Ixviii MAMMALOGY OF THE HIMALAYAS. 
species (M. decumanus) is said to have been originally introduced into Europe. Besides these, Mr. 
Hodgson describes two other species (Mus niviventur and M. nemorivagus) as peculiar to the 
Himalayas ; and I have received a Rat from Dr. Royle, which in the dried state of the specimen I cannot 
distinguish from the common European Campagnol (Arvicola vulgaris), a fact the more interesting from 
this genus being confined to the temperate and colder regions of the Old World. The Bandicoot, or 
great Rat of the Plains (M. giganteus) does not exist in Nepal ;* but various kinds of Field Mice, 
of what precise species is not mentioned, are stated to be sufficiently common.-+ The Porcupine 
(Hystrix cristata var. leucarus, Sykes) is found in Kemaon,} and the lower and central regions of 
Nepal.§ 
_ Mr. Hodgson || mentions two species of Hares as inhabiting Nepal. One he calls the common small 
species, (probably the black-necked Hare of F. Cuvier, ‘ Lepus nigricollis’), which, he says, is confined 
to the Turai; the other, which he considers a new species, as large as the common English Hare and 
nearly resembling it, inhabits the higher and colder parts of the mountains. This is probably the red- 
tailed Hare of M. Isidore Geoffroy St. Hilaire,@] (L. ruficaudatus), of which Dr. Royle obtained a 
specimen at Hurdwar (?), and which, he informs me, is very common in the Doon and in the neigh- 
bourhood of Delhi. As M. Is. Geoffroy’s short description of this species is necessarily imperfect, from 
the mutilated state of the only skin which he had an opportunity of examining, the following more 
detailed account will not be unacceptable to the scientific Zoologist :— 
The skin obtained by Dr. Royle is that of a full-grown female ; it isin perfect condition, and measures 
one foot ten inches from the nose to the origin of the tail : the ears are about five inches in length, and the tail 
fourinches. The face, back and sides are regularly brindled, or variegated with alternate wavy linesof black 
and light sandy brown, arising from the hairs on those parts being annulated with these two colours. 
The whole coat is short, smooth and glossy ; it consists of a short fine internal fur, of a cottony texture, 
and pale bluish white colour, and of a long, coarse, external hair, which, as just observed, is annulated 
with black and light sandy brown, and gives the general colour to the upper parts of the body. In the 
distribution of these colours, each hair is divided into three equal parts, the top and bottom being black, 
and the centre light reddish brown. ‘The dark colour predominates most on the face, hips, and along 
the median line of the back, but becomes gradually fainter upon the shoulders and flanks, and is sepa-— 
_rated from the pure white of the belly by a narrow band of pale rufous. The cheeks are grey, pointed 
or intermixed with black; a light grey spot occupies the space in front of each eye; the chin is also 
grey, and the moustaches long and stiff, black at the roots and grey at the points. The ears appear to 
be reddish brown tipped with black, but the hair has been partly rubbed off in the specimen described, 
which prevents me from speaking with certainty. The whole upper part of the neck is pure unmixed 
sandy red, the fur being of the same quality as the internal fur upon other parts of the body, and 
without any intermixture of the long external silky hairs. The outer face of the arms, the whole of the 
_ fore legs, and the outer face of the hind, are also red ; the tail red, or rather reddish brown above, and 
| : pure white beneath; and the belly and under parts of the body unmixed white. The animal had pro- 
__bably been killed whilst suckling her young, as the skin exhibited four very large teats, one pair on the 
breast and the other on the abdomen. These were all I could observe, but there may have been more, 
of ‘asthe akin had been a good deal rubbed about these parts. 
. But by far the most interesting and unexpected acquisition, which Dr. Royle’s discoveries among the 
 Bivmaiale has produced to the Zoologist, is a new and beautiful species of Lagomys, a genus heretofore 
- found i in Nor 
ern Asia and among the rocky mountains in North America. This discovery, of 
_ *Asiat. Res., xvi. 153. == Riehardson Faun. Bor. Amer., i. 140-1. } Journ, As. Soc., v. 234. 
/§ Proc. Zool. Soc., ii, 97,98. -——‘ Traill in Asiat. Res, xvi, 153. { Dict. Class., ix. 381. 
