Some strange distributions may be mentioned here, however. One such is the distribution of the macaques, large shorttailed monkeys. These occur on the Chinese-Tibetan border, in South-eastern Shansi and in the old Imperial Hunting Grounds. to the north-east of Peking in the area now known as Jehol. This last is the most northerly range of the monkeys anywhere in the world, and the chief significance attaching to this distribution is its indication of a very different distribution of the fauna and flora and different prevailing climatic conditions in these areas in former not too distant times. The same monkeys are found in South-east and South China, the species having been diagnosed" by Dr. Glover M. Allen as the well known rhesus monkey (Macaca mulatta), which also ranges into India.
While on this point it would be well to mention a rather remarkable circumstance, and that is the occurrence.in the Imperial Hunting Grounds, already mentioned, of certain forest forms of animals, whose nearest relations are only found at corisiderable distances away. These are Reeves' pheasant, a small striped tree squirrel (Tamiops) and the blue-tailed lizard or skink. Elsewhere the Reeves' pheasant does not occur north of the Yangtze Valley, which is also the limit of the skink, while the little tree squirrel's nearest relatives occur in Chekiang and Szechuan, respectively. A black squirrel of the common red squirrel group also occurs in this. area, as well as a bear of the Himalayan black bear type. Also a species of trout is found in this area. The nearest place where squirrels, bears and trout of these types occur is in Manchuria. From these facts it is safe to argue that a forest-belt occurred at no very distant times all the way from South China to Manchuria, and that the forest of the Imperial Hunting Grounds is the only remnant left of this forest-belt in North China. It has now almost completely vanished.
One of the most remarkable phenomena connected with the distribution of certain Chinese animals has to do with the alligator, the giant salamander, the sword-beaked sturgeon and certain katydids of the genus Atlanticus. The nearest relations of these Chinese forms are found only in eastern and south-eastern North America. There are no alligators anywhere in the world except in the Lower Yangtze area of China and in the Mississippi and Florida areas of North America. The giant salamander's only close relation in the world is the hellbender of the Mississippi basin, while the sword-beaked sturgeon's only relation is the spoon-billed sturgeon of the Mississippi. The katydids of the genus Atlanticus are found in Eastern China northwards to the Manchurian region, and elsewhere in the of the Euro-Siberian fauna and flora, while as the edge of the Yangtze Basin is approached a few more typically southern forms make their appearance, such as certain members of the cat family, the raccoon dog, various squirrels, rats and other rodents, certain species of birds, insects and land snails, numerous species of fish and many kinds of plant life.
Sinian Sub-region The forms of animal life typical of the Sinian Sub-region are numerous different kinds of fish of the carp family and certain other types of fish, such as the cat fishes, the loaches and the fresh-water basses, badly: named Siniperca, or Chinese perch; the golden monkey; the group of mammals containing the goat-like takins, serows and gorals; the bears of the Hima-layman black bear type; the remarkable giant panda and its cousin the little panda; the raccoon, dog; various rodents such as the large flying squirrels, the bamboo rat and numerous other rats; various strange shrews and other insect-lores; and, above all, the giant salamander, the sword-beaked sturgeon and the Chinese alligator. This large category makes the fauna of China a very distinct one, and may be considered fully to justify the defining of this area as a separate faunal "zone, which also includes the greater part of Japan. The same thing applies to the flora of this region, which is the headquarters of such groups of plants as the azaleas and rhododendrons and the primulas. It is also the home of a large number of plants not found elsewhere in the world.
Tropical Animals and Plants Into this Sinian Sub-region there intrudes from the south a fauna and flora that is typically Indian and Malayan. As already stated, this has been given the name of the Oriental Region, but this is not a good.name since it suggests something rather different.from what is intended. It would have been better if some indication of its tropical nature had been given. However, it must be used here since it has deer of the sambur type, the water been generally adopted. To it belong the the various kinds of civets. and or pangolin the porcupines, the <-shrew, various species of: Bir world only in the eastern United; States and neighbouring Canada. Several types of plants have a similar distribution. This remarkable distribution has so far not been satisfactorily explained.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.