MISCELLANEA. 
THE VERTEBRATE COLLECTIONS OF THE FEDERATED 
MaLay STATES MUSEUMS. 
The collection of terrestial vertebrates from the Malay 
Peninsula in the possession of the Federated Malay States 
Museums is now so nearly complete that it may be of interest 
to give some comparative figures concerning it. 
In 1899 and 1900, Capt. Stanley Flower, then in charge 
of the Bangkok Museum, devoted much attention to the 
mammalian fauna of Siam and the Malay Peninsula, and, 
after studying all the available collections both local and in 
the British Museum, compiled a list which is published in the 
Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London, 1g00, pp. 
306-379. A summary of his list gives the following figures: 
Species. 
Primates wk ser eae) 
Carnivora 452 ee sce | BS 
Ungulata sa ae Bee OE 
Rodentia ey Bie oO 
Insectivora ne des et 6 
Cetacea 
Sirenia dan 
Edentata 33 ty, ae I 
Chiroptera Bai eh soe) 
Mota as 4 
The intensive study of mammals can only have said to 
have begun with the opening days of the present century, and 
since 1899 very great attention has been paid to the Malaya 
Peninsula and region, principally by Doctor W. L. Abbott, of 
Philadelphia, whose collections have been worked out by 
Messrs. G. S. Miller and M. W. Lyon of the United States 
National Museum at Washington, and by the Federated 
Malay States Museums. It had been pointed out by English 
naturalists and by the authorities of the British Museum that 
it was unfortunate that the proper study of the fauna of a 
British Possession could only be effectively carried out in a 
foreign Museum, owing to the lack of modern material in the 
national collection. Asa result, since 1908 very much of the 
energy of the Museum staff and considerable sums of money 
have been devoted to removing this reproach. After five 
years’ work, figures dealing with the mammalian fauna of the 
Malay Peninsula now stand as follows: 
