74 
THE INDIAN MUSEUM: 1814—1914. 
huri in the Records of the Indian Museum in 1909. Most 
of the specimens reached Calcutta in fair condition on both 
occasions and, regarded as a whole, the material is of con¬ 
siderable interest. 
The fauna of Afghanistan itself is poorly represented in 
the Indian Museum and, indeed, almost unknown ; but a 
collection is present from the Russian frontier on the 
Pamirs. This was obtained in 1896 by Captain (now Lt.- 
Colonel) A. W. Alcock, I.M.S., who served as Surgeon- 
Naturalist with the Pamir Boundary Commission and des¬ 
cribed his zoological work in his Report on the Natural 
History Results of the Pamir Boundary Commission ”, which 
was issued officially in Calcutta in 1898. Though small, the 
collection is valuable ; chiefly on account of the fish and of the 
butterflies. Interesting specimens of other vertebrates and 
insects, of the lower Crustacea (including two types) and of 
freshwater molluscs were, however, also preserved. 
A much larger collection is that made by Dr. F. Stoliczka, 
and the officers of the Second Yarkand Mission (1873-74) on 
the North-West Frontier of India and in Chinese Turkestan. 
A full account is published in the “ Scientific Results of the 
Second Yarkand Mission ” issued by the Government of 
India (1878-91). Although particularly rich in vertebrates 
of all groups, it also included a very valuable set of beetles 
and spiders. The different groups were fully worked out by 
leading authorities of the time, and large numbers of type 
specimens were named, the majority being returned in due 
course to Calcutta. It has not, however, been possible to 
trace the ultimate fate of the spiders, and in this case, as in 
so many others, zoological research actually in progress in 
India is handicapped by the fact that the specimens are not 
available for comparison in this country. It was while re¬ 
turning from the expedition that Stoliczka died. 
The lower hills of the Western Himalayas, Sikkim (native 
and British), and the more accessible parts of Nepal are 
represented by numerous collections, small and great, in the 
Indian Museum ; but this is the result of the liberality of 
private naturalists and of the work of our own officers and 
collectors rather than of the journeys of historical expeditions. 
