1870 ] MR. \V. T. BLANFORD ON THE FAUNA OF TIBET. 631 



4. Note on the " Africa- Indien " of A. von Pelzeln, and on 

 the Mammalian Fauna of Tibet. By W. T. Blanford, 

 F.R.S., F.Z.S. 



[Received June 6, 1876.] 



I am indebted to the kindness of Hevr August von Pelzeln for 

 copies of two papers lately written by him on the mammalian fauna 

 and avifauna of India and Malayasia. The first, entitled " Africa- 

 Indien "*, was published last year ; the second, on the Mammalian 

 fauna of the Malay countries f, has just reached me. These papers 

 are well worthy the attention of all interested in the question of the 

 geographical distribution of animals. I have for some years past 

 contended that the fauna of India proper, or Hindustan as it is often 

 called on European maps (Hindustan in India itself has a much 

 more restricted signification), is not an integral part of the so- 

 called " Indian region " of Dr. Sclater and other naturalists. My 

 views were adopted by the late Dr. Stoliczka, and were identical 

 with those held by Mr. BlythJ. It is very satisfactory to find simi- 

 lar views enforced independently by so high an authority as Herr 

 von Pelzeln and in so careful an essay. 



The whole world is divided by v. Pelzeln into six regions, viz : — 



I. The Arctic (comprising the Palaearctic and Nearctic of Sclater). 



II. The American Tropical (Neotropical of Sclater). 



III. The Australian. 



IV. The Ethiopian. 



V. The Hindustan (India and Ceylon). 



VI. The Malay, including the Himalaya, Tibet, Southern China 

 with Formosa, " Hinter-Indien " (i. e. Burma, Siam, and the Malay 

 peninsula), the Sunda archipelago up to Wallace's line — and pro- 

 bably Madagascar, the Mascarene, Comoro, and Seychelles Islands 

 (Lemuria). 



I am rather disposed, with Andrew Murray §. to unite the Ethio- 



* "Afriea-Indien, Darstellung der Beziehungen zwischen der africanischen 

 und indo-malayischen Vogel-Fauna nebst allgemeineren BetrachUmgen iiber 

 die geograpbisehe Verbreitung der Saugethiere, von August von Pelzeln, Gustos 

 des k.-k. zoologiscben Hof-Cabinets," Verhandl. k. k. zool.-bot. Ges. Wien. 

 1875, pp. 33-62. 



t Ueber die malayiscbe Saugethier-Fauna von August von Pelzeln. Sepa- 

 rat-Abdruck aus dem Pestsebrift zur Feier des 25-jahrigen Bestebens des k.-k. 

 zool.-bot. Ges. in Wien. 



| See bis remarks on the division of the earth into zoological regions ■ 

 Nature, 1871, vol. iii. p. 427. 



§ ' Geographical Distribution of Mammals,' p. 304. I may remark tbat 

 Mr. Murray's maps, so far as they exhibit the distribution of particular genera 

 in India, are frequently incorrect. Thus Map xx. represents that there is no 

 Wolf in India, whilst in Maps xxv., xxvii., xli., xlvi., and lxiii. the following 

 mammals are represented as ranging more or less throughout the peninsula to 

 Cape Comorin — Mydaus, Helictis, Binturong, Wild Ass, Rhinoceros, and Euro- 

 pean Mole! With the doubtful exception of the Rhinoceros, not one of these 

 animals is found in the peninsula of India, the Wild Ass being confined to the 

 deserts of Cutch and Bikanir. There are other mistakes in matters of detail. 



