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NATURAL HISTORY

Crow Pheasant is in fact neither crow nor pheasant but a cuckoo. Its haunting call of descending notes can be heard in spring and early summer. The Bulbul and the minute Tailor Bird with its insistent 'tch tch' call are common birds in urban areas; while the beautiful song of the Hwamei delights hikers and residents in the country- side.

Snakes, lizards and frogs are well represented in Hong Kong. There are also various species of terrapin and turtle. Most of the snakes are non-poisonous and death from snake bite is extremely rare. Apart from back-fanged species, not dangerous to man, the venomous land snakes are: the Banded Krait, with black and yellow bands; the Many-banded Krait with black and white bands; Macclelland's Coral Snake, which is coral red with narrow, black transverse bars; the Chinese Cobra and the Hamadryad or King Cobra, both of which are hooded; the very rare Moun- tain Pit Viper and the White-lipped Pit Viper or Bamboo Snake. The Bamboo Snake is bright green and, although less venomous than the others, is more often seen and more likely to attack if accidentally disturbed. The Hamadryad preys almost exclu- sively on other snakes. Several species of sea snake, all venomous, are found in Hong Kong waters but, fortunately, have never been known to attack bathers. An am- phibian of special interest is the Hong Kong newt, which has not been recorded any- where else in the region.

There are just over 200 species of butterfly in Hong Kong. Of the many moths, two are outstanding for their size. These are the Moon and Atlas moths with wing spans of six and nine inches respectively. Apart from butterflies and moths there is a great variety of insects, many brilliantly coloured. They include many species of dragon fly and damsel fly and metallic-coloured beetles and solitary wasps. The beau- tiful Candle Fly or Lantern Fly has delicately coloured wings like those of a butterfly, but is more closely related to the cicada. It lives on lychee trees and is remarkable in that its forehead is almost as long as its body, hence the Chinese name which translated means the elephant-nosed bug. The adults of several species of cicada emerge during spring and summer. They range from the rare three-and-a-half inches Tacua to the small grass cicadas less than half an inch long.

Land molluscs of note are the Giant African Snail, measuring about five inches long, which was introduced (and is now a considerable pest), and a large black slug, Veronicella, a species sufficiently distinct from all other slugs to be placed in a separate family.

Aquatic Life

Marine life in Hong Kong waters is exceedingly diverse in variety, form and colour. It used to sustain a profitable inshore fishery, as the Yellowtail (Seriola quinquilineata), Mackerels (Scomberomorus species), Yellow Croaker (Pseudosciaena arocea) and a number of other schooling species appeared seasonally in commercially exploitable quantities. In the course of fisheries development, however, the abundance of these resources (with the exception of certain isospondylous fishes) began to diminish-possibly due to an increasing disturbance of the local marine environment. The full extent of Hong Kong's marine fauna is difficult to assess, but the diverse varieties of fish, crustacea, cephalopod, mollusc and seaweed indicate that the number