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MISCELLANEOUS NOTES. 



No. I.— NEW LANGURS FEOM THE INDIAN EMPIRE. 



In the Annals and Magazine of Natural History, Vol. 4, ser. 8th, September 

 1909, Dr. D. G. Elliot in a paper on •' Descriptions of apparently new 

 species and sub-species of Monkeys of the genera Callicebus, Lagothrix, Papio, 

 Plthecus, Cercopitheciis, Erythrocehus and Presbytis''' describes three new species 

 of Langurs from within our limits : — 



(1) Presbytis melamera obtained at Cadu Gaung, Bhamo, N. Burma, collect- 



ed by L. Fea. 



(2) Presbytis crepuscula from Mooleyit, British Burma. 



(3) Presbytis lania, shot in the Chumbi Valley, Tibet, by Lt. F. Bailey and 



presented by the Bo. Nat. Hist. Society to the British Museum. 

 The types of the above are all in the British Museum. 



No. II.— ON THE FOOD OF THE DESERT GERBILLE 

 {GERBILLUS HURRIANjE.) 

 In the Fauna of BritisJi J ndia {MavamaMn) Dr. Blanford remarks that the 

 Indian Desert Gerbille {Gerhillus hurriante) " abounds in sandy desert or semi- 

 desert, and is particularly common in Sind " and " it is commonly seen out in 

 the day, in the cold season at all events, and is by no means shy." There is 

 plenty of such country round Karachi, and it is very pretty to watch these 

 attractive little field rats round their burrows. Their diurnal expeditions are 

 however by no means confined to the cold season, as they are out and about 

 the whole year round, and on the absence of shyness, I can more than confirm 

 Dr. Blanford's remark, in fact I would go so far as to describe them as bold. 

 Watching a community of them this morning from behind a bush at some 

 fifteen yards distance, I walked boldly forward into the open to investigate a 

 wasp that was circling round some plants near them. There was naturally a 

 sudden disappearance of the gerbilles, but as I approched, the heads and 

 shoulders of two appeared again at the mouth of a hole not three yards before 

 me. I stopped, and they shewed no signs of alarm, for they^ — a mother and 

 half-grown young one — proceeded to fondle each other, licking one another's 

 faces in the most affectionate manner. On returning towards the bush I 

 turned and sat down in the open, not ten yards from the burrows, and as I did 

 so there were already half a dozen of them outside their holes. One cannot help 

 admiring one's jungle friends in such close proximity, but in doing so one is 

 liable to receive bitter shocks to one's feelings. On this occasion one was in 

 store for me, for I saw a full-grown gerbille scuttle away some distance and 

 return with a large lump of some dark stuff in its mouth. I had seen where 

 he had gone for it and went up to ascertain its nature. It proved to be a dry 

 piece of human excrement ! I again returned to my post of observation ; in a 

 few moments the gerbille reappeared and proceeded to demolish his unsavoury 

 oieal. We must always be prepared to modify our opinions when we come to 



