3f)() LETTER FROM MR. R. SWINHOE. [DeC. 10, 



Mr. Swinlioe, in a letter dated from the British Consulate, Amoy, 

 June 29th, 1861, said : — 



"I have succeeded in getting a fine specimen of the Chinese Otter 

 at Amoy, which I have had skinned, and now send to your Society 

 overland. I also enclose in same box a small Hare received from my 

 collector in Formosa. This last appears to me to be only the Lepus 

 .sinensis, found abundantly from Foochow to Pekin. The Otter is, 

 I suppose, the Asiatic L. nair of Cuvier. It is here often found re- 

 sorting to rocky shores, and prying in the salt water : it is by no 

 means abundant, and difficult to procure. Indeed, notwithstanding 

 all my vigilance, this specimen is the first adult that I have suc- 

 ceeded in procuring. 



" I have an immature living specimen of Mustela sihirica that I 

 intend sending to the Society. It is very tame, and, if properly 

 cared for on the passage home, will perhaps reach you in safety. I 

 fancy that the species is not in your Gardens, and will probably 

 prove an acceptable acquisition. 



"I am off to Formosa on the 1st July, and will there exert myself 

 for the Society, if you will let me know what animals will be accept- 

 able. Two species of Monkeys are found there, a small Muntjac 

 (Cenmlus), the new Cervus taevanus of Blyth, and, it is said, another 

 Cervus which I have not yet seen. Turtles of two species are abund- 

 ant. You will hear from me again if I succeed in making any dis- 

 coveries. I, of course, take with me my staif of bird-shooters and 

 stuffers. My immense Amoy ornithological collections I intend 

 leaving for the present at Amoy." 



The Secretary likewise stated that the box of skins shipped by 

 Mr. Swinhoe on the " Harkaway," and referred to by him in his 

 letter read before the Society on the 9th of April last *, had arrived 

 in safety. 



The Deer procured in the Imperial Parks of the Summer Palace 

 at Pekin, and supposed by Mr. Swinhoe to be referable to Cervus 

 ivallichii, was apparently not of that species. It had been submitted 

 to the examination of Dr. Gray, who had already communicated the 

 results of his investigations on this subject to the Society (see 

 antea, p. 236). 



The Mole was considered by Dr. Gray to belong to a new species 

 with a white tail, differing in the large size of its molars from T.leu- 

 cura of India, and in the latter character agreeing with Talpa mi- 

 crura of Hodgson, but having only two false molars on each side 

 above. The IJedgehog was Erinaceus coUaris. 



The Snakes were of two species, concerning which Dr. Giinther 

 had kindly supphed the following note : — 



"The T?-opidonotus from Pekin is a very remarkable variety of 

 the European Tropidonotiis natrix. It is at once distinguished by 

 a black collar without yellow nuchal spots (as in the South European 

 variety, Trop. natrix, var. siculus, Cuv.), and secondly by two an- 

 terior ocular shields — a character by which it approaches Trop. 



* See ariea, p. 134. 



