33. Genus Ovis, tame. Vast flocks of the graceful and valuable Hoonia are reared all over Tibet, for food, clothing and carriage, and exclusively almost of any other breed. They flourish also in the Kachar of Nepal, though not south of it, and even in the Kachar their wool degenerates. To procure the Hoonia from north-eastern Tibet, ought to be an object of zealous endeavour on the part of the Agricultural Society, which should likewise obtain the Kachar breed of the same animal, the former for export to Europe, (for it would not live in India,) the latter for attempts at crossing with the common long-tailed breed of Gangetic India. The Goats and Sheep of the Hemâchal and Tibet have the finest fleeces in the world: the Goats and Sheep of the plains of India, almost the worst.* Should the rulers of the latter region not essay to make their apathetic subjects profit by the circumstance?

CERVIDE.

GENUS CERvus.

34. Sub-genus Pseudo Cervus, C. Wallichii. This species is alleged to tenant the plains of Tibet in hilly and woody situations, as well as the Tibetan slopes from the spine of the Hemâchal. But I have no further tail of the Zoological Society's specimen had been lost, but on minute examination I arrived at the conclusion, that the whole skin of this part was present, though longitu dinally divided, and what confirmed me in this belief was, the circumstance of the pale space that should be covered by the tail being exactly of corresponding dimensions to the size of what I judge to be the whole of this appendage; of course, I allude to the appearance as if etoliated, which contrasts in this respect with the colour of the surrounding parts.

Of the veritable Nahoor, I have seen some considerable number of horns, (there are four frontlets of males in the Asiatic Society's Museum,) but never any that I could mistake for those of the Burrhel.-Comparative figures of them are given, along with those of other species described by me, in the Annals and Magazine of Natural History, for September, 1841; where, however, the names are unfortunately transposed, the appellation Nahoor being affixed to the Burrhel, and vice versa.

With respect to O. Ammonoides, Hodgson, should it really prove different from 0. Ammon, it will be remembered that I had dedicated this animal to Mr. Hodgson himself, terming it Hodgsonii, some time before the publication of the name Ammonoïdes; so, likewise, Capt. Hutton's designation Cycloceros, applied to the wild Sheep of the Hindu Koosh ranges, and which, by the way, is equally applicable to the Corsican O. Musimon, must yield to my prior name of Vignei.

Mr. Hodgson, in his trans-nivean researches, should strive to procure some information respecting my superlatively magnificent Ovis Polii, to which even the "monster Ammon" yields precedence for grandeur, as it assuredly does for elegance and beauty. The only locality at present known for this fine species is the Steppes of Pamir.-E. B.

* The Agricultural Society or any other body may command my willing services in aid of any exertions to improve the fleeces of our Indian or English Sheep.

specimen thence. That from which the original description of Hardwicke was taken, was obtained alive from Muktinath in the Himalayan region of Tibet, and considerably beyond the boundary of Nepal. Than such a habitat nothing can be more diametrically opposite to the Saul forest of the Morung, whence our Cervus Affinis was procured; and I therefore still believe in the distinctness of the two species, the more particularly as I conceive that the small disparity of age between the specimens compared is inadequate, even with the aid of other admitted differential accessories, to account for the vast and palpable differences exhibited by the horns. Mr. Blyth allows but about a year's difference of age between the specimens; yet the horns of Affinis are much more than double the size of those of Wallichii (as 9 to 4) whilst what he insists is the median, and I the subterminal, snag of the horns of Wallichii, has an interval from the basal snag as large nearly as in Affinis. Wherefore I say the snag in question of the horns of Wallichii is not a median; and that the species wants that significant mark of the true Elaphoid form.* Lastly, Wallich's stag is known to the Nepalese by the name Gyâna Mriga; Affinis, by that of Mool Bara Singha, that is, chief or royal stag; and I deem it generally prudent to rely on distinctions attested by this sort of evidence.

MOSCHIDE.

GENUS MOSCHUS.

35, 36, 37. M. Chrysogaster, M. Leucogaster, M. Saturatus. All these species abound in the lofty mountains of the interior of Tibet, especially towards the Chinese frontier, where the first and loveliest, or Chrysogaster, is almost exclusively found. On the Tibetan slopes of the Hemâchal, Saturatus chiefly resides, and it is difficult to distinguish this species from the Moschatus of Linné, belonging to the interior, otherwise than by the coarser structure of the musk pod, and inferior quality and quantity of its contents (on an average) in Saturatus. I have specimens of all three species from Lassa and Digurchee, whilst my garden is seldom deprived of the ornament of several live samples of the Saturatus of the Kachar. The trade with Europe in Musk is declining greatly of late, probably because its repute as a medicine is becoming fast exploded.

Mr. Hodgson should bear in mind, that the horns which he refers to are, most obviously, those of a young animal which had not assumed their typical conformation.Cur. As. Soc.

Much is still sent to China, and chiefly from the Dokpa district, six stages east of Lassa. It is, par excellence, the Kaghaze, that is, thin-aspaper pod, and is principally obtained from M. Chrysogaster.

GENUS EQUUS.

38. Equus Caballus, tame. From China to Bokhara through Tibet, there are found few or no horses, but a great variety of ponies, all remarkable for their excellence for mountainous travelling. Towards and in China, the breed appears to be the smallest and highest spirited, shewing as much blood as the finest Java pony. Towards and in the Himalayan districts, there is more size and bone, but less fire. The breeds of Eastern Tibet, such as the Poomi and Gyanché, best unite the two properties of the others, or strength and spirit; whilst towards Western Tibet, there is a gradual increase of size till you reach the Choughosa "Cob" of Samarcund and Bokhara. In most of the CisHimalayan districts, likewise from Kumaon to Deo Dharma, ponies," as we call them, are bred, but none of them equal, I think, to the Trans-Himalayan races, among which I prefer that of Lassa, a smallish breed, but stronger and larger than the gallant little " Chinia,” and not materially or inconveniently less resolute or animated. The proposed Gorkha corps of mounted riflemen should, if possible, be furnished with some good breed of these ponies.

66

"Hill

39. Equus, wild; E. Kiang, Moorcroft; E. Hemione, Auct.? Found generally throughout Tibet. I have no specimen.*

Mr. Moorcroft remarks of this animal (Travels', Residence at Ladakh, I. 311), that "it is certainly not the Gurkhor, or wild Ass of Sindh," which is the Hemione; see also p. 443 of the same volume for some description of this Kiang, which Dr. Gerard met with "in great herds" on the Himalaya, at an altitude of 17,700 feet; indeed it appears to be essentially a mountain animal, which "bounds up the rocks" with speed and facility; whereas the Hemione is rather an inhabitant of the sandy level. Col. Hamilton Smith, in his admirable treatise on the Equidæ, (Nat. Libr., Mam., XII,) conceives the Kiang to be one of several existing wild species of true Horse, and suggests that the "wild Asses" of Bell, with hair "waved white and brown," some skins of which were seen by that traveller near the sources of the Oby, may refer to no other; but this is mere conjecture, and Col. Smith appears to me to be little warranted in his endeavour to derive the pie-bald races of horses from this peculiar stock.

I may take this opportunity of remarking, too, that I entertain considerable doubts as to whether the reputed "wild Ass" of Prof. Gemelin be aught but a variety of the Hemione: the female observed by that naturalist had no cross-stripe over its shoulders, such as was found in the male, and is, so far as I have observed (and my attention has been long directed to the subject), invariably constant in the domestic Ass; whereas in the Mongolian Onager, M. Gmelin was informed that the mark

40. Asinus Equioides, Mihi. Species wants verification, spoken of by Moorcroft and others: called wild Ass by the Tibetans, and said to be common on the plains of Tibet. Possess no specimen.

RODENTIA.
MURIDE.

41. Genus Mus. Rats and mice are said to be common in Tibet, but I have no specimens, and cannot therefore indicate species.

42. Genus Sorex. One small species, Tibetanus; no describable speci

men.

43. Genus Arctomys, A. Hemalayanus. Possess many skins from the interior of Tibet, where the species is very common, and where also are found some rarer murine forms that I have no means to illustrate, such as the one adverted to by Moorcroft (I. 312). The traders of Nepal of the Newar race, who are often domiciled in Tibet, upon seeing my specimens of Rhizomys Badius, assure me, that this is the ordinary house rat of Tibet, and no other than the animal indicated by Moorcroft. referred to is by no means constant (as his two specimens testified), and sometimes there is even a double cross-band over the shoulders. Now with respect to the undoubted Hemione, I may remark that an uncommonly fine male, which is probably still living in the Surrey Zoological Gardens, has a very distinct incipient cross over its shoulders, more developed on one side than on the other, though not above an inch or so on the former; and therefore it is probable enough, that some examples of this species may have the same mark further developed. Whether the Khur of Sir R. K. Porter ('Travels,' I. 459), be specifically different from the Ghore-khur or Gurkhor, i. e. the Hemione of modern naturalists, remains also to be ascertained. Of this we are informed, that "no line whatever ran along his back, or crossed his shoulders, such as are seen in the tame species with us ;" but "the mane was short and black, as was also a tuft which terminated his tail:" and it is worthy of notice, that this traveller completed the sketch which he has furnished of this animal from a second individual. Certes, a wild Ass, or Hemione, of some kind, exists at the foot of Taurus (Ainsworth's • Travels in Assyria,' &c., p. 41); the same or another "is common in the districts of the Thebaid" (Wilkinson's Domestic Manners of the Ancient Egyptians,' III. 21); and a "wild Ass" is mentioned in the narrative of Lander's Expedition (p. 571); but of the genuine and indisputable wild Equus Asinus, we really possess no definitive information whatever, that should satisfy us of its present existence, however little reason there may be to doubt this; the Onager or Koulan, as we have seen, being very probably no other than an occasional variety of the Hemionus, and the Hamar or Hymar of Sir R. K. Porter, if really distinct from the last, which is very probable, being still more different from the common tame Ass, since it has no dorsal marking whatever, and the cross stripe of the so called Onager even was considerably less developed than in a domestic Donkey. I look to the establishment of Mr. Hodgson's Asinus Equioides with much interest; and indeed all the aboriginally wild Equine animals of Central Asia, if we except the modernly termed Hemionus alone, are but very vaguely known at present to Zoologists, and should be minutely described by whoever has the good fortune to meet with one.-Cur. As. Soc.

Lagomys Nipalensis, again, they allege to be the ordinary field rat of that strange land, Sed quære? Rhizomys is too tropical a form for Tibet.

44. Genus Lepus, L. Oïostolus. Common in Tibet near the Hemâchal, and expressly pointed out by Moorcroft (I. 225): but not so common in the central and eastern provinces of Utsâng and Khâm, as the next and much larger species.

45. L. Pallipes, White-foot, new, Mihi. Essential structure perfectly typical particular conformation approximated to that of Hibernicus and Variabilis: fur very soft and full, as full as, and much softer than, the English hare, and of two sorts, the inner rather more abundant and wavy, the outer, not much longer, straight, and possessed of an uniform structure with very little rigidity, or rather with a slight elasticity and no rigidity. Size of Variabilis, but with ears equal to the head. General colour the ordinary hue of the English species, but paler, with less of red and still less of black in it, and the pads yet more completely enveloped in their socks: Groove of the front teeth very deep: whiskers medial, black or white. Body above, except the buttocks, with the whole toes and a list down the fronts of the limbs, pale rusty yellow or ruddy luteous, very moderately sprinkled with black. Ears outside towards the back on the distad opposed halves, with the nape, the buttocks and the limbs, bluish hoary, white almost on the ears and limbs ; body below rufescent hoary; rufous on the chest and white under the chin. Ears largely tipt with black (for half an inch): Tail white. Inner fleece inannulate and bluish hoary. Outer piles triannulate with two black rings and one intervening pale rufous zone, none of these latter wholly black, nor longer nor harsher than the rest. Snout to rump 22 to 23 inches, head 43, ears 43: Oscalcis to longest toe, 44: Scut without the terminal hair, 4 inches, with it, 6.

Remark. Possess two skins from Lassa and one from Sikim, which however came, no doubt, from beyond the snows originally. I am indebted for it to Dr. Campbell's kindness. The species is that common to all central and eastern Tibet, (Utsâng and Khâm): but in the higher and more mountainous sites of Western Tibet, or Nâree, and also in Ladakh, Oiostolus is the more prevalent species. Macrotus, or the Indian type, (up to the Himalaya) never crosses the snows, nor is known in Tibet.*

* The Lepus tolai of Pallas, "an inhabitant of open hilly places in Dauria and Mongolia, and said to extend as far as Tibet," should be enquired for by Mr. Hodgson A description is given in Shaw's Zoology, II. 203.-Cur. As. Soc.