37^ 



NA TURE 



[Sept. 2, 1875 



4. The Mantchurian Sub-region. 

 Of this district, which embjaces the country lying south of the 

 Amoor and the greater part of Northern China, down perhaps 

 to the great river Yang-tze, we have, besides the Russian works 

 lastly spoken of, two principal sources of information. The first 

 of these consists in the researches of Mr. Robert Swinhoe, of 

 H.M. Chinese Consular Service, one of the most industrious and 

 successful exploring naturalists that have ever lived, as is well 

 known to many of my brother members here present. Mr. 

 Swinhoe's memoirs and papers on Chinese Zoology are very nu- 

 merous, but ihis last revised list of the birds of China will 

 be found in the Zoological Society's "Proceedings" for 1871. 

 Pere Armand David, a worthy rival of our Consul, has likewise 

 contributed in no small degree to our knowledge of the fauna of 

 Northern China. His journals, containing numerous remarks 

 full of interest, have lately been published in the ' ' Nouvelle 

 Archives du Museum d'Histoire Naturelle de Paris;" and 

 M. Alphonse Milne- Edwards's recently completed " Recherches 

 sur les Mammiferes " contains a section specially devoted to 

 the Mammals of Northern China, which is mainly based on Pere 

 David's researches. I shall, however, have again occasion to 

 mention the discoveries of both Mr. Swinhoe ahd M. David in a 

 subsequent portion of this address. 



5. The Japanese Sub-region. 

 Temminck and Schlegel's "Fauna Japonica" have long 

 been our standard authority upon the zoology of Japan, and not 

 much has been done of late years to perfect it, except as regards 

 the birds. On this branch of our subject some very good 

 articles have been published in the "Ibis" by Capt. Blakiston, 

 based upon his researches in Hakodadi ; by Mr. Whitely, 

 who was for some time resident along with Capt. Blackiston 

 at the same port ; and by Mr. Swinhoe. Reierence should 

 also be made to the second volume of Commodore Perry's 

 "Narrative of the U.S. Expedition to Japan in 1852-54," 

 wherein will be found articles on the birds collected by Cassin, 

 and on the fishes by Brevoort. 



6. The Tartarian Sub-region. 



Into the great desert-region of Central Asia, hitherto almost 

 unknown, except from Eversmann's " Reise nach Buchara," 

 which contains a short natural-history appendix, excursions 

 have recently been made from two opposite quarters. The ad- 

 ran cing tide of Russian conquest from the north, accompanied, 

 as usual, by its scientific corps, has already made us well ac- 

 quainted with the zoology of Turkestan. Mr. Severtzoff has 

 unfortunately yielded to the unphilosophical spirit of nationality, 

 which has of late years attained such a monstrous development, 

 and published his " Turkestanskie Jevotnie," or review of the 

 distribution of animal life in Turkestan, in his native Rus- 

 sian. But a translation and reproduction of the portion relating 

 to the birds has already appeared in German, and an abstract 

 of it in English is now being given to the world by Mr. Dresser 

 in the "Ibis.". 



From the south, the peaceful embassies of this country to Yar- 

 kand have led naturalists into the fringe ot the same zoological 

 district. Of the first of these expeditions we have an excellent 

 accoKut as regards the birds by Mr. A. O. Hume, forming the 

 second part of Henderson's "Lahore to Yarkand." Sir D. 

 Forsjth'g second expedition to Yarkand and Kashgar was 

 accompanied by Dr. Ferdinand Stolitzska, one of the most ac- 

 comphshed and energetic members of the staff of the Indian 

 Geological Survey, whose life was miserably sacrificed to the 

 hardships encountered on the return. Of this last expedition we 

 have as yet only incomplete accounts,* but may, I trust, look 

 forward to the publication of an equally interesting volume on 

 the zoological results. The ichthyological part of the collections 

 has, I believe, been entrusted to Dr. F. Day to work out in this 

 country. 



7. The Persian Sub-region. 



Of the Persian or " Mediterraneo-persic " Sub-region, as Mr. 

 Elwes prefers to call it,f which may be held to embrace European 

 Turkey, Palestine, and Persia, our knowledge was until recently 

 very limited, and even up to the present day remains very im- 

 perfect, considering the proximity of the district to Europe, and 

 the many interesting features which it presents. As regards Pales- 

 tine, Canon Tristram's energetic researches have done much to 

 remove what has long been a scandal to biblical scholars as well 



* See Hume, " Stray Feathtrs," ii. p. 513 and iii. p. 215. 



t q/.P.Z.S. 1873, p. 647. 



as to naturalists. His long-promised "Synopsis of the Floni 

 and Fauna of Palestine " is, however, not yet issued by the Ray 

 Society, and we must be consequently content with Mr. Tris- 

 tram's papers on the Birds of the Holy Land in the "Ibis" 

 and Dr. Glinther's article upon the Reptiles and Fishes in 

 the Zoological Society's " Proceedings," until the finished 

 work appears. Of Asia Minor and Armenia it may be said that 

 we are miserably ignorant, Tchihatcheff's desultory account 

 of its natural history in his "Asia Mineure " being almost 

 the only authority we have to refer to. Thirty years ago the 

 Zoological Society had two excellent correspondents at Erzeroum 

 — Messrs. Dickson and Ross ; and it is a great misfortune that 

 no continuous account was ever prepared of the fine collection 

 which they sent home.* 



As regards Persia, we may hope very shortly to be much more 

 favourably situated. Mr. W. T. Blanford and Major St. John 

 have recently ir.ade large zoological collections in various parts 

 of that country, particularly of birds, and it is generally under- 

 stood that the report of the Persian Boundary Expedition will 

 contain a complete account of the zoology of Persia from Mr. 

 Blanford's accomplished pen. Hitherto we have had to rely on 

 Dc Filippi's "Viaggio in Persie," and other fragmentary 

 sources of information. 



IT.— ETHIOPIAN REGION. 

 This region I shall speak of, for convenience sake, under the 

 following six sub -divisions : — 



1. Western Africa, from the Senegal to the Congo. 



2. South-western Africa, or Angola and Benguela. 



3. South Africa. 



4. South-eastern Africa, from the Portuguese possessions up 

 to the Somali coast. 



5. North-eaitern Africa, including Abyssinia, Nubia, and 

 Egypt. 



6. Arabia. 



I. Western Africa. 



The Mammals of Western Africa are certainly not so well 

 known as they should be ; and there is no one work which gives 

 an account of them except Temminck's " Esquisses Zoologiques 

 sur la cote de Guinee," which is devoted to the collectioiis 

 transmitted to Leyden by Pel, a most energetic and successful 

 Dutch explorer. On the Mammals of Gaboon, Pucheran's article in 

 the French "Archives du Museum," and Du Chaillu's travels 

 and the literature connected therewith, should be consulted. 



The birds of Western Africa, on the contrary, have attracted 

 much attention from European naturalists since the time when 

 Swainson published his " Birds of West Africa." This 

 work, however, has been quite superseded by Hartlaub's 

 classical " System der Ornithologique West-Afrikas," pub- 

 lished in 1857. Since that period many memoirs and papers 

 have appeared on the birds of various parts of this district, 

 principally by Cassin, of Philadelphia, Dr. Finsch, of Bremen, 

 and Mr. R. B. Sharpe, of the British Museum, who has paid 

 special attention to the African Ornis, and is understood to be 

 preparing a general work on the subject. 



For information on the Reptiles and Fishes of West Africa 

 we must refer to Aug. Dumeril's memoir in the tenth volume 

 of the " Archives du Museum et Histoire Naturelle," founded 

 on the collections in the Paris Museum. 



2. South-western Africa. 

 The Portuguese colonies of Angola and Benguela, which 

 seem to belong to a zoological sub-region, distinct from both that 

 of West Africa and that of the Cape, were until recently almost 

 unexplored. Within these last few years, however. Prof. 

 Barboza du Bocage has acquired extensive series of specimens 

 in nearly every department of natural history from these 

 countries for the Lisbon Museum, and has pubhshed several 

 important memoirs on the subject, which he will probably 

 ultimately incorporate into a general work. Mr. J. J. Monteiro 

 has also sent to this country collections of Mammals and Birds 

 which have formed the subject of several papers in the Zoolo- 

 gical Society's " Proceedings." 



3. Southern Africa. 



Sir Andrew Smith's "Illustrations of the Zoology of South 



Africa " constitute four solid octavo volumes, devoted to 



the new and rare vertebrates met with during that energetic 



traveller's many explorations of the Cape Colony and the 



* See notices, P.Z.S. 1839, 1842, and 1844. 



