BLYTH REMAEKS ON THE DISTBIBUTION OP SALMONID^!, ETC. 87 



hibited. He (the President) then alluded to the remarks that had been 

 made relative to the spotted pigeon, five having been shot out of a large 

 flock, on the cliffs of Sybil Head, county of Kerry. A case of the birds, 

 with those of Cohimha livia, was exhibited. These varieties were merely 

 shown, as opinions had formerly been propounded by Mr. Bly th and by 

 Mr. Strickland relative to their identity or non-identity with G. intermedia 

 of India, and as a variety of C. livia, under the name of C. affinis. 

 The spotted pigeon of Sybil Head was far removed from any dove-cot, and 

 was of superior size, yet not of the compact robust form of C. livia of the 

 cliffs of the coast. The birds were mature, having eggs fully formed. 

 The absence of the barred wings, with the grey rump, showed some 

 difference from C. livia ; at the same time, no real specific differences 

 could be traceable. 



Mr. Blyth, late of Calcutta, addressed the meeting at considerable 

 length on various topics, touched upon by the President in his re- 

 marks. He offered some observations on the geographical distribution 

 of the Salmonidae. There were peculiar forms of Salmonidse both in the 

 Nile and in the great rivers of South America; but there was no fish of 

 the kind in any part of Asia southward of the Himalaya, although certain 

 Cyprinidas were very trout-like, even to the speckling, and were desig- 

 nated as trout by anglers in India ; in no instance, however, did those 

 trout-like Cyprinidae possess the small adipose posterior dorsal fin, as in the 

 Salmonidse, most of the Siluridse, and also the Scopelidae. As a rule, 

 where northern forms of Salmonidae, as Salrno Corregonus, &c, inhabit 

 the waters, grouse and ptarmigan inhabit the land ; but there was no 

 grouse nor ptarmigan in the Himalaya, and the nearest-known salmoni- 

 ous fish was a small trout in the Oxus, which river flows into Lake 

 Aral. The lakes of Thibet are inhabited by peculiar species of barbel. 

 Our British grey partridge, moreover (with, of course, its two Oriental 

 congeners), was anatomically more akin to the ptarmigan than to other 

 partridges, as had been proved by his friend Dr. Parker ; and the geo- 

 graphical distribution of the particular form was in accordance with its 

 special affinities. Salmonidae, it was remarked by Mr. Blyth, barely 

 reach southward to the north of China ; and he remembered only one 

 species the range of which extended to the northern portion of the Ja- 

 panese archipelago. 



With regard to the Australian Duck, Malacorhynchus membranacem, 

 he observed that "its occurrence in this part of the world was most re- 

 markable, especially as there was really no reason to suppose that it had 

 escaped from captivity, as in instances of the black swan having been 

 shot, or the pretty little grass paroquet, Melopsittacus undulatus, which 

 had lately been imported alive in such enormous numbers. It was one 

 of a flock of six, and it did not exhibit the slightest trace of having 

 ever been in confinement ; besides, the species had never yet been im- 

 ported into Europe, and the plumage of the individual obtained was 

 that of an unsoiled wild bird. Wilson's stormy petrel was a well-known 

 Australian species, as well as a North American species, which is like- 



