THE NATURAL HISTOET EEVIEW. 



list gives US the names of nearly twenty species of IIus and its sub- 

 divisions, besides a species of Oerhillus^ and at least two Voles, 

 wliicli occur at some elevation on the slope of the Himalayas, and are 

 perhaps rather to be regarded as stragglers from the great stronghold 

 of this group in Europe and Central Asia. There is much, however, 

 to be done before this very difficult group of Mammals can be said to 

 be anything like satisfactorily worked out, and future investigation 

 will, no doubt, augment the present list, while at the same time it 

 may get rid of many merely nominal species. 



Of the Porcupines {Hystricidce) there are two well-marked 

 Indian species — Hystrioc Mrsutirostris, scarcely distinguishable ex- 

 ternally from the European K. cristata, and the crestless H. Jiodgsoni 

 of the Subhimalayas. But a recent writer speaks of a third, specimens 

 of which have not yet reached Europe.* The long catalogue of Eodents 

 closes with the Hares {Leporidce), three of w^hich seem to have good 

 claims for admission into the Indian Eauna. These are all true hares 

 {Lepus), as distinguished from the Piping-hares {Lagomys) of the 

 Steppes of Central Asia, which only descend just far enough to look 

 over the edge of the Himalayas, and are quite foreign to the true 

 Mammal-fauna of India. 



As, in spite of what Professor Schlegel has advanced, we agree 

 with Dr. Ealconerf in considering the specific difference of the Indian- 

 peninsular and Ceylonese Elephants as not yet proven, we shall only 

 allow one Proboscidean to count in the Indian list. The Equida?, which 

 follow next in Mr.Blyth's catalogue, have also but one living represen- 

 tative in the Indian Eauna. This is the Equus onager, or wild Ass of 

 the deserts of Western Asia, extending from Syria through Persia and 

 Beloochistan to the run of Cutch, upon the left bank of the Indus. 

 Judging from specimens now living in the Zoological Society's Gar- 

 dens, examples from all these countries are indistinguishable, whereas 

 they are strongly contrasted with the true Uquus hemionus of Pallas, 

 which is spread over the high plains of Central Asia, and is often 

 encountered by Indian sportsmen in the eastern parts of Ladakh. 

 On the Subject of the Indian Ehinoceroses, we confess we do not 

 quite understand Mr. Blyth's views, although he has lately put them 



* Hijstrix malabarica, Day (Land of the Permauls, p. 446)— the " Orange 

 Porcupine" of the Western Ghauts. 



t See Nat. Hist. Rev. 1862, p. 144, and 1863, p. 43. 



