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Show 654 MR. H. J. ELWES ON THE GEOGRAPHICAL [June 17. fragmentary condition over the greater part of the peninsula of India. Mr. Blanford's remarks on this subject, in the 'Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal,' 1871, p. 216, are very interesting, and lead us to hope that this gentleman, whose great knowledge of the physical geography, geology, and zoology of India fits him so well for the task, will give us sooner or later a more detailed account of the minor divisions of the Indian province, which he has already sketched out in the same journal, (vide P. A. S. B. 1870, p. 335). Mr. Blanford, in the paper I have referred to (J. A. S. B. 1870, p. 335), divides India alone into four provinces, and one of these again into four subprovinces. Though I agree with him in the main, I think that such minute divisions tend, in the present state of our knowledge, to confuse those who have no personal knowledge of the country; and I shall therefore only notice those of his divisions which are marked by such remarkable forms or abundance of peculiar species that they will be understood by those whose acquaintance with the subject is only general. HIMALAYAN OR HIMALO-CHINESE SUBREGION. This subregion, according to m y view, includes all the middle region of the Himalaya from 3000 or 4000 up to 10000-12000 feet, and extends from Cashmere, right through Nepal, Bhotan, the hill-ranges surrounding the valley of Asam, and all the unknown hilly region, thence to the coast of China south of about latitude 30° N., including the islands of Formosa and Hainan, and probably the whole of Siam, Cochin China, and Anam, though of this country we know next to nothing. It also includes all the hilly region of Burmah and the Tennasserim mountains, merging into the Malayan subregion about lat. 12° N. Its northern limit is of course very indefinite, as the country north and east of Assam is absolutely unknown ; but it is probable that it includes a great part of East Thibet and the head-waters of the rivers which unite near Sudya to form the Bramaputra. It is characterized by an abundance of species and a great variety of peculiar forms, many of which, from their rarity in collections and from our ignorance of their osteology, are not as yet classified with any certainty. In its western part it is merely a narrow border land, in which the inhabitants of two very different faunas lying north and south of it mingle, and, being inhabited at some seasons of the year by representatives of nearly all the principal Indian and Palaearctic genera, probably includes some of the richest localities in the whole world. W e will now examine the different parts of the subregion, beginning from its western limit. KASHMIR. The birds of Cashmere are now pretty well known; but no connected account of them has been published, except that given by Adams in the Society's 'Proceedings' for 1859. It gives a good idea of the ornithology of the country ; and having struck out some species which do not properly belong to it, and added a good many which have been since |