148 W. T. Blanford — On an apparently neiv Weasel from Yarkand. [June, 



of C. rufceps, and finding it absent in the type in the Indian Museum, 

 I now describe the variety from Sadiya, Upper Assam. 



Desc. — Bright ferruginous on the head, same colour paler on the nape 

 and ear-coverts ; back and wings pale olive-brown ; quills tinged rufous ; 

 tail brown ; a narrow black streak over the eye beneath dull white with 

 an earthy tinge. 



Legs dark plumbeous. 



Length about 6; wing 2-85 tail 3-3 ; tarsus 0-90 ; bill at front 0-43 

 inches. 



Larger than C7i. ruficeps and not so white below, 



Mr. W. T. Blanford said he was afraid that he had been to some 

 extent the cause of the confusion about Pellorneum Tlckelli. Some years 

 ago, he had suggested (Ibis 1872, p. 87) that JPelloo^neum suhocliraceum 

 of Swinhoe was the same species. Dr. Jerdon went rather farther and, in 

 his ' Supplementary Notes', stated that the two species had been pronounced 

 identical. The same view was accepted by Mr. Blyth in his ' Mammals and 

 Birds of Burma.' It is therefore not surprising that, when P. suhochraceujn 

 was re-discovered, Mr. Hume gave it a fresh name and called it P. minor. 

 It is most satisfactory to have obtained again typical specimens of both 

 species from the original locality and to have cleared up the synonymy. 



5. On an apparently undescrihed Weasel from Yarkand. By W. 

 T. Blanfoed, F. B. S. 



Mr. W. T. Blanfoed gave a description of an apparently new weasel 

 from Yarkand. A skin was contained in the collections made by Dr. 

 Stoliczka, but as the animal had been kept in confinement, it did not 

 appear desirable to describe it as new, and it was not quite certain that it 

 was more than a variety of Mustela vulgaris. A second specimen brought 

 by Dr. Scully, which was precisely similar to the first, had proved on more 

 careful comparison to be considerably larger than 31. vulgaris, besides being 

 of a very different colour, and having a proportionably longer tail. It 

 was proposed to name this after Dr. Stoliczka. It might be briefly 

 described thus : 



Mustela StoliczTcana, sp. nov. Pale sandy brown above, white below, 

 tail coloured like the back throughout and about \ the whole length, feet 

 well clad with long hairs beneath. Size larger than M. vulgaris, about 

 equal to M. erminea. 



Dr. Akdeeson exhibited a living, adult female Bamboo-rat which had 

 recently been sent to the Zoological Gardens, Alipore, by Mr. A. H. Hil- 

 debrand, Asst. Commissioner, Burma. No details regarding the habitat of 

 the animal had been as^ yet received, beyond that it had been obtained 



