[Professor von Martens, having revised the foregoing, informs me that
considerable additions to the Mollusca of Turkistan and the adjacent
regions have been made by the collections of Dohrandt (1875), and
Barbot (1876) in Khiva; of Prjevalsky, in Mongolia; and Dr. Albert
Regel, in Kuldja (1878).* The Professor received another collection
made (1873-79) by Colonel Kushakevich in the Southern Ala-Tau, Kho-
kand, and Pamir.f He is good enough to forward me a new table,
t h u s •
I.
Khiva.
II.
Samarkand.
III.
Ferghana.
IV.
Kuldja.
V. 1
Ala-Tau.
VI.
Yuldus.
VII.
Kashgar.
VIII.
Ladak.
T o t a l N o . . 4 1 8 2 6 2 0 4 5 9 7
P e c u l i a r s p . I 3 9 8 O O 2 I
E u r o p . s p . . I 7 6 O I 3 3 5
with general remarks, as follows :—H. Z.]
Land Mollusca.—This table shows very distinctly the scarcity of
land snails in the desert plains (i., vii., viii.), as opposed to the larger
number and more peculiar forms in the mountain regions (iii., iv.).
The total number of species in this list is 53, of which 33 are, as far
as we know, peculiar to Central Asia as here understood; on the
other hand, n species are also generally distributed in most parts of
Europe, but all of small size, most of them being also found in Siberia
and North America (circumpolar species). Most of the genera and
sub-genera, and exactly those which are richer in species, are European,
and generally characteristic of the Palaearctic region (Fruticicola,
Xerophila, Zebrina, Chondrula); but many of the species, chiefly
in Fruticicola, are somewhat abnormal, and may form hereafter the
types of distinct subgenera. Vitrina is characteristic of northern
and alpine countries ; Succinea is a cosmopolitan genus; one of the
species, S. Martensiaila, is one of the largest and most intensively
coloured in the genus. Parmacella is peculiar to Western Asia and
the shores of the'Mediterranean. - Trachia is, to some extent, a type of
Eastern Asia. Macrochlamys is a more tropical genus. The total
absence of Clausilia is very remarkable, as this' genus is very richly
represented in South-Eastern Europe, and it is also tolerably well represented
in India and China. Its absence gives a decidedly northern
feature to the fauna of the whole of Central Asia.
Fresh-water Mollusca.—Among the" fresh-water Mollusca, the predominant
feature is the large number of air-breathing species which
live in stagnant water, and the paucity, and almost total absence, of the
genera living in running water, for example, Neritina, Unio, Melania,
and Melanopsis. The same is the case in most northern regions ; for
example, Siberia and Canada and also, to some extent, in Central
Europe, whereas in Southern Europe the case is reversed. Also in the
Alps of Central Europe the genera Limnaea and Pisidium (and in
some places also Planorbis) extend further north than the rest of the
fresh-water Mollusca. If we omit the species found in Lake Aral, which
are all Caspian and belong to a peculiar fauna, the number of fresh-
* [Von Martens has published anolhel- volume, incorporating this additional information
on the Mollusca of Central Asia, in the Mimoires de I’Acad.. Imp. de
S t. Petersbourg, tome xxx., No. II, 1882.]
■(•[See Sitzungsberichte der' naturforschenden Freunde in Berlin, July, 1882
pp. 103 and 107.]
water species contained in our list is 39, the larger half of which— 22—
are somewhat generally distributed in Europe; others are Siberian
(Planorbis szbiricus), or Chinese (Limnaea pervia), or peculiar to
South-Western Asia and Northern Africa (Corbicula pluminalis), and
the few which are peculiar are all of small size (Hydrobia, Pisidium),
and exhibit no striking differences from European species. Some
varieties of Limnaea are characterized by exceptional thickness of the
shell (Z. auricularla, var. oblicjuata ; lagotis, var. solidissima); they
live in elevated lakes with stony bed: others are characterized by
white markings (lagotis, var. albopicta). The scarcity of Mollusca in
running water may be due to the low temperature and stony bed of
the rivers, just as it is in Switzerland.
ARANEAE (Spiders').
B y A l e x a n d e r K r o n e b e r g .
I n the collection brought by Fedchenko’ s expedition, the Araneae are
important, and the more interesting, because up to the present we have
had almost no information concerning this portion of the fauna of
Turkistan. I can find in the literature only two references to the forms
found in Turkistan, both of them in the great work of C. Koch (“ Die
Arachmden,” etc.), wherein are described Tarantula obsoleta and
Lalliethera tricincta from Bokhara. The latter species is found in
Fedchenko s collection. Our knowledge is a little fuller in this respect
with regard to the fauna of the countries adjacent to Turkistan, which
resemble it in character and climate, namely, the Caspian steppes
Kirghese steppes, and Southern Siberia. Besides the large tarantula
x. singoriensis, Laxm.), which is generally distributed over the
whole of Southern Russia, Pallas describes in his “ Travels,” and in
Spicilegia Zoologica,” the “ Krestovik” (or Cross-spider, i.e., with
a cross on its back), Argiope Brunnichii, Scop. (speciosa, Pall.), and
A . lobata, Pall., known by their remarkable form and colouring in
Southern Europe, from the Caspian steppes and Upper Irtish. The
tchim mentioned!in his “ Travels,” which is known to the Kalmuksby
ltsstmgmghomed cattle, may, in the opinion of Motschulsky(B u ll, de
Mosc., 1849), be related to Lycosa infernalis, Motsch., or to la tro -
dectus lugubris, Id.
It is difficult to recognize the spiders of which Lepechin speaks in
his journal. The large Krestovik, found by him near Kamyshin on
H?e. /Olga, and called A r . bicornis, was afterwards described by
Knmtsky m the B u ll, de Mosc., 1837, No. V., p. 78, under the name
Ep. Lepechim, and is probably Ep. angulata or regia. Another
species, met with in the Urals under the baric of trees, and named by
Grmelin A r. alba, is probably related to Tkomisus onustus (abbreviatus)
or vatius. Eichwald(“ Fauna Casp. Caucas.” ) confined himself to the
■Arg. lobata and Brun nichii mentioned above.
_ I f we add to these a few more spiders described by Keyserling and L.
Koch from the environs of Sarepta, we have, as a general total for the
whole cis-Caspian steppe country, and Turkistan, only 10 or 12 species
which certainly does not permit us to form even an approximate idea
of the character of the local fauna and its relation to the faunae of neighbouring
countries. &
The collection sent to me principally consisted of the materials col