Kansu Musk 269 



hands), so that all that is necessary here is to briefly notice its distribution 

 in the area treated of in this volume. 



With the exception of the mountains of Turkestan (including the 

 Karakorum, the Pamirs, and the Thian Shan), the distribution of the 

 musk includes all the ranges bordering the central plateau of Asia. 

 Starting from the Altai, its habitat embraces the mountain ranges from 

 which the great Siberian rivers rise, the neighbourhood of Lake Baikal 

 and Transbaikalia, and thence eastwards to Amurland, Manchuria, and 

 the borders of the Sea of Japan. It is also found on the island of Saghalin. 

 Although apparently unknown to the northward on the coasts of the Sea 

 of Okhotsk, it reappears in the interior in the Stanovoi Mountains and 

 the chains terming the northern prolongation of the Baikal Mountains. 

 It even penetrates the Arctic Circle in North-Eastern Siberia, although 

 it appears to be unknown in the peninsula of Kamchatka and the extreme 

 eastern corner of the Asiatic continent. To the southward the range 

 extends into Kashmir, the Himalaya, Yunnan, and other parts of the area 

 treated of in the Great and Small Game of India, etc. 



THE KANSU MUSK 



{Mosclnis sifanicus) 



This form of musk is at present only known from the province of 

 Kansu (Kan-su), China, where the ordinary species is also found. 

 According to the description of Dr. E. Bijchner, by whom it was named, 

 it differs from the typical musk by the ear being half as long again, and 

 of a more intense black on its external surface, except at the tip, where 

 it has a large yellow spot ; internally the edges of the ears are furnished 

 with long yellow hairs, sometimes washed with rufous, and with a black 

 or blackish brown line along the borders of their upper half In the 



