_Comparison of the Faunas of Hainan, Formosa, and Japan._--The island of Hainan on the extreme south of China, and only separated from the mainland by a strait fifteen miles wide, appears to have considerable similarity to Formosa, inasmuch as it possesses seventeen peculiar land-birds (out of 130 obtained by Mr. Swinhoe), two of which are close allies of Formosan species, while two others are identical. We also find four species whose nearest allies are in the Himalayas. Our knowledge of this island and of the adjacent coast of China is not yet sufficient to enable us to form an accurate judgment of its relations, but it seems probable that it was separated from the continent at, approximately, the same epoch as Formosa and Japan, and that the special features of each of these islands are mainly due to their geographical position. Formosa, being more completely isolated than either of the others, possesses a larger proportion of peculiar species of birds, while its tropical situation and lofty mountain ranges {408} have enabled it to preserve an unusual number of Himalayan and Malayan forms. Japan, almost equally isolated towards the south, and having a much greater variety of climate as well as a much larger area, possesses about an equal number of mammalia with Formosa, and an even larger proportion of peculiar species. Its birds, however, though more numerous are less peculiar; and this is probably due to the large number of species which migrate northwards in summer, and find it easy to enter Japan through the Kurile Isles or Saghalien.[96] Japan too, is largely peopled by those northern types which have an unusually wide range, and which, being almost all migratory, are accustomed to cross over seas of moderate extent. The regular or occasional influx of these species prevents the formation of special insular races, such as are almost always produced when a portion of the population of a species remains for a considerable time completely isolated. We thus have explained the curious fact, that while the mammalia of the two islands are almost equally peculiar, (those of Japan being most so in the present state of our knowledge), the birds of Formosa show a far greater number of peculiar species than those of Japan. _General Remarks on Recent Continental Islands._--We have now briefly sketched the zoological peculiarities of an illustrative series of recent continental islands, commencing with one of the most recent--Great Britain--in which the process of formation of peculiar species has only just commenced, and terminating with Formosa, probably one of the most ancient of the series, and which accordingly presents us with a very large proportion of peculiar species, not only in its mammalia, which have no means of crossing the wide strait which separates it from the mainland, but also in its birds, many of which are quite able to cross over.