REPORT FROM THE ASIATIC ZOOLOGICAL EXPEDITION 145 



belonging to at least five genera. The suc- 

 cess of the expedition in obtaining this fine 

 series of mammals is largely due to the 

 assistance and cooperation of two men fa- 

 miliar with the region, the Eev. H. R. Cald- 

 well and Professor C. R. Keller. 



On July 20, 1916, Mr. Andrews' party was 

 joined at Fu-tsing by Mr. Edmund Heller, 

 an American collector of wide experience in 

 securing and preserving mammals and birds 

 in tropical countries. After a further stay 

 of a few weeks in this locality, the party 

 returned to Foochow and proceeded by boat 

 to Hanoi, Tongking, China, and thence by 

 rail to Yunnanfu, the capital of Yunnan 

 Province, which was made the headquarters 

 of the expedition. Here the party engaged 

 and outfitted thirty-three mules, and started 

 for Talifu, which was reached by fourteen 

 days of steady riding. After resting at 

 Talifu for a few days, they engaged a new 

 caravan and proceeded to Li-Chiang, a five 

 days' journey distant, where they began col- 

 lecting. They expected to stay along the 

 edge of Tibet in Yunnan until about De- 

 cember first, going as far north as Atumtyu 

 and then returning to Talifu. 



While on their journey to Yunnanfu, 

 through a region notorious for bandits, they 

 were fearful of trouble but passed unmo- 

 lested. On the ninth day out, however, while 

 they were riding along in a deep pass, a 

 boy came running down the trail to inform 

 them that his caravan, which was not far 

 in advance, had been attacked by robbers. 

 Mr. Andrews and Mr. Heller scouted ahead, 

 found the caravan which had been attacked, 

 and ascertained that no one had been killed, 

 although the packs had been thoroughly 

 ransacked and the bandits, about forty in 

 number, had made off with a good supply 

 of jade, musk, and gold dust. 



While in the vicinity of Li-Chiang, the 

 expedition worked for seven weeks on the 

 slopes of a mountain eighteen thousand feet 

 high, and during that time collected more 

 than eleven hundred mammals, which indi- 

 cates the richness of the fauna. Among other 

 specimens they secured five gorals {Ne- 

 morrhcedus) of both sexes and of different 

 ages, also four serows (Capricornis). Both 

 of these animals are exceedingly rare and 

 difficult to secure, and Mr. Andrews writes 

 that they have obtained what is without 

 doubt the finest series ever taken from one 

 place in Asia. A large percentage of the 



mammals secured here will undoubttMlly 

 prove new to science, since no zoologist has 

 previously visited this region, Mr. Andrews, 

 in one of his recent letters, writes that this 

 particular region is essentially Tibetan, that 

 there are very few Chinese, and the people 

 belong to the original tribes (Mosso, Lolo, 

 and Shaus), while two days' travel north of 

 Li-Chiang there are only Tibetans — conse- 

 quently ethnological work was of interest. 



When the expedition left New York, the 

 plan was that it should return in .June, 1917. 

 Through contributions from some of the 

 patrons who first financed the organization, 

 it has been made possible to grant an 

 extension of time. The expedition, there- 

 fore, will probably not reach New York 

 until about October of the present year. 



Since the foregoing was put into type, 

 we have received a letter from Mr. Andrews, 

 headed Talifu, January 10, 1917, in which 

 he says: 



"We have returned from our northern trip 

 along the Tibetan border and have over thir- 

 teen hundred specimens to show for it. We 

 were somewhat disappointed in the large 

 game, for we found no hunting grounds 

 equal to those of Li-chiang, where we got 

 the fine series of gorals and serows. We 

 found small mammals abundant, and we 

 believe we have a lot of things which will 

 prove new to science. We went as far north 

 as we could, to Hsias-chientien, and then the 

 snow and cold drove us out. . . . We went 

 westward then to the Mekong River, only 

 one day's trip from the edge of Burma, and 

 back to this place. The trip consumed three 

 months and we now have a splendid idea 

 of the country and its fauna along the edge 

 of Tibet. 



"We are at present preparing for a trip 

 southward into tropical country. . . . We 

 plan to go straight south for about fifteen 

 days' travel and will then be at the edge of 

 Burma. We shall work the Burma frontier 

 and swing around northward, ending our 

 field work at Teng-yue. . . . 



Yunnan is by far the most interesting 

 province of China, zoologically, for its 

 faunal range is very great. . . . We did 

 not get a large quantity of big game, for 

 it is not here; nevertheless, we have a good 

 representation of what is here, and because 

 of its rarity, it is especially interesting and 

 valuable." J, A. Allen, 



