4 Records of the Indian Museum. [Vol. VIII, 



In the Abor country the cold weather season is also the driest 

 season of the year and numbers of invertebrates, to which an 

 abundance of moisture is a necessity, take refuge during this 

 period in plantain trees, living behind the great ensheathing leaf- 

 stems. Water is invariably found in the leaf-base and the atmos- 

 phere in the almost completely closed chamber behind the leaf- 

 stems is probably always at or near saturation point. A consider- 

 able amount of rain fell during February and March, and in the 

 latter month it was noticed that the numbers of animals found in 

 such situations had greatly diminished. 



Small Dytiscidae, Odonata larvae and Oligochaete worms were 

 found in the tops of plantains and screw- pines (Pandanus), living 

 in a collection of water at the leaf- base at from 20 to 40 ft. above 

 the surface of the ground. 



No lakes or pools of standing water were met with in the 

 country and practically all the aquatic animals obtained were 

 taken in small streams and rivers draining into the Dihang or its 

 larger tributaries : in the Dihang itself, which in the rains appears 

 to rise in some places at least sixty feet above its winter level, 

 practically nothing could be found. The smaller rivers and streams 

 of the hills teem with the larvae of Neuroptera and Odonata and in 

 the warm weather the perfect insects must occur in very great 

 numbers. Brachyurous Crustacea were not uncommon, but 

 Macrura appeared to be represented only by a single species of 

 Palaemon. Fish were plentiful and some, along with tadpoles 

 belonging to the families Ranidae and Pelobatidae, show interesting 

 adaptations to life in hill-streams subject to sudden spate. 



The different groups of animals are unfortunately very un- 

 evenly represented in the collection, but this was to a large extent 

 unavoidable. The cold weather season is not the best time of year 

 for zoological work and the poverty of the collection in several 

 respects, notably in some sections of the Insecta, must be at- 

 tributed to this fact. Other groups, again, should have received 

 far more attention than I was able to give them, for only by 

 the devotion of a specialist's whole time to the subject could 

 satisfactory results have been obtained among the birds and 

 mammals. 



My activities and opportunities for work were, as was only to 

 be expected, somewhat limited b}^ the restrictions necessary in the 

 case of a military expedition carried out in a hostile country, but 

 it was only in a few instances that these restrictions were severely 

 felt. Work with an escort must of necessity have some draw- 

 backs, though in many cases, more especially with Gurkhas, the 

 escort was keenly interested and showed itself adept in the capture 

 of the more elusive species. 



To express my gratitude for all the help I received in the 

 course of the expedition is a difficult task. I have in the first 

 place to thank Major-General Bower, C.B., General Officer com- 

 manding the Force, for the interest which he took in my work and 

 for the facilities extended to me. 



