358 GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION 



opportunities of becoming acquainted with the interior of the 

 country. In finally publishing the observations which a residence 

 of twelve years in central and western China enabled him to make, 

 he had the advantage of M. Oustalet's co-operation, and their joint 

 work, Les Oiseaitx de la Chine (Paris : 1877), with its many illustra- 

 tions, is naturally a most valuable addition to our knowledge of 

 the subject. By these gentlemen the number of species observed 

 in China is raised to 807, of which 158 are said to be found in 

 EurojDe, 148 in Palsearctic Asia, and 248 in Southern Asia. More 

 important than this is the statement that 249 species are peculiar 

 to China, which for the occasion is trisected into a Northern with 

 92, a Tibetan with 58, and a Southern district with 169 peculiar 

 species. It seems as if these last only would come within our 

 Indian Region, the rest or most of them belonging truly to the 

 Palsearctic area ; but unfortunately the authors do not trace their 

 geographical boundaries, and indeed, as has been more than once 

 hinted in the preceding paragraphs, our existing knowledge seems 

 not to admit of this being done. 



The two principal islands off the Chinese coast are happily in a 

 different position. In Formosa S^\'inhoe found 144 species refer- 

 able to 102 genera, of which 98 occur in the continental part of 

 this Subregion and 70 in the Indo-Malayan, while Hainan has 130 

 species belonging to 96 genera, of which 93 are common to the 

 Himalo-Chinese Subregion and 86 to the Malayan, thus shewing in 

 each case a decided predominance. Formosa has no fewer than 

 34, and Hainan 16 species believed to be peculiar, but it is needless 

 to say that they are more or less nearlj?- allied to those of the 

 mainland. 



The truly Indian Subregion, according to Mr. Blanford's latest 

 determination, consists of the whole Peninsula from the base of 

 the Himalayas, and of the island of Ceylon. It contains two 

 districts which we may call Provinces — the first, the " Indian," ^ 

 excepts the Malabar coast but includes the northern part of Ceylon, 

 while the second, called by him " Malabar or Ceylonese," takes in 

 what is left of both peninsula and island. But he also remarks 

 that further subdivision may be required, for the Fauna of what 

 are politically called the " North- Western Provinces " and of the 

 Punjab differs considei'ably from that of Southern India, and both 

 areas exhibit zoological distinction from the forest-clad tracts of 

 South-western Bengal. Since the publication of Jerdon's never-to- 



^ It is of course inconvenient having to apply this epithet to a Kegion, a 

 Subregion, and a Province. But that is not the fault of those who regard its 

 prior application to the first by Mr. Sclater. Practically the inconvenience is 

 not so great as it might seem, for the word being an adjective, requires a 

 substantive in apposition, and that should always signify which of the three is 

 meant. 



