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Show 1876] MR. W. T. BLANFORD ON THE FAUNA OF TIBET. 631 4. Note on the " Africa-Indien " of A. von Pelzeln, and on the Mammalian Fauna of Tibet. By W . T. BLANFORD, F.R.S., F.Z.S. [Received June 6, 1876.] I am indebted to the kindness of Herr August von Pelzeln for copies of two papers lately written by him on the mammalian fauna and avifauna of India and Malayasia. The first, entitled "Africa- Indien"*, was published last year; the second, on the Mammalian fauna of the Malay countries f, has just reached me. These papers are well worthy the attention of all interested in the question of the geographical distribution of animals. I have for some years past contended that the fauna of India proper, or Hindustan as it is often called on European maps (Hindustan in India itself has a much more restricted signification), is not an integral part of the so-called " Indian region " of Dr. Sclater and other naturalists. My views were adopted by the late Dr. Stoliczka, and were identical with those held by Mr. Blyth*]". It is very satisfactory to find similar views enforced independently by so high an authority as Herr von Pelzeln and in so careful an essay. The whole world is divided by v. Pelzeln into six regions, viz : - I. The Arctic (comprising the Palaearctic and Nearctic of Sclater). II. The American Tropical (Neotropical of Sclater). III. The Australian. IV. The Ethiopian. V. The Hindustan (India and Ceylon). VI. The Malay, including the Himalaya, Tibet, Southern China with Formosa, " Hinter-Indien " (i. e. Burma, Siam, and the Malay peninsula), the Sunda archipelago up to Wallace's line-and probably Madagascar, the Mascarene, Comoro, and Seychelles Islands (Lemuria). I am rather disposed, with Andrew Murray §, to unite the Ethio- * "Africa-Indien, Darstellung der Beziehungen zwischen der africanischen und indo-malayischen Vogel-Fauna nebst allgemeineren Betrachtungen iiber die geographische Verbreitung der Saugethiere, von August von Pelzeln, Custos des k.-k. zoologischen Hof-Cabinets," Verhandl. k. k. zool.-bot. Ges. Wien. 1875, pp. 33-62. t Ueber die malayische Saugethier-Fauna von August von Pelzeln. Separat- Abdruck aus dem Festschrift zur Feier des 25-jahrigen Bestehens des k.-k. zool.-bot. Ges. in Wien. "L See his remarks on the division of the earth into zoological regions; Nature, 1871, vol. iii. p. 427. § ' Geographical Distribution of Mammals,' p. 304. I may remark that Mr. Murray's maps, so far as they exhibit the distribution of particular genera in India, are frequently incorrect. Thus Map xx. represents that there is no Wolf in India, whilst in Maps xxv., xxvii., xii., xlvi., and lxiii. the following mammals are represented as ranging more or less throughout the peninsula to Cape Comorin-Mydaus, Helictis, Binturong, Wild Ass, Rhinoceros, and European Mole! With the doubtful exception of the Rhinoceros, not one of these animals is found in the peninsula of India, the Wild Ass being confined to the deserts of Cutch and Bikanir.- There are other mistakes in matters of detail. |