Page:Twentieth Century Impressions of Hongkong, Shanghai, and other Treaty Ports of China.djvu/147

 most noticeable otherwise are large Syrphids and Asilids, the latter fierce and predaceous flies. The Hemiptera are much in evidence, some large and handsome species occurring; a few kinds are in such abundance as seriously to damage certain trees. The great Water-bug, a species of Belostoma, is very common in stagnant water, but is seldom seen. Sometimes, however, it flies during the night into lighted houses, and always attracts attention by its great size. The Cicadidæ during the wet season force themselves on one's attention, being found even in trees in the city. Of the Candle-flies, or Fulgoridæ, there are two large and handsomely-coloured species, one being very common. Some curious Membracids, Aphides and Scale-insects, and the insects which prey on them, are also very common; in fact, but for the Ladybird and Syrphid larvæ and other enemies which destroy them, Aphides of two or three kinds would soon become a pest in the island.

Spiders, Crustacea, &amp;c.—There is a rich fauna of Spiders, including some very large species. Scorpions occur, but are not very common. The Crabs are well represented. Whole armies of small land-crabs may sometimes be heard rustling the paddy like the wind, as they climb the rice-plants in the evening to eat the grain. The large and peculiar King-crab, a species of Limulus, inhabits the shallow sea round the island, and is sometimes to be seen in the market. Of the Myriapoda, a poisonous Centipede, often over five inches in length, is very common, and many other species are numerous under stones and logs.

Mollusca.—Land-shells, as usual in a granite country, are not numerous in species. Leeches are common in small streams, but do not swarm in wet grass and herbage, as in many tropical places.

, protected more or less from the ravages of the Chinese wood and grass cutters, has become a haven of refuge for butterflies on the coast of Kwangtung. Nearly all the species found on the adjacent mainland are here abundant, and some inhabit the island which do not occur again till we reach some Buddhist monasteries many miles inland, around which a fair amount of well-grown timber and little-disturbed underwood is still preserved.

There are some 146 Hongkong butterflies recorded. About sixteen are rare, and two or three of these are exceedingly rare—merely accidental—though the list of rare visitants is sure to be gradually increased. But we may say that 130 species are native and numerous, the majority very abundant. The greater part are also very beautiful insects, some even gorgeous, and the butterfly fauna as a whole has a decidedly "tropical" aspect; the large and showy Papilioninæ; of which twelve species are very common, contributing greatly to its character.

Hongkong is in Wallace's Indo-Chinese (or Himalayan) sub-region of the Oriental Region. The butterflies (and also the bugs or Hemiptera-Heteroptera) have decided Indian affinities, and many insects of both orders are familiar natives of Calcutta. Hongkong is rich in representative Himalayan genera. The only two peculiar Hongkong (and South China) species, Clerome eumeus and Gerydus chinensis, belong to tropical and Himalayan genera, Clerome being entirely Oriental. The very common Euplœa midamus is a Chinese variety, slightly different from the type. Parnara sinensis, first found by Leech in Western China, is fairly common here. Two insects, Vanessa cardui and Limenitis sybilla, are respectively the well-known "Painted Lady" and "White Admiral," but the latter is scarce in Hongkong, whilst the former is spreading gradually over the world, and is not at present common here. Only two really Palæarctic genera occur here—Vanessa and Argyunis, the former represented by three species, one of which (V. indica) somewhat resembles the "Red Admiral"; the latter genus has only one species which is common in the Eastern tropics. Butterflies of the sub-family Danainæ (which is really tropical, though some of its members are rapidly becoming cosmopolitan) and genus Euplœa are some of the most abundant and striking insects in Hongkong, the Euplœa being entirely confined to the Oriental and Australian Regions, but chiefly numerous in the former. Danais chrysippus is very common here, occurs in South Europe, and is spreading over the greater part of the world, as also is D. archippus (D. crippus menippe), which has occurred in Hongkong—together, it would seem, with the spread of the food-plant of its larva, which is sometimes planted in gardens, though originally a North American weed. But the Danaid larvæ feed largely on plants which have the seeds naturally adapted for conveyance to enormous distances by the wind.

One slow-flying Pierid, P. canidia (a contrast to the rapid flight of most butterflies here) reminds one strongly of the destructive European "Cabbage White," and is, I believe, merely an Eastern race of P. rapæ. It is practically the only butterfly in Hongkong which damages gardens, as its larva feeds on cultivated vegetables. The larva of a "Skipper" Parnara Guttatus, feeds on the leaves of the rice-plant, but is greatly checked by parasites, and does no material damage.