireland.
56. ,, ,, ,, TINCTA. England, Wales.
57. ,, ,, ,, ALBIDA. England.
58. ,, truncatula, _var._ ELEGANS. England, Ireland. Distinct.
59. ,, ,, ,, FUSCA. Wales.
60. Ancylus lacustris, _var._ COMPRESSUS. England.
PALUDINIDAE.
61. Paludina vivipara, _var._ EFASCIATA. England. Not uncommon.
62. ,, ,, ,, ATROPURPUREA. Pontypool.
RISSOIDAE.
63. HYDROBIA JENKINSII. Thames Estuary.
64. ,, ventrosa, _var._ MINOR.
65. ,, ,, ,, DECOLLATA.
66. ,, ,, ,, OVATA.
67. ,, ,, ,, ELONGATA.
68. ,, ,, ,, PELLUCIDA.
CYRENIDAE.
69. Sphaerium corneum, _var._ COMPRESSUM.
70. ,, ,, ,, MINOR.
71. ,, ,, ,, STAGNICOLA.
72. ,, ovale, _var._ PALLIDUM. England.
73. ,, lacustre, _var._ ROTUNDUM. Wales.
74. Pisidium pusillum, _var._ GRANDIS.
75. ,, ,, ,, CIRCULARE. Wales.
76. ,, nitidum, _var._ GLOBOSUM.
{359} UNIONIDAE.
77. Unio tumidus, _var._ RICHENSIS. Regent's Park. Peculiar form.
78. ,, pictorum, _var._ LATIOR. England.
79. ,, ,, ,, COMPRESSUS. England.
80. ,, margaritifer, _var._ OLIVACEUS.
81. Anodonta cygnaea, _var._ INCRASSATA. England.
82. ,, ,, ,, PALLIDA. England, Ireland.
ESTUARINE OR MARINE PULMONOTRANCHS.
83. ASSIMINEA GRAYANA. Thames Estuary.
_Peculiarities of the British Flora._--Thinking it probable that there must
also be some peculiar British plants, but not finding any enumeration of
such in the _British Floras_ of Babington, Hooker, or Bentham, I applied to
the greatest living authority on the distribution of British plants--the
late Mr. H. C. Watson, who very kindly gave me the information I required,
and I cannot do better than quote his words: "It may be stated pretty
confidently that there is no 'species' (generally accepted among botanists
as a good species) peculiar to the British Isles. True, during the past
hundred years, nominally new species have been named and described on
British specimens only, from time to time. But these have gradually come to
be identified with species described elsewhere under other names--or they
have been reduced in rank by succeeding botanists, and placed or replaced
as varieties of more widely distributed species. In his _British Rubi_
Professor Babington includes as good species, some half-dozen which he has,
apparently, not identified with any foreign species or variety. None of
these are accepted as 'true species,' nor even as 'sub-species' in the
_Students' Flora_, where the brambles are described by Baker, a botanist
well acquainted with the plants of Britain. And as all these nominal
species of Rubi are of late creation, they have truly never been subjected
to real or critical tests as 'species.'"
In my first edition I was only able to name four species, sub-species, or
varieties of flowering plants which were believed to be unknown on the
continent. But much attention has of late years been paid to the critical
examination of British plants in comparison with continental specimens, and
I am now enabled to give a much more {360} extensive list of the species or
forms which at present seem to be peculiar. For the following list I am
primarily indebted to Mr. Arthur Bennett of Croydon. Sir Joseph Hooker has
been so kind as to examine it carefully and to give me his conclusions on
the relative value of the differences of the several forms, and Mr. Baker,
of Kew, has also assisted with his extensive knowledge of British plants.
LIST OF SPECIES, SUB-SPECIES, AND VARIETIES OF FLOWERING PLANTS FOUND
IN GREAT BRITAIN OR IRELAND, BUT NOT AT PRESENT KNOWN IN CONTINENTAL
EUROPE. BY ARTHUR BENNETT, F.L.S. THE MOST DISTINCT AND BEST DETERMINED
FORMS ARE MARKED WITH AN ASTERISK.
1. *Caltha radicans (Forst.). "A much disputed species, or form of _C.
palustris_. It is a relatively rare plant." (J. D. H.) "Certainly
distinct from the Scandinavian form." (Ar. Bennett.)
2. *Arabis petraea (Lam.) _var._ grandifolia (Druce). Scotch mountains.
"The larger flowers alone distinguish this." (J. D. H.)
3. Arabis ciliata (R. Br.). In Nyman's _Conspectus Florae Europaeae_
this species is given as found in England and Ireland only. "A very
much disputed form of a plant of very wide distribution in Europe and
North America." (J. D. H.)
4. Brassica monensis (Huds.). "This and the continental _B.
cheiranthus_ (also found in Cornwall) are barely distinguishable from
one another." (J. D. H.)
5. Diplotaxis muralis (D. C.) _var._ Babingtonii (Syme). South of
England. "A biennial or perennial form; considered to be a denizen by
Watson." (J. D. H.)
6. *Helianthemum guttatum (Mill), _var._ Breweri (Planch). Anglesea.
"Very doubtful local plant. _H. guttatum_ (true) has lately been found
in the same locality." (J. D. H.)
7. *Polygala vulgaris (L.), _var._ grandiflora (Bab). Sligo, Ireland.
"A very distinct variety." (J. D. H.)
8. Viola lutea (Huds.), _var._ amoena (Symons). "_V. lutea_ itself is
considered to be a form of _V. tricolor_, and _V. amoena_ the better
coloured of the two forms of _V. lutea_." (J. D. H.)
9. *Cerastium arcticum (Lange), _var._ Edmonstonii (Beeby). Shetland
Is. "But _C. arcticum_ is referable to the very variable _C. alpinum_."
(J. D. H.) "Near to the European _C. latifolium_." (Ar. Bennett.)
10. *Geranium sanguineum (L.), _var._ Lancastriense (With.).
Lancashire. "A prostrate local form growing out of its native soil in
sand by the sea." (J. D. H.) Mr. Bennett writes: "I have grown _G.
sanguineum_ and its prostrate variety in sand, and neither became
Lancastriense."
11. Genista tinctoria (L.), _var._ humifusa (Dickson). Cornwall. "A
decumbent hairy form confined to the Lizard." (J. D. H.)
12. Cytisus scoparius (Link.), _var._ prostratus (Bailey). Cornwall. "A
prostrate form." (J. D. H.)
13. Anthyllis vulneraria (L.), _var._ ovata (Bab.). Shetland Is. "A
slight variety." (J. D. H.)
14. *Trifolium repens (L.), _var._ Townsendii (Bab.). Scilly Isles. "A
{361} well-marked form by its rose-purple flowers. Confined to the
Scilly Isles." (J. D. H.)
15. *Rosa involuta (Sm.), _var._ Wilsoni. (Borrer.) Wales. "There are a
multitude of forms or varieties of _R. involuta_, and _R. wilsoni_ is
one of the best-marked, found on the Menai Straits and Derry."
(J. D. H.)
16. Rosa involuta _var._ gracilis (Woods). "This is considered by many
as one of the commonest forms of _R. involuta_." (J. D. H.)
17. Rosa involuta _var._ Nicholsoni (Crepin). "Another slight variety
of _R. involuta_." (J. D. H.)
18. Rosa involuta _var._ Woodsiana (Groves). "A Wimbledon Common
variety of _R. villosa_." (J. D. H.)
19. Rosa involuta _var._ Grovesii (Baker). "Mr. Baker thinks this of no
account." (J. D. H.)
20. Rubus echinatus (Lind.). "A variety of the widely spread _R.
Radula_, itself a form of _R. fruticosus_." (J. D. H.)
21. *Rubus longithyrsiger (Lees). "Mr. Baker informs me that this is a
very distinct plant never yet found on the continent." (J. D. H.)
22. Pyrus aria (Sm.) _var._ rupicola (Syme). "A very local form,
confined to Gt. Britain, and owing its characters to its starved
position." (Baker.)
23. Callitriche obtusangula (Le Gall), _var._ Lachii (Warren).
Cheshire. "This is intermediate between two sub-species of _C. verna_."
(J. D. H.)
24. *Oenanthe fluviatilis (Coleman). South of England. "The fluitant
form of _AE. Phellandrium_." (J. D. H.)
25. Anthemis arvensis (L.), _var._ anglica (Spreng). N. Coast of
England. "A maritime form with more fleshy leaves formerly found near
Durham. It has other very trifling characters." (J. D. H.)
26. Arctium intermedium (Bab.). "There are two sub-species of _A.
lappa_, _majus_ and _minus_, each with varieties, and this is one of
the intermediates." (J. D. H.)
27. Hieracium holosericium (Backh.). Scotch Alps.
28. H. gracilentum (Backh.). ,,
29. H. lingulatum (Backh.). ,, A var. of this in
Scandinavia.
30. H. senescens (Backh.). ,,
31. H. chrysanthenum (Backh.). ,,
32. H. iricum (Fr.). Teesdale and Scotland.
33. H. gibsoni (Backh.). Yorkshire and Westmoreland.
34. Hieracium nitidum (Backh.). Lower glens of the Scotch Alps. Mr.
Bennett writes:--"The following Hieracia have been named by Mr. F. J.
Hanbury _as endemic forms_. One can only safely say they are certainly
not known in Scandinavia, as they have all been submitted to Dr.
Lindeberg. But usually Scotch species are not represented in Central
Europe to any great extent, though several do occur. Still these new
forms ought to be critically compared with all Dr. Peters' new
species."
35. H. Langewellense (Hanb.). Caithness.
36. H. pollinarium (Hanb.). Sutherland.
37. H. scoticum (Hanb.). Sutherland and Caithness.
38. H. Backhousei (Hanb.). Aberdeen, Banff, Inverness.
39. H. caledonicum (Hanb.). Caithness and Sutherland.
40. H. Farrense (Hanb.). Sutherland and Shetland Is.
41. H. proximum (Hanb.). Caithness. With regard to all these {362}
Hieracia Sir Joseph Hooker and Mr. Baker say:--"No case can be made of
these. They are local forms with the shadowest of shady characters."
Mr. Bennett writes: "H. iricum and H. Gibsoni are the best marked
forms."
42. *Campanula rotundifolia (L.), _var._ speciosa (A. G. More). W.
Ireland. "Very well distinguished by its large flowers and small calyx
lobes, approaching the Swiss C. Scheuzeri." (J. D. H.)
43. Statice reticulata (Sm.). "Baker agrees with me that this is also a
Mediterranean species." (J. D. H.)
44. Erythraea capitata (Willd.), _var._ sphaerocephala (Towns.). Isle
of Wight. "A form of _E. centaurium_ utterly anomalous in its genus in
the insertion of the stamens. A monster rather than a species."
(J. D. H.)
45. *Erythraea latifolia (Sm.). On the sandy dunes near Liverpool. "A
local form." (J. D. H.)
46. Myosotis collina (Hoffim.), _var._ Mittenii (Baker). Sussex.
47. Veronica officinalis (L.), _var._ hirsuta (Hopk.). Ayr, Scotland.
48. Veronica arvensis (L.), _var._ eximia (Towns.). Hampshire.
49. Mentha alopecuroides (Hull). Nearest to _M. dulcissima_ (Dum.).
50. Mentha pratensis (Sole). Only once found.
51. Chenopodium rubrum (L.), _var._ pseudobotryoides (H. C. Watson).
52. Salix ferruginea (Forbes). England, Scotland. "Probably a hybrid
between _S. viminalis_ and _S. cinerea_." (J. D. H.)
53. Salix Grahami (Borr.). Sutherland, Perth. "A hybrid?" (J. D. H.)
54. Salix Sadleri (Syme). Aberdeen. "A hybrid?" (J. D. H.)
55. *Spiranthes Romanzoviana (Cham.). Ireland (N. America).
56. *Sisyrinchium angustifolium (Mill.). Ireland. (Arctic and Temp. N.
America.)
57. Allium Babingtonii (Borrer). West England, West Ireland. "A form of
_A. ampeloprasum_, itself a naturalised species." (J. D. H.)
58. *POTAMOGETON LANCEOLATUS (Sm.). Anglesea, Cambridgeshire, Ireland.
Mr. Bennett writes:--"Endemic! I have taken a good amount of trouble to
ascertain this. Nearly 400 specimens I have distributed all over the
world with requests for information as to anything like it. The
response is everywhere the same, 'nothing.' The nearest to it occurs in
the Duchy of Lauenberg but is referable to _P. heterophyllus_."
59. Potamogeton Griffithii (Ar. Bennett). Carnarvon. "Nearest to this
is a probable hybrid from N. America, but not identical." (Ar.
Bennett.)
60. Potamogeton pusillus (L.), _sub-sp._ Sturrockii (Ar. Benn.). Perth.
61. Potamogeton pusillus (L.), _var._ rigidus (Ar. Benn.). Orkneys,
Shetlands.
62. Ruppia rostellata (Koch.), _var._ nana (Bosw.). Orkneys.
63. *Eriocaulon septangulare (With.). Hebrides, Ireland. N. America.
64. Scirpus uniglumis (Link), _var._ Watsoni (Bab.). Scotland, England.
"This is a variety of a sub-species of the common _S. palustris_."
(J. D. H.)
65. Luzula pilosa (Willd.), _var._ Borreri (Bromf).
66. *Carex involuta (Bab.). Cheshire. "A distinct enough plant but
probably a hybrid between _C. vesicaria_ and _C. ampullacea_, found in
one place only." (J. D. H.)
67. Carex glauca (Murr.), _var._ stictocarpa (Sm.). Scotland.
{363} 68. Carex precox (Jacq.), _var._ capitata (Ar. Benn.). Ireland.
"A remarkable plant (monstrosity?) simulating _C. capitata_ (L.)." (Ar.
Bennett.)
69. *Carex Grahami (Boott). "A mountain form of _C. vesicaria_."
(J. D. H.)
70. *Spartina Townsendi (Groves). Hampshire. "A distinct but very local
form of _S. stricta_, found in one place only." (J. D. H.)
71. Agrostis nigra (With.).
72. Deschampsia flexuosa (Trin.), _var._ Voirlichensis (J. C. Melvill).
Perth.
73. *Deyeuxia neglecta (Kunth), _var._ Hookeri (Syme). Ireland. "A
distinct variety confined to Lough Neagh." (J. D. H.)
74. Glyceria maritima (Willd.), _var._ riparia (Towns.). Hampshire.
75. Poa Balfouri (Bab.). Scotland. "An alpine sub-variety of a variety
of the protean _P. nemoralis_." (J. D. H.)
In his comments on this extensive list of supposed peculiar British plants,
Sir Joseph Hooker arrives at the following conclusions:--
1. There are four unquestionably distinct species which do not occur in
continental Europe: viz.--
_One_ absolutely endemic species, POTAMOGETON LANCEOLATUS.
_Three_ American species, SISYRINCHIUM ANGUSTIFOLIUM, SPIRANTHES
ROMANZOVIANA, ERIOCAULON SEPTANGULARE.
2. There are sixteen endemic varieties of British species, viz.--
_Eleven_ of more or less variable species, Caltha palustris, _var._
RADICANS; Polygala vulgaris, _var._ GRANDIFLORA; Cerastium arcticum,
_var._ EDMONSTONII; Trifolium repens, _var._ TOWNSENDII; Rosa involuta,
_var._ WILSONI; Rubus fruticosus, _sub-sp._ LONGITHYRSIGER; Campanula
rotundifolia, _var._ SPECIOSA; Erythraea centaurium, _sub-sp._
LATIFOLIA; Carex involuta, (? Hyb.); Carex vesicaria, _var._ GRAHAMI;
Deyeuxia neglecta, _var._ HOOKERI.
_Five_ of comparatively well limited species. Arabis petraea, _var._
GRANDIFOLIA; Helianthemum guttatum, _var._ BREWERI; Geranium
sanguineum, _var._ LANCASTRIENSE; Oenanthe Phellandrium, _var._
FLUVIATILIS; Spartium stricta, _var._ TOWNSENDI.
The above twenty species are marked in the list with an asterisk. Of the
remaining fifty-five, Sir Joseph Hooker says, "that for various reasons it
would not be safe to rely on them as evidence. In most cases the varietal
form is so very trifling a departure from the type that this may be safely
set down to a local cause, and is probably not constant. In others the
plant is doubtfully endemic; in still others a hybrid."
Even should it ultimately prove that of the whole number of the fifty-five
doubtful forms none are established as peculiar British varieties, the
number admitted after so {364} rigorous an examination is about what we
should expect in comparison with the limited amount of speciality we have
seen to exist in other groups. The three American species which inhabit the
extreme west and north-west of the British Isles, but are not found on the
continent of Europe are especially interesting, because they demonstrate
the existence of some peculiar conditions such as would help to explain the
presence of the other peculiar species. Whether we suppose these American
forms to have migrated from America to Europe before the glacial epoch, or
to be the remnants of a vegetation once spread over the north temperate
zone, we can only explain their presence with us and not further east by
something favourable either in our insular climate or in the limited
competition due to our comparative poverty in species.
About half of the peculiar forms are found in the extreme west or north of
Britain or in Ireland, where peculiar insular conditions are at a maximum;
and the influence of these conditions is further shown by the number of
species of West or South European plants which occur in the same districts.
We may here notice the interesting fact that Ireland possesses no less than
twenty species or sub-species of flowering plants not found in Britain, and
some of these _may_ be altogether peculiar. As a whole they show the effect
of the pre-eminently mild and insular climate of Ireland in extending the
range of some south European species. The following list of these plants,
for which I am indebted to Mr. A. G. More, with a few remarks on their
distribution, will be found interesting:--
LIST OF IRISH FLOWERING PLANTS WHICH ARE NOT FOUND IN BRITAIN.
1. _Polygala vulgaris_ (_var._ grandiflora). Sligo.
2. _Campanula rotundifolia_ (_var._ speciosa). W. Ireland.
3. _Arenaria ciliata._ W. Ireland (also Auvergne, Pyrenees, Crete).
4. _Saxifraga umbrosa._ W. Ireland (also Pyrenees, N. Spain, Portugal).
5. ,, _geum._ S. W. Ireland (also Pyrenees).
6. ,, _hirsuta._ S. W. Ireland (also Pyrenees).
7. _Inula salicina._ W. Ireland (Scandinavia, Middle and South Europe).
8. _Erica mediterranea._ W. Ireland (W. France, Spain, Portugal).
9. ,, _mackaiana_ (_tetralix_ sub.-sp.) W. Ireland (Spain).
10. _Arbutus unedo._ S. W. Ireland (W. of France, Spain, Portugal and
shores of Mediterranean).
11. _Dabeocia polifolia._ W. Ireland (W. of France, Spain and
Portugal).
{365} 12. _Pinguicula grandiflora._ S. W. Ireland (Spain, Pyrenees,
Alps of France and Switzerland).
13. _Neotinea intacta._ W. Ireland (S. France, Portugal, Spain, and
shores of Mediterranean).
14. _Spiranthes romanzoviana._ S. W. Ireland (North America).
15. _Sisyrinchium angustifolium._ W. Ireland (North America, Arctic and
Temp.).
16. _Potamogeton lonchites._ Ireland, Mr. Arthur Bennett informs me
that this is certainly not British or European, but may possibly be
identical with _P. fluitans_ _var._ _Americanus_ of the U. States.
17. _Potamogeton kirkii_ (_natans_ sub.-sp.). W. Ireland. (Arctic
Europe?)
18. _Eriocaulon septangulare._ W. Ireland, Skye, Hebrides (North
America).
19. _Carex buxbaumii._ N. E. Ireland, on an island in Lough Neagh
(Arctic and Alpine Europe, North America).
20. _Deyeuxia neglecta_ (_var._ _Hookeri_). On the shores and islands
of Lough Neagh. (And in Germany, Arctic Europe, and North America.)
We find here nine south-west European species which probably had a wider
range in mild preglacial times, and have been preserved in the south and
west of Ireland owing to its milder climate. It must be remembered that
during the height of the glacial epoch Ireland was continental, so that
these plants may have followed the retreating ice to their present stations
and survived the subsequent depression. This seems more probable than that
so many species should have reached Ireland for the first time during the
last union with the continent subsequent to the glacial epoch. The Arctic,
Alpine, and American plants may all be examples of species which once had a
wider range, and which, owing to the more favourable conditions, have
continued to exist in Ireland while becoming extinct in the adjacent parts
of Britain and Western Europe.
As contrasted with the extreme scarcity of peculiar species among the
flowering plants, it is the more interesting and unexpected to find a
considerable number of peculiar mosses and Hepaticae, some of which present
us with phenomena of distribution of a very remarkable character. For the
following lists and the information as to the distribution of the genera
and species I am indebted to Mr. William Mitten, one of the first
authorities on these beautiful little plants. That of the mosses has been
corrected for this edition by Dr. R. Braithwaite, and several species of
hepaticae have been added by Mr. Mitten. {366}
LIST OF THE SPECIES OF MOSSES AND HEPATICAE WHICH ARE PECULIAR TO THE
BRITISH ISLES (OR NOT FOUND IN EUROPE).
(_Those belonging to non-European genera in Italics._)
MOSSES.
1. Systegium Mittenii South England.
2. Campylopus Shawii North Britain.
3. ,, setifolius Ireland, Wales, and Hebrides.
4. Seligeria calcicola South England.
5. Pottia viridifolia South England.
6. Leptodontium recurvifolium Ireland and Scotland.
7. Tortula Hybernica Ireland.
8. _Streptopogon gemmascens_ Sussex.
9. Bryum barbatum Scotland.
10. _Bartramidula Wilsoni_ Ireland, Wales, and Scotland.
11. _Daltonia splachnoides_ Ireland, Antilles, and Mexico.
12. _Hookeria laetevirens_ Ireland, Cornwall, and Madeira.
13. Hypnum micans Ireland.
14. Myurium Hebridarium Hebrides and Atlantic Islands.
15. Hedwigia ciliata _var._ striata Wales and Scotland.
HEPATICAE.
1. Frullania germana Ireland.
2. ,, Hutchinsiae Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Devon,
Tropical regions.
3. Lejeunia flava Ireland, Atlantic Islands, S. America,
Africa, &c.
4. ,, microscopica Ireland, Wales, Cumberland, Madeira.
5. ,, Holtii Ireland (Killarney).
6. ,, diversiloba Ireland (Killarney), Mexico?
7. ,, patens Ireland.
8. Radula tenax Ireland.
9. ,, Holtii Ireland.
10. ,, voluta Ireland, Wales, Cumberland, Mexico?
11. ,, Carringtonii Ireland.
12. Lepidozia Pearsoni Wales.
13. Adilocolia decipiens Ireland, Wales, Africa, and S. America.
14. Cephalozia aeraria Wales.
15. Lophocolia spicata Ireland, Cornwall, Anglesea.
16. Martinellia nimbosa Ireland (Brandon Mountain).
17. Plagiochila spinulosa Wales, Ireland, and Scotland, Atlantic
Islands.
18. ,, ambagiosa Ireland, India.
19. Jamesoniella Carringtonii Scotland.
20. Gymnocolea Nevicensis Scotland.
21. Jungermannia Doniana Scotland.
22. Cesia crenulata Ireland, Wales.
23. Chasmatocolea cuneifolia Ireland.
24. Aerobolbus Wilsoni Ireland, S. America, New Zealand.
25. Petalophyllum Ralfsii Ireland, Cornwall, Devon.
{367}
Many of the above are minute or obscure plants, and are closely allied to
other European species with which they may have been confounded. We cannot
therefore lay any stress on these individually as being absent from the
continent of Europe so much of which is imperfectly explored, though it is
probable that several of them are really confined to Britain. But there are
a few--indicated by italics--which are in a very different category; for
they belong to genera which are altogether unknown in any other part of
Europe, and their nearest allies are to be found in the tropics or in the
southern hemisphere. The four non-European genera of mosses to which we
refer all have their maximum of development in the Andes, while the three
non-European Hepaticae appear to have their maximum in the temperate
regions of the southern hemisphere. Mr. Mitten has kindly furnished me with
the following particulars of the distribution of these genera:--
BARTRAMIDULA. Asia, Africa, S. America and Australia, but not Europe or
N. America.
STREPTOPOGON is a comparatively small genus, with seven species in the
Andes, one in the Himalayas, and three in the south temperate zone,
besides our English species.
DALTONIA is a large genus of inconspicuous mosses, having seventeen
species in the Andes, two in Brazil, two in Mexico, one in the
Galapagos, six in India and Ceylon, five in Java, two in Africa, and
three in the Antarctic Islands, and one in Ireland.
HOOKERIA (restricting that term to the species referable to
Cyclodictyon) is still a large genus of handsome and remarkable mosses,
having twenty-six species in the Andes, eleven in Brazil, eight in the
Antilles, one in Mexico, two in the Pacific Islands, one in New
Zealand, one in Java, one in India, and five in Africa--besides our
British species, which is found also in Madeira and the Azores but in
no part of Europe proper.
These last two are very remarkable cases of distribution, since Mr. Mitten
assures me that the plants are so markedly different from all other mosses
that they would scarcely be overlooked in Europe.
The distribution of the non-European genera of Hepaticae is as follows:--
CHASMATOCOLIA. South America and Ireland.
ACROBOLBUS. A small genus found only in New Zealand and the adjacent
islands, besides Ireland.
{368} PETALOPHYLLUM. A small genus confined to Australia and New
Zealand in the southern hemisphere, Algeria, and Ireland in the
northern. We have also one of the Hepaticae--_Mastigophora
Woodsii_--found in Ireland and the Himalayas, but unknown in any part
of continental Europe. The genus is most developed in New Zealand.
These are certainly very interesting facts, but they are by no means so
exceptional in this group of plants as to throw any doubt upon their
accuracy. The Atlantic islands present very similar phenomena in the
_Rhamphidium purpuratum_, whose nearest allies are in the West Indies and
South America; and in three species of Sciaromium, whose only allies are in
New Zealand, Tasmania, and the Andes of Bogota. An analogous and equally
curious fact is the occurrence in the Drontheim mountains in Central
Norway, of a little group of four or five peculiar species of mosses of the
genus Mnium, which are found nowhere else; although the genus extends over
Europe, India, and the southern hemisphere, but always represented by a
very few wide-ranging species except in this one mountain group![85]
Such facts show us the wonderful delicacy of the balance of conditions
which determine the existence of particular species in any locality. The
spores of mosses and Hepaticae are so minute that they must be continually
carried through the air to great distances, and we can hardly doubt that,
so far as its powers of diffusion are concerned, any species which fruits
freely might soon spread itself over the whole world. That they do not do
so must depend on peculiarities of habit and constitution, which fit the
different species for restricted stations and special climatic conditions;
and according as the adaptation is more general, or the degree of
specialisation extreme, species will have wide or restricted ranges.
Although their fossil remains have been rarely detected, we can hardly
doubt that mosses have as high an antiquity as ferns or Lycopods; and
coupling this antiquity with their great powers of dispersal we may
understand how many of the genera have come to occupy a number of detached
areas scattered over the whole earth, but {369} always such as afford the
peculiar conditions of climate and soil best suited to them. The repeated
changes of temperature and other climatic conditions, which, as we have
seen, occurred through all the later geological epochs, combined with those
slower changes caused by geographical mutations, must have greatly affected
the distribution of such ubiquitous yet delicately organised plants as
mosses. Throughout countless ages they must have been in a constant state
of comparatively rapid migration, driven to and fro by every physical and
organic change, often subject to modification of structure or habit, but
always seizing upon every available spot in which they could even
temporarily maintain themselves.[86]
Here then we have a group in which there is no question of the means of
dispersal; and where the difficulties that present themselves are not how
the species reached the remote localities in which they are now found, but
rather why they have not established themselves in {370} many other
stations which, so far as we can judge, seem equally suitable to them. Yet
it is a curious fact, that the phenomena of distribution actually presented
by this group do not essentially differ from those presented by the higher
flowering plants which have apparently far less diffusive power, as we
shall find when we come to treat of the floras of oceanic islands; and we
believe that the explanation of this is, that the life of _species_, and
especially of _genera_, is often so prolonged as to extend over whole
cycles of such terrestrial mutations as we have just referred to; and that
thus the majority of plants are afforded means of dispersal which are
usually sufficient to carry them into all suitable localities on the globe.
Hence it follows that their actual existence in such localities depends
mainly upon vigour of constitution and adaptation to conditions just as it
does in the case of the lower and more rapidly diffused groups, and only
partially on superior facilities for diffusion. This important principle
will be used further on to afford a solution of some of the most difficult
problems in the distribution of plant life.[87]
_Concluding Remarks on the Peculiarities of the British Fauna and
Flora._--The facts, now I believe for the first time brought together,
respecting the peculiarities of the British fauna and flora, are sufficient
to show that there is considerable scope for the study of geographical
distribution even in so apparently unpromising a field as one of the most
recent of continental islands. Looking at the general bearing of these
facts, they prove, that the idea so generally entertained as to the
biological identity of the British Isles with the adjacent continent is not
altogether correct. Among birds we have undoubted peculiarities in at least
three instances; peculiar fishes are much more numerous, and in this case
the fact that the Irish species {371} are almost all different from the
British, and those of the Orkneys distinct from those of Scotland, renders
it almost certain that the great majority of the fifteen peculiar British
fishes are really peculiar and will never be found on the European
Continent. The mosses and Hepaticae also have been sufficiently collected
in Europe to render it pretty certain that the more remarkable of the
peculiar British forms are not found there; why therefore, it may be well
asked, should there not be a proportionate number of peculiar British
insects? It is true that numerous species have been first discovered in
Britain, and, subsequently, on the continent; but we have many species
which have been known for twenty, thirty, or forty years, some of which are
not rare with us, and yet have never been found on the continent. We have
also the curious fact of our outlying islands, such as the Shetland Isles,
the Isle of Man, and the little Lundy Island, possessing each some peculiar
forms which, _certainly_, do not exist on our principal island which has
been so very thoroughly worked. Analogy, therefore, would lead us to
conclude that many other species or varieties would exist on our islands
and not on the continent; and when we find that a very large number (150)
in three orders only, are so recorded, we may I think be sure that some
considerable portion of these (though how many we cannot say) are really
endemic British species.
The general laws of distribution also lead us to expect such phenomena.
Very rare and very local species are such as are becoming extinct; and it
is among insects, which are so excessively varied and abundant, which
present so many isolated forms, and which, even on continents, afford
numerous examples of very rare species confined to restricted areas, that
we should have the best chance of meeting with every degree of rarity down
to the point of almost complete extinction. But we know that in all parts
of the world islands are the refuge of species or groups which have become
extinct elsewhere; and it is therefore in the highest degree probable that
some species which have ceased to exist on the continent should be
preserved in some part or other of our islands, especially {372} as these
present favourable climatic conditions such as do not exist elsewhere.
There is therefore a considerable amount of harmony in the various facts
adduced in this chapter, as well as a complete accordance with what the
laws of distribution in islands would lead us to expect. In proportion to
the species of birds and fresh-water fishes, the number of insect-forms is
enormously great, so that the numerous species or varieties here recorded
as not yet known on the continent are not to be wondered at; while it
would, I think, be almost an anomaly if, with peculiar birds and fishes
there were _not_ a fair proportion of peculiar insects. Our entomologists
should, therefore, give up the assumption, that all our insects do exist on
the continent, and will some time or other be found there, as not in
accordance either with the evidence or the probabilities of the case; and
when this is done, and the interesting peculiarities of some of our smaller
islands are remembered, the study of our native animals and plants, in
relation to those of other countries, will acquire a new interest. The
British Isles are said to consist of more than a thousand islands and
islets. How many of these have ever been searched for insects? With the
case of Lundy Island before us, who shall say that there is not yet scope
for extensive and interesting investigations into the British fauna and
flora?
* * * * *
{373}
CHAPTER XVII
BORNEO AND JAVA
Position and Physical Features of Borneo--Zoological Features of
Borneo: Mammalia--Birds--The Affinities of the Bornean Fauna--Java, its
Position and Physical Features--General Character of the Fauna of
Java--Differences Between the Fauna of Java and that of the other Malay
Islands--Special Relations of the Javan Fauna to that of the Asiatic
Continent--Past Geographical Changes of Java and Borneo--The Philippine
Islands--Concluding Remarks on the Malay Islands.
As a representative of recent continental islands situated in the tropics,
we will take Borneo, since, although perhaps not much more ancient than
Great Britain, it presents a considerable amount of speciality; and, in its
relations to the surrounding islands and the Asiatic continent, offers us
some problems of great interest and considerable difficulty.
The accompanying map shows that Borneo is situated on the eastern side of a
submarine bank of enormous extent, being about 1,200 miles from north to
south, and 1,500 from east to west, and embracing Java, Sumatra, and the
Malay Peninsula. This vast area is all included within the 100 fathom line,
but by far the larger part of it--from the Gulf of Siam to the Java Sea--is
under fifty fathoms, or about the same depth as the sea that separates our
own island from the continent. The distance from Borneo to the southern
extremity of the Malay Peninsula is about 350 miles, and it is nearly as
far from Sumatra and Java, while it is more than 600 miles from the Siamese
Peninsula, opposite to which its long northern coast extends. There is, I
believe, nowhere else upon the globe, an island so far from a continent,
yet separated from it by so shallow a sea. Recent changes of sea and land
must have occurred here on a grand scale, and this adds to the interest
attaching to the study of this large island.
{374}
[Illustration: MAP OF BORNEO AND JAVA, SHOWING THE GREAT SUBMARINE BANK OF
SOUTH-EASTERN ASIA.]
The light tint shows a less depth than 100 fathoms.
The figures show the depth of the sea in fathoms.
{375} The internal geography of Borneo is somewhat peculiar. A large
portion of its surface is lowland, consisting of great alluvial valleys
which penetrate far into the interior; while the mountains except in the
north, are of no great elevation, and there are no extensive plateaux. A
subsidence of 500 feet would allow the sea to fill the great valleys of the
Pontianak, Banjarmassing, and Coti rivers, almost to the centre of the
island, greatly reducing its extent, and causing it to resemble in form the
island of Celebes to the east of it.
In geological structure Borneo is thoroughly continental, possessing
formations of all ages, with basalt and crystalline rocks, but no recent
volcanoes. It possesses vast beds of coal of Tertiary age; and these, no
less than the great extent of alluvial deposits in its valleys, indicate
great changes of level in recent geological times.
Having thus briefly indicated those physical features of Borneo which are
necessary for our inquiry, let us turn to the organic world.
Neither as regards this great island nor those which surround it, have we
the amount of detailed information in a convenient form that is required
for a full elucidation of its past history. We have, however, a tolerable
acquaintance with the two higher groups--mammalia and birds, both of Borneo
and of all the surrounding countries, and to these alone will it be
necessary to refer in any detail. The most convenient course, and that
which will make the subject easiest for the reader, will be to give, first,
a connected sketch of what is known of the zoology of Borneo itself, with
the main conclusions to which they point; and then to discuss the mutual
relations of some of {376} the adjacent islands, and the series of
geographical changes that seem required to explain them.
ZOOLOGICAL FEATURES OF BORNEO.
_Mammalia._--Nearly a hundred and forty species of mammalia have been
discovered in Borneo, and of these more than three-fourths are identical
with those of the surrounding countries, and more than one half with those
of the continent. Among these are two lemurs, nine civets, five cats, five
deer, the tapir, the elephant, the rhinoceros, and many squirrels, an
assemblage which could certainly only have reached the country by land. The
following species of mammalia are supposed to be peculiar to Borneo:--
QUADRUMANA.
1. Simia morio. A small orangutan
with large incisor teeth.
2. Hylobates mulleri.
3. Nasalis larvatus.
4. Semnopithecus rubicundus.
5. " chrysomelas.
6. " frontatus.
7. " hosei. (Thomas.) Kini Balu.
CARNIVORA.
8. Herpestes semitorquatus.
9. Felis badia.
UNGULATA.
10. Sus barbatus.
RODENTIA.
11. Pteromys phaeomelas.
12. Sciurus jentinki. (Th.) Kini Balu.
13. Sciurus whiteheadi. (Th.) Kini Balu.
14. " everetti.
15. Rheithrosciurus macrotis.
16. Hystrix crassispinis.
17. Trichys guentheri.
18. Mus infraluteus. (Th.) Kini Balu.
19. " alticola. (Th.) Kini Balu.
INSECTIVORA.
20. Tupaia splendidula.
21. " minor.
22. " dorsalis.
23. Dendrogale murina.
CHIROPTERA.
24. Vesperugo stenopterus.
25. " doriae
26. Cynopterus brachyotus.
27. " lucasii.
28. " spadiceus.
29. Hipposideros doriae.
Of the twenty-nine peculiar species here enumerated it is possible that a
few may be found to be identical with those of Malacca or Sumatra; but
there are also four peculiar genera which are less likely to be discovered
elsewhere. These are Nasalis, the remarkable long-nosed monkey;
Rheithrosciurus, a peculiar form of squirrel; and Trichys, a tailless
porcupine. These peculiar forms do not, however, imply that the separation
of the island from the continent is of very ancient date, for the country
is so vast and {377} so much of the once connecting land is covered with
water, that the amount of speciality is hardly, if at all, greater than
occurs in many continental areas of equal extent and remoteness. This will
be more evident if we consider that Borneo is as large as the Indo-Chinese
Peninsula, or as the Indian Peninsula south of Bombay, and if either of
these countries were separated from the continent by the submergence of the
whole area north of them as far as the Himalayas, they would be found to
contain quite as many peculiar genera and species as Borneo actually does
now. A more decisive test of the lapse of time since the separation took
place is to be found in the presence of a number of representative species
closely allied to those of the surrounding countries, such as the tailed
monkeys and the numerous squirrels. These relationships, however, are best
seen among the birds, which have been more thoroughly collected and more
carefully studied than the mammalia.
_Birds._--About 580 species of birds are now known to inhabit Borneo, of
which 420 species are land-birds.[88] One hundred and eight species are
supposed to be peculiar to the island, and of these one half have been
noted, either by Count Salvadori or Mr. Everett, as being either
representative species of, or closely allied to birds inhabiting other
islands or countries. The majority of these are, as might be expected,
allied to species inhabiting the surrounding countries, especially Sumatra,
the Malay Peninsula, or Java, a smaller number having their representative
forms in the Philippine Islands or Celebes. But there is another group of
eight species whose nearest allies are found in such remote lands as
Ceylon, North India, Burma, or China. These last have been indicated in the
following list by a double star (**) while those which are representative
of forms found in the immediately surrounding area, and are in many cases
very slightly differentiated from their allies, are indicated by a single
star (*). {378}
LIST OF BIRDS WHICH ARE SUPPOSED TO BE PECULIAR TO BORNEO.
TURDIDAE (Thrushes).
1. **Cettia oreophila.
2. *Merula seebohmi.
3. **Geocichla aurata.
4. **Myiophoneus borneensis.
5. Brachypteryx erythrogyna.
6. Copsychus niger.
7. *Cittocincla suavis.
8. * ,, stricklandi.
9. *Henicurus borneensis.
10. *Phyllergates cinereicollis.
11. Burnesia superciliaris.
TIMELIIDAE (Babbling Thrushes).
12. *Garrulax schistochlamys.
13. Rhinocichla treacheri.
14. Allocotops calvus.
15. **Stachyris borneensis.
16. Cyanoderma bicolor.
17. Chlorocharis aemiliae.
18. Androphilus accentor.
19. Malacopterum cinereocapillum.
20. **Staphidia everetti.
21. *Herporius brunnescens.
22. *Mixornis borneensis.
23. * ,, montana.
24. *Turdinus canicapillus.
25. ,, atrigularis.
26. *Drymocataphus capistratoides.
27. Ptilophaga rufiventris.
28. ,, leucogrammica.
29. *Corythocichla crassa.
30. *Turdinulus exsul.
31. Orinthocichla whiteheadi.
BRACHYPODIDAE (Bulbuls).
32. *Hemixus connectens.
33. Criniger diardi.
34. * ,, ruficrissus.
35. Tricophoropsis typus.
36. Oreostictes leucops.
37. Rubigula montis.
38. * ,, paroticalis.
39. Chloropsis kinabaluensis.
40. * ,, irridinucha.
ORIOLIDAE (Orioles).
41. Oriolus consobrinus.
42. *Oriolus vulneratus.
PARIDAE (Tits).
43. Parus sarawakensis.
44. *Dendrophila corallipes.
LANIIDAE (Shrikes).
45. Pityriasis gymnocephala.
46. *Hyloterpe hypoxantha.
DICRURIDAE (Drongo-shrikes).
47. *Chibia borneensis.
CAMPOPHAGIDAE (Caterpillar-catchers).
48. Chlamodychaera jeffreyi.
49. *Artamides normani.
50. Pericrocotus cinereigula.
MUSCICAPIDAE (Flycatchers).
51. **Hemichelidon cinereiceps.
52. *Rhinomyias gularis.
53. * ,, ruficrissa.
54. Cryptolopha schwaneri.
55. ,, montis.
56. *Stoparola cerviniventris.
57. Siphia coeruleata.
58. ,, beccariana.
59. ,, clopurensis.
60. ,, obscura.
61. ,, everetti.
62. ,, nigrogularis.
NECTARINEIDAE (Sun-birds).
63. Arachnothera juliae.
{379}
DICAEIDAE (Flower-peckers).
64. *Diceum monticolum.
65. * ,, pryeri.
66. *Prionochilus xanthopygius.
67. **Prionochilus everetti.
68. *Zosterops clara.
PLOCEIDAE (Weavers).
69. Chlorura borneensis.
70. Munia fuscans.
CORVIDAE (Crows).
71. *Dendrocitta cinerascens.
72. Cissa jeffreyi.
73. *Platysmurus aterrimus.
PITTIDAE (Ground Thrushes).
74. Pitta bertae.
75. ,, arcuata.
76. ,, baudi.
77. *Pitta usheri.
78. * ,, granatina.
79. * ,, schwaneri.
EURYLAEMIDAE (Gapers).
80. Calyptomena whiteheadi.
CYPSELIDAE (Swifts).
81. Cypselus lowi.
PODARGIDAE (Frogmouths).
82. *Batrachostomus adspersus.
CAPRIMULGIDAE (Goatsuckers).
83. Caprimulgus borneensis.
84. Caprimulgus concretus.
PICIDAE (Woodpeckers).
85. *Jyngipicus aurantiiventris.
86. ,, picatus.
87. *Micropternus badiosus.
88. Sasia everetti.
ALCEDINIDAE (Kingfishers).
89. *Pelargopsis leucocephala.
90. *Carcineutes melanops.
TROGONIDAE (Trogons).
91. Harpactes whiteheadi.
CUCULIDAE (Cuckoos).
92. *Rhopodytes borneensis.
CAPITONIDAE (Barbets).
93. Cyanops pulcherrimus.
94. ,, monticulus.
95. *Megalaema chrysopsis.
BUBONIDAE (Owls).
96. Heteroscops luciae.
97. *Syrnium leptogrammicum.
FALCONIDAE (Hawks, &c.).
98. Spilornis pallidus.
99. *Accipiter nigrotibialis.
100. Microhierax latifrons.
PHASIANIDAE (Pheasants).
101. Polyplectron schliermacheri.
102. Lobiophasis bulweri.
103. *Argusianus grayi.
104. *Euplocamus pyrronotus.
{380}
TETRAONIDAE (Grouse, &c.).
105. Bambusicola hyperythra.
106. ,, erythrophrys.
107. Haematortyx sanguiniceps.
RALLIDAE (Rails).
108. Rallina rufigenys.
Representative forms of the same character as those noted above are found
in all extensive continental areas, but they are rarely so numerous. Thus,
in Mr. Elwes' paper on the "Distribution of Asiatic Birds," he states that
12.5 per cent. of the land birds of Burmah and Tenasserim are peculiar
species, whereas we find that in Borneo they are about 25 per cent., and
the difference may fairly be imputed to the greater proportion of slightly
modified representative species due to a period of complete isolation. Of
peculiar genera, the Indo-Chinese Peninsula has one--Ampeliceps, a
remarkable yellow-crowned starling, with bare pink-coloured orbits; while
two others, Temnurus and Crypsirhina--singular birds allied to the
jays--are found in no other part of the Asiatic continent though they occur
in some of the Malay Islands. Borneo has seven peculiar genera of
passeres,[89] as well as Haematortyx, a crested partridge; and Lobiophasis,
a pheasant hardly distinct from Euplocamus; while two others, Pityriasis,
an extraordinary bare-headed bird between a jay and a shrike, and
Carpococcyx, a pheasant-like ground cuckoo formerly thought to be peculiar,
are said to have been discovered also in Sumatra.
The insects and land-shells of Borneo and of the surrounding countries are
too imperfectly known to enable us to arrive at any accurate results with
regard to their distribution. They agree, however, with the birds and
mammals in their general approximation to Malayan forms, but the number of
peculiar species is perhaps larger.
The proportion here shown of less than one-fourth peculiar species of
mammalia and fully one-fourth peculiar species of land-birds, teaches us
that the possession of the power of flight affects but little the
distribution of {381} land-animals, and gives us confidence in the results
we may arrive at in those cases where we have, from whatever cause, to
depend on a knowledge of the birds alone. And if we consider the wide range
of certain groups of powerful flight--as the birds of prey, the swallows
and swifts, the king-crows, and some others, we shall be forced to conclude
that the majority of forest-birds are restricted by even narrow watery
barriers, to an even greater extent than mammalia.
_The Affinities of the Bornean Fauna._--The animals of Borneo exhibit an
almost perfect identity in general character, and a close similarity in
species, with those of Sumatra and the Malay Peninsula. So great is this
resemblance that it is a question whether it might not be quite as great
were the whole united; for the extreme points of Borneo and Sumatra are
1,500 miles apart--as far as from Madrid to Constantinople, or from the
Missouri valley to California. In such an extent of country we always meet
with some local species, and representative forms, so that we hardly
require any great lapse of time as an element in the production of the
peculiarities we actually find. So far as the forms of life are concerned,
Borneo, as an island, may be no older than Great Britain; for the time that
has elapsed since the glacial epoch would be amply sufficient to produce
such a redistribution of the species, consequent on their mutual relations
being disturbed, as would bring the islands into their present zoological
condition. There are, however, other facts to be considered, which seem to
imply much greater and more complex revolutions than the recent separation
of Borneo from Sumatra and the Malay Peninsula, and that these changes must
have been spread over a considerable lapse of time. In order to understand
what these changes probably were, we must give a brief sketch of the fauna
of Java, the peculiarities of which introduce a new element into the
question we have to discuss. {382}
JAVA.
The rich and beautiful island of Java, interesting alike to the politician,
the geographer, and the naturalist, is more especially attractive to the
student of geographical distribution, because it furnishes him with some of
the most curious anomalies and difficult problems in a place where such
would be least expected. As Java forms with Sumatra one almost unbroken
line of volcanoes and volcanic mountains, interrupted only by the narrow
Straits of Sunda, we should naturally expect a close resemblance between
the productions of the two islands. But in point of fact there is a much
greater difference between them than between Sumatra and Borneo, so much
further apart, and so very unlike in physical features.[90] Java differs
from the three great land masses--Borneo, Sumatra, and the Malay Peninsula,
far more than either of these do from each other; and this is the first
anomaly we encounter. But a more serious difficulty than this remains to be
stated. Java has certain close resemblances to the Siamese Peninsula, and
also to the Himalayas, which Borneo and Sumatra do not exhibit to so great
a proportionate extent; and looking at the relative position of these lands
respectively, this seems most incomprehensible. In order fully to
appreciate the singularity and difficulty of the problem, it will be
necessary to point out the exact nature and amount of these peculiarities
in the fauna of Java.
_General Character of the Fauna of Java._--If we were only to take account
of the number of peculiar species in Java, and the relations of its fauna
generally to that of the surrounding lands, we might pass it over as a less
interesting island than Borneo or Sumatra. Its mammalia (ninety species)
are nearly as numerous as those of Borneo, but are apparently less
peculiar, none of the genera and only five or six of the species being
confined to the island. In land-birds it is decidedly less rich, having
only 300 species, of which about forty-five are peculiar, and only one
{383} or two belong to peculiar genera; so that here again the amount of
speciality is considerably less than in Borneo. It is only when we proceed
to analyse the species of the Javan fauna, and trace their distribution and
affinities, that we discover its interesting nature.
_Difference Between the Fauna of Java and that of the other great Malay
Islands._--Comparing the fauna of Java with that which may be called the
typical Malayan fauna as exhibited in Borneo, Sumatra, and the Malay
Peninsula, we find the following differences. No less than thirteen genera
of mammalia, each of which is known to inhabit at least two, and generally
all three, of the above-named Malayan countries, are totally absent from
Java; and they include such important forms as the elephant, the tapir, and
the Malay bear. It cannot be said that this difference depends on imperfect
knowledge, for Java is one of the oldest European settlements in the East,
and has been explored by a long succession of Dutch and English
naturalists. Every part of it is thoroughly well known, and it would be
almost as difficult to find a new mammal of any size in Europe as in Java.
Of birds there are twenty-five genera, all typically Malayan and occurring
at least in two, and for the most part in all three of the Malay countries,
which are yet absent from Java. Most of these are large and conspicuous
forms, such as jays, gapers, bee-eaters, woodpeckers, hornbills, cuckoos,
parrots, pheasants, and partridges, as impossible to have remained
undiscovered in Java as the large mammalia above referred to.
Besides these absent _genera_ there are some curious illustrations of Javan
isolation in the _species_; there being several cases in which the same
species occurs in all three of the typical Malay countries, while in Java
it is represented by an allied species. These occur chiefly among birds,
there being no less than seven species which are common to the three great
Malay countries but are represented in Java by distinct though closely
allied species.
From these facts it is impossible to doubt that Java has had a history of
its own, quite distinct from that of the other portions of the Malayan
area. {384}
_Special Relations of the Javan Fauna to that of the Asiatic
Continent._--These relations are indicated by comparatively few examples,
but they are very clear and of great importance. Among mammalia, the genus
Helictis is found in Java but in no other Malay country, though it inhabits
also North India; while two species, _Rhinoceros javanicus_ and _Lepus
kurgosa_, are natives of Indo-Chinese countries and Java, but not of
typical Malaya. In birds there are five genera or sub-genera--Zoothera,
Notodela, Crypsirhina, Allotrius, and Cochoa, which inhabit Java, the
Himalayas, and Indo-China, all but the last extending south to Tenasserim,
but none of them occurring in Malacca, Sumatra, or Borneo. There are also
two species of birds--a trogon (_Harpactes oreskios_), and the Javanese
peacock (_Pavo muticus_), which inhabit only Java and the Indo-Chinese
countries, the former reaching Tenasserim and the latter Perak in the Malay
Peninsula.
Here, then, we find a series of remarkable similarities between Java and
the Asiatic continent, quite independent of the typical Malay
countries--Borneo, Sumatra, and the Malay Peninsula, which latter have
evidently formed one connected land, and thus appear to preclude any
independent union of Java and Siam.
The great difficulty in explaining these facts is, that all the required
changes of sea and land must have occurred within the period of existing
species of mammalia. Sumatra, Borneo, and Malacca have, as we have seen, a
great similarity as regards their species of mammals and birds, while Java,
though it differs from them in so curious a manner, has no greater degree
of speciality, since its species, when not Malayan, are almost all North
Indian or Siamese.
There is, however, one consideration which may help us over this
difficulty. It seems highly probable that in the equatorial regions species
have changed less rapidly than in the north temperate zone, on account of
the equality and stability of the equatorial climate. We have seen, in
Chapter X., how important an agent in producing extinction and modification
of species must have been the repeated changes from cold to warm, and from
warm to cold {385} conditions, with the migrations and crowding together
that must have been their necessary consequence. But in the lowlands, near
the equator, these changes would be very little if at all felt, and thus
one great cause of specific modification would be wanting. Let us now see
whether we can sketch out a series of not improbable changes which may have
brought about the existing relations of Java and Borneo to the continent.
_Past Geographical Changes of Java and Borneo._--Although Java and Sumatra
are mainly volcanic, they are by no means wholly so. Sumatra possesses in
its great mountain masses ancient crystalline rocks with much granite,
while there are extensive Tertiary deposits of Eocene age, overlying which
are numerous beds of coal now raised up many thousand feet above the
sea.[91] The volcanoes appear to have burst through these older mountains,
and to have partly covered them as well as great areas of the lowlands with
the products of their eruptions. In Java either the fundamental strata were
less extensive and less raised above the sea, or the period of volcanic
action has been of longer duration; for here no crystalline rocks have been
found except a few boulders of granite in the western part of the island,
perhaps the relics of a formation destroyed by denudation or covered up by
volcanic deposits. In the southern part of Java, however, there is an
extensive range of low mountains, about 3,000 feet high, consisting of
basalt with limestone, apparently of Miocene age.
During this last named period, then, Java would have been at least 3,000
feet lower than it is now, and such a depression would probably extend to
considerable parts of Sumatra and Borneo, so as to reduce them all to a few
small islands. At some later period a gradual elevation occurred, which
ultimately united the whole of the islands with the continent. This may
have continued till the glacial period of the northern hemisphere, during
the severest part of which a few Himalayan species of birds and mammals may
have been driven southward, and {386} have ranged over suitable portions of
the whole area. Java then became separated by subsidence, and these species
were imprisoned in the island; while those in the remaining part of the
Malayan area again migrated northward when the cold had passed away from
their former home, the equatorial forests of Borneo, Sumatra, and the Malay
Peninsula being more especially adapted to the typical Malayan fauna which
is there developed in rich profusion. A little later the subsidence may
have extended farther north, isolating Borneo and Sumatra, in which a few
other Indian or Indo-Chinese forms have been retained, but probably leaving
the Malay Peninsula as a ridge between them as far as the islands of Banca
and Biliton. Other slight changes of climate followed, when a further
subsidence separated these last-named islands from the Malay Peninsula, and
left them with two or three species which have since become slightly
modified. We may thus explain how it is that a species is sometimes common
to Sumatra and Borneo, while the intervening island (Banca) possesses a
distinct form.[92]
In my _Geographical Distribution of Animals_, Vol. I., p. 357, I have given
a somewhat different hypothetical explanation of the relations of Java and
Borneo to the continent, in which I took account of changes of land and sea
only; but a fuller consideration of the influence of changes of climate on
the migration of animals, has led me to the much simpler, and, I think,
more probable, explanation above given. The amount of the relationship
between Java and Siam, as well as of that between Java and the Himalayas,
is too small to be well accounted for by an independent geographical
connection in which Borneo and Sumatra did not take part. It is, at the
same time, too distinct and indisputable to be ignored; and a change of
climate which should drive a portion of the Himalayan fauna southward,
leaving a few species in Java and Borneo from which they could not return
owing to the subsequent isolation of those islands by subsidence, seems
{387} to be a cause exactly adapted to produce the kind and amount of
affinity between these distant countries that actually exists.
THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS.
A general account of the fauna of these islands, and of their biological
relations to the countries which form the subject of this chapter, has been
given in my _Geographical Distribution of Animals_, Vol. I. pp. 345-349;
but since the publication of that work considerable additions have been
made to their fauna, having the effect of somewhat diminishing their
isolation from the other islands. Four genera have been added to the
terrestrial mammalia--Crocidura, Felis, Pteromys, and Mus, as well as two
additional squirrels; while the black ape (_Cynopithecus niger_) has been
struck out as not inhabiting the Philippines. This brings the true land
mammalia to twenty-one species, of which fourteen are peculiar to the
islands; but to these we must add no less than thirty-three species of bats
of which only ten are peculiar.[93] In these estimates the Palawan {388}
group has been omitted as these islands contain so many Bornean species
that if included they obscure the special features of the fauna.
_Birds._--The late Marquis of Tweeddale made a special study of Philippine
birds, and in 1873 published a catalogue in the _Transactions of the
Zoological Society_ (Vol. IX. Pt. 2, pp. 125-247). But since that date
large collections have been made by Everett, Steere, and other travellers,
the result of which has been to more than double the known species, and to
render the ornithological fauna an exceedingly rich one. Many of the
Malayan genera which were thought to be absent when the first edition of
this work was published have since been discovered, among which are
Phyllornis, Criniger, Diceum, Prionochilus, and Batrachostomus. But there
still remain a large number of highly characteristic Malayan genera whose
absence gives a distinctive feature to the Philippine bird fauna. Among
these are Tiga and Meiglyptes, genera of woodpeckers; Phaenicophaes and
Centropus, remarkable cuckoos; the long-tailed paroquets, Palaeornis; all
the genera of Barbets except Xantholaema; the small but beautiful family
Eurylaemidae; many genera allied to Timalia and Ixos; the mynahs, Gracula;
the long-tailed flycatchers, Tchitrea; the fire-backed pheasants,
Euplocamus; the argus pheasants, the jungle-fowl, and many others.
The following tabular statement will illustrate the rapid growth of our
knowledge of the birds of the Philippines:--
|Land-birds.|Water-birds.|Total.
+-----------+------------+------
Lord Tweeddale's Catalogue (1873) | 158 | 60 | 218
Mr. Wardlaw Ramsay's List (1881) | 265 | 75 | 340
Mr. Everett's MSS. List of Additions (1891)| 370 | 102 | 472
The number of peculiar species is very large, there being about 300 land
and forty-two water birds, which are not {389} known to occur beyond the
group. We have here, still more pronounced than in the case of Borneo, the
remarkable fact of the true land birds presenting a larger amount of
speciality than the land mammals; for while more than four-fifths of the
birds are peculiar, only a little more than half the mammals are so, and if
we exclude the bats only two-thirds.
The general character of the fauna of this group of islands is evidently
the result of their physical conditions and geological history. The
Philippines are almost surrounded by deep sea, but are connected with
Borneo by means of two narrow submarine banks, on the northern of which is
situated Palawan, and on the southern the Sulu Islands. Two small groups of
islands, the Bashees and Babuyanes, have also afforded a partial connection
with the continent by way of Formosa. It is evident that the Philippines
once formed part of the great Malayan extension of Asia, but that they were
separated considerably earlier than Java; and having been since greatly
isolated and much broken up by volcanic disturbances, their species have
for the most part become modified into distinct local forms, representative
species often occurring in the different islands of the group. They have
also received a few Chinese types by the route already indicated, and a few
Australian forms owing to their proximity to the Moluccas. Their
comparative poverty in genera and species of the mammalia is perhaps due to
the fact that they have been subjected to a great amount of submersion in
recent times, greatly reducing their area and causing the extinction of a
considerable portion of their fauna. This is not a mere hypothesis, but is
supported by direct evidence; for I am informed by Mr. Everett, who has
made extensive explorations in the islands, that almost everywhere are
found large tracts of elevated coral-reefs, containing shells similar to
those living in the adjacent seas, an indisputable proof of recent
elevation.
_Concluding Remarks on the Malay Islands._--This completes our sketch of
the great Malay islands, the seat of the typical Malayan fauna. It has been
shown that the peculiarities presented by the individual islands may be all
{390} sufficiently well explained by a very simple and comparatively
unimportant series of geographical changes, combined with a limited amount
of change of climate towards the northern tropic. Beginning in late Miocene
times when the deposits on the south coast of Java were upraised, we
suppose a general elevation of the whole of the extremely shallow seas
uniting what are now Sumatra, Java, Borneo, and the Philippines with the
Asiatic continent, and forming that extended equatorial area in which the
typical Malayan fauna was developed. After a long period of stability,
giving ample time for the specialisation of so many peculiar types, the
Philippines were first separated; then at a considerably later period Java;
a little later Sumatra and Borneo; and finally the islands south of
Singapore to Banca and Biliton. This one simple series of elevations and
subsidences, combined with the changes of climate already referred to, and
such local elevations and depressions as must undoubtedly have occurred,
appears sufficient to have brought about the curious, and at first sight
puzzling, relations, of the faunas of Java and the Philippines, as compared
with those of the larger islands.
We will now pass on to the consideration of two other groups which offer
features of special interest, and which will complete our illustrative
survey of recent continental islands.
* * * * *
{391}
CHAPTER XVIII
JAPAN AND FORMOSA
Japan, its Position and Physical Features--Zoological Features of
Japan--Mammalia--Birds--Birds Common to Great Britain and Japan--Birds
Peculiar to Japan--Japan Birds Recurring in Distant
Areas--Formosa--Physical Features of Formosa--Animal Life of
Formosa--Mammalia--Land-birds Peculiar to Formosa--Formosan Birds
Recurring in India or Malaya--Comparison of Faunas of Hainan, Formosa,
and Japan--General Remarks on Recent Continental Islands.
JAPAN.
The Japanese Islands occupy a very similar position on the eastern shore of
the great Euro-Asiatic continent to that of the British Islands on the
western, except that they are about sixteen degrees further south, and
having a greater extension in latitude enjoy a more varied as well as a
more temperate climate. Their outline is also much more irregular and their
mountains loftier, the volcanic peak of Fusiyama being 14,177 feet high;
while their geological structure is very complex, their soil extremely
fertile, and their vegetation in the highest degree varied and beautiful.
Like our own islands, too, they are connected with the continent by a
marine bank less than a hundred fathoms below the surface--at all events
towards the north and south; but in the intervening space the Sea of Japan
opens out to a width of six hundred miles, and in its central portion is
very deep, 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 52deg 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.
{392}
[Illustration: MAP OF JAPAN AND FORMOSA (with depths in fathoms).
Light tint, sea under 100 fathoms. Medium tint, under 1,000 fathoms. Dark
tint, over 1,000 fathoms. The figures show the depth in fathoms.]
{393}
_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 remarkable
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 Japan at present known are forty in number;
not very many when compared with the rich fauna of China and Manchuria, but
containing 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 Japonica_ in 1844, {394} but by
collecting together most of the scattered observations since that period
the following list has been drawn up, and will, it is hoped, be of use to
naturalists. The species believed to be peculiar to Japan are printed in
italics. These are very numerous, but it must be remembered that Corea and
Manchuria (the portions of the continent opposite Japan) are comparatively
little known, while in very few cases have the species of Japan and of the
continent been critically compared. Where this has been done, however, the
peculiar species established by the older naturalists have been in many
cases found to be correct.
LIST OF THE MAMMALIA OF THE JAPANESE ISLANDS.
1. _Macacus speciosus._ A monkey with rudimentary tail and red face,
allied to the Barbary ape. It inhabits the island of Niphon up to 41deg
N. Lat., and has thus the most northern range of any living monkey.
2. _Pteropus dasymallus._ A peculiar fruit-bat, found in Kiusiu Island
only (Lat. 33deg N.), and thus ranging further north of the equator
than any other species of the genus.
3. Rhinolophus ferrum-equinum. The great horse-shoe bat, ranges from
Britain across Europe and temperate Asia to Japan. It is the _R.
nippon_ of the Fauna Japonica according to Mr. Dobson's _Monograph of
Asiatic Bats_.
4. R. minor. Found also in Burma, Yunan, Java, Borneo, &c.
5. Vesperugo pipistrellus. From Britain across Europe and Asia.
6. V. abramus. Also in India and China.
7. V. noctula. From Britain across Europe and Asia.
8. V. molossus. Also in China.
9. Vespertilio capaccinii. Philippine Islands, and Italy! This is _V.
macrodactylus_ of the Fauna Japonica according to Mr. Dobson.
10. Miniopterus schreibersii. Philippines, Burma, Malay Islands. This
is _Vespertilio blepotis_ of the Fauna Japonica.
11. _Talpa wogura._ Closely resembles the common mole of Europe, but
has six incisors instead of eight in the lower jaw.
12. _Talpa mizura._ Guenth. Allied to _T. wogura_.
13. _Urotrichus talpoides._ A peculiar genus of moles confined to
Japan. An American species has been named _Urotrichus gibsii_, and Mr.
Lord after comparing the two says that he "can find no difference
whatever, either generic or specific. In shape, size, and colour, they
are exactly alike." But Dr. Guenther (_P. Z. S._ 1880, p. 441) states
that _U. gibsii_ differs so much in dentition from the Japanese species
that it should be placed in a distinct genus, which he calls
Neurotrichus.
14. Sorex myosurus. A shrew, found also in India and Malaya.
15. _Sorex dzi-nezumi._
16. _S. umbrinus._
17. _S. platycephalus._ {395}
18. Ursus arctos. var. A peculiar variety of the European brown bear
which inhabits also Amoorland and Kamschatka. It is the _Ursus ferox_
of the Fauna Japonica.
19. _Ursus japonicus._ A peculiar species allied to the Himalayan and
Formosan species. Named _U. tibetanus_ in the Fauna Japonica.
20. _Meles anakuma._ Differs from the European and Siberian badgers in
the form of the skull.
21. _Mustela brachyura._ A peculiar martin found also in the Kurile
Islands.
22. _Mustela melanopus._ The Japanese sable.
23. _M. Japonica._ A peculiar martin (See _Proc. Zool. Soc._ 1865, p.
104).
24. _M. Sibericus._ Also Siberia and China. This is the _M. italsi_ of
the Fauna Japonica according to Dr. Gray.
25. _Lutronectes whiteleyi._ A new genus and species of otter
(_P. Z. S._ 1867, p. 180). In the Fauna Japonica named _Lutra
vulgaris_.
26. Enhydris marina. The sea-otter of California and Kamschatka.
27. _Canis hodophylax._ According to Dr. Gray allied to _Cuon
sumatranus_ of the Malay Islands, and _C. alpinus_ of Siberia, if not
identical with one of them (_P. Z. S._ 1868, p. 500).
28. _Vulpes japonica._ A peculiar fox. _Canis vulpes_ of Fauna
Japonica.
29. Nyctereutes procyonoides. The racoon-dog of N. China and Amoorland.
30. _Lepus brachyurus._ A peculiar hare.
31. _Sciurus lis._ A peculiar squirrel.
32. _Pteromys leucogenys._ The white-cheeked flying squirrel.
33. _P. momoga._ Perhaps identical with a Cambojan species (_P. Z. S._
1861, p. 137).
34. _Myoxus japonicus._ A peculiar dormouse. _M. elegans_ of the Fauna
Japonica; _M. javanicus_, Schinz (_Synopsis Mammalium_, ii. p. 530).
35. _Mus argenteus._ China.
36. _Mus molossinus._
37. _M. nezumi._
38. _M. speciosus._
39. _Cervus sika._ A peculiar deer allied to _C. pseudaxis_ of Formosa
and _C. mantchuricus_ of Northern China.
40. _Nemorhedus crispa._ A goat-like antelope allied to _N. sumatranus_
of Sumatra, and _N. Swinhoei_ of Formosa.
41. _Sus leucomystax._ A wild boar allied to _S. taeranus_ of Formosa.
We thus find that no less than twenty-six out of the forty-one Japanese
mammals are peculiar, and if we omit the aerial bats (nine in number), as
well as the marine sea-otter, we shall have remaining only thirty strictly
land mammalia, of which twenty-five are peculiar, or five-sixths of the
whole. Nor does this represent all their speciality; for we have a mole
differing in its dentition from the European mole; another superficially
resembling but quite distinct from an American species; a peculiar genus of
otters; and an antelope whose nearest allies are in Formosa and Sumatra.
The importance of these facts will {396} be best understood when we have
examined the corresponding affinities of the birds of Japan.
_Birds._--Owing to the recent researches of some English residents we have
probably a fuller knowledge of the birds than of the mammalia; yet the
number of true land-birds ascertained to inhabit the islands either as
residents or migrants is only 200, which is less than might be expected
considering the highly favourable conditions of mild climate, luxuriant
vegetation, and abundance of insect-life, and the extreme riches of the
adjacent continent,--Mr. Swinhoe's list of the birds of China containing
more than 400 land species, after deducting all which are peculiar to the
adjacent islands. Only seventeen species, or about one-twelfth of the
whole, are now considered to be peculiar to Japan proper; while seventeen
more are peculiar to the various outlying small islands constituting the
Bonin and Loo Choo groups. Even of these, six or seven are classed by Mr.
Seebohm as probably sub-species or slightly modified forms of continental
birds, so that ten only are well-marked species, undoubtedly distinct from
those of any other country.
The great majority of the birds are decidedly temperate forms identical
with those of Northern Asia and Europe; while no less than forty of the
species of land-birds are also found in Britain, or are such slight
modifications of British species that the difference is only perceptible to
a trained ornithologist. The following list of the land-birds common to
Britain and Japan is very interesting, when we consider that these
countries are separated by the whole extent of the European and Asiatic
continents, or by almost exactly one-fourth of the circumference of the
globe:--
LAND BIRDS COMMON TO GREAT BRITAIN AND JAPAN.[94]
(_Either Identical Species or Representative sub-species._)
1. Goldcrest _Regulus cristatus_ sub-sp. _orientalis_.
2. Marsh tit _Parus palustris_ sub-sp. _japonicus_.
3. Coal tit _Parus ater_ sub-sp. _pekinensis_.
4. Long-tailed tit _Acredula caudata_ (the sub-sp. _rosea_, is
British).
{397}
5. Common creeper _Certhia familiaris._
6. Nuthatch _Sitta europaea_ sub-sp. _amurensis._
7. Carrion crow _Corvus corone._
8. Nutcracker _Nucifraga caryocatactes._
9. Magpie _Pica caudata._
10. Pallass' grey shrike _Lanius excubitor_ sub-sp. _major._
11. Waxwing _Ampelis garrulus._
12. Grey wagtail _Motacilla boarula_ sub-sp. _melanope._
13. Alpine Pipit _Anthus spinoletta_ sub-sp. _japonicus._
14. Skylark _Alauda arvensis_ sub-sp. _japonica._
15. Common hawfinch _Coccothraustes vulgaris._
16. Common Crossbill _Loxia curvirostra._
17. Siskin _Fringilla spinus._
18. Mealy redpole ,, _linaria._
19. Brambling ,, _montifringilla._
20. Tree sparrow _Passer montanus._
21. Reed bunting _Emberiza schoeniculus_ sub-sp.
_palustris._
22. Rustic bunting ,, _rustica._
23. Snow bunting ,, _nivalis._
24. Chimney swallow _Hirundo rustica_ sub-sp. _gutturalis._
25. Sand martin _Cotyle riparia._
26. Great spotted woodpecker _Picus major_ sub-sp. _japonicus._
27. Lesser spotted woodpecker ,, _minor._
28. Wryneck _Jynx torquilla._
29. Hoopoe _Upupa epops._
30. Blue rock pigeon _Columba livia._
31. Cuckoo _Cuculus canorus._
32. Kingfisher _Alcedo ispida_ sub-sp. _bengalensis._
33. Eagle owl _Bubo maximus._
34. Snowy owl _Surnia nyctea._
35. Long-eared owl _Strix otus._
36. Short-eared owl ,, _brachyotus._
37. Scops owl _Scops scops._
38. Jer falcon _Falco gyrfalco._
39. Peregrine falcon ,, _peregrinus._
40. Hobby ,, _subbuteo._
41. Merlin _Falco aesalon._
42. Kestrel _Tinnunculus alaudarius_ sub-sp.
_japonicus._
43. Osprey _Pandion haliaectus._
44. Honey-buzzard _Pernis apivorus._
45. White-tailed eagle _Haliaeetus albicilla._
46. Golden eagle _Aquila chrysaeetus._
47. Common buzzard _Buteo vulgaris_ sub-sp. _plumipes._
48. Hen-harrier _Circus cyaneus._
49. Marsh-harrier ,, _aeruginosus._
50. Gos-hawk _Astur palumbarius._
51. Sparrow-hawk _Accipiter nisus._
52. Ptarmigan _Tetrao mutus._
53. Common quail _Coturnix communis._
But even these fifty-three species by no means fairly represent the amount
of _resemblance_ between Britain and {398} Japan as regards birds; for
there are also thrushes, robins, stonechats, wrens, hedge-sparrows,
sedge-warblers, jays, starlings, swifts, goatsuckers, and some others,
which, though distinct _species_ from our own, have the same general
appearance, and give a familiar aspect to the ornithology. There remains,
however, a considerable body of Chinese and Siberian species, which link
the islands to the neighbouring parts of the continent; and there are also
a few which are Malayan or Himalayan rather than Chinese, and thus afford
us an interesting problem in distribution.
The seventeen species and sub-species which are altogether peculiar to
Japan proper, are for the most part allied to birds of North China and
Siberia, but three are decidedly tropical, and one of them--a fruit pigeon
(_Treron sieboldi_)--has no close ally nearer than Burmah and the
Himalayas. In the following list the affinities of the species are
indicated wherever they have been ascertained:--
LIST OF THE SPECIES OF LAND BIRDS PECULIAR TO JAPAN.
1. _Accentor rubidus._ Nearly allied to our hedge-sparrow, and less
closely to the Central Asian _A. immaculatus._
(1a. _Hypsipetes amaurotis._ Migrates to the Corea, otherwise
peculiar.)
2. _Zosterops japonica._ Allied to two Chinese species.
3. _Lusciniola pryeri._
4. _Garrulus japonicus._ Allied to the Siberian and British Jays.
5. _Fringilla kawarahiba._ Allied to the Chinese greenfinch.
6. _Emberiza ciopsis._ Allied to the E. Siberian bunting _E. cioides_,
of which it may be considered a sub-species.
7. ,, _yessoensis._ A distinct species.
8. ,, _personata._ A sub-species of _E. spodocephala._
9. _Gecinus awokera._ A distinct species of green woodpecker.
10. _Picus namiyei._ Allied to a Formosan species.
11. _Treron sieboldi._ Allied to _T. sphenura_ of the Himalayas, and to
a Formosan species.
12. _Carpophaga ianthina._ A distinct species of fruit-pigeon.
13. _Bubo blakistoni._ Allied to a Philippine eagle-owl.
14. _Scops semitorgues._ A distinct species.
15. _Phasianus versicolor._ A distinct species.
16. ,, _soemmeringi._ A distinct species.
17. ,, _scintillaus._ A sub-species of the last.
The large number of seventeen peculiar species in the outlying Bonin and
Loo Choo Islands is an interesting feature of Japanese ornithology. The
comparative remoteness of {399} these islands, their mild sub-tropical
climate and luxuriant vegetation, and perhaps the absence of violent storms
and their being situated out of the line of continental migration, seem to
be the conditions that have favoured the specialisation of modified types
adapted to the new environment.
_Japan Birds Recurring in Distant Areas._--The most interesting feature in
the ornithology of Japan is, undoubtedly, the presence of several species
which indicate an alliance with such remote districts as the Himalayas, the
Malay Islands, and Europe. Among the peculiar species, the most remarkable
of this class are,--the fruit-pigeon of the genus Treron, entirely unknown
in China, but reappearing in Formosa and Japan; the Hypsipetes, whose
nearest ally is in South China at a distance of nearly 500 miles; and the
jay (_Garrulus japonicus_), whose near ally (_G. glandarius_) inhabits
Europe only, at a distance of 3,700 miles. But even more extraordinary are
the following non-peculiar species:--_Spizaetus orientalis_, a crested
eagle, inhabiting the Himalayas, Formosa, and Japan, but unknown in
Southern or Eastern China; _Ceryle guttata_, a spotted kingfisher, almost
confined to the Himalayas and Japan, though occurring rarely in Central
China; and _Halcyon coromanda_, a brilliant red kingfisher inhabiting
Northern India, the Malay Islands to Celebes, Formosa, and Japan. We have
here an excellent illustration of the favourable conditions which islands
afford both for species which elsewhere live further south (_Halcyon
coromanda_), and for the preservation in isolated colonies of species which
are verging towards extinction; for such we must consider the above-named
eagle and kingfisher, both confined to a very limited area on the
continent, but surviving in remote islands. Referring to our account of the
birth, growth, and death of a species (in Chapter IV.) it can hardly be
doubted that the _Ceryle guttata_ formerly ranged from the Himalayas to
Japan, and has now almost died out in the intervening area owing to
geographical and physical changes, a subject which will be better discussed
when we have examined the interesting fauna of the island of Formosa. {400}
The other orders of animals are not yet sufficiently known to enable us to
found any accurate conclusions upon them. The main facts of their
distribution have already been given in my _Geographical Distribution of
Animals_ (Vol I., pp. 227-231), and they sufficiently agree with the birds
and mammalia in showing a mixture of temperate and tropical forms with a
considerable proportion of peculiar species. Owing to the comparatively
easy passage from the northern extremity of Japan through the island of
Saghalien to the mainland of Asia, a large number of temperate forms of
insects and birds are still able to enter the country, and thus diminish
the proportionate number of peculiar species. In the case of mammals this
is more difficult; and the large proportion of specific difference in their
case is a good indication of the comparatively remote epoch at which Japan
was finally separated from the continent. How long ago this separation took
place we cannot of course tell, but we may be sure it was much longer than
in the case of our own islands, and therefore probably in the earlier
portion of the Pliocene period.
FORMOSA.
Among recent continental islands there is probably none that surpasses in
interest and instructiveness the Chinese island named by the Portuguese,
Formosa, or "The Beautiful." Till quite recently it was a _terra incognita_
to naturalists, and we owe almost all our present knowledge of it to a
single man, the late Mr. Robert Swinhoe, who, in his official capacity as
one of our consuls in China, visited it several times between 1856 and
1866, besides residing on it for more than a year. During this period he
devoted all his spare time and energy to the study of natural history, more
especially of the two important groups, birds and mammals; and by employing
a large staff of native collectors and hunters, he obtained a very complete
knowledge of its fauna. In this case, too, we have the great advantage of a
very thorough knowledge of the adjacent parts of the continent, in great
part due to Mr. Swinhoe's own exertions during the twenty years of his
service in {401} that country. We possess, too, the further advantage of
having the whole of the available materials in these two classes collected
together by Mr. Swinhoe himself after full examination and comparison of
specimens; so that there is probably no part of the world (if we except
Europe, North America, and British India) of whose warm-blooded vertebrates
we possess fuller or more accurate knowledge than we do of those of the
coast districts of China and its islands.[95]
_Physical Features of Formosa._--The island of Formosa is nearly half the
size of Ireland, being 220 miles long, and from twenty to eighty miles
wide. It is traversed down its centre by a fine mountain range, which
reaches an altitude of about 8,000 feet in the south and 12,000 feet in the
northern half of the island, and whose higher slopes and valleys are
everywhere clothed with magnificent forests. It is crossed by the line of
the Tropic of Cancer a little south of its centre; and this position,
combined with its lofty mountains, gives it an unusual variety of tropical
and temperate climates. These circumstances are all highly favourable to
the preservation and development of animal life, and from what we already
know of its productions, it seems probable that few, if any islands of
approximately the same size and equally removed from a continent will be
found to equal it in the number and variety of their higher animals. The
outline map (at page 392) shows that Formosa is connected with the mainland
by a submerged bank, the hundred-fathom line including it along with Hainan
to the south-west and Japan on the north-east; while the line of
two-hundred fathoms includes also the Madjico-Sima and Loo-Choo Islands,
and may, perhaps, mark out approximately the last great extension of the
Asiatic continent, the submergence of which isolated these islands from the
mainland.
_Animal Life of Formosa._--We are at present acquainted {402} with 35
species of mammalia, and 128 species of land-birds from Formosa, fourteen
of the former and forty-three of the latter being peculiar, while the
remainder inhabit also some part of the continent or adjacent islands. This
proportion of peculiar species is perhaps (as regards the birds) the
highest to be met with in any island which can be classed as both
continental and recent, and this, in all probability, implies that the
epoch of separation is somewhat remote. It was not, however, remote enough
to reach back to a time when the continental fauna was very different from
what it is now, for we find all the chief types of living Asiatic mammalia
represented in this small island. Thus we have monkeys; insectivora;
numerous carnivora; pigs, deer, antelopes, and cattle among ungulata;
numerous rodents, and the edentate Manis,--a very fair representation of
Asiatic mammals, all being of known genera, and of species either
absolutely identical with some still living elsewhere or very closely
allied to them. The birds exhibit analogous phenomena, with the exception
that we have here two peculiar and very interesting genera.
But besides the amount of specific and generic modification that has
occurred, we have another indication of the lapse of time in the peculiar
relations of a large proportion of the Formosan animals, which show that a
great change in the distribution of Asiatic species must have taken place
since the separation of the island from the continent. Before pointing
these out it will be advantageous to give lists of the mammalia and
peculiar birds of the island, as we shall have frequent occasion to refer
to them.
LIST OF THE MAMMALIA OF FORMOSA. (The peculiar species are printed in
italics.)