LIBRARY UWVESilTY OF CALIFORNIA DAVIS flDemoirs of the flBuseum of Comparative Zoology? \ i II \ i; V \ i; ii COLLEG K. VOL. XL. No. i. SOME CHINESE VERTEBRATES. INTRODUCTION . BY SAMUEL HENSHAW. PISCES Bv SAMUEL GARM.AN. AMPHIBIA AND REPT1LIA BY THOMAS HARBOUR. AM . BY JOHN E. THAYER AND OUTRAM BANGS. MAMMALIA BY GLOVER M. ALLEN. WITH SIX PLATi.s. CAMBRIDGE, U.S.A.: priuteo for tbe Aueeum. AUGUST, 1912. ADemolrs of tbe flDuseum of Comparative Zoology AT HARVARD COLLEGE. VOL. XL. No. 4. SOME CHINESE VERTEBEATES. INTRODUCTION . BY SAMUEL HENSHAW. PISCES .... BY SAMUEL GARMAN. AMPHIBIA AND REPTILIA BY THOMAS BARBOUR. AVES .... BY JOHN E. THAYER AND OUTRAM BANGS. MAMMALIA BY GLOVER M. ALLEN. WITH SIX PLATES. CAMBRIDGE, U.S.A.: prtnteo for tbe flDuseum. AUGUST, 1912. SOME CHINESE VERTEBRATES. CONTENTS. PAO INTRODUCTION. BY SAMUEL HENSHAW 107 PISCES. BY SAMUEL CARMAN .111 AMPHIBIA AND REPTILIA. BY THOMAS BARBOUK .... .125 AVES. BY JOHN E. THAYER AND OUTRAM BANGS ...... 137 201 MAMMALIA. BY GLOVER M. ALLEN . INTRODUCTION. BY SAMUEL HENSHAW. THE collections described in the following pages were made in the Chinese provinces of Hupeh and Szechwan during the years 1907 and 1908. With hardly an exception they represent the work of Mr. Walter R. Zappey while he was attached to the expedition sent out by the Arnold Arboretum, under the direc- tion of Mr. E. H. Wilson, the well-known botanical collector. Mr. John E. Thayer, recognizing the need of zoological work in lower China, secured the consent of Prof. C. S. Sargent, the Director of the Arnold Arboretum, for a trained collector to accompany Mr. Wilson, and most generously provided the necessary financial support. The obligations of the Museum to Mr. Thayer, already very great, were much increased by this recent act of liberality, and his selection of Mr. Zappey for the work was very fortunate. Mr. Zappey's zeal was such as to require a constant word of caution that he might not overtax his strength, while the size and condition of the entire series of specimens afford evidence alike of his judgment, his energy, his skill in preparation, and his care and watchfulness during the many difficulties in transportation. The results of Mr. Thayer's liberality and Mr. Zappey's zeal would have been very much less, however, had they not been supplemented by the tact and administrative ability of Mr. Wilson. Mr. Wilson's earlier work in China was of distinct advantage for the success of the Arboretum Expedition. It had shown that he possessed the trustworthiness characteristic of his race, and the natural and ever present suspiciousness of the natives towards aliens engaged in a line of work the object of which is not wholly clear, was happily avoided, from the beginning. It should also be recognized that all of Mr. Wilson's time and energy were l required for his botanical work and that every additional task he assumed, even though willingly and successfully, was nevertheless a burden. The transcription of Chinese geographic names presents difficulties of ortho- graphy, syllabication, and capitalization; in some works the same name is vari- ously given. It is believed that throughout the following pages a considerable degree of uniformity has been achieved, a result due to Mr. E. C. Drew, who has 'Some of the results of Mr. Wilson's work in China have been published by the Arboretum: Plantae Wilsonianae. Part I. Cambridge July 31, 1911, 144 pp. Part II. Cambridge, April 30, 1912, 168 pp. 108 SOME CHINESE VERTEBRATES. most kindly revised a list of the geographic names and corrected many puzzling variations due largely to phonetic spelling. The larger part of the material secured consists of birds and mammals, though other interesting vertebrates were collected together with a small series of invertebrates, chiefly insects. Messrs. Wilson and Zappey landed at Shanghai the 4th of February, 1907; while outfitting, Mr. Zappey employed his time in collecting in the immediate environs of Shanghai, but here, as in the vicinity of other large cities, the density of the population precluded effective collecting. Ichang, Hupeh, the base for much of the work of the Expedition was reached on the 26th of February, and after several weeks spent in its vicinity Mr. Zappey left that city early in April and collected for about two months among the mountains north of the Yangtze. Here at varying altitudes of from 2,400 to 9,500 feet in well forested country, pheasants were abundant and the probable occurrence of the Takin, (Budorcas), noted. With the exception of two weeks passed unfortunately in the hospital at Hankow, Mr. Zappey collected during June, July, and August in the Ichang region or between Ichang and Shasi; much rain fell during this period and the weather when fair was very hot. September and October also proved rainy in and about Ichang. Between the 5th and 20th of November, Mr. Zappey worked at higher altitudes at Shihtowya, Kwangpow, Putze, and neighboring places, good weather prevailing, but cold and cloudy days were experienced again at Ichang between the 21st of November and the 1st of December. December proved fair, with the temperature cool or cold, and a considerable series of birds and mammals was secured. The search for Serow among the mountains was unsuccessful, though their tracks were found on several occasions and the alarm note which Mr. * * * Zappey describes as "a series of snorting squeals sounding like tearing a piece of starched cloth such as a window shade" furnished additional evidence of their presence. In 1908, January, February, and early March were spent in short trips down the river; on the 15th of January at Ichanghsien the first Goral, Naemorhedus griseus, was collected; others of both sexes, young and old, were taken later. These goat-like antelopes were not uncommon on the precipitous evergreen- clothed cliffs; they were seen, however, only in open places as they jumped from ledge to ledge and their capture was thus to a certain degree a matter of chance. Kwangtitze, situated about fifteen miles below Shasi, with an abundance of HENSHAW: INTRODUCTION. 109 cover grass and numerous reedy pools, proved an ideal country for deer; and here, early in February, water deer, Hydrelaphus inermis, were plentiful and a fine series was secured. Returning to Ichang the 18th of February, the interval until the 13th of March was occupied, principally, in the care of material and in the preparation for a long river trip to the west. Leaving Ichang the 13th of March the following list of localities with dates will indicate the route travelled: 1908: March 16 Nantow. 25 Patunghsien. April 1 Wanhsien. 1908: April 4 Changchowhsien. 11 Chungking. 21 Juchi. 26 Nanchihsien. 30 Suifu. May 6 Kiating. The river-boat was left at this point. 12 Lungchi. 15 Washan. June 13 Kiating. 21 Hungyahsien. 29 Nitow. July 4 Tachienlu. 14 Yachiakun. 18 Lianghokow. 24 Cheto. August 5 Tongolow. 7 Nachuka. 15 Ramala Pass. 16 Shuowlow. Farthest west. 1908: 'August 26 Nachuka. 31 Tachienlu. September 6 Lianghokow. 17 Tachiao. 23 Tachienlu. October 9 Yachow. 17 Omeihsien. 22 Washan. 110 SOME CHINESE VERTEBRATES. November 9 Tsaikow. 11 Omeihsien. 15 Chinchiang. 30 Chiachianghsien. December 3 Yachow. 8 Kiating. River-boat trip resumed. 23 Suifu. 29 Chungking. 1909: January 14 Ichang. 22 Hochiaping. February 2 Changyanghsien. 5 Ichang. March 7 Shasi. 18 Nankin. 26 Leave Shanghai. As shown by the above itinerary, the Expedition was planned as a recon- naissance and covered too much ground to allow successful intensive collecting. At five localities only were fifty or more species obtained; the largest number, 194, was taken at Ichang, and 91, the next in number, at Washan. This last locality proved of great scientific interest and ten of the thirty-six new forms discovered were found there. It was at Washan that a herd of Takins, Budorcas tibetanus, was observed. Two individuals, a young male and a young female, said by the natives to be about a month old, were taken. The herd was feeding on the side of the steep mountain at an elevation of about 10,000 feet and was well concealed in the dense bamboo thicket. The flesh of these Takin proved palatable and in taste resembled mutton. The native names for the Takin are Yare niu ngai nu and Parn nyang. Serow, Capricornis argyrochaetes, were also found at Washan, where they frequented the recesses of the most precipitous cliffs. The native name of the Serow is Ngailu (Cliff donkey). Though formerly abundant throughout the region traversed by Mr. Zappey, the Musk deer, Moschus sifanicus, has been so persistently hunted for the sake of its valuable secretion that it is now practically exterminated. One specimen was shot at Shuowlow the 19th of August, 1908. The odor from the scent-gland was most powerful though quite different, Mr. Zappey notes, from that of the refined perfume. The habit of this species of frequenting the trunks of fallen trees is well known to the Chinese. PISCES. BY SAMUEL GARMAN. The fishes, twenty-nine species, secured by this Expedition were taken at various points on the Yangtze Kiang and its affluent the Min, between Kiating and Shasi sixty miles or more below Ichang, Hupeh. Three of the species are Chinese also said to be found in is perches, Siniperca, Japan ; one a clupeoid, Coilia, heretofore known as marine,.the presence of which so far from the mouth of the river is probably due to a habit of spawning in fresh water; another is an Ophicephalus of wide range in eastern Asia; three others are siluroids, one of them very widely distributed, another peculiar to the locality, and a third apparently undescribed; twenty are cyprinoids which taken together might indicate rather less dependence on barbels in their region than farther to the south or to the west; three of these species appear to be undescribed; and finally one of the species is an eel, Monopterus, which has been taken in numerous localities of China, India, the East Indian Archipelago, and Japan.