MAMMAL SURVEY OF INDIA. 711 



12,115,200. Total area about 171,430 square miles. Principal 

 exports — Rice, timber, beans, cotton, mineral oil, &c. 



As regards the Zoology of Burma, the Gazetteer (1900) draws 

 attention to the fact that no systematic scientific research has as 

 yet been carried out. 



The present collection was chiefly made in " Hsipaw "' one of 

 the Northern Shan States. 



Onl)^ a portion of the Northern and Eastern frontiers of the Shan 

 States have been as je,t defined. The total area is estimated at 

 between 40,000 and 50,000 square miles, and the}' lie approximately 

 between 19° and 24" North latitude and 96° and 102° longitude. 

 The mountain ranges which run fan-wise from the high steppes of 

 Tibet are at first almost as sharply defined as the deep gorges 

 through which the rivers run. The Shan Plateau is properly the 

 country between the Salween and Irrawaddy rivers. On the West 

 it is abruptly marked by the long line of hills which begin near 

 Bhamo and run Southwards till t\\&j sink into the plains of Lower 

 Burma, and on the East it is no less sharply marked by the deep 

 narrow rift of the Salween — the most u.ncompromising boundary 

 in the world. 



The original Salween-Irrawaddy watershed is distiirbed in its 

 continuity b}^ the Taping and Shweli rivers, and then comes a 

 geographical fault where the Nam Tu takes its rise at no great 

 distance from the Salween and runs from east to west into the 

 Irrawaddy. 



The average height of the Plateau is between 2,000 and 3,000 

 feet but it is seamed and ribbed by moirntain ranges (Peaks rising 

 to the height of from 6,000 to 8,000 feet) which split up and run 

 into one another though they still preserve the original north 

 and south direction, and leave space here and there for broad 

 rolling downs, sometimes only for flat bottomed valleys which form 

 long riband lines of cultivation. Except in the north the hills 

 are covered with forest. That part of the Shan States which 

 extends to the east of the Salween is much less open and presents 

 no clearly defined ranges of mountains, but rather a confused 

 and intricate mass of hills, and beyond a few narrow valleys, no 

 open space can be seen until the basin of the Mekong is reached. 



The climate of the Shan States varies considerably from 

 December to February, it is cool everywhere, and in the 

 open downs as much as 10 degrees of frost may be experienced. 

 In most parts during the hot weather the shade temperature does 

 not exceed 80°-90°. Although in the narrow valleys especially in 

 that of the SalTi^een, the shade maximum reaches 100° regularly 

 about April. The rains begin about the end of May and Avith the 

 exception of one or two breaks are more or less continuous until 

 November, from July to October being the wettest months. The 



