i88 A NATURALIST IN WESTERN CHINA 



Another Bear is commonly spoken of by the natives of the 

 Chino-Thibetan borderland under the name of " Ma Hsiung " 

 (Brown Bear). This animal is said to be larger and more 

 savage than the Common Black Bear and to frequent the upper 

 limits of the timber-belt bordering the grasslands of eastern 

 Thibet. A gentleman in Chengtu had a reputed skin of this 

 Ma Hsiung, which he used as a floor-rug. Unfortunately I was 

 prevented from seeing this pelt. It was described to me as 

 " dark chestnut-brown, with hair long and coarse." 



The skins of the Black Bear are not much valued but are 

 commonly used by muleteers as rough garments and cover-alls, 

 and by peasants and others as bed-mattresses. 



Bears' gall (Hsiung tan) constitutes a medicine in consider- 

 able repute among the Chinese. 



MISCELLANEOUS ANIMALS 



Wolves are not unknown in central China, but are very rare, 

 and the same is true in the west also. On the confines of 

 Thibet they are more numerous, and in the grasslands they are 

 common. Quantities of the pelts are imported into Western 

 China by way of Tachienlu, Monkong Ting, and Sungpan Ting. 

 These skins, known as Lang p'i, sell for Tls. 175 to 2*50 

 each, according to supply and quality. The colour varies very 

 considerably, but aU that I have seen were, relatively, very pale 

 grey, with the hair on the back tipped with black. The pelage 

 is long, thick, and woolly below. In size these skins vary 

 greatly ; of the several in my possession the largest measures 

 70 inches total length. This came from Tachienlu. Two 

 species of Wolf {Lupus filchneri and L. karanorensis) have 

 recently been described from north-eastern Thibet and may 

 range southwards to the vicinity of Tachienlu. 



Around Ichang and other places in that vicinity an animal 

 spoken of as the " Dog-headed Fox " (Gho-tou Hu) occasionally 

 puts in an appearance, and is much dreaded by the people on 

 account of its partiality for carrying off small children and goats. 

 Some have supposed this animal to be a Jackal, but skins of two 

 specimens that had been killed near Ichang and brought to us 

 represented nothing other than two old and mangy wolves. 



