308 



MR. J. L. BONHOTE OX MAMMALS FROM TIBET. [Nov. 14, 



as the skull- characters clearly prove it to belong to the subgenus 

 Phaiomys, and its colour is quite unlike any of the other species 

 of that group. 



Lepus oiostolus Hoclgs. 



Lejyus oiostolus Hodgson, J. A. S. B. ix. p. 1186 (1840) ; Blan- 

 ford, Faun. Br. Ind., Mamm. p. 452 (1891). 



a. Khamba Jong, Oct. 1903. 



Apparently the common Hai-e of Tibet, two more skins having 

 been brought home by Col. Waddell. Cajat. Walton states that 

 this hare, which, as a rule, avoids cultivated land and frequents 

 bare and rocky hillsides, was very common at Khamba Jong and 

 also at Tuna at the head of the Chumbi Valley. It was, however, 

 much scarcer, although still occurring, between Gyangtse and 

 Lhasa. 



OCHOTONA CURZOSri^ (Hodgs.). 



Lagomys cta-zonice Hodgs. (nee Stoliczka) J. A. S. B. xxvi. 

 p. 207 (1858); Blanford, Faun. Br. Ind., Mamm. p. 457 (1891) ; 

 Bonhote, P. Z. S. 1904, vol. ii. p. 214. 



a. 2 ■ Yamdok Lake, 14,800', 29th Sept., 1904. 



b, c. No particulars. 



d. Ad. in spirit. Tuna. 



The specimen from the Yamdok Lake had evidently just 

 assumed its new winter jDelage, the other two skins being in old 

 and worn fur. Tuna, where the spirit-sjjecimen was procured, is 

 only a few miles north of the Chumbi Yalley, the type locality of 

 the species. 



Capt. Walton wi-ites of this species : — " They are exceedingly 

 common at Khamba Jong, Tuna, and in all the open bare country 

 fi-om Tuna to Gyangtse, as well as between Gyangtse and Lhasa. 

 They, however, become less common as one approaches Lhasa, 

 probably because the country is more cultivated. They avoid 

 cultivated fields for the most pa,it, and were always commonest in 

 bare sandy country. They do not hibernate at all, and on any 

 sunny day in the middle of winter they might be seen sunning 

 themselves at the entrance to their burrows. I dug up a few 

 burrows duiing the winter. The tunnel runs more or less 

 vertically downwards for 1 or 2 feet and then somewhat hori- 

 zontally for 4 to 6 feet. The j)assage is dilated at irregulai- 

 intervals in some two or three places. At these spots and at 

 the end of the burrow, which is also dilated, thei'e is a certain 

 amount of coarse grass collected to form a kind of nest. The 

 ground in many places is honeycombed with these burrows, which 

 sometimes communicate with one another close to the mouth, but 

 as a rule they are quite distinct. I never heard the animal utter 

 a cry of any sort." 



