PLANT-BEARING SERIES OE INDIA. 537 



Guinea, Mozambique, and Sennaar and in India, whence the genus 

 extends to China in one direction, and to Java and Borneo in another. 

 The Asiatic and East- African forms are more nearly related to each 

 other than to those of West Africa. A third example among Mam- 

 mals is the Indian Badger (Mellivora), which was long considered 

 identical with the Cape-Eatel ; and though now distinguished as 

 a species, the two forms are very closely allied. The Indian Elori- 

 kin (Sypheotides, Lesson) is congeneric with the Tropical- African 

 forms referred to the genus Lissiotis *, Eeich. ; and the males have 

 the character in common of assuming a black plumage during the 

 breeding-season. The genus Hypsipetes is restricted to India and 

 the Malayan region in Asia, and occurs also in Madagascar, the 

 Mauritius, Bourbon, and the Seychelles. 



Among the land-Mollusca are some remarkable cases of identical 

 and allied species. One of the most striking is Gyclotopsis (one of 

 the two Cyclostomoid genera of India). The Indian form ranges 

 across the peninsula from Bombay to Orissa (G. subdiscoideus vel 

 semistriatus, Sow.). The only other known species (G. conoideus, 

 Pfr.) is from the Seychelles and the Mauritius. No species of the 

 genus has yet been described from any other part of the World f. 

 The genus Omplicdotropis centres in the Mauritius, but ranges to 

 Ascension on the west and to the Sandwich Islands on the east, 

 while on the north it occurs in the Andaman Islands. Bulimus 

 punctatus, Luton, is a common shell in Southern India and Ceylon, 

 and occurs also in Zanzibar and the Mauritius. The Seychelles 

 Streptascis is closely allied to species common in Southern India, 

 Burmah, and the Andamans. Paludomus ajalcensis, Mor., from the 

 Seychelles, is an outlying representative of a genus which centres 

 in Ceylon, but has representatives in India and the Malay peninsula. 

 One form also is said to occur in the Nile. A Seychelles Helicina 

 (iT. Theobaldiana, Nev.) is almost undistinguishable from one that 

 occurs in the Nicobars ; but this genus is not represented in India, 

 though several forms are common in Malayana. And Helix similaris, 

 Eer., occurs in the Mauritius, Seychelles £, and Bourbon, also in 

 Arakan and Burmah, in China, Java, and Brazil. Lastly, Nanina, 

 which is characteristically an Indian, Malayan, and Chinese genus, 

 is represented in the Mauritius and neighbouring islands by several 

 forms allied to those of India §. With respect to the plants of 

 Madagascar and the South-Indian islands, I am unable to say what 

 affinities they may present ; but Drs. Hooker and Thomson notice 

 the presence in India of a Tropical-African type of vegetation (dis- 

 tinct from the Egyptian type, which, like the " desert-fauna," is 

 common to Persia, Arabia, &c.) ; and they observe, "a curious affinity 



* For these and the preceding examples, and several others here mentioned, 

 I am indebted to my brother Mr. W. T. Blanford. 



t W. T. Blanford, Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. 1864, vol. xiii. 3rd ser. p. 447. 



| It has been named H. bourbonica by Deshayes ; but Mr. Miall considers it to 

 be identical with H. similaris, in which I fully agree with him. 



§ The above are given as examples only, and they are selected as some of the 

 most striking. A naturalist acquainted with the faunas might very greatly 

 extend the list. 



