An Expedition to Hainan

Abstract

ALTHOUGH the flowering plants of Hainan have been extensively collected by Prof. Woon-Young Chun and his associates of the Botanical Institute, National Sun-Yatsen University, Canton, the animals of the island, although previously collected by a few naturalists, are still incompletely known to the scientific world. The Fan Memorial Institute of Biology, the Biological Laboratory of the Science Society of China, the Metropolitan Museum of Natural History of the Academia Sinica, the National Tsing Hua University, the National University of Peking, the National Shantung University and Nankai University hava recently organised a joint expedition to Hainan The purpose of this is to collect zoological specimens as extensively as possible. Cryptogams, orchids and wood samples will also be collected. The Fan Memorial Institute of Biology will be represented by C. Ho, entomologist, and S. K. Tang, taxidermist; the Biological Laboratory of the Science Society of China by Dr. C. C. Wang, invertebrate zoologist, and Mr. K. F. Wang, ichthyologist; the Metropolitan Museum of Natural History by Dr. H. W. Wu, ichthyologist; the National Shantung University by Mr. C. L. Tso, botanist, and Mr. Chungsi H. Liu, anthropologist; and Nankai University by Dr. T. S. Hsiung, invertebrate zoologist. Mr. C. L. Tso, who has had previous experience in the island and is familiar with the natives, will lead the expedition. The members of the expedition were to leave Shanghai about January 15. One party is going to the famous Wu-tchi-shan or Five Fingers Mountain. As the mountain attains the height of more than 2,000 metres, zoological specimens, especially land vertebrates, will be thoroughly collected in order to study the problem of vertical distribution. Another party will make a coastal survey and pay more attention to the sea fauna.