37. Pteromys volans, Linn.-The European Flying Squirrel is abundant all over the wooded portions of Dauria and Baikalia, but naturally does not extend on to the bare steppes.

38. Sciurus vulgaris.-The European Squirrel is extensively diffused in the wooded portions of Eastern Siberia, presenting many variations in the character and colour of its fur, according to the season of the year and the different districts it inhabits.

39. Tamias striatus.-The European Ground Squirrel is also common in the open districts of Baikalia and Amoorland, dwelling in burrows, and feeding on the seeds of the Tilia mandshurica and other trees. Like the Common Squirrel, it is not found on the bare steppes of Mongolia.

40. Spermophilus eversmanni, Brandt."

41.

42.

dauricas, Brandt.

sp. ?

Three species of Souslik

a genus represented in Europe by S. citillus and

others, and by several species in North America-occur in Eastern Siberia. Sp. eversmanni is abundant in Baikalia, and also met with in Amoorland. It is extensively diffused throughout Eastern Siberia, and occasionally mounts to a high elevation, having been found on the highest peaks of the Sajan-range, at an elevation of 11,450 feet, but was not met with in the low steppes of Mongolia, where Sp. dauricus takes its place. One example of a third species was also obtained near Irkutsk, but not preserved.

43. Arctomys bobac, Schreb.
44. Arctomys sp. ?

The Bobac Marmot is one of the most characteristic features of the high plains of inner Asia, as is our European A. marmotta of the solitudes of the Alps. In the chromo-lithograph, given as a frontispiece to the present volume, which represents a view on the steppes at the north-eastern end of the high Gobi, the most prominent feature is a colony of these Marmots-each sitting on the summit of the mound of earth excavated from its burrow. The soil is clad only with dull-green Elymus-grass, mixed with Rheum and Urtica cannabina. About the end of March the Bobac has finished its wintersleep and leaves its burrow, strangely enough, as fat as when it entered it. The hungry Mongol, having fasted as regards flesh for many months, goes joyfully forth in search of the dainty morsel. Taking up his station, with his gun, behind one of these little hillocks,

*

*Elymus pseudo-agropyrum.

near the Bobac's abode, he waits patiently until the little animal issues from its burrow, and sitting up on its hind legs to look round the world again, meets with an untimely fate. A second species of Arctomys, not yet determined, lives in the mountains of the Baikalregion.

45. Dipus jaculus.-Herr Radde treats the Jerboa-mouse of the Mongolian steppes as specifically identical with the European Dipus jaculus considering D. spiculum, Licht., D. vexillaris, Eversm., and D. decumanus, Licht., as likewise merely varieties of the same species. This little animal hybernates from early in September to the end of the first week in April. In the summer it leaves its underground retreat at dusk, and feeds especially on the shoots of a species of Gagea (G. uniflora).

46. Sminthus vagus, Pall.—This peculiar Rodent was only met with in Eastern Siberia, in the birch-woods westward of Lake Baikal -not in Baikalia nor in Amoorland.

}

Both these Hamsters are inhabi

47. Cricetus songarus, Pall. 48. Cricetus furunculus, Pall. S tants of the high steppes of Mongolia. Cricetus songarus prefers the tracts covered with Caragana microphylla, where it excavates a shallow burrow, and lines its nest with sheeps-wool and dried horse-dung? Besides seeds of Caragana and Elymus, Herr Radde found remains of insects also in its nest, and had other opportunities of testifying to its carnivorous habits. Cricetus furunculus, which was also met with very abundantly in the valley of the Onon, at the north side of the plateau-is of a more shy and mouselike habit than the former species.

49. Mus decumanus, Linn. Į

50.

51.

52.

53.

54.

caraco, Pall. musculus, Linn. sylvaticus, Linn. agrarius, Pall. minutus, Pall.

Mus caraco is only introduced into this list on authority of Pallas, since whose time it has not been met with. The other five species are all met with in various parts of Eastern Siberia, and being also European show strongly the close resemblance which prevails between the Mammalfaunas of the eastern and western extremities of the Palearctic Region. On the other hand Mice are not generally found on the high steppes of Mongolia, their places being taken there by various species of Arvicola.

55-56. Arvicole, sp. var.-The Voles are a very numerous group in Eastern Siberia, no less than 15 species of these little Mammals being now recorded as found in various parts of the country. Four

of these (A. amphibius, rufocanus, rutilus, and schisticolor) are species also found in Europe, where, as is well known, the genus is also abundant. Others are forms peculiar to the high steppes (such as A. brandti, A. arvalis, and A. mongolicus), and others again inhabit Dauria and Amoorland. Herr Radde goes into very full details concerning these animals and the structure of their teeth, and accompanies his descriptions with illustrations of the new and littleknown species, and of the patterns of their teeth.

66. Siphneus aspalax, Pallas.-Herr Radde obtained examples of this particular Mole-like Rodent on the Onon in Transbaikalia, Von Schrenck having also previously found it on the upper Amoor.

67. Castor fiber.-The Beaver is not now met with in those parts of Eastern Siberia visited by Radde, and appears never to have occurred there. This is note-worthy as the form is also found in the Nearctic Region.

68. Lepus variabilis, Pall. 69. Lepus tolai, Pall.

Three Hares are found in Eastern Siberia. The ordi

70. Lepus mandshuricus, sp. nov. nary Lepus variabilis of Eu rope is universally distributed, and met with at every altitude, from the mountain summits elevated 10,500 feet above the sea-level to the islands in the Amoor. Lepus tolai of Pallas, on the other hand, is exclusively an inhabitant of the high steppes of Central Asia. The third species, which is new to science, was first obtained by Radde in the Bureja mountains. Other specimens were subsequently procured by Herren Maack and Maximowicz on the Ussuri. Lepus mandschuricus is unquestionably distinct from the two preceding species, but appears to be closely allied to Lepus brachyurus, Temm. of Japan. Its habits are hare-like, but it retreats into the interior of hollow trees lying on the ground for shelter, instead of placing its form in grass or in thickets.

71. Lagomys alpinus.
72. Lagomys ogotona.

} or

Of the Tail-less or Piping Hares or Pikas-a very characteristic moun73. Lagomys hyperboreus. tain-form of the northern regions of both hemispheres-Radde obtained three species in Eastern Siberia. Lagomys alpinus of Pallas is found throughout the high parts of the Altai and Sajan ranges, ascending up to the level of the snows and glaciers, at a height of 10,000 feet. L. ogotona, on the other hand, is a native of the high steppes, and L. hyperboreus was only exceptionally obtained in the Bureja mountains.

These Rodents are very different from Hares in their habits, although not distantly related to them as regards structure. They are remarkable for the large stores of dried herbage, which they lay up for the winter season in the most methodical way in the hollows of rocks, between stones and in such-like places, selecting especially species of Artemisia, Tanacetum, Gibbaldia, and Thalictrum for this purpose.

74. Sus scrofa.-The Wild Swine is found throughout the wooded districts of Eastern Siberia, but is never met with on the steppes. 75. Camelus bactrianus.-Used as a beast of burden among the inhabitants of the steppes.

76. Aegoceros (Ovis) argali, Pall.

The great Argali Sheep

77. Aegoceros (Ovis) montanus, Desm. S of Central Asia is well known to our sportsmen in the Himalayas, where it is generally called the Ovis ammon. But it is doubtful whether this is the true Capra ammon of Linneus, and it is therefore better to retain for it the native Mongolian name argali, which Pallas long ago proposed for it, as its scientific appellation. The Argal Sheep, which in the days of that great naturalist was common on the steppes of the RussoMongolian frontier, appears to have been driven back further to the south-east of late years, and for the last thirty years or more has not been met with in Russian territory.

Further to the north, in Kamschatka and the Stanowoi range, this Sheep is replaced by the Ovis nivicola of Eschscholtz, which our author, following Middendorf, identifies with the American Ovis montana of the Rocky Mountains. Although we have never met with an example of the Kamschatkan animal, we should, on à priori grounds, be greatly inclined to doubt its specific identity with the American species.

78. Aegoceros (Ovis) aries.-In domesticity.

79. Aegoceros (Capra) sibiricus, Meyen.-A fine series of eleven specimens enables Herr Radde to give full descriptions of the different sexes and ages of this little known Siberian Wild Goat which, in company with the great Snow Partridge (Tetraogallus altaicus), inhabits (exclusively, as far as is known) the mountain ranges of the Altai and Sajan.

80. Capra hircus.-In domesticity.

81. Antilope gutturosa.-This Antelope and the Dsiggetai (Equus hemionus) are the most characteristic of the larger Mammals of the

steppes of Central Asia. The Antelopes inhabit the open steppes in herds. In the middle of June the females produce ordinarily two fawns, which in three days time are strong enough to be as fleet as their mother. In winter time they are the favourite game of the Tungusians of the steppes, as many as 200 individuals being sometimes killed by a single hunter in one season.

82. Antilope (Caprina) crispa, Temm.-A species of GoatAntelope is occasionally met with in the Bureja mountains, which Herr Radde identifies (somewhat doubtfully) with the Japanese Capricornis crispa. In some respects, however, our author considers the Siberian animal more like the descriptions of Antilope goral, Hardwicke, of the sub-Himalayas. We suspect it will eventually turn out to be distinct from both these species. The Goat-Antelopes form a small group closely allied to the well-known Chamois of the Alps (Rupicapra tragus). The genus embraces at least four species, including the newly-discovered C. Swinhoii of Formosa (besides the Goral, which has been made the type of a distinct section), and we have little doubt the present species will make a fifth of the group.

83. Bos taurus. 7 In domesticity. The Yak has gone wild 84. Bos grunniens. J in some parts of the Eastern Siberian frontier, but does not occur in its original state of nature.

85. Moschus moschiferus.-The Musk-deer inhabits the most elevated portion of the wooded ranges of Eastern Siberia, from the level of 3000 feet to that of 7000. When disturbed by the hunter from its lair, it springs up from rock to rock as active as a Chamois, and were it not for its habit of returning, after a circuit, to the same spot, would be extremely difficult to obtain. The male alone is prized for its musk-bag, which varies in price in the markets of the country from 1 to 2 silver roubles.

86. Cervus capreolus. 87. Cervus elaphus. 88. Cervus axis?

The Roe, the Red-deer, the Rein-deer, and the Elk, of Europe, are likewise inhabitants of Eastern Siberia. Besides 89. Cervus tarandus. these, Herr Radde has obtained indica90. Cervus alces. tions of the existence on the upper Ussuri of a Spotted Deer, something like the Fallow Deer, which he fancies may be Cervus axis. There can be little doubt, however, that this is an error, Cervus axis being an animal of more southern range and hotter climate. The Spotted Deer of Amoorland is probably the