TO CASHMEER AND LITTLE TIBET. 583 



VII. — Arctomys Tibetana. Tibetian Marmot.^ 



{Tibetian 'Pfi/ah'; Dardoh ' Trooshoon' ; Cashmeer ^ Drin,: 

 Tibetian Marmot of Moorcroft). 



Characters. — General colour rufous yellow ; brownish black on the 

 muzzle, crown of the head, back, tip and under side of the tail ; throat, 

 under part of the body, and legs of a bright rusty red ; ears incon- 

 spicuous, short, thin, and pointed; tail half the length of the body, grey 

 above, flattened. Upwards of three feet long ; tail 13 inches. 



Inhabits the elevated plains and valleys of Tibet, Muttayen near 

 Drass, Deosoh, and Sookarun Murbul, between Boorzillah and Bulleh 

 Teerchoo. 



Dimensions of a full grown female : — 



Extreme length from tip of tail to point of the muzzle, 38 in. Length of fleshy 

 portion of tail, lUin. Total length of tail, 13 in. Length of hind paw, 4 in. 

 Girth at the belly," 22 in. 



The Tibetian Marmot belongs to the section of the true or social 

 Marmots, ' Arctomys,' of F. Cuvier, as distinguished from ' Spermo- 

 philus ' or the solitary Marmots. It is perhaps the largest species of the 

 genus. The general colour of the body is a reddish yellow, with 

 brownish black from the back of the head along the back, passing on 

 the rump into yellowish grey. The sides are of a light yellow, the 

 underside of the neck, breast, belly, and the legs of a bright rusty red ; 

 the muzzle, chin, angles of the mouth, and a patch aroimd the eyes are 

 black ; forehead reddish yellow, mixed with black ; tail yellowish grey 

 above from the rump, brownish black at the extremity, and mostly so 

 underneath. 



The body, as is characteristic in the genus, is bulky, loose, and 

 heavy, the head large, the muzzle short and thick. The ears are hardly 

 apparent till the head is closely looked at, and are pressed to its sides, 

 hairy on both sides, obliquely sloped off behind, and rather pointed. 

 There are no cheek-pouches, but a broad fold of loose skin, Avith long 

 erect hair, is continued from the sides of the neck under the ears and 

 eyes to the angle of the mouth, giving the appearance of a sort of ruff to 

 the face, and confounding the head, neck, and body together. The 

 whiskers scanty, and the upper bristles only of considerable length ; 

 the teeth are, as is normal in the genus, two incisors above and below, and 

 five cheek-teeth above and four below, on each side. The incisors are 

 thick and stout, rounded in front, and compressed on the sides. The upper 

 cheek-teeth have two transverse sharp ridges meeting on the inner side 

 in a connecting tubercle with a subordinate ridge on the anterior and 

 posterior sides— the anterior tooth consisting of a simple projecting 



» Mr Ogilby, in Royle's ' Illustrations I Himalayanus. Two years later (vol. sii. 

 ofthe Botany of the Himalayahs' (1839) p. 409), he described another smaller 

 refers to Dr. Falconer having mentioned species of Marmot as inhabiting the 

 the Tibet Marmot in his report of his Himalayahs, and suggested that the 



journey to Cashmeer, but adds that 

 there was no further knowledge of its 

 characters (i. 67). This Marmot was, 

 however, described and figured by Mr. 

 B. H. Hodgson in the Journ. As. Soc. 

 for 1841 (vol. X. p. 777), as Arctomys 



term A. Tibctensis would be more ap- 

 propriate to the larger species. The 

 Tibetian Marmot is also figured by Dr. 

 Hooker, in his 'Himalayan Journals,' 

 ii. 93.— [Ed.] 



