Introduction 



the meeting-ground of the Indian and the Burmese 

 faunas. 



Peninsular India, properly restricted to the area 

 south of the great plain formed by the alluvium of 

 the Indus and Ganges, although often considered to 

 extend to the foot of the Himalaya, is the home of 

 the true Indian fauna, examples of which are the 

 chital, or spotted deer, the hog-deer, the swamp-deer, 

 the Indian sambar, the nilgai, and the sloth-bear. 

 Even apart from minor divisions due to varying 

 conditions of climate, soil, vegetation, etc., Peninsular 

 India is by no means uniform as regards its animals. 

 The Malabar coast, for instance, is very distinct in 

 this respect from the whole of the remainder of the 

 area, although showing considerable resemblances to 

 Ceylon, except the north of the latter, which is more 

 akin in its animals to Peninsular India generally. 

 Many characteristic Indian animals, such as the tiger, 

 the Indian wolf, and the swamp-deer, are, however, 

 absent from Ceylon. 



In the trans- Indus districts of the Punjab, and 

 still more markedly in Western Sind, Baluchistan, and 

 Afghanistan, we gradually take leave of the fauna of 

 Peninsular India (and with it that of the Oriental 

 region generally), and find it replaced by a Persian 

 element ; these Persian types belonging to the Holarctic 

 fauna of Western Asia and Europe. Examples of 

 such western types are met with in the form of the 

 European wolf, the Persian leopard, the wild ass, and 

 the Persian gazelle. The lion, too, belongs to this 

 Persian fauna, although it has succeeded in penetrating 

 farther into India than some of the other members. 

 All traces of the Malay fauna, such as tapirs, the 

 two smaller species of rhinoceros, and the Malay 

 bear, are wanting from the area occupied by the 

 Persian fauna. 



In the cis-Indus Salt Range of the Punjab we meet 

 with an outlier of the Persian fauna in the form of the 



