480 Bulletin American Museum of Natural History. [Vol. XXII, 



a bare-nosed otter with large claws, and is probably referable to 

 Lutra lutra (Linn.). 



Its previous Hainan record is the "skin of an animal about half 

 grown, " obtained by Swinhoe (I. c.). 



22. Lutra cinerea Illiger. 



Aonyx leptonyx SWINHOE, P, Z. S., 1870, p. 229. 



Mr. Swinhoe obtained three skins, without skulls, of this species, 

 which he described at length. This seems to be at present the only 

 record of this species for Hainan. 



23. Helictis moschata Gray. 



Helictis moschata SWINHOE, P. Z. S., 1870, p. 228. 



Three specimens, a male and a female, Cheteriang, Jan. 8 and 10, 

 1904, and another female, Hainan, Jan. 10, 1903. 



These specimens differ very much in color, and also in age. The 

 male is a middle-aged adult, while one of the females is very old, so 

 old that all the sutures of the skull are completely obliterated and 

 the teeth worn down to the roots. The male is dark grayish brown, 

 with the usual head pattern of white spots; the stripe on the crown 

 is continued posteriorly with only slight interruption to the shoulders ; 

 the ventral surface is of the usual strong buffy white; the hairs of 

 the flanks and limbs are rather prominently tipped with whitish, 

 resulting in a decided grayish effect; the tail is quite clear white 

 for rather more than the apical half, and the hairs of the basal portion 

 have long whitish tips. 



Of the other two specimens, both females, one is like the male 

 in coloration, but with less white on the tail; the other, although 

 shown by the skull to be very old, is much darker brown above, with 

 much shorter, inconspicuous light tips to the hairs on the flanks and 

 limbs, and the tail is brown almost to the tip, with the ends of the 

 hairs lighter, chiefly on the terminal pencil. The ventral surface and 

 the underfur on the limbs are deep rusty ochraceous. The furred 

 portion of the nose, almost as far back as the eyes, is gray instead of 

 dark brown, and the white crown spot and shoulder spot are greatly 

 reduced in size. Mr. Swinhoe's single specimen (/. c.) was, according 

 to his description, about intermediate in coloration between the two 

 phases above described, except that it lacked the white spot between 

 the eyes. It is thus evident that there is a considerable range of appar- 

 ently purely individual variation in color in even Hainan specimens. 



