1886.] THE HUME COLLECTION. 55 



I. The Sambhar Collection. 



The collection from Sambhar, Rajpootana, was formed in the 

 winter of 1877-78 by Mr. R. M. Adam, to whom ornithologists are 

 indebted for the "Notes on the Birds of the Sambhar Lake," 

 published in 1873 ^ 



The interest possessed by such a series as the present consists in the 

 aid it gives in fixing the north-westerly distribution of the commoner 

 Indian mammals, a point on which we are as yet exceedingly 

 ignorant, and for which authentic lists of the mammals of different 

 localities are much needed. For this purpose Sambhar is an 

 especially useful locality, as it is in this region that the fauna begins 

 to lose its ordinary Indian character and to show signs of the desert 

 influences so marked further west in Sind and the Punjaub. 



The collection consists of 42 skins referable to 19 species. The 

 skulls have all been cleaned and sent separately, and too much 

 credit cannot be given to Mr. Adam for the care and trouble he has 

 taken in preparing this valuable part of his mammal collection. 



1. Felis chaus, Giild. 



a. 6 . Sambhar, 2/2/78. b. S • Kishungurh, 26/12/77. 



2. Felis torquata, F. Cuv. 

 a. 2. Sambhar, IT 112/77 . 



3. Felis ornata, Gr. 



a-e, 4 d and 1 5 . Sambhar, 12/77 and 1/78. /. $ . Kishun- 

 gurh, 28/12/77. 

 Mr. Adam obtained no less than six specimens of this rare and 

 beautiful species, whicb has been hitherto represented in the national 

 collection by only a single half-grown individual collected by Capt. 

 Boys, and by a skull from the Salt Range, obtained by Mr. Tlieobald. 

 Mr. Adam's series is particularly valuable, as it proves incDUtestably 

 the validity of the species, which has been confounded by Blyth, 

 Jerdon, and others with F. torquata, 



4. VlVERIlICULA malaccensis, F. Cuv. 



a. 6 • Sambhar, \7/\-2/77. 

 This seems to be the most westerly Indian locality from which the 

 Lesser Civet has been recorded, but the species turns up again on 

 the other side of the Indian Ocean in Socotra, the Comoro Islands, 

 and Madagascar, to all of which it has probably been introduced by 

 natives. 



5. Paradoxurtjs niger, Desm. 



a-c. Sambhar, 8 and 9/77. 



' Stray Feathers, i. p. 361, 1873. 



