To the Editor of the "Norru-Cuina Dairy News."
Sir,—I take it that accuracy is a sine qua non in matters scientific, I refuse to be held responsible for what newspaper. reporters say I said. Your correspondent P.J.B. makes the statement that I said that Salamanders do not exist in China." Note, he uses inverted commas! I have never made any such statement either in a newspaper or out. If your correspondent had Jooked up the passage he refers to, and not trusted to his memory, he could not have failed to notice tle little word "supposed." Tt makes all the difference.
The passage (see North-China Daily News, May 12) runs:—"Mr. Sowerby was asked yesterday if he knew what they were and he groaned dismally when he was given a minute description of them. 'Oh, why did' you get them?' he expostulated: They were undoubtedly salamanders, which are not supposed to exist in China, and here they are actually living in Shanghai under our noses!'"
Even so, I was misquoted. Your correspondent, then, is guilty of misquoting a misquotation, which is going some! Memory plays strange freaks in China. The reporter was also trusting to memory. Either that, or drawing somewhat upon his "imagination, a perfectly legitimate thing for a journalist to do, by the way, since the public is ever ready to swallow fiction in preference to fact. I am perfectly certain I did not "groan dismally," though I must admit that I should have liked the specimens of Giant Salamander referred to. The groaning was evidently put in for effect.
As a matter of fact the impression I tried to convey to the reporter, though I cannot remember my exact words, was that, in the past, doubt had been cast upon the occurrence in China of this particular form of salamander; "but that it has now been established beyond a doubt that there is a Giant Salamander in this country.
Dr. Boulenger, one of the greatest authorities on the subject.of herpetology, that branch of zoology that deals with reptiles and amphibians, apparently considers the Chinese form as identical with that from Japan, in which case its scientific name should be Jfegalobatrachus japonicus. The species is now well known. There are several specimens in the R.A.S. Museum, which, I believe, were taken in the Huangpu, or at least in the neighbourhood of Shanghai. It has also been recorded from Amoy and Canton, and from southwest Shensi under the name Sieboldia david. So much for the Giant Salamander.
The small "salamander" which your correspondent refers to as "about 3-in. to 4-in. in length, above black and bright vermilion belly with black spots" is, apparently, one of the Chinese "newts," probably Diemictylus sinensis, which was described from the Ningpo region. Another Chinese form is D. ortentalis, and D. wolterstorfii another, the latter occurring in Yunnan.
In the mountain streams of Fukien occurs a large and handsome newt, or salamander, named Pachytriton sinensis. It attains a length of eight inches, is brown above, orange below, and is covered with round dots of a darker colour. In Szechuan and Manchuria we get a small salamander called Salamandrella keyserlingii. A larger form, Geomolge fischer, also occurs in Manchuria.
The true salamander of Europe, Salamandra maculose, he of the black and bright yellow skin, has not, as far as I am aware, been discovered in China; but the warty newt (Vylotriton verrucosus) has been described from Yunnan. Doubtless there are many undiscovered forms.
Now, is P.J.B. satisfied that, under the circumstances, I was not likely to make the statement he has ascribed to me?
Before bringing this letter to a close, for the length of which I must apologize, I would like to call your readers' attentions' to the fact that there are practically no natural history books of a popular kind on China; and that therefore the public is kept in ignorance of what does, or does not, occur in this country. This is very sad. However, a movement is now on foot, the sole object of which is to supply this want. This will entail a great deal of research work, but those of us engaged upon it enjoy the task. We would, however, like the ce-operation of the public, and the best way the public can help is by sending specimens of anything and everything in the way of animal life to the R.A.S. Museum, where a native assistant is now permanently on duty, and will receive and Jock after any material. Information of any ind referring to matters biologieal would also be gratefully received. _Cheerio, P.J.B., better luck next time.
I am, etc., ARTHUR po C. Sowsrry.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.