118 THE ZOOLOGIST. 
The author’s systematic catalogue principally relates to mam- 
mals, birds, reptiles, and amphibia, 347 species and 2051 specimens 
of which were obtained, exclusive of collections of individuals of 
the two latter groups previously examined and described by Dr. 
Anderson, of the Indian Museum, Calcutta. Mr. Blanford’s 
scientific descriptions are supplemented by many valuable 
and interesting remarks by Major St. John, relative to the 
habits of the various species he observed during his prolonged 
residence in Persia, an advantage from which Mr. Blanford was 
necessarily debarred. He modestly states that even the present 
cannot pretend to be other than a very imperfect list of the fauna 
of this vast—and to a great extent, unexplored—country, the north- 
eastern portion of which is still almost a terra incognita, whilst 
there is much to he learned respecting the animals inhabiting the 
plains extending from the Tigris to the Zagros mountains, the 
western slopes of which are covered with forest, as are also the 
southern shores of the Caspian. Prior to the present expedition 
our knowledge of the Zoology of Persia proper was extremely 
limited, the explorations of Pallas and Eichwald having been 
restricted to the shores of the Caspian, whilst those of Gildenstadt 
were principally confined to the Caucasus, and by far the most 
important, although still meagre, information was to be derived 
from the “ Noté di un viaggio in Persia” (Milan, 1865), by Pro- 
fessor De Filippi, of Turin, who accompanied an Italian embassy 
in 1862. In this work a list is given of 30 species of mammals, 
167 birds, 39 reptiles, 3 amphibia, and 22 fishes; but the investi- 
gations of Major St. John and Mr. Blanford have increased this 
catalogue to no less than 89 mammals, 384 birds, 92 reptiles, and 
9 amphibia! The number of species is not surprising when we 
consider the great variation in soil, climate, and temperature to be 
found in a country like Persia, which consists to a great extent of 
desert plateaux of varying and often considerable elevation, for the 
most part destitute of vegetation, whilst on the shores of the 
Caspian is a moist forest region, and a thick belt of woodland 
also extends from the Zagros mountains to Shiraz; and again 
towards the Persian Gulf and Indian Ocean the vegetation 
becomes more tropical, though rarely luxuriant. Mr. Blanford 
analyses the character of the distinctive fauna of each of the 
various regions, and sums up that of the Persian highlands as 
being Palearctic, with a great prevalence of desert forms, remarking 
