422 Bibliographical Notices. 



Enough has been said to show the character of the work. The 

 fact is patent that the Author's knowledge of conchological literature 

 was very limited. It is to be regretted that this Catalogue, which 

 must have occupied much time in preparation, is not more complete. 

 Such a work if accurate and reliable would be of the greatest use 

 to Conchologists, 



The Fauna of British India, including Ceylon and Burma. Edited 

 by W, T, Blanfokd. — Part I. Mammalia, by W. T. Blanford. 

 8vo, London : Taylor & Francis, 1888. 



Bt the labours of professional and non-professional naturalists an 

 enormous amount of information has been accumulated upon the 

 zoology of our Eastern Empire, For many years, back indeed to a 

 period which seems almost archaic to the present generation of natu- 

 ralists, the love of field-sports innate in all true Britons, intensified 

 no doubt by the enmd consequent upon frequent residence in places 

 far removed from intercourse with those who could occupy the posi- 

 tion of friends, led many civilians and military men to bestow more 

 or less attention upon the natural objects, and especially the larger 

 animals, surrounding them. The result, as is well known, has been 

 the publication of a host of valuable books and memoirs, treating of 

 the structural characters, habits, and mode of life of the principal 

 vertebrate inhabitants of the country. 



Without wishing to cast any doubt on the time-honoured precept 

 that " in the multitude of counsellors there is wisdom," we may 

 remark that one consequence of such a variety is usually for a time 

 a considerable divergence of opinion upon certain points, and espe- 

 cially upon those matters which come under the domain of syste- 

 matic zoology, the determination of the limits and alliances of species, 

 and the recognition of the precise nature of an animal the habits 

 and economy of which may have been under obsex'vatiou. Gradu- 

 ally, of course, the statements of older writers are tested by later 

 observers, errors are eliminated, and the actual facts established. So 

 much has now been done in this direction that the Indian Govern- 

 ment has shown great wisdom in determining to bring out a work 

 such as this proposed ' Fauna of British India,' in which all the more 

 or less scattered materials may be brought together in a convenient 

 form, and correlated" and criticized by competent authorities, guided 

 by the results of their own investigations. 



At present, we notice, the intentions of the Government go no 

 further than the production of a series of volumes upon the Verte- 

 brata of the wide regions over which their dominion extends, and 

 the portion of the work now before us is the first half of the volume 

 on the Mammalia, the preparation of which has been confided to one 

 of the best of Indian zoologists, Dr. W. T. Blanford, who has also 

 been appointed the Editor of the whole work. 



In this part the author has given a systematic description of the 

 forms belonging to the orders Primates, Carnivora, and Insectivora 



