Sept 2, 1875] 



NATURE 



379 



adjoining districts. But there is no perfect list of the Cape 

 fauna given in Sir Andrew Smith's work, and Mr. Layard's 

 " Birds of South Africa," though not very completely elabo- 

 rated, was, therefore, a most acceptable and convenient work 

 to the ornithologist. Still more agreeable will it be to 

 witness the completion of the new and enlarged edition of Mr. 

 Layard's little volume, which Mr. Sharpe has undertaken, 

 and of which he has just issued the first part. Mr. Sharpe v/ill 

 however, I trust, pardon me for remarking that he has cut the 

 synonymy of the species rather short in his pages. It is 

 hard to expect every South-African colonist to have at 

 his side the British Museum Catalogue of Birds, to which 

 he always refers us. Another modern and much-to-be-re- 

 commended bird-book belonging to this sub-region is Mr. 

 J. H. Gumey's "Birds of Damara-land" founded on the exten- 

 sive collection of the late C. J. Anderson. No less than 428 

 species of birds were obtained by this indefatigable collector, 

 and the task of editing his field-notes has been well performed 

 by Mr. Giu-ney. 



4. South-eastern Africa. 



Our knowledge of the fauna of Mozambique is chiefly due 

 to the scientific visit made to that country by Dr. W. Peters, 

 of Berlin, in 1842 and the following years. The volume of 

 this distinguished naturalist, " Naturwissenschaftliche Reise 

 nach ^Mozambique," on the Mammals was published in 1852, 

 that on the Fishes in 1864. The delay in"the issue of the por- 

 tions relating to the Reptiles and Birds is much to be regretted, 

 more especially when we consider the high standard of the 

 work, although diagnoses of the new species discovered in these 

 groups have been long since published ; and I am sure I 

 am expressing the sentiments of naturalists in general when I 

 .say that I hope to see the series shortly completed. Proceeding 

 fiirther north along the African coast, we come to Zanzibar, 

 where an excellent ichthyologist, Consul Playfair, was lately 

 resident. The " Fishes of Zanzibar," by Giinther and Playfair, 

 founded on the extensive collections here made, was pub- 

 lished in 1866, and gives an account of above 500 species, 

 and many excellent figures. 



The ornithology of the whole East-African coast, from Cape 

 Gardafin to Mozambique, has been elaborately worked out by Drs. 

 Finsch and Hartlaub. The results are contained in these 

 authors' "Vogel Ost-Afrikans," forming the fourth volume of 

 the unfortunate Baron Carl Claus von der Decken's " Reisen 

 in Ost-Afrika." Full details as to older authorities on the 

 subject are given in this excellent work, so that it is not 

 necessary to refer to them. 



As regards the Mammals of this part of Africa, however, it 

 is necessary to say a few words. Our knowledge of this class 

 of animals is, as regards the coast opposite Zanzibar and the 

 country surrounding the great lakes of the interior, mainly com- 

 prised in the fragmentary collections of Speke and Grant (of 

 which an account has been published in the Zoological Society's 

 " Proceedings," and in the few specimens transmitted by 

 Dr. Kirk from Zanzibar. There is no doubt, however, that 

 much remains to be done here, and I believe there is at the 

 present moment no finer field for zoological discovery available 

 than this district, where we know that animal life in every 

 variety is still abundant, and excellent sport can be obtained to 

 add a zest to scientific investigation. The fishes of the great 

 lake of Tanganyika and the Victoria and Albert Nyanza are 

 likewise utterly unknown, and their investigation would be a 

 subject of the greatest interest. Of those of the more southern 

 Nyassa Lake, a few specimens have been obtained by Dr. 

 Kirk. 



5. North-east Africa. 



For many years Riippell's "Atlas" and " Neue Wirbel- 

 thiere," and, as regards birds, his " Systematische Ueber- 

 sicht," remained our standard works of reference upon the 

 zoology of North-eastern Africa. The recent completion of 

 Th. von Heuglin's " Ornithologie Nordost-Afrikas " has super- 

 seded Riippell's volumes for general use ; and no more valuable 

 piece of work for ornithologists has been accomplished of late 

 years than the reduction of the multitudinous obi^ervations and 

 records of this well-known traveller and naturalist into a 

 uniform series. V. Heuglin's work, however, concerns mainly 

 Upper Nubia, Abyssinia, and the wide territory drained by the 

 confluents of the Upper Nile. For Egypt and the Lower 

 Nile a more handy volume is Capt. Shelley's "Birds of Egypt," 

 published in 1872, which will be found speciaUy acceptable 



to the tourist on the Nile. Nor must I forget to mention 

 Mr. Blanford's interesting volume on the Geology and Zoology 

 of Abyssinia, which contains an account of the specimens of 

 Vertebrates collected and observed during his companionship 

 with the Abyssinian Expedition. Mr. Jesse's birds, collected 

 on the same occasion, were examined by Dr. Finsch, and the 

 result given to the world in a memoir published in the Zoolo- 

 gical Society's "Transactions." 



A good revision of the Mammal-fauna of North-east Africa 

 is much to be desired. Meanwhile Fitzinger's list of v. 

 Heuglin's collection, and the latter author's own account of them 

 in his Travels on the White Nile may be consulted. 



6. Arabia. 

 Of Arabia, as might have been expected, we know but little, 

 zoologically or otherwise. But little, it may be said, can be 

 expected to be found there, looking to the general aspect of the 

 country. Still it would be of interest to know what that little 

 is. At present the only district that has been visited by 

 naturalists is the peninsula of Sinai, and of this our knowledge 

 is by no means complete. Hemprich and Ehrenberg's un- 

 finished "Symbols Physical" was for many years our sole 

 authority. More recently Mr. Wyatt has published an article 

 in the "Ibis "upon the ibirds of the Sinaitic peninsula. Let 

 me suggest to some of the officers who are stationed idle at 

 Aden that an account of the animals to be met with in that part 

 of Arabia would be of great value, and would give them much 

 useful and interesting occupation. I have been more than once 

 told that there is nothing whatever to be found there. But this 

 I am slow to believe. Anyone with a good pair of eyes and a 

 taste forTcollecting might certainly do much good to science by 

 passing a few months at Aden, and making excursions into that 

 part of "Arabia Felix." 



II«.— LEMURIAN SUB-REGION. 

 This aben-ant appendage of the Ethiopian Fauna I will 

 speak of under two heads, namely : — 



1, Madagascar. 



2. Mascarene Islands. 



I. Madagascar. 

 To our knowledge of the extraordinary fauna of " Lemuria," 

 as I have elsewhere proposed to call Madagascar and its islands,* 

 great additions have been recently made, but it is manifest that 

 Madagascar is by no means yet worked out.f Dr. Hartlaub 's 

 " Ornithologischer Beitrag zur Fauna Madagascars" was the 

 first attempt at a resume of the remarkable avifauna of this 

 part of the world. Since its issue two Dutch naturalists. 

 Pollen and Van Dam, have visited Madagascar, and forwarded 

 rich collections to the Leyden Museum. Of these the Mammals 

 and Birds have been worked out by Professor Schlegel and Mr. 

 Pollen, and the results published in a well- illustrated volume 

 entitled " Recherches sur la Faune de Madagascar." This has 

 been since followed by an accompanying account of the Fishes, 

 and treatise on the Fisheries, by Messrs. Bleeker and Pollen. 

 Following upon the footsteps of these naturalists, a French 

 explorer, Alfred Grandidier, has since visited the interior of 

 Madagascar, and in his turn has reaped a grand harvest, of 

 which some of the results have already been given to the public. 

 But we are promised to have these discoveries in a much more 

 extended and complete form, in a work now in progress, 

 in which M. Grandidier has obtained the efficient assistance of 

 M. Alphonse Milne-Edwards. There still remain to be spoken 

 of the discoveries recently made by an English collector in 

 Madagascar, Mr. A. Crossley. Mr. Crossley's birds have been 

 worked out by Mr. Sharpe in several papers published from 

 time to time by the Zoological Society, while Dr. Giinther has 

 described several new and remarkable Mammals from the same 

 source. 



2, The Mascarene Islands. 



The fauna of the islands of Bourbon, Mauritius, and Rod • 

 riguez forms an appendage to that of Madagascar, and merits 

 careful study. Our knowledge of these islands, since the recent 

 investigation of Rodriguez by the naturalists sent out with the 

 Venus Expedition, is tolerably complete, but requires to be put 

 together, as it consists of fragments dispersed over various 



* Quart. Journ. of Science, 1864, p. 213. 



t U itness the Mammal-forms, Brachytarsomys and Mixocebus, lately de- 

 scribed by Dr. Gunther and Dr. Peters, and the new genus of birds, Neo- 

 drejianis, recently characterised by_Mr. Sharpe. 



