1900.] MAMMALS OF SIAM AND THE MALAY PEXI.VSULA. 307 



to hare a certain knowledge, the more the better, of the animals 

 alive in their own native wilds. The first of these things I have 

 been unable to do, but having fortunately had opportunities of 

 examining the mammals contained in the three museums which 

 exist in the Malay Peninsula and the one in Siam, and having 

 seen many alive, it may be useful to put these notes on record 

 (as some account of the species occurring in these countries is 

 much needed), hopiDg that they may help some more competent 

 writer hereafter to compose a full catalogue. 



The chief paper on the Mammals of the Malay Peninsula is 

 Dr. Theodore Cantor's Catalogue, published in 1846, in the Journal 

 of the Asiatic Society of Bengal (vol. xv. nos. 171 and 172), in 

 which 93 species found wild in the Peninsula are enumerated 

 In the P. Z. S. 1886 Mr. Oldfield Thomas gave an account of the 

 Mammals presented by Mr. A. O. Hume to the British Museum 

 (Natural History); in this paper (pp. 72-79) 28 species are recorded 

 from the Malay Peninsula, mostly from specimens collected by 

 the late Mr. Davison. 



Mr. H. J. Kelsall, E.A., in the Journal of the Straits Branch 

 of the Koyal Asiatic Society, no. 26, pp. 16 and 17, Jan. 1894, 

 has recorded 13 species of mammals collected or observed during 

 a journey from Kuala Indau to Batu Pahat, in Johore. And Mr. H. 

 N. Ridley has published three papers on this subject : — (i.) " On 

 the Dispersal of Seeds by Mammals," J. S. B.E. A. S. no. 25, 1894, 

 pp. 11-32. (ii.) "List of Mammals recorded from Pahang," 

 J. S.B. E. A. S. no. 25, 1894, pp. 57 to 60, in which 35 species are 

 recorded, (iii.) " The Mammals of the Malay Peninsula," Nat. 

 Science, vol. vi., nos. 35, 36, and 37, Jan., Feb., and March, 1895, 

 in which about 46 species are mentioned by name. 



In Dr. Jean Gerard Koenig's journal of his voyage to Siam 

 (translation, J. S. B. E. A. S. no. 26, 1894) there are very few refer- 

 ences to the mammals of the country : they are as follows : — 



(P. 126) 8th Nov. 1778, at mouth of Bangkok Eiver : " A squirrel 

 was shot, whereupon the whole wood was filled with the screaming 

 of the monkeys. The back, sides, and tail of this Sciurus were 

 dark grey, and towards the surface of the hair yellow; the mouth 

 and the round ears were black, the stomach rust-coloured brown ; 

 it was twice as big as the Sciurus palmarum." 



(P. 145) 8th Dec. 1778, at Ayuthia : "In a bush I saw an 

 Indian hare, with his half-naked neck, only covered with short, 

 soft, black hair. The Sciuri are much rarer here than on the 

 Coromandel Coast, and the Palm-Squirrel, which is generally so 

 common, I have not seen at all here." 



(P. 161) 4th Jan. 1779: "As I have mentioned the place 

 where they found the gold (on the land-route from Mergui to 

 Bangkok), I will add the tale of some Christians, who made this 

 journey, concerning a class of creatures which are probably the 

 Homo lar. This animal is said to walk erect, and to live principally 

 on honey ; and as the Siamese consider its skin and flesh to have 

 some medical virtues, they kill it in the following manner : — Those 



