198 CAENIVORA. 



Hodgson states that the tail of M. leiicurus was only one-fourth the length of 

 the hody and head, while, including the hair of its extremity, it was half the length 

 of the animal. But as his specimen was a flat skin, not much reliance can he 

 placed on the relative proportions of the tail to the hody. A. M. -Edwards and 

 Dr. Gray have suggested that this is the species referred to hy Middendorff and 

 Schrenck as varieties of the European hadger. 



Another species has heen descrihed from Tihet hy Blyth as Meles albogularis,^ 

 and although he had never seen the skull, he was of the opinion that Hodgson in 

 describing and figuring his Taxidea leucurus had depicted its hody, hut the skull 

 of the Tibetan Meles albogularis as that of T. leuciirus. He also states, and in 

 this I agree with him, that there can be no doubt of the specific distinction of 

 the two animals. M. leucurus has a black throat and no band passing up from 

 the angle of the mouth to the ear, while M. albogularis has a white throat and a 

 dark-brown band from the gape to the ear. Hodgson has also described from Tibet 

 M. isonyx^ a badger of the same size and general characters as M. albogularis, also 

 distinguished by its white throat and by a brown band from the gape to the 

 ear. I have examined the types of both of these species, and do not find that 

 they differ in any respect from each other, and both of them are from Tibet. The 

 characters of these species have been fully described by Blyth and Hodgson. I 

 have examined the types of M. leucolcemus^ A. M.-Edwards, and A, obscurus,^ 

 A. M.-Edwards, both of which are white-throated badgers, one from China and the 

 other from Tibet. The last is about half the size of the first mentioned, but so 

 closely resembles it in its head-markings and general characters, that it appears to me 

 that it will in all probability prove to be a young individual of M. leucolcemiis, which, 

 I think, will also be found to be identical with M. albogularis, Blyth. A. M.- 

 Edwards states that A, obscurus is characterised by a shorter and less bushy tail 

 than A. collaris, by the fronto-nasal band ceasing on the middle of the sinciput, 

 by its brown cheeks, and by the white of the throat not being prolonged all round 

 the base of the neck. A white spot also is mentioned as existing below the eye. 

 A dark-brown band extends from the base of the ear to behind the angle of the 

 mouth and spreads itself on to the chin. M. albogularis, Blyth, has a shorter tail 

 than the European badger, the fronto-nasal band contracts between the eyes, and is 

 not continued further back than between the ears. The dark lateral bands of the 

 head expand behind the eyes and merge on the occiput, with the grizzled hue of 

 the back ; the cheeks have little white below the eye, and any that there is, is ill 

 defined, and is bounded below by a narrow, dark-brown stripe from the ear to the 

 angle of the mouth; the throat is white. The striking similarity of these two 

 descriptions and the observation of the animals lead me, as I have said, to believe in 

 their specific identity. 



^ Journ. As. Soc, Bengal, vol. xxii (1853), p. 590. 

 « Proc. Zool. Soc, 1856, p. 398, pi. i. 



3 Rech. des Mamm. (1868-74), pp. 195-205, pis. xxiv and xxviii, et Ann. des Sc. Nat., 5th Series, 1867, vol. viii 

 p. o74. 



* Rech. des Mamm. (1868-74, pp. 338-341, pi. ixii et pi. Iviii, fig. 2. 



