J r ei-fi1n'<tfi- Ani Hints in ludin, Cei/lmi. mi'l Burma. 4S-" 



have been made ly Khves,* von Pelzeln,f Wallace, J Sharpe,? Newton,;; 

 Gadow, r Lydekker,** and W. Sclater,tt besides the present author. JJ 

 The majority of these contributions deal, however, with birds or 

 mammals alone, the first-named class having received the greatest 

 amount of attention. 



The completion of the seven volumes containing descriptions of all 

 the Vertebrata, in the 'Fauna of British India/ affords an opportunity 

 of reviewing generally the distribution of terrestrial vertebrate animals 

 throughout the British possessions in India, Ceylon, and Burma. The 

 limits are those of the British Indian territories and dependencies with 

 the addition of Ceylon (which, although British, is not under the 

 Indian Government). Baluchistan, all the Kashmir territories (with 

 Gilgit, Ladak, Arc.), Nepal, Sikhim, Bhutan, and other Cis-Himalayan 

 States, Assam, Manipur, the Burmese Shan States, Karennee, and the 

 Andaman and Nicobar Islands are included ; but not Afghanistan, 

 Kashgaria, Tibet, Yunnan, Siam, or the Malay Peninsula south of 

 Tenasserim. 



For the study of zoological distribution there are few, if any, 

 regions on the earth's surface that exceed British India and its de- 

 pendencies in interest. The area is about 1,800,000 square miles, and 

 although the vertebrate fauna is by no means thoroughly explored, it 

 is well known throughout the greater part of the area and fairly 

 known throughout the whole, better probably than in any other 

 tropical and sub-tropical tract of approximately equal extent. The 

 variety of climate is remarkable : within the area are included the 

 almost rainless deserts of Sind and the locality on the Khasi Hills dis- 

 tinguished by the heaviest rainfall known, the cold arid plateau of the 

 Upper Indus drainage, and the dam}) tropical forests of Malabar and 

 Tenasserim. The country is bounded on the north by the highest 

 mountain range in the world, and on the south by an ocean extending 

 to the Antarctic regions. Another element of interest lies in the fact i 

 that the peninsula of India is a land of great geological antiquity, 

 there being no evidence that it has ever been submerged, although the 

 greater part of the Himalayas and Burma have at times been beneath 

 the sea. 



The plan adopted for the study has been to divide the whole country 



' P. Z. S.,' 1873, p. 645. 



t ' Africa. Imlien,' " Verb. Z.-B. Gc*. Wu-n," 1875, p. 62. 



' Geographical Distribution,' vol. 1, pp. 81, &c., 1876. 



S ' Natural Science,' August, 1893, p. IDS. 



| ' Dictionary of Birds,' p. 358 (1893). 



* Bronn's ' Kl. Ord. d. Thiei-reichs,' VI, 4, Vogcl, p. 2% (1893). 

 ** ' Geographical History of Mammals,' p. 266 (1896). 



ft ' Geographical Journal,' 1896, vol.8, p. 380; ' Geography of Mammals,' p. 131. 

 it ' Jour. As. Soc. Beng.,' vol. 39, pt. 2, p. 336 (187O) ; ' A. M. N. H.' (4), vol. 18, 

 p. 277 (1876) ; Introduction to ' Miuv.ir.alia," 'Fauna Brit. Ind.,' p. IV (1888). 



