166 ^,^^^^^^^^^^y^ ^^ Zoological Society : — 



individuality in ]>la)its, an<l the advocacy of the claim of the hud to 

 the dignity of the ' vegetable individual.' So far as inquiries of this 

 sort tend to direct attention to the physiological laws ruling the 

 growth and multiplication of plants, they are beneficial ; but as re- 

 gards the main question it appears to us only a metaphysical puzzle, 

 calculated to afford much amusement to those whose taste lies that 

 way, but having no practical bearing. The meaning of the word 

 ' individual ' must always depend on foregone conclusions. It seems 

 to us that the author is not clear in distinguishing potentiality from 

 actuality. When a botanist speaks of the annual layers of wood of 

 the stems of Dicotyledons as * roots,' the term can only be admitted 

 in a figurative sense. A bud may be capable of producing a distinct 

 tree, but if it be not detached, it becomes an individual branch, not 

 an individual tree. Our author does not appear to be aware, either, 

 that roots as well as stems originate in definitely organized ' buds,' 

 formed in the cambium region. The work is agreeably written, and 

 its perusal may serve as a pleasant intellectual exercise, but it must 

 not be accepted by any means as a full exposition of the question. 



PROCEEDINGS OF LEARNED SOCIETIES. 



ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



July 10, 1855.— John Gould, Esq., F.R.S., in the Chair. 



On the Geographical distribution of the Mammalia 



AND Birds of the Himalaya. 



By B. H. Hodgson, Esq,.* 



" The Himalayan mountains extend from the great bend of the 

 Indus to the great bend of the Brahmaputra, or from Gilgit to 

 Brahma Kiind, between which their length is 1800 miles. Their 

 mean breadth is about 90 miles ; the maximum about 110, and the 

 minimum 70 miles. The mean breadth of 90 miles may be most 

 conveniently divided into three equal portions, each of which will 

 therefore have 30 miles of extent. These transverse climatic divi- 

 sions must be, of course, more or less arbitrary, and a microscopic 

 vision would be disposed to increase them considerably beyond three, 

 with reference to geological, to botanical, or to zoological phsenomena. 

 But, upon comparing Captain Herbert's distribution of geological 

 phsenomena with my own of zoological, and Dr. Hooker's of botanical, 

 I am satisfied that three are enough. These regions I have deno- 

 minated the lower, the middle, and the upper. They extend from 

 the external margin of the Tarai to the ghat line of the snows. The 

 lower region mjiy be conveniently divided into — I. The sandstone 

 range, with its contained Dhuns or Maris ; II. The Bhaver or 

 Saul forest; III. The Tarai. The other two regions require no 



* Extracted from a memoir by the same author, entitled, " On tlie Physieal 

 Geography of the Himalaya," and printed in the Journal As. Soc. Bengal for 18 19, 

 by Frederic Moore. 



