280 Mr. W. T. Blanford on the African 



that the fauna of India would differ from that of Eastern 

 China or of Borneo far more than it now does, and we should 

 then have a fairly parallel example of the differences now 

 existing between India and Africa. Consequently, if we wish 

 to form a true conception of the relations between the fauna of 

 Africa and that of India, we must be prepared to take into 

 consideration tlie alliances between distinct subgenera and 

 sometimes between different genera. The question cannot be 

 determined by ascertaining what forms are common in a list 

 of such mammalian genera as were adopted, for instance, by 

 Dr. Gray, many of which are not accorded more than specific 

 rank by most naturalists, because in all probability Africa 

 has been separated from India long enough for the same or 

 allied species in the two regions, even if they had not varied 

 at the time of separation, to liave become sufficiently distinct 

 to be classed in different subgenera. This is emphatically 

 the case when, as happens in several instances, tlic living 

 Ethiopian representatives of Oriental genera are confined to 

 Western Africa. 



The second remark is, that although I concur with Mr. 

 WaHace in separating from the rest of India a Ceylonese, or, 

 as I have generally called it, a Malabar province or subregion, 

 I cannot agree with the limits laid down in the map at p. 315, 

 vol. i. of the ' Geographical Distribution of Animals.' I am 

 also inclined to modify several of the other boundaries laid 

 down. I have traversed so large a portion of the Indian 

 peninsula that I have had unusual opportunities for ascer- 

 taining the limits of the different subregions ; and I see no 

 ground for changing the views I expressed in 1870 *. The 

 divisions I then proposed were the following : — 



1. The Panj^b province or subregion, including the Pan- 

 jdb, Sind, Cutch, and Western Rdjput^na. 



2. The Indian province or subregion — the peninsula gene- 

 rally, with the exception of the Panjab and Malabar provinces, 

 but with the addition of Northern Ceylon. 



3. The ^Malabar province or subregion with Southern 

 Ceylon. This corresponds generally to Mr. Wallace's 

 Ceylonese subregion — a name I should willingly adopt, but 

 that part of Ceylon does not belong to it, whilst the whole 

 of Malabar does. This province comprises the low country 

 on the west coast of India from Cape Comorin to a little 

 north of Bombay, and the range of hills near the same coast 

 as far north probably as the Tapti river. It also includes 

 the hill tract of Southern Ceylon, but not the plains in the 

 nortliern ])art of tlie island. Its fauna is represented, more- 



* J.A. S. B. 1870, pt. ii. p. .33G. 



