A P P E N D IX A.
TH E F A U N A O F R U S S IA N T U R K IS T A N
I AM conscious of acting somewhat rashly in attempting
to put together the information I have gathered respecting
the fauna and flora of Russian Central Asia, because I
know that to do it properly requires a larger amount of
scientific knowledge than I possess. My case, however, is
this. Before I had quite decided whether to make the
present work a chatty book of travel, or to attempt something
more solid, I went to the British Museum to ask what
information they possessed of the zoology of Turkistan. A
pile of Fedchenko’s books was shown me, said to be full of
valuable information, but lost to the major part of the scientific
world, because written in Russian. That the books were
beautifully illustrated only made the matter more tantalizing ;
but as the names of the species, and in some cases their
descriptions, were in Latin, I began to examine them.
Just about this time I chanced to meet Mr. W. H. Cromie,
who has translated several articles from the Russian for
periodical literature, and who kindly volunteered to help me.
A t first I thought to avail myself of his services only to the
extent of one or two introductions in Fedchenko’s work, which,
when put into English, promised to furnish general data for
embodiment in my text. The translation, however, sped so
well, that ere long the majority of the introductions were done,
when it occurred to me that it might be of service to add
them, with their accompanying lists of species, as appendices.
On consulting Professor Newton, of Cambridge, Dr. Gunther,
of the British Museum, Dr. Sclater, of the Zoological Society,
Mr. Dresser, F.Z.S., Mr. MacLachlan, F.R.S., and other
naturalists, they all commended the idea, and, what was
better, several volunteered assistance. Thus encouraged by
their sympathy, and further helped by Mr. Cromie, the work
was continued, and other naturalists communicated with.
The result is that I am able to place before the reader in a
narrow compass a certain amount of information upon the
fauna and flora of the country I travelled through, which
may perhaps be of some little use, until better is forthcoming.
I have also been careful to indicate, when possible, where
more and fuller information may be found.
Until within the last thirty years, it will be remembered,
Turkistan was all but unknown to science, and autoptic
writers upon its fauna and flora even now may be counted
on one’s fingers. Among zoological writers we have
Prjevalsky, Severtsoff, Fedchenko, Alpheraky, Finsch,
Oshanin, and Bogdanoff; and we will speak of these first.
I f we approach the country, as the Russians entered it, from
the north-east, then of the latest naturalists we have Dr. Otto
Finsch, who journeyed up the Irtish, and continued southwards
to Ala-Kul. Although his book is not strictly zoological,
he touches a good deal upon the forms of animal life he
met with, and I have embodied much of his information,
when it concerns my own route.
Proceeding south to the Kuldja district, and the surrounding
mountains, we have Eolonel Prjevalsky’s “ Journey from
Kuldja to Lob-Nor,” wherein occur several items of zoological
information, but they are not tabulated. In the case of
M. Alpheraky we are more fortunate. This gentleman
penetrated to the Yuldus plateau to study the Lepidoptera of
the region, and captured 12,000 specimens. He has been
good enough to send me in manuscript his list of 377 species,
which is given furthur on.*
Proceeding westwards, we come to the regions travelled
by a famous naturalist, M. N. A. Severtsoff, who, in 1867,
* F o r a l i s t o f V e r t e b r a t a o b s e r v e d b y h i m , a s w e l l a s f u r t h e r r e m a r k s u p o n h i s
L e p i d o p t e r a , see V o l . i . , p . 2 4 7 .