Sept. 2, 1875J 



NATURE 



3^1 



and that Dr. Anderson has now in preparation a connected 

 account of his Yucan discoveries, which is to be issued by the 

 Linnean Society in their "Transactions." A separate publica- 

 tion of these results would not have involved much additional 

 expense, and would have been more worthy of the Government 

 lich sent out the expedition. 



4. Malay Peninsula. 

 The Malay peninsula belongs unquestionably to the same 

 .,b-fauna as Sumatra. Its zoology is tolerably well known to 

 lis from numerous collectic ns that have reached this country, 

 but a modern revision of all the classes of Vertebrates is much 

 to be desired. About twenty years ago, Dr. Cantor, of the East 

 Indian Medical Service, published catalogues of the Mammals, 

 Reptiles, and Fishes of Malacca in the Journal of the Asiatic 

 Society of Bengal. To ob'ain a knowledge of its birds we must 

 refer to the papers of Eyton, Wallace, and various other orni- 

 thological writers. 



4^;. Andaman and Nicobar Islands. 



The two groups of islands in the Bay of Bengal have of late 

 years attracted considerable attention from naturalists. Port 

 Blair, in the Andaman Islands, having become the seat of an 

 Indian penal settlement, has received visits from several excellent 

 Indian workers who have made extensive collections, especially 

 in ornithology. The most recent authorities upon the birds 

 of the Andaman Islands are Lord Walden, who has worked 

 out the series forwarded to him by Lieut. Wardlaw Ramsay, 

 and Mr. Vincent Ball, who has published in " Stray Feathers " 

 a complete list of all the birds known to occur in the Andaman 

 and Nicobar groups. 



5. East Indian Islands. 



Up to a recent period tlie standard authority on the fauna of 

 the East Indian Islands was the great Dutch work on the 

 Zoology of the foreign possessions of the Netherlands Govern- 

 ment, based upon the vast collections formed by Macklot, 

 Midler, and other naturalists, and transmitted to the Leyden 

 Museum. This has been supplemented of late years by several 

 works and memoirs of Dr. .Schlegel, the eminent director of 

 that establishment, and in particular by his " Musee des Pays 

 Has," which contains an account of that magnificent collec- 

 tion drawn up in a series of monographic catalogues. Up 

 to this time, however. Dr. Schlegel has only treated of the 

 class of birds, though at the present moment, I believe, he is 

 engaged on a revision of Quadrumana. To the class of fishes, 

 and especially to the fishes of the Dutch Islands and Seas in 

 the East Indies, another naturalist, Dr. P. P. Bleeker, has for 

 many years devoted great attention. His memoirs and papers 

 on the Ichthyology and Herpetology of the various islands and 

 settlements are far too numerous to mention. But his ," Atlas 

 Ichthyologique," his principal work on the Fishes of the Indian 

 Seas, is one of great importance, and claims a special record 

 as embracing the results of the life-work of one of the most 

 energetic anil laborious of living naturalists. 



The travels of our countryman, Mr. Wallace, in the Malay 

 Archipelago are well known to the general public from his 

 instructive and entertaining narrative, and to zoologists from the 

 large collections which he made in every branch of natural 

 history. It is a misfortune that no general account of them has 

 ever been prepared. But special articles on the birds of the 

 Sula group to the east of Celebes or those of Bourou, and on 

 those of the islands of Timor, Flores, and Lombock, will be 

 found in the Zoological Society's " Proceedings," besides other 

 ornithological papers referring more or less to this district. 



Of the island of Celebes we have acquired more intimate 

 knowledge from the researches of Dr. A. B. Meyer, and from 

 two excellent memoirs on its Ornithology, prepared by Lord 

 Walden. The adjacent tenitory of Borneo has likewise not 

 escaped the attention of recent writers, an accomplished Italian 

 author. Dr. Salvadori, having made it the subject of a special 

 ornithological essay. For the animals of Java and Sumatra, we 

 have unfortunately no such recent authority, but must refer pri- 

 marily in the one case to Horsfield's Zoological Researches, and 

 in the other to Sir Stamford Raffles' Catalogue, supplementing 

 in each case the deficiency by reference to various more recent 

 books and memoirs. The fact is that before we can attain precise 

 notions as to the real zoological relations of these great islands, 

 we require a much more complete acquaintance with their dif- 

 ferent faunas, and special monographic essays upon them. So 



there is certainly no lack of work remaining for the zoologist in 

 this quarter. 



6. Philippine Archipelago. 



In spite of the visits of Cuming, and more recently of Semper 

 and Jagor, there has been until very lately great lack of a 

 work lor reference on the Vertebrates of the Philippine Archi- 

 pelago. This deficiency has been partly supplied by the excel- 

 lent essay published by Lord Walden in the "Transactions" 

 of the Zoological Society, upon the Birds of the Philippines, 

 Although based upon the collections of Dr. A. B. Meyer, this 

 memoir contains a rcsum^ of all that is yet known upon the 

 subject. It likewise points out the deficencies in our present 

 information, which, I need hardly add, are many and numerous. 



That the knowledge of our Mammal-fauna of the Philippines 

 is also by no means perfect, will be sufficiently manifest when I 

 recall to my hearers the fact that there is now living in the 

 Zoological Society's Gardens a very distinct species of Deer, * 

 quite unknown to all our Museums, which is undoubtedly 

 endemic in one of the Philippine Islands. There is much want 

 of more information on this subject, as also on the Reptiles and 

 Fishes, although Dr. Peters has lately made us acquainted with 

 many novelties from Jagor's researches in these branches. 



IV.— NEARCTIC REGION. 

 This part of my subject will be most conveniently treated of 

 under two heads : — 



1. North America dawn to Mexico, 



2. Greenland, 



leaving Mexico to be spoken of as a whole under the Neotropical 

 Region, although part of it undoubtedly belongs to the Nearctic. 



I. North America. 



(a.) Maf'imals. — The latest revision of the Mammals of North 

 America is still that of Prof. Baird, contained in the Reports on 

 the Zoology of the Pacific Railway Routes, published by the 

 War Department of the U.S. in 1857. I understand, how- 

 ever, that Dr. Coues is now engaged on a more perfect work 

 on the same subject, which will embrace the results of the 

 large additions since made to our knowledge of this subject. 

 The marine Mammals are not included in Prof. Baird's revision ; 

 and under this head I may notice two important works recently 

 issued, Mr. Allen's memoir on the Eared Seals, which spe- 

 cially treats of the North-Pacific species, and Capt. Scammon's 

 volume on the marine Mammals of the North-western coasts of 

 North America, which contains a mass of information relative 

 to the little-known Cetaceans of the North Pacific. 



Prior to them Audubon and Bachman's Quadrupeds of North 

 America, pubHshed at New York in 1852, was the best book of 

 reference. 



(b.) Birds of North America. — The American ornithologists 

 have been specially active of late years. Up to about twenty 

 years ago, the recognised authorities upon the Birds of the United 

 States were Wilson, Audubon, Bonaparte, and Nuttall. In 1856 

 Cassin's " Illustrations," chiefly devoted to the species then recently 

 discovered in Texas, Cahfornia, and Oregon, appeared. In 1858 

 the joint work of Messrs. Baird, Cassin, and Lawrence, on the 

 Birds of North America, forming part of the " Pacific Railway 

 Routes," was issued. This was republished with additions as a 

 separate work in i860 in two volumes, and still forms an excel- 

 lent work of reference on American ornithology. The List of 

 Authorities given at the end of the letterpress will be found 

 extremely useful for those who require a guide to the literature 

 of American ornithology. But even this bids fair to be super- 

 seded by the more recent publications of our energetic fellow 

 naturalists. In the first place, three volumes of a " History 01 

 North-American Birds," illustrated by plates and numerous 

 woodcuts, by Messrs. Baird, Brewer, and Ridgway (were 

 issued last year, and two more volumes to complete the work 

 will soon be ready. Then for those who require a handy book 

 for reference nothing can be more convenient than Dr. Coues' 

 "Key," in one volume, published in 1872. The same 

 energetic naturalist has also lately issued a "Handbook of 

 the Ornithology of the North-west," containing an account of 

 the birds met with in the region drained by the Missouri 

 and its tributaries, amongst which he has had such long 

 personal experience. Nor must I conclude the list with- 

 out mentioning Mr. D. G. Elliot's "Birds of North Ame- 

 rica," which contains life-sized illustrations of many rare 



Cervus Al/redi, Sclater, P.2.S. 1870, p. 381, pi. xxviii. 



