JBNHS Vol. 108(1)
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| CONTENTS | |
| EDITORIAL | 1 |
| CRITICAL OBSERVATIONS OF THE FAMILY AVICENNIACEAE FROM MAHARASHTRA AND GOA, INDIA. S.S. Shaikh and N.S. Chavan |
2 |
| SURVEY OF ISOLATED POPULATIONS OF THENILGIRI TAHR NILGIRITRAGUS HYLOCRIUS (OGILBY) IN KERALA, INDIA. Sharon Vergis, Jean-Philippe Puyravaud, Pratheesh C. Mammen and Priya Davidar |
8 |
| PHYSICAL AND BIOLOGICAL IMPACT ON MARINE BENTHIC POLYCHAETES DUE TO DREDGING IN THE MORMUGAO HARBOUR, GOA AND ITS RESTORATION AFTER DREDGING. Vijayakumar Rathod |
12 |
| CIRCUMSTANTIAL AND RESPONSE ATTITUDES OF PEOPLE AFFECTED WITH LIVESTOCK DEPREDATION BY LEOPARDS PANTHERA PARDUS LINNAEUS IN RATNAGIRI DISTRICT, MAHARASHTRA, INDIA. R.P. Donikar, V.K. Patil, S.S. Narkhede, A.D. Rane, D.N. Mokat and S.G. Bhave |
18 |
| FRUGIVORY BY BIRDS AND MAMMALS IN SRIHARIKOTA ISLAND, SOUTHERN INDIA. J. Patrick David, B. Senthil Murugan and Ranjit Manakadan |
24 |
| WILD FOOD TRADITIONALLY USED BY THE INDIGENOUS PEOPLE OF PARAMBIKULAM WILDLIFE SANCTUARY, WESTERN GHATS, KERALA, INDIA. K. Yesodharan, P. Padmanabhan and N.U. Cini |
41 |
| NEW DESCRIPTION | |
| A REVIEW OF THE WHITEFLY GENUS DIALEUROLONGA DOZIER (HEMIPTERA: ALEYRODIDAE) WITH DESCRIPTION OF A NEW SPECIES FROM iNDIA. R. Pushpa and R. Sundararaj | 47 |
| REVIEWS | |
| 1.MANAGEMENT OF BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY OF INDIAN FORESTS. Reviewed by Atul Sathe | 51 |
| 2.BIRDS OF KERALA — STATUS AND DISTRIBUTION. Reviewed by Ranjit Manakadan |
51 |
| MISCELLANEOUS NOTES | |
| MAMMALS | |
| 1.A note on whistle alarm calls of Three-striped Palm Squirrel Funambulus palmarum Linnaeus in Sitamata Wildlife Sanctuary, Rajasthan, India. Vijay Kumar Koli, Chhaya Bhatnagar and Satish Kumar Sharma |
53 |
| 2. On a record specimen of Grey-headed Giant Flying Squirrel Petaurista caniceps Gray, from Arunachal Pradesh, with a note on its taxonomy. Anwaruddin Choudhury |
55 |
| 3. The northernmost range of Gaur Bos gaurus H. Smith and Wild Water Buffalo Bubalus arnee Kerr. Anwaruddin Choudhury |
56 |
| 4. Easternmost limit of the range of Blackbuck Antilope cervicapra (L.), with historic records from Assam and north Bengal, India. Anwaruddin Choudhury | 58 |
| BIRDS | |
| 5. Range extension of the Mountain Hawk-Eagle Nisaetus (=Spizaetus) nipalensis to Uttar Kanara district in northern Karnataka, India. Prachi Mehta and Jayant Kulkarni |
60 |
| REPTILES | |
| 6. Some Chelonian records from Manipur and Nagaland in North-east India. Anwaruddin Choudhury | 61 |
| INSECTS | |
| 7. A report on the presence of three avian lice (Insecta: Phthiraptera) in different regions of north-east India. Namram S. Singh, Anand S. Dixit and Ramita Sougrakpam | 65 |
| BOTANY | |
| 8. Rediscovery of Murdannia striatipetala (Commelinaceae) – a little known species from southern India with a note on its identity and distribution. Mayur D. Nandikar, R.V. Gurav and Divya Umesh | 67 |
| 9. Juncus bufonius L. – an addition to the flora of Maharashtra, India. Manoj M. Lekhak, Arun N. Chandore and S.R. Yadav |
68 |
| 10. Additions to the flora of Similipal Biosphere Reserve, Orissa, India. R.C. Misra, H.K. Sahoo, A.K. Mahapatra and R.N. Reddy |
69 |
Cover photograph: Avicennia marina by Manan Shukla
EDITORIAL
Celebrating 125 Years of Publication
The Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society was first published in 1886 to collate and disseminate information on natural history of the Indian subcontinent and beyond. This year (2011), the Journal celebrates 125 years of uninterrupted publication (with some delays during World Wars due to paper shortage). The Journal was the most important medium to establish the credibility of the Society as a serious research organization interested in all aspects of natural history. For a long time, it was also the only publication of the Society to reach outstation members. List of animal specimens sent to the Society, list of members, donors and even annual financial reports, and minutes of annual general meetings were published in the Journal in the initial decades.
Besides research papers covering the Indian subcontinent that included Burma (now Myanmar) and Afghanistan, the Journal used to occasionally publish papers from the Middle East and West Asia. Moths of Mesopotamia and N.W. Persia by various authors, published in JBNHS 28 (1922) is one such example. In the same volume, The Birds of Mesopotami by C.B. Ticehurst, P.A. Buxton and R.E. Cheesman was published as a series. Another example is Notes on Somaliland by Captain P.Z. Cox published in Vol. 13, in two parts.
Detailed survey reports and accumulated work of many decades were published as a series, some running for many years. For example, E.C. Stuart Baker’s Indian Ducks and Their Allies, was first published in Vol. 11(1) 1898 and ran in ten parts till Vol. 13(2) 1901. His other classical paper, The Birds of North Cachar was published from 1894 to 1901 in the Journal. Similarly, Identification of Indian Butterflies by Col. W.H. Evans was published as a series in the Journal and later as a book. Numerous papers in botany helped in documenting the floral wealth of India. For example, the paper The Flora of the Indian Desert (Jodhpur and Jaisalmer) by the famous botanists E. Blatter and F. Hallberg started in Vol. 26 (1918) and continued for many years. These seminal papers helped in establishing the foundation of natural history of the Indian subcontinent.
In the days of ‘shikar’, most advertisements were of natural history and shikar books, taxidermy, cartridges, rifles, etc., which obviously cannot be published now as hunting in India is totally prohibited. After Independence in 1947, the Journal became more insular and articles from neighbouring countries became fewer. The Society also stopped publishing advertisements in the Journal.
The earlier volumes of the JBNHS also carried advertisements. Internet revolution of the last two decades has made the world a truly large global village. We have therefore decided to revive the earlier scope of the Journal. From the coming volumes, the scope of the political boundaries for papers published in the JBNHS will not be limited to study conducted in the Subcontinent. The JBNHS will now carry reports of original research in natural history, taxonomy and other aspects of zoology and botany of general interest from across the globe. Scientists and naturalists working outside the Indian subcontinent can now submit their papers. JBNHS will also revive the tradition of publishing advertisements, however, these will be limited to products such as binoculars, telescopes, camera, field and lab equipment; this will help generate revenue for publishingthe JBNHS.
The time scale between acceptance of a paper and its publication has also been reduced to 6-8 months, shorter in some cases. The referring system has been overhauled so now a paper will be peer-reviewed within a month. We hope that these changes will make the Journal more popular and expand its reach beyond the Indian subcontinent.
Asad R. Rahmani