TRANSACTIONS OF THE SECTIONS. 87 



the last-named author's catalogue of the Mammals and Birds of Algeria (2) pub- 

 lished in 1858; whilst upon the Freshwater Fishes, Gervais's article iu the 

 • Comptes Rendus ' for 180(3 (3), and the memoir of Messrs. Playfair and Letoui'ueux 

 in the ' Annals ' for 1871 (4), may be profitably consulted. 



As regards the Herpetology of Algeria, an excellent memoir on this subject, 

 bv Ur. Alexander Strauch, will be found in the fourth volume of the new me- 

 moirs of the Academy of St. Petersbm-g (5). Those who penetrate beyond the Atlas 

 will find many references to the vertebrated animals of that district appended to 

 Canon Tristram's ' Great Sahara' (6). Many interesting details about the birdsof 

 Tunis and Algeria will likewise be found in the papers communicated to ' The Ibis,' 

 by Messrs. Salvin (7), Tristram (8), and J. H. Gurney, jun. (9). 



Of Morocco and the extreme western portion of the Atlas our knowledge is as yet 

 by no means so perfect. As regards the Birds of Tangier and its vicinity we have 

 Colonel Irby's lately published volume on the Ornithology of the Straits of Gibraltar 

 (TO), in which the "" observations on the Moorish Birds are in a great measm'e culled 

 from the MSS. of the late M. Favier— a collector long resident in Tangier." But 

 iu the south of Morocco, in the Western Atlas, and surroimding district there is 

 certainly a considerable terra incorinita within easy reach of England, which has 

 hitherto been almost inaccessible ' to naturalists, though the short expedition of 

 Dr. Hooker, Mr. Maw, and Mr. Ball in 1871 (of which a notice only_ has been 

 published (11) ; but a complete scientific account is, I believe, in preparation) shows 

 that it may be penetrated if proper precautions are taken. 



1 a. The Atlantic Islands. 



The Atlanteau Island-groups of the Canaries, Madeira, and the Azores may 

 perhaps be most naturally appended to this division of the Palsearctic Region. 

 Our knowledge of the fauna of each of these three groups is tolerable, although 

 there is of course much to be done in worldug up details. As regards the Canaries, 

 the standard work is AVebb and Berthelot's ' Histoire Naturelle des lies Canaries ' 

 (12), published at Paris under the auspices of the Minister of Public Instruction. 

 Ur. Carl BoUe has -v-isited the group more recently, and has written several excel- 

 lent articles in Cabanis's Journal on its Ornithology (l-S). 



Madeii'a has had the advantage of the residence of several first-class English 

 natiu'alists ; I need only mention the names of Lowe, Vernon- Wollaston, and 

 .Johnston to establish this point. More than twenty years ago Mr. E. Y. Ilarcourt, 

 in his Sketch of Madeira (14) and in contributions to the ' Proceedings of the 

 Zoological Society' (15) and ' Annals of Natural History ' (16), gave us a good 

 accoimt of the Ornithology of Madeira. Mr, F. Godman has recently published 

 an exceUeut article on the Birds of Madeira and the Canaries, in ' The Ibis for 1872 

 (17), in which a complete r^sum^ is given of the whole of our previous knowledge 

 of this subject, together with the information obtained by the author himself 

 during his expedition to those islands in 1871. 



As regards the Fishes of Madeira, they have formed a subject of study of several 

 excellent Ichthvologists. The Rev. E. T. Lowe made numerous communications 

 to the Zoological Society of London upon them in the early days of the Society, 

 and published in their ' Transactions ' iu 1839 a Synopsis of Madeiran Fishes (18), 

 to which several supplements were afterwards added. Subsequently Mr. J. Y. 

 Johnson took up the subject and made numerous additions to Mr. Lowe's experi- 

 ences, which were mostly published by the same Society (19). Dr. Giinther has 

 likewise contributed to our knowledge of Madeiran Fishes (20) ; so that on the 

 whole there is, perhaps, hardly any locality out of Europe with the Ichthyology of 

 which we have a better general acquaintance. 



For our knowledge of the higher animals of the third of the Island-groups above 

 spoken of, that of the Azores, we are mainly indebted to the energy of Mr. F._ D. 

 Godman, who made a special expedition to those islands in 1865, with the object 

 of studying their fauna. The results are embodied in his volume on the Azores, 

 published by Van Voorst in 1 870 (21). Morelet's work (22), previously published, 

 18 mainly devoted to the Land-shells ; Mr. Godman is almost our only authority 

 upon the Mammals, Birds, and other Vertebrates. 



