12 



situated in about the latitude of the great valley : the habitat of the 

 species may therefore be presumed to be the central part of these 

 mountains, or that portion which lies equidistant from the snows 

 of the Himalaya and the hot plains of Hindoostan. Though only 

 just taken when it was brought to Mr. Hodgson, it bore confinement 

 very tranquilly, and gave evident signs of a tractable disposition and 

 cheerful unsuspicious temper • so much so as to convince that gen- 

 tleman that a judicious attempt at taming it must succeed. None 

 such, however, was made ; and when the animal, after six months 

 confinement, died of disease, it was still, of course, unreclaimed from 

 its wild state of manners and temper ; in which state it manifested 

 considerable ferocity and high courage, the approach to its cage of 

 the huge Bhoteah Dog exciting in it symptoms of wrath only — none 

 of fear. 



In a note appended to his description of this second new species 

 ofFelis from Nepal, Mr. Hodgson refers to that of the Fel. Nepa- 

 lensis published by Messrs. Horsfield and Vigors in the < Zoological 

 Journal,' vol. iv. p. 383. The ground-colour of this latter animal is 

 there described as "grey, with a very slight admixture of tawny ;" 

 whereas in five specimens possessed by Mr. Hodgson the tawny 

 prevails over the grey to such an extent that the tawny should be 

 regarded as the ground-colour in the mature animal of both sexes. 

 One adult male is almost as brightly tinted as a Leopard : the fe- 

 males are paler than the males. He adds that the common species 

 of wild Cat is frequently met with in Nepal of the fullest European 

 size, and so like to the Occidental type as not even to constitute a 

 variety. 



The new species of Antelope is distinguished by Mr. Hodgson as 

 the Bubaline Antelope. 



Antilope Bubalina. Ant. cervice jubatd; cornubus brevibus, 

 cojiicis, recurvis, sulcatis, annulatisque ; supra ?iigra } ad latera 

 saturate Julvo intermixta. 



" This remarkable species is entirely devoid of the characteristic 

 elegance of the genus to which it belongs. It is a large, coarse, 

 heavy animal, with bristly thin-set hair, not unlike that of the 

 Buffalo. The body is short and thick; the chest deep ; the neck, 

 short and straight ; the head coarse and spiritless, though not re- 

 markably large ; the eye, poor ; the limbs (for an Antelope) thick 

 and short ; and the hoofs short and compact. The general form, 

 proportions and attitudes, the style and character of the ears, the 

 hoofs, the hair, and, more especially, of the testes and mane, belong 

 rather to the Goal- than to the Deer-kind. So likewise do the man- 

 ners of the animal, which dispose it to solitude and to mountainous 

 situations. It is seldom found in herds, however small ; and the 

 grown males usually live entirely alone, except during the breeding 

 season. Of all the Deers or Antelopes of these hills it is the most 

 common. It tenants the central region equidistant from the snows 

 on the one hand, and the plains of India on the other j and though 

 it be found everywhere, within that central space, between the Sut- 



