宋代的“鸟兽草木之学”

宋代是我国古代科学文化非常繁荣的一个时期，生物学也有了令人瞩目的发展。伴随着动植物资料的积累，促进了专门的“鸟兽草木之学”（或称古典生物学）的形式。各种类型的生物学著作迅速增加。它们有的描述地域性的动植物资源，如《益部方物略记》、《南方草木状》；有的描述专门类属的动植物，如《桐谱》和《蟹谱》等等；还有一些是当时学者广泛学习的资料丰富的综合性生物学著作，如《埤雅》。更为突出的是一些学者试图创造出自己的生物学奠基性著作，如《禽经》、《昆虫草木略》。后一书的作者不但阐明“鸟兽草木之学”的重要性，而且把它当作古代20种最重要的学术之一。还有一些学者则强调研究动植物对于认知外部世界的重要性。当时的这种学术思潮，使更多的生物学著作涌出，并对后世产生了深远的影响。

Biology in the SongDynasty

In China's history,the Song Dynasty witnessed a very prosperous period of science and culture.Biology of the Song Dynasty got notable advance as well.With the accumulation of more and more information about plants and animals (or biology),the formation of the subject about plants and animals was tremendously promoted.Various biological writings rapidly increased,of which some described the local flora and fauna,such as Yi Zhou Fang Wu Lue Ji (A Short Record of Products in Yi Zhou) and Nan Fang Cao Mu Zhuang (The Herbs and Trees in the South of China),while others were monographs on plants and animals,such as Tong Pu (On Paulowmias) and Xie Pu (Records on Crabs).In addition,new kinds of very important biological works appeared which gathered a lot of biological lore that scholars must acquire then,such as Pi Ya .Meanwhile,scholars put out such biological classics as Qin Jing (The Classic on Birds)and Kun Chong Cao Mu Lue (Historia on Animals and Plants),of which the author of the latter work not only expounded the importance of the subject about plants and animals,but also set it as one of the twenty branches of learning in ancient China.There were also scholars who emphasized the importance to study plants and animals for understanding nature.Hence,more and more biological books came to be written,which produced a great impact on the development of biology in later ages.