NOTICES OF NEW BOOKS. 119 
upon the great difficulty of establishing a desert province, 
although there can be little doubt as to the existence of a true 
desert fauna. 
Many of the forms of animal life are characteristic of Central 
Asia, especially the Ounce (F. uncia), Alactaga indica, a Jerboa 
hitherto only known from Afghanistan, and Spermophilus concolor, 
amongst mammals; whilst such more widely distributed forms as 
Felis pardus, F. chaus, Ovis cycloceros, Capra egagrus, &c., are 
also to be found, along with species restricted to Persia, represen- 
tative forms of well-known families. Such are the new species of 
Hedgehog, Erinaceus macracanthus, Vulpes persicus, Meles 
canescens, Gerbillus persicus, and Gazella subgutturosa, whilst 
under still closer restrictions as regards range we find three species 
of Bats, a Jerboa, and Lagomys rufescens, a Nuthatch (Sitta 
rupicola), and ten species of reptiles. The fauna of the forest 
district along the south-east coast of the Caspian is extremely 
interesting, for, although on the whole Palzarctic, there are several 
species apparently peculiar to the locality, and also several Eastern 
forms unknown in other parts of Persia, such as the Tiger, Cervus 
Caspius (a Deer allied to C. avis, belonging to the Indo-Malayan 
group), and a Viper (Halys Pallasii). The existence of the Tiger 
in the Caspian provinces north of the Elburz range, corresponding 
in part to the ancient Hyrcania, was well known to ancient 
writers, and allusion to Hyrcanian and Caucasian Tigers must be 
familiar to all readers of Virgil; but the fact of a Deer of Indo- 
Malayan affinities being found in the same district as Cervus 
morral, the only true Elaphine Deer which is found in Persia, is 
very remarkable, and an important addition to our knowledge of 
geographical distribution. The birds of this district call for little 
remark, as the author’s new species, Hrythacus hyrcanus, is con- 
fessedly only a local and brilliant form of the common Robin, and 
Garrulus hyrcanus is one of those local forms of the Jay which 
drive the systematist to despair, with the alternative of “lumping” 
nearly all the races together, or of making as many species as there 
are varieties. With regard to the wooded slopes of the Zagros, 
and the oak forest as far as Shiraz, the fauna, so far as known from 
Major St. John’s collections, appears to be mainly Palzarctic, 
although one of the characteristic mammals is the Lion, which is 
found in Mesopotamia. It does not appear to exist on the table- 
land of Persia, nor in Balichistan, and, so far as can be judged 
