104 REPORT — 1875. 



2. The Andean or Ooltjmbian Subbegion. 



Of this extensive subregion, which traverses six or seven different States, there is 

 likewise no one zoological account ; but I may mention some of the principal works 

 lately issued that beai- upon the subject. Leotaud's ' Birds of Trinidad' (38) give 

 us an account of the ornithology of that island, which forms a kind of appendage 

 to this subregion ; and Dr. Finsch has more recently published (39) a supplemen- 

 tary notice on the same subject. Of Venezuela, Columbia, and Ecuador there are 

 only scattered memoirs in various periodicals on the numerous collections that 

 have of late years been made in those countries to be referred to. Several 

 excellent collectors are now, or lately have been, resident in these republics — Herr 

 Goring and Mr. Spence in Venezuela*, Mr. Salmon in Antioquia, Professor 

 Jameson and Mr. Fraser in Ecuador t — whose labours have vastly added to our 

 knowledge of the zoology of these districts. When we come to Peru, we have 

 Tschudi's ' Fauna Peruana ' (55) to refer to, which, though unsatisfactory in exe- 

 cution, contains much of value J. How far from being exhausted is the rich fauna 

 of the Peruvian Andes, is sufticiently manifest fi-om the wonderful discoA'eries 

 lately made by Jelski in the district east of Lima, which was in fact that princi- 

 pally investigated by Tscliudi. Of these, M. Taczanowski has lately given an account, 

 as regards the birds, in the Zoological Society's 'Proceedings' (60) ; and Dr. Peters 

 has published several notices of the more remarkable Mammals and Ileptiles(61-62). 



Further south, in Bolivia, our leading authority is still the zoological portion of 

 D'Orbigny's ' Voyage dans I'Amerique M^ridionale ' (63). This rich and most in- 

 teresting district lias,at is true, been visited by several collectors since D'Orbigny's 

 time; but the results of their journeys have never been published in a connected 

 form, though many of their novelties have been described. Bolivia, I do not 

 doubt, still contains many new and extraordinary creatures hid in tlie recesses of its 

 mountain-valleys ; and there is no part of South America which I should sooner 

 suggest as a promising locality for the zoological collector, 



3. The Amazonian Subregion. 



On Guiana, where the Amazonian fauna seems to have had its origin, we have a 

 standard work in Schomburgk's ' Eeisen,' the third volume of which, containing the 

 Fauna, was drawn up by the Naturalists of the Berlin Museum (64). For the 

 valley of the Amazons itself, the volumes of Spix and Martius (65), though 

 not very accurate, and rather out of date, must still be referred to — as likewise 

 the Zoology of Casteluau's ' Expedition dans I'Amerique du Sud ' (66), for the 

 natm-al history of the Peruvian confluents. As regards the Birds, however, we 

 have several more recent authorities. In 1873 Mr. Salvin and I published in the 

 Zoological Society's ' Proceedings ' a r^sumd of the papei-s treating of Mr. E. Bartlett's 

 and Mr. John Hauxwell's rich ornithological collections on the Huallaga, Ucayali, 

 and other localities in Eastern Peru (67-74). In 1867 we communicated to the same 

 Society an account of Mr. Wallace's collection of birds made near Para (75), 

 and took occasion to deduce therefrom some general ideas as to the relations of the 

 Avifauna of the Lower Amazons. 



As regards the valleys of the two great confluents of the Amazons, the Rio Ma- 

 deira on the right bank, and the llio Negi-o on the left bank of the mighty river, our 

 knowledge of these Avifaunas is mainly due to the researches of Johann Natterer — 

 one of the most successful and energetic zoological collectors that ever lived — of 

 whose discoveries in ornithology a complete account has lately been published 

 by Hr. A. v. Pelzeln, of Vienna (76). It is much to be wislied that a similar 

 resume of Natterer's discoveries and collections of Mammals, in which Class his 

 investigations were of hardly less importance, coidd be given to the world ; and I 

 trust Herr v. Pelzeln will forgive me if I press this subject on his attention. 



The Fishes of the Amazons and its couflueuts are many and various, and fully 

 deserve a special luonogi-aph. The late Professor Agas.siz made his well-known 



* See on these collections seven papers bv Sclater and Salvin in P. Z. S.- (40-46). 



t See eight papers by Sclater in P. Z. S. 18.58-60 (47-54). 



I See also Sclater's papers on Prof. Nation's collections (.50-59). 



