374 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL KIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXVII. 



The Indian 

 Desert. 



Persia and 

 Baluchistan. 



Mesopota- 

 mia. 



Indian Avi- 

 fauna. 



parts now being worked are coloured in blue. Assistants are being trained 

 for the work and it is hoped that this year the Society will be in a position 

 to take advantage of the offer of H. H. The Maharaja Scindia of Gwahor to 

 give facihties to our Collector to work in and round Sipri where the red and 

 black soils meet, and also of the very valuable offer by Dr. Anandale, the 

 Director of the Zoological Survey of India, to give assistance to a collector 

 working round the shores of the Chilka Lake in Orissa where Dr. Anandale 

 has a bungalow and has himself already obtained very valuable scientific 

 results from collections of fresh water fauna. 



For purposes of scientific classification, all material collected by the Society's 

 Mammal collectors is sent to England to the British Museum where it is arranged 

 and classified by those who have made a life-long study of Mammals from 

 all parts of the world. After satisfying the requirements of the National Museum 

 the collections will be returned to the Society who will distribute the surplus 

 named specimens amongst various Museums in India and elsewhere. 



The Results of the Survey in the shape of " Scientific Results" and "Reports" 

 are written at the British Museum by Mr. Oldfield Thomas, F.R.S., and Mr. R. 

 C. Wroughton, formerly Inspector General of Forests in India, and are pub- 

 hshed in the Society's Journal. Mr. Wroughton has also published a ' Sum- 

 mary of the Results of the Mammal Survey ' which brings the work on 

 * Mammaha ' in the " Fauna of British India Series " more or less up to 

 date so far as small mammals are concerned. The Volume pubhshed in the 

 above series having been issued so long ago as 1891 had for many years 

 become obsolete. In this respect the Survey has aheady proved its great 

 usefulness. 



Besides our work on Mammals, the Society was able to pubhsh most ex- 

 haustive reports on the Flora of the Indian Desert, including observations 

 on the Geology and Meteorology of what is described as the least known of the 

 Indian Plains. The thanks of the Society are due to Rev. E. Blatter, S. J., 

 and Prof. F. HaUberg for their exertions in this connection. Father Blatter 

 and Prof. Hallberg, accompanied by Mr. S. H. Prater of this Society, had 

 moreover in 1915 made a trip through the High Wavy Mountains in the Madura 

 District, Southern India, from which good Botanical and Zoological results 

 were obtained. 



Through the Agency of Col. J. E. B. Hotson, C.B.E., I.C.S., I.A.R.O., very 

 valuable and interesting collections of mammals, birds, reptUes and plants have 

 been made in the above countries. The advancement in our knowledge of the 

 fauna and flora of these regions, due to the systematic collecting of Col. Hotson, 

 is shewn to some extent in the number of new genera and species discovered 

 by him, and the information gained as to the geographical distribution and 

 range of species in these little known tracts. 



During the War a large number of contributions were received from members 

 serving with the forces in Mesopotamia. The contributions include valuable 

 collections of Mammals, Birds, Reptiles and Insects. These collections are 

 now being worked out by experts in England, and the results of then researches 

 will be published in the forthcoming issues of the Journal. At the request 

 of the Civil Commissioner, Bagdad, it has been decided to collect the various 

 papers at the close of the series and issue them as a separate pubhcation. 

 As such it will constitute a valuable work on the Fauna of the country. 



We have to record the exceedingly valuable work done by Mr. E. C. Stuart 

 Baker in the preparation of a "Hand List of the Birds of British India " to be 

 issued by the Society in a similar form to the "Hand List of British Birds" 

 pubhshed by the British Ornithologists' Union. Gates and Blanford pubhshed 

 their books on Birds in the Fauna of British Lidia series between 1888 and 

 1898. The considerable amount of research work done since that period, 

 together with the introduction of the trinomial system, has altered a number 



