100 REPORT — 1875. 



of Malacca in tlie Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal. To oLlain a know- 

 ledge of its birds we must refer to the papers of Eyton (20), Wallace (21), and 

 various other ornithological writers. 



4 a. Andaman AND NicoBAB Islands. 



The two gToups of islands in the Bay of Bengal have of late years attracted con- 

 siderable attention from naturalists. Port Blair, in the Andaxnan Islands, having 

 hecome the seat of an Indian penal settlement, has received visits from several 

 excellent Indian workers who have made extensive collections, especially in Orni- 

 thology. The most recent authorities upon the birds of the Andaman Islands are 

 Lord Walden (22), who has worked out the series forwarded to him by Lieut. 

 Wardlaw Eamsay, and Mr. Vincent Ball, who has published in ' Stray Feathers ' a 

 complete list of all the birds known to occur in the Andaman and Nicobar crouvs 

 (23). 



6. East-Indian Islands. 



Up to a recent period the standard authority on the fauna of the East-Ind ian Islands 

 was the great Dutchwork on the zoology of the foreign possessions of the Netherlands 

 Government (24), based upon the vast collections formed by Macklot, Miiller, and 

 other naturalists, and transmitted to the Leyden Museum. This has been supple- 

 mented of late years by several works and memoirs of Dr. Schlegel, the eminent 

 Director of that establishment and in particular by his ' Musee des Pays-Bas ' 

 (25), which contains an account of that magnificent collection drawn up in a 

 series of monographic catalogues. Up to this time, however, Dr. Schlegel has 

 only treated of the class of birds, though at the present moment, I believC; he is 

 engaged on a revision of Quadi'umana. To the class of Fishes, and especially to the 

 Fishes of the Islands and Seas in the East Indies, another Dutch naturalist, Dr. P. 

 P. Bleeker, has for many years devoted great attention. His memoirs and papers 

 on the Ichthj'ology and Herpetology of the various islands and settlements are far 

 too numerous to mention. But his ' Atlas Ichthyologique,' his principal work on the 

 Fishes of the Indian Seas (26), is one of gi-eat importance, and claims a special 

 notice as embracing the results of the life-work of one of the most energetic and 

 laborious of living naturalists. 



The travels of our countryman, Mr. Wallace, in the Malay Archipelago are 

 well known to the general public from his instructive and entertaining narrative 

 (27), and to zoologists from the large collections which he made in every branch 

 of natural history. It is a misfortune that no general account of the latter has ever 

 been prepared. But special articles on the birds of the Sula group to the east of 

 Celebes (28), on those of Bom-u (29), and on those of the islands of Timor, Flores, 

 and Lombock (30), will be found in the Zoological Society's ' Proceedings,' besides 

 other ornithological papers of Mr. Wallace refening more or less to this district. 



Of the Island of Celebes we have acquired more intimate knowledge from the 

 researches of Dr. A. B. Meyer, and from two excellent memoirs on its Ornithology, 

 prepared by Lord Walden (31, 32). The adjacent territory of Borneo has likewise 

 not escaped the attention of recent writers, an accomplished Italian author. Dr. 

 Salvadori, having made it the subject of a special ornithological essay (33). For 

 the animals of Java and Sumatra we have, unfortunately, no such recent authoritv, 

 but must refer primarily in the one case to Ilorsfield's Zoological Eesearches (34), 

 and in the other to Sir Stamford RafBes's Catalogue (35), supplementing in each case 

 the deficiency by reference to various more recent) books and memoirs. The fact is, 

 that before we can attain precise notions as to the real zoological relations of these 

 great islands, we require a much more complete research into their different faunas, 

 and special monographic essays upon them. So there is certainly no lack of useful 

 work remaining for the zoologist m this quarter. 



6. Philippine Archipelago. 



In spite of the visits of Cuming, and more recently of Semper (30) and Jagor, 

 there has been until very lately great want of a work for reference on the Vertebrates 

 of the Philippine archipelago. This deficiency has been partly supplied by the 



