1898.] ON MAMMALS FROM KTTATUK, CHINA. 769 



3. On Mammals collected by Mr. J. D. La Touche at Kuatun, 

 N.W. Fokieiij China. By Oldfield Thomas. 



[ReceiTed October 10, 1898.] 



In the spring of this year Mr. J. D. La Touche, who had for some 

 years interested himself in the birds and mammals of the vicinity, 

 made a special collecting-trip to Kuatun, in the mountains of 

 ' North-western Pokieu, and obtained there a considerable number 

 of small mammals. This collection he has been good enough to 

 allow me to work out,and he has also permitted the British Museum 

 to acquire a full selection of the specimens, besides presenting 

 several valuable examples in spirit. 



Eor some years, in conjunction with Mr. C. B. Eickett, also a 

 generous donor to our National Museum, Mr. La Touche has had 

 collectors at work at Kuatun, and many of the specimens so 

 obtained have be?.n presented to the Museum as they have come in. 

 The first specimens received by us of Typlilomys cinereus and the 

 type of Mus latouchei have been presented in this way. 



The following observations on the situation and character of 

 Kuatun are contributed by Mr. La Touche, who is also the author 

 of the various notes in inverted commas appended to the different 

 species. 



The species, mcluding two sent previously and not in the 

 present collection, number 26, of which one species and one sub- 

 species appear to need new names. 



Mr. La Touche describes as follows the position and charac- 

 teristics of Kuatun, the Chinese village where the collection 

 was made : — 



" Kuatun is a small hamlet, lost, as Pere David says, among the 

 mountains of N.W. Fokien, called in English maps the Bohea Mts. 

 It is but a few miles from the Kiangsi border. The village had at 

 the time of our stay a population of 54 people, 37 adults and 17 

 children. Nearly all are, I believe, descendants of emigrants from 

 Kiangsi. The village is built on the slope of a steep mountain and 

 is about 3500 ft. above sea-level, the mountain rising above it to a 

 height of about 6500 ft. above sea-level. This mountain is as high 

 as any in the district. The country is very thickly wooded in many 

 parts, and the mountains have in many cases extensive tracts of 

 grass-land near their summits. The top of Kuatun Mountain, 

 which I would venture to call " Mount David," after the discoverer of 

 the locality as a collecting-ground, is covered with forest, consisting 

 of dwarfed, moss-grown, deciduous trees, with an undergrowth of 

 dwarf bamboos. The productions of the country, where cultivated, 

 are tea' and bamboo. A little maize, a few sweet-potatoes, rough 

 turnips and cabbages are also grown for local consumption. Every- 

 thing else in the way of food has to be brought from a distance. 

 The climate of these mountains is on the whole cold and damp. 



' The highest tea-plantation of the district is on Mount David, alt. 5,500 ft. 



