54 MR. O. THOMAS ON THE MAMMALS OF [Jan. 19, 



2. On the Mammals presented by Allan O. Hume, Esq., 

 C.B., to the Natural History Museum. By Oldfield 

 Thomas, F.Z.S. 



[Received November 16, 1885.] 



(Plates V. & VI.) 



Contents. 

 Introductory remarks, p. 54. I III. The Tenasserim Collection, 



I. The Sambhar Collection, p. 55. | p. 65. 



II. The Manipur Collection, p. 57. W. The Malay Peninsula CoUec- 



I tion, p. 72. 



Accompanying the magnificent donation of Indian birds recently 

 made to the National Museum by Mr. A. O. Hume, there is a 

 collection of nearly 400 mammals, which, althougli appearing of 

 small account beside the enormous ornithological series, is yet, viewed 

 on its own merit, one of the finest collections of mammals ever 

 received by the Museum. This is due not only to the large number 

 of the specimens and the excellence of the skins, which are both in 

 preparation and conservation very far above the average, but also to 

 the careful manner in which they have been labelled, nearly all of 

 them having their exact localities and dates recorded. Thus of the 

 371 specimens retained in the Museum, only 59 are undated, and only 

 some 10 or 12 are without exact localities, while such large series of 

 perfect skins, especially of the Squirrels and other small mammals, 

 have probably never before been brought together. 



The collection consists of a few specimens respectively from Simla, 

 Delhi, the Nilghiris, and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, but the 

 great mass of it came from four separate locaUties, viz. Sambhar, 

 in Rajpootana, Manipur, Tenasserim, and the Malay peninsula, and 

 I have thought it better not to give one list of the whole, thereby 

 confusing the localities and destroying any use the list might have 

 for faunistic purposes, but to give four separate lists, each of which 

 forms a distinct contribution to the fauna of a well-defined locality. 



The total number of species represented in the collection is 106, of 

 which 19 are from Sambhar, 19 from Manipur, 25 from Tenasserim, 

 and 28 from the Malay peninsula, the remainder being from the 

 other localities above mentioned. 



Before commencing the detailed lists, I must express my obligations 

 to Mr. W. T. Blanford for the assistance he has given me in working 

 out this collection, an assistance the more valuable as he is himself 

 preparing a work on the mammals of India, and has therefore the 

 whole subject at his fingers' ends. For help also in making out 

 details of localities, dates, &c. I must thank my colleague Mr. R. 

 Bowdler Sharpe, who himself fetched the collection from Simla, and 

 to whose careful packing the excellent condition in which the 

 .specimens now are is partly due. 



