1891.] BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA. 303 



been acquired through their means. I will therefore say a few words 

 upon the general state of our knowledge of the Zoology of Nyassa- 

 land. 



So far as we can tell from our present very imperfect knowledge 

 of the subject, the fauna of Nyassa-land will be best considered in 

 three divisions : — (1) the Basin of the Shire, (2) the Shire Highlands, 

 (3) the Basin of Lake Nyassa. As regards our knowledge of its 

 Zoology, the followi»)g are the principal authorities to be referred 

 to: — 



1. Bianconi's * Specimina Zoologica Mosambicana,' published at 

 Bologna in parts from 1850-67. 



Bianconi was Professor of Zoology in the University of Bologna, 

 and described various specimens from the collections sent home to 

 him by Fornasini from Mozambique, in a somewhat antiquated 

 fashion. No complete account of the animals of any branch of 

 zoology is given in his work. 



2. Peters's ' Naturwissenschaftliche Reise nach Mossambique,' in 

 four volumes, published at Berlin from 1852 to 1882. This is the 

 most important work that has yet appeared upon the Zoology of 

 South-eastern Africa. Our former Foreign Member, Dr. W. Peters 

 of Berlin, passed six years at various stations in Portuguese East 

 Africa from 1842 to 1848, and made excellent collections in every 

 branch of zoology, Peters, though always hard at work, was some- 

 what dilatory in publication, and only succeeded in getting out the 

 four volumes above mentioned, though others were in contemplation, 

 and in fact had been partly prepared at the time of his death in 

 1883. The first volume, pubhshed in 1852, gives us an excellent 

 account of the Mammals of Mozambique ; the second, intended to 

 contain the Birds, was never published ; the third, relating to the 

 Reptiles and Amphibians, was issued in 1882 ; the fourth, containing 

 the Freshwater Fishes, in 1868. These three volumes were pre- 

 pared by Peters himself. The fifth volume, devoted to the Insects 

 and Myriapods, was written, except as regards the last-named group, 

 by Peters's colleagues in the Berlin Museum. 



3. Finsch and Hartlaub's ' Yogel Ost-Afrikas,' published at 

 Leipzig in 1870. This volume, which forms a portion of Von der 

 Decken's ' Reisen in Ost-Afrika,' is the only general systematic work 

 on the Birds of Eastern Africa yet published. But the discoveries 

 and explorations since made have been so numerous, that Finsch and 

 Hartlaub's work, though nearly exhaustive at the time it was issued, 

 has now become more or less antiquated, and much requires to be 

 replaced by a new publication. 



4. Dr. Kirk's " List of the Mammals of Zambesia," published in 

 our ' Proceedings' for 1864. 



Dr. Kirk gives notes on 67 species of Mammals met with during 

 his various journeys up the Zambesi and Shire to Lake Nyassa and 

 on the coast of Mozambique. 



5. Dr. Kirk's article "On the Birds of the Zambesi Region," 

 published in ' The Ibis ' for 1864 (p. 307). 



Dr. Kirk gives notes on 150 species of which he collected examples 



21* 



