CATALOGUE. 101 



Library, the colour of the abdomen is yellowish orange ; this colour, in 

 the specimen of the Company's Museum, although apparent at the 

 union of the breast and abdomen, does not extend over the whole of 

 the under parts : further comparisons are therefore required to illus- 

 trate the character of this rare species. 



118. MARTES ABIETUM, Ray, Syn. Qttadr. p. 200. 



Mustek martes, Linn. Syst. Nat. 12, I. p. 67, ed. Gmel. 



I. p. 95. Desmar., Mammal, p. 181. Fischer, 



Synops. Mamm. p. 124. Schinz, Syn. Mamm. I. 



p. 335. 



Viverra martes, Shaw, Gen. Zoo/. /. 2, p. 410. 

 Pine martin (marten), Pennant, Quadr. II. p. 41. Shaw, 



Gen. Zool. I. 2, p. 410. Bell, History of British 



Quadrupeds, p. 174, with a figure. Bennett, Gard. 



and Menag. Zool. Soc. p. 229. Gray, Cat. Mamm. 



Br. Mus. p. 63. 



La Marte, Buffon, Hist. Nat. VII. p. 190. 

 HAB. Ladak and Upper Himalaya, Captain R. Strachey. 



A. Presented by the Asiatic Society of Bengal. 



B. C. D. Three skins from Captain R. Strachey's Collec- 



tion in Tibet and Ladakh. 



The specimens of this species contained in the Company's Museum 

 resemble in form and external colouring the Pine Marten of northern 

 Europe and Asia, while the animal in its habits and mode of life agrees 

 with the Beech Marten. The colour of the body and head above is 

 light yellowish gray, rather deeper in a line along the back ; the hair 

 brown ; the extremities blackish ; the chin, throat, and breast are pure 

 white. The size, form of the head, and the relative proportions of the 

 tail and extremities, are also those of the Pine Marten, which has been 

 ascertained by a careful comparison at the British Museum. The 

 inner fur is soft, woolly, and copious ; the outer, longer, yellowish, and 

 darker towards the point. Our specimens combine the peculiarities of 

 the Pine and Beech Martens respectively, and lead to the conclusion 

 that both are mere varieties of one species. 



The question of their individuality is ably discussed by Mr. Bell in 

 his History of British Quadrupeds, and by Mr. Bennett in the Gardens 

 and Menagerie of the Zoological Society of London. Systematic 

 writers generally separate them ; but both the authors mentioned allow 

 the difficulty of pointing out a clear specific distinction between the 

 Pine and Beech Marten. 



