FACNA. The vast tracts of sparsely inhabit ed country, and the wide variations of ele vation and climate, cause considerable dif ferentiation in the fauna. Tigers, panthers, leopards, wildcats. civet-cats, tree-civets and mar tens. black and brown bears. twenty species of bats, several varieties of monkeys, wolves, foxes, antelopes, deer of eleven kinds, including three of the musk-deer, and, in Yun-nan Province, the elephant, rhinoceros, and tapir. are some of the wild animals. The water-buffalo, cattle and horses, sheep and goats. mules and donkeys. pigs of various varieties, weasels, otters, badgers, stoats, sea-otters, moles. muskrats, hedgehogs, hares and rabbits, a dozen kind; of squirrels. and twenty-five species of rats and iniee are known. The lists of Swinhoe and David contain two hun dred species of mammalia. Sea-food is so abun dant that in Macao one may have a different kind of fish for breakfast every morning in the ;Near, it is said. Porpoises. fimvhales, eels, sharks, and sturgeons are numerous off the coasts: and alligators. snakes. frogs. and tortoise; abound. Of ldrds, over seven hundred species have already been described. The entomology has been very title studied. Locusts in swarms often do great damage, and sem-pions, the mantis or 'praying beetle ' centiI)edes, fireflies, and beetles are found everywhere.
(;EoLouv AND 11INFRAT. Our knowledge of the geolorrieal eon formation of China is limited to the incomplete records of von Riehtliofen and a few other scientists who have penetrated into the interior, and to the reports of mining engineers on portions of Man churia and China proper. it is known. however, that most of China is floored by geological for mations of Mesozoie or older times• the only areas presenting earlier formation; being the great plain of the lower llo-ang-ho, and the smaller plain of the Yang.-tse-kiang, which are covered by Quaternary deposits. The mountain ranges are emnposed of Arch:can rocks, granites, gneisses, and schist or Paleozoic rocks, and the alleys of Paleozoic or Mesozoic beds. Perhaps the most remarkable and characteristic forma tion is the friable brownish-yellow earth called •loess,' which forms a mantle several hundred feet thick spreading over the highest hills and deepest valleys, and, by its bold sculpturing into terraced and steppe-like prominences, making a picturesque landscape. The loess formation is particularly prominent in the provinces of Shen si, Shan-si. I be man. and Shamtung. :!long the Hu-ang-ho Valley, where it occupies au arca of many thousand squall' TIIV soil in these regions is exceedingly fertile; hut, owing to its porous, absorlamt character, a large rainfall is re quired to make it productive. Vast amounts of
the loess are washed annually into the Ho-nag-110 and borne seaward by that river.
The most valuable of China's mineral re sources are the deposits of (-oat, which ore said to eN tend over more than 100,000 square miles, and to exceed those of any other country in the world. Coal is known to exist in every one of the eighteen provinces. but at present is mined in only a few localities. Among these are Kai-ping% in Pe-chi-li, Fang-slum (anthra cite), Po-shan, in Shantung, Chang-kin, 1-chow, 1-sien. and Kan-su. Beds of anthracite are known to exist in eastern Shan-si, and of bituminous coal in the western part of the same province, each field being estimated to have an area of 13.500 square miles. (If metals China has been pro ductive since remote antiquity. Gold is still washed from the sands of the Amur River in Manehuria, and along the upper course of the Iang-ts•-kiang, and auriferous plartz veins are worked in the mountains of and Shan tung. ..)lining as conducted by the natives, how ever, is exceedingly crude and on :t limited scale. The workings are abandoned upon reaching wa ter-level, and consequently the best mines have long, been idle. The present anneal output of gold probably does not exceed $3.500,000. Silver-lead ores are produced in Pe-chi-li and Yun-nan, the values in silver sometimes being as high as 500 per ton. Copper-mines, of which some are under Government control. were exploited km: la-fore the Christian era, the metal being partieulorly prized for coinage purposes. There are rich deposits in Vumnan and liu-nan. 11.4m ore is found in Shansi, in juxtaposition with coal. Tin and quicksilver ores are known to occur in extensive deposits, but they are wrought in small quantities and by crude methods. The salt-works of Sze-chuen present an example of a Chinese industry- attaining a development com parable to that of the !core progressive nations. Artesian wells are driven to depths of 15011 feet or more, to roach the brine. which is pumped through bamboo tubing and evaporated over fur naces. natural gas being used for fuel. From these works the salt is transported down the Yang-I e-kiang and marketed in distant parts of the empire. Within recent years foreign capi talists have endeavored to develop the mining in dustry of China. and sonic valuable concessions have been secured. Under these governmental grants active operations were begun in the min districts of the northern provinces, but, un fortunatel•, the politic-al troubles prevented a sue eessful issue. It is certain that the industry will undergo rapid development as soon as a more stable condition of affairs is assured.