and swallows, are all to be seen, of the latter bird there are fifteen species. The feathers of kingfishers are used for decorative purposes. The hoopoe, bee-eater and cuckoo are all known, as well as eleven species of shrikes and many other birds, such as nuthatches, tree and wall-creepers, wrens, chats, willow-wrens, and red-starts. There are great varieties of song-birds, such as the thrush and lark, of which the Chinese are very fond; for a Mongolian lark twenty-five dollars will be given. Amongst other birds may be named wagtails, orioles, jays (a most beautiful blue jay is found in Hongkong), magpies, choughs, crows, blackbirds, owls, mainahs, robins, ouzels, tailor-birds, woodpeckers, parrots, 14 species of pigeons, gold and silver pheasants and others, and poultry, of which the common fowl, the Shanghai, and the diminutive white bantam are the best known. Some of the Chinese fowls appear to have black bones owing to a thin membrane of that colour surrounding the bones. Besides these there are grouse, quails, francolins, partridges, snipe, cranes, plovers, curlews, herons, egrets, ibis, spoonbills, crakes, and rails. Sixty-five species of web-footed birds are known as existing in China amongst which are ten species of duck. The whole sea-coast is alive with gulls, terns, and grebes; and swans, geese, and mallards, are found in the inland waters. The mandarin duck, a native of the central provinces, is a beautiful object, having as brilliant a plumage as a parrot.

Alligators, though rare, are to be found in one or two spots, and probably they, or crocodiles, were more numerous formerly than now. Snakes abound, many of which are deadly. Frogs are most abundant and are eaten. Tortoises and turtles are plentiful. The ichthyology of China is one of the richest in the world, though it may be so more from the greater proportion of food furnished by the waters than from any real superabundance of the finny tribes.' By this time about a thousand different kinds are known as being found in China. It is said that in Macao one may have a different kind of fish for breakfast every morning in the year if one will eat every sort which the Chinese use as food.

Amongst Chinese fish may be mentioned mackerel, goby, herrings, sharks, rays, saw-fish, sturgeon, huge skates, garoupa, sole, mullet, the white rice fish (or silver fish as it is called in some of the languages of China), shad, and carp (52 species of the last). The gold fish is a most grotesque specimen of nature's caricatures, the eyes are like goggles sticking out of its head, and tail and fins are tufted and lobed to a most extraordinary extent. Another variety is the silver fish. We cannot complete the list of Chinese fish, but we may mention pipe-fish of a red colour, gar-pike with green bones, beautiful parrot-fish, sun-fish, cels, file-fish, bream, gudgeon, anchovies, perch, and gurnard. There are great varieties of shell-fish, oysters are common, so are prawns, shrimps, crabs, craw-fish, and king-crabs, the last strange looking objects. Amongst curiosities, may be mentioned the hammer oyster (Avicula [malleus] vulgaris) found at Swatow.

The insects of China are almost unknown to the naturalist.' There are hundreds of different kinds of spiders, some with bodies as large as small birds, which spin their webs from tree to tree high up in the air. Locusts, centipedes, scorpions, silkworms, fireflies, glow-worms, and beetles; and many other numerous species of insects have their home in China. See Article on Insects.

Books recommended.-Williams's Middle Kingdom,' Vol. I., pp. 313--354, contains a good, general, short account of the zoology of China. For birds seeProceedings of the Zoological Society' for May 1871, which contains a paper by the late Mr. Swinhoe; 'Les Oiseaux de la Chine,' par M. l'Abbé A. David. For fishes see Report of the British Association for the Advancement of Science' for 1845. For insects see Donovan's Natural History of the Insects of China.'

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