I860.] Proceedings of the Asiatic Society of Bengal. 105 



Of birds, fifteen additional species have been added to the sixteen 

 mentioned in p. 272 et seq. and p. 412 ; but as yet we have hardly 

 made a beginning with the ornithology of the Andamans. 



Of new species, the most notable is a superb large black Wood- 

 pecker of the division Mttlleripicus of the late Prince of Carina 

 (Hemiloplius, Swainson). 



M. Hodgei, nobis, n. s. Wholly black in both sexes, except 

 the crown, occiput, and moustaches of the male, which are vivid 

 crimson as usual, and the occiput only of the female. It is smaller 

 thanM. Hodg-sonii, (Jerdon), of Malabar, or M. javensis, (Horsfield) > 

 of the Malayan peninsula and more western islands ; the closed wing 

 measuring but 7\ in., the middle tail-feathers 6 in., and the beak to 

 forehead If in. 



Anthus rtjfosttperciliaris, nobis, n. s. ; A.pratensis apud nos, 

 J. A. S. XXIV, 173, from Pegu. Like A. pratensis, but with the 



occipital plane, which is 2 to 2\ in. where narrowest, and by the shortness of the 

 tail, which numbers only 13 or 14 vertebra?. This may be distinguished as S. 



BENGALESSIS, nobis. 



Another is the ordinary S. indictts, Gray fS. cristatus, Wagler), as noticed by 

 Dr. Gray from the Madras Presidency ; it being found over the whole of India, 

 the highlands of Ceylon, and also in Arakan, but I cannot pronounce on its diffu- 

 sion further. It is likewise an inhabitant of Lower Bengal, as we have a stuffed 

 specimen of a particularly fine boar of this race that was speared near Calcutta. 

 The domestic Pig3 of India appear to be mainly (if not wholly) derived from it. 

 The entire skeleton is conspicuously less robust than in the preceding, the tusks 

 less developed, the lower rarely projecting 2| in. from the socket ; the occipital 

 plane where narrowest rarely exceeds If in., and the tail is conspicuously much 

 longer, consisting of about 20 vertebrae. We have the skull of a sow of this 

 race, whicli has the fully developed tusks of the boar, — of course a rare anomaly. 



The third is the species with very elongated skull and narrow occipital plane, 

 where narrowest 1 in. only, inhabiting the lowlands of Ceylon, which I denomin- 

 ated S. zeyla^ejtsis in J. A. S. XX, 173, and which may also be S. aefinis, 

 Gray, from the iNilgiris, mentioned in the List oftlie Osteological Specimens in the 

 Collection of the British Museum, where S. indices is cited from the Nepal hills 

 and tarai, and also Malabar. 



I have no skull of an European wild Boar for comparison, but judging from 

 Blainville's figures, our S. indices approximates it more nearly than S. benga- 

 iensis or S. zeylanensis. 



In the new Russian territory of the Amur, it appears, — " Of Cattle or Horses 

 few were seen, but many Swine of a peculiar kind, and Fowls." Journ. Hoy. 

 Geogr. Soc. XXVIII (1858), p. 381. Wild Hogs are found at all elevations in 

 the Himalaya, and generally over Asia. Those of Indo-China, China, and the 

 Malayan peninsula require to be carefully examined. As many as three species 

 are reported to inhabit the plain of Mesopotamia. Wood, in his Journey to the 

 Source of the -Ox us, remarks that — "Descending the eastern side of Junas Da- 

 rah, our march wa3 rendered less fatiguing by following Hog-tracks in the snow. 

 So numerous are these animals, that they had trodden down the snow as if a 

 large flock of Sheep had been driven over it." 



