102 Address. [Feb". 



Zoology. 



Dui'ing the year unusually large and interesting additions have 

 been made to our knowledge of the Zoology of the Indian, Oriental 

 and Central Asian regions. 



In Indian Zoology, the principal event of the year has been the pub- 

 lication of three volumes of the Fauna of British hidia, Geylon and 

 Burmah, edited by Mr. W. T. Blanford, of which the commencement was 

 referred to in last year's address. The new volumes are : — The first 

 volume of ' Birds,' by Mr. E. W. Oates, and two volumes completing the 

 "Fishes," by the late Dr. F. Day. 



The Marine Survey Department, under Comiiaander Carpenter, R. N"., 

 has acain, by the dredging operations carried out on board the " In- 

 vestigator " by Dr. Alcock, added greatly to our knowledge of the Marine 

 fauna of the Indian Seas. Papers on this subject have been contributed 

 by Mr. Alcock to our Journal and others have appeared in the Annals 

 and Magazine of Natural History. 



An account of the Zoology of the Afghan Delimitation Commission, 

 by Dr. J. E. T. Aitchison, has been published as Part 3, Vol. V, of the 

 Transactions of the Linnean Society (Zoology), and is illustrated with two 

 maps and nine plates. The collections have been worked out by various 

 zoologists, as noted hereafter under the different heads. 



It is satisfactory to learn that the zoological results of Col. Prje- 

 valsky's travels in Central Asia are being worked out and published. Of 

 the "Mammals," under charge of Dr. Buchner, which forms the first 

 volume, three parts have already been published, and Mr. S. Herzenstein 

 has boo'un the publication of the " Fishes," which will foi*m the second 

 part of the third volume. The " Birds " have been entrusted to Hevr 

 Theodor Pleske. Russian scientific exploring parties have been busily 

 eno-aged in continuing the zoological investigations commenced by 

 Prievalsky in Central Asia and it is to be hoped that some results of 

 their labours will soon be forthcoming. 



The collections made in Transcaspia by Drs. Walter and Radde are 

 also being woi'ked out and many papers on them have been published. 



Mammals. — Mr. W. L. Sciater has described in our Journal the 

 head of a stag allied to Cervtis dybowshii, purchased in the Dai*jiling 

 Bazar; and if, as seems probable, it came from Tibet it shows that 

 this animal has a very extensive range from Tibet to Ussuri. He 

 has also contributed a paper to our Proceedings, on a small collec- 

 tion of Mammals from Shahpur, in the Punjab. Several specimens 

 of the somewhat rai'e bat, described by Dobson as ScotojyJiilus jxillidus, 

 were contained in the collection. 



