New species of Rhizomys discovered in Nepal. 61 



short truncated and entirely nude ears are hid by the fur of 

 the head and cheeks. Except in this last particular the draw- 

 ing in Hardwicke's Illustrations representing R. sinensis gives 

 a perfectly just idea of the present species, which however 

 has a very distinct interdigital membrane enveloping the 

 proximal phalanges of all the digits, anterior and pos- 

 terior. 



These animals are found in Nepal, as I am informed, only 

 in the Northern region to which the marmots also are 

 confined, both frequenting the same tracts, though the 

 latter affect a still nearer neighbourhood to the snows. 

 The Bay Rhizomys neither burrows nor climbs, but is 

 confined to the surface of the earth. The species is said 

 to be rare, and solitary for the most part, but without mani- 

 festing any particular affection for the bamboo. The plant 

 indeed can hardly be said to exist in its habitat. Houses 

 it wholly avoids, according to the vague information I at 

 present possess on the subject. 



P.S. Relative to the paper on the Indian Civets by Mr. 

 Gray, the investigator of the family of the Viverridse, it is 

 remarked that the true Civets are six ; 1 . V. Civetta ; 



2. Buffon's Zibetha, which is the Undulata of Gray ; 



3. Cuvier's and Horsfield's Zibetha, or the Tangalunga 

 of Gray, in which the caudal rings are broken above ; 4. 

 Gauda, of Hamilton, or Rasse of Horsfield ; 5. Pallida 

 of Gray which is one of (the Viverricula, nob.) 6. Gracilis 

 of Horsfield, or the Delundung of Java. 



Upon this enumeration I may remark, that the Pallida 

 and Undulata of Hardwicke's Illustrations are unknown in 

 the Tarai, or Hills of Nepal ; that Indica is omitted, though 

 satisfactorily separated by Horsfield in 1832 (see Proc. Zool. 

 Soc. Jan. 10), and that though the teeth of Gracilis, as far 

 as they go, resemble those of Viverrse, yet the absence 



