164 



Br. W. T. Blanford — Age of the Himalayas. 



Wallace, in his " Geographical Distribution of Animals " (vol. i. 

 p. 216), did not distinguish the Tibetan fauna from the Siberian. 

 Hodgson wrote a paper on the Mammals of Tibet in 1842 ; but this 

 list is naturally imperfect, whilst some of the species enumerated 

 are not Tibetan. I gave a somewhat fuller but still very imperfect 

 list in 1876. I have drawn up the following list of known Tibetan 

 Mammals fi"om various sources, several additions having been made 

 by Btichner in his description of Przewalski's collections from 

 Northern Tibet. The limits of Tibet, as I understand it, are the 

 Himalayas on the south, the Kuenlun, Altyn Tag and Nan-shan 

 on the north ; and the plateau extends from Ladak to Koko-nor 

 inclusive, and probably comprises part of Kansu in China. No 

 part of the plateau, so far as is known, is less than 12,000 feet above 

 the sea ; but of course our information about the region is still 

 imperfect. 



Mammalia of the Tibetan Plateat:. 



Insectivoka. 

 Crocichira aranea. 

 fJVectoi/ale elegans. 



Carnivora. 



Felis manul, 

 F. lynx. 

 F. nncia. 

 *Faracloxurus laniger. ^ 

 Cams lupus, var. laniger. 

 Viilpes alopex, var.Jlavescens. 



* V.ftrrilatus. 



Cyan Deccanensis, var. 

 Mnstela foina, var. 



* PiUorius larvatus. 

 *P. canigula. 



F. alpinns, var. temon. 



P. criHinea. 

 *lfeles lettcura. 

 *M. alhogularis ? 

 f^luropus melatioleiicus. 



Ursus m'ctos, var. pruinosm. 



EODENTIA. 



fFupetatirus cinereus. 

 *Arctomys Himalayunus. 

 *A. robustus. 



EoDENTiA — continued. 

 *Arus siibliiiiis. 

 *Micr(jtus {Arvicola) Blythi. 

 *M. limnophilus. 

 *M. Sirauchi. 

 *M. {Eremiomys) Frzevahkii. 



Siphueus Fontanieri. 

 *Lfigomys CurzomcB. 

 *L. rutilus. 

 *L. erythrntis. 

 *L. welanostonms. 

 *L. Lddaceiisis. 

 *Ltpi(s oiostoliis. 

 *Z. hyps ib ins. 



Ungulata. 



Fquus hemio)ins, var. hiaiig. 

 *Ilos gru'>7iit9i.i. 

 *Ovis Hodgscni. 



0. Vignei, var. 

 *U. nahura. 



Capra Sibirica. 

 fPantholops Hodgsoni. 

 fBtidorcas taxt color ? 

 *Gazella picticaudata. 

 *Cervus affinis ? 



Moschus mosch'ferus. 



In this list * signifies a peculiar species, f a peculiar genus, that 

 is a species or genus not known to exist out of Tibet. It will be 

 seen that out of 4.6 species in the preceding list three are marked 

 with a note of interrogation. In the case of one of these, Meles 

 alhogularis, the locality is not I think clearly ascertained, and there 

 is a possibility that neither Budorcas taxicolor, nor Cervus affinis, is 

 truly Tibetan, though the first, at all events, is probably so. It 

 should also be added that several of the forms, such as Canis laniger, 

 Pvlorius temon, Ursus 2)ruinosus, Equus hiavg, here classed as varieties 

 of widespread types, are by many naturalists regaixled as peculiar 

 species, and Bos (Poephagiis) grimniens and Gazella {Procapra) 



