464 BURMA, ITS PEOPLE AS'D PRODUCTIONS. 



Pi-. J. Andirson, in a note to Elytli's "Mammals of Burma," p. 29, infclicitously 

 attempts, in my opinion, to correot i)r. Jerdon, maintaining that ' Bali soor' = ' sand 

 pig,' and not ' Bbaloo soor' = ' Bear pig,' is the animal's proper name. Dr. Anderson 

 adds that the name 'sand pig' is "in consonance with its known habits." Does 

 Dr. Anderson suppose it to live ow sand, or in sand, because I doubt if the creature 

 does either the one or the other, in spite of such authority for its "known habits." 

 Its claws are so remarkably like those of a bear that I think ' blialoo soor,' bear- 

 pig, as likely to be correct as ' baloo sur,' sand-pig, at all events till its arenaceous 

 proclivities are more clearly demonstrated than they have as yet been. 



A. TAXOiDES, Blyth. 



About half the size of A. coUaris, and a coat very like that of the European 

 badger, but softer. Muzzle less broad and liog-liko than in A. coUiiiis, and with 

 proportionately smaller ears. 



h. Digitigrada. 

 Family Mustelidae. 

 LuTEA, Ratj. 



Dentition, I. | ; C. : ; P.M. % ; M. J. 

 Ears small. Feet palmate. Tail round, depressed towards the top, flat beneath. 

 Eye provided with a nyctitating membrane. 



T. NAiE, F. Cuv. 



The common Indian Otter. Phyau. 



Colour hair-brown or light chestnut-brown, sometimes grizzled with hoary tips, 

 or marked with isabelline yellow. Beneath yellowish or reddish white. Sides of 

 head and neck, chin and throat, whitish. Head and body up to 29 inches, tail 17, 

 and 3 inches broad at the base. 



L. LEPTONYX, Horsfield. 



Stnall-clawed otter. 



Distinguished from the last by its small claws. 



"Otters," remarks Dr. Mason, "abound in some of the streams. In the upper 

 part of the Tenasserim, a dozen at a time may be occasionally seen on the rocks in 

 the river. The Burmese sometimes domesticate them, when they will follow a man 

 like a dog." This is true I believe everywhere ; they are rollicking, frisky creatures, 

 but make bad pets, as they can inflict a cruel bite, and not unfrequently do. Dr. 

 Anderson thinks that L. nair docs not range into Burma, but is there replaced by 

 a species which he inclined to identify witli L. simung, llaffles. How many species 

 or what species tliey are which occur in Burma is not thoroughly known, and to this 

 end it is essential that the skull in each instance should accompany the dried skins. 



Maktes, Linnaus. 



Allied to tlie weasels {Madela), but with an additional upper premolar, and a 

 tubercle on the inner side of the carnassier. 



M. FLAViGtrLA, Bodd. 



Colour, head, face, and upper parts of body and limbs glossy blackish-browTi, the 

 chin and lower lip white ; throat and breast yellow, from pale to yolle wish-orange. 

 Colours vary considerably. 



Head and body 20 ; tail 1 2 inches, with hair. 



This is a wide-spread species in India, and in the Himalayas ranges up to 1 1,000 

 feet or more. It ranges into Arakan and Malayana, the Malayan race being paler- 

 coloured than the Indian one, and with shorter fur. 



Helictis, Gray. 



Dentition, I. f ; C. § ; P.M. J; M. f. 



Tlie upper carnassier three-lobcd, with a wide two-pointed inner process. 



