841 



PROGRESS OF THE MAMMAL SURVEY. 



When the last report was published at the end. of May our Col- 

 lector Mr. C. A. Crump was in the Hazaribagh District of the 

 Province of Behar and Orissa, From thence he moved to Chaibassa 

 which is in Singbhoom, and though at first the persistent rain was 

 against his obtaining a good collection, fortunately, some breaks in 

 the weather enabled him to do well and he has managed to get quite 

 a representative collection together. Mr. Crump, his assistant and 

 servants all suffered a good deal from malaria which retarded work 

 -considerably. From Chaibassa he proceeded to Calcutta both for a 

 few days holiday and also to try and obtain some bats, &c., which 

 are found there. Mr. E. G. Laird-MacGregor, I.C.S., was good 

 enough to help him with advice and facilities for collecting whilst 

 in Calcutta. After a week or two in Calcutta Mr. Crump proceeded 

 to Midnapur for a camp to obtain a few animals which were particu- 

 larly required, namely, hares, langur monkeys and porcupines. 

 Our plans were then that he should go to Orissa and after that to 

 .Southern India, btit owing to the desirability of working the 

 Nepal East Frontier, Darjeeling and a part of Sikkim at an 

 •early date and also to the iact that Mr. Crump has had so much malaria, 

 it was decided to send him up there towards the end of September. 



He is now in Sikkim, where through the kind assistance of 

 H. E. Lord Carmichael, permission was obtained from H. H. The 

 Maharaja of Sikkim to collect mammals in that State. 



Mr. Shortridge and Capt, Macmillan arrived at Rangoon in May 

 from the Tenasserim Coast and left by river for Monywa and 

 Kindat in Upper Chindwin, where members and others have 

 kindly given them assistance. Prom Kindat as the rains were not 

 very heavy they took the opportunity of the river being in flood to 

 go up to Homalin. The squirrels are of much interest in this pai't 

 of Upper Burma and Mr. Shortridge in a recent letter remarked on , 

 the curious fact that whilst on the one side of the Chin River one 

 species was found on the other side quite a different variet}^ occur- 

 red. Mr. Shortridge and Capt. Macmillan hope to get down to 

 Pegu and Shwegyin at the close of the rains and then to leave for 

 Assam and the Khasia Hills whence collection are urgently needed 

 to enable the Upper Burma species to be worked out. 



As there is still a large part of Burma to be worked, it is hoped 

 that they will be able to return there after Assam if money is forth- 

 coming to enable the Survey to continue. 



Major Mayor, the third Collector, arrived from Ceylon in June and 

 proceeded to Gwalior, Central India, in July where H. H. the Maha- 

 raja Scindia had kindly made all arrangements for his collecting tour. 



Unfortunately, when War in Europe broke out. Major Mayor being 

 on the Army Reserve had to rejoin at once and therefore proceeded 

 home by the mail steamer of the 15th August. 



