JOURNAL 



OF THE 



ASIATIC SOCIETY 



Part II.— PHYSICAL SCIENCE. 

 No. III.— 1875. 



XIII. — On the species of Marmot inhabiting the Himalaya, Tibet, and the 

 adjoining regions. — By W. T. Blanford, F. B. S., F. Z. IS. 



(Received July 30th, 1875 ;— Eead August 4th, 1875.) 



The distinctions and nomenclature of the Himalayan and Tibetan 

 species of marmot appear to me in need of careful revision. The necessity 

 for investigating the subject during an endeavour to ascertain the name of 

 the Ladak species, and of a new form of which specimens were obtained by 

 Dr. Stoliczka at the Kaskasu pass, on the road from Yarkand to the 

 Pamir plateau, has convinced me that the received synonymy of the two 

 best known species requires reconsideration, and that several of the identi- 

 fications made by Gray, Blyth, Jerdon, and Anderson are erroneous. 



The history of the nomenclature of Himalayan and Tibetan marmots 

 appears to be the following. In 1841,* Mr. Hodgson described a species 

 from the " Kachar" of Nepal and the plains of Tibet under the name of 

 A. Etimalayanus. In 1843, he redescribed this species and suggested alter- 

 ing the name to Tibetensis, and at the same time distinguished a smaller form 

 with a longer tail and somewhat different colouring as A. Hemachalanus . 

 From references made at various times to his unpublished catalogue it is 

 probable that A. Hemachalanus had originally been called A. Tibetanus by 

 Mr. Hodgson, and it appears under that name in the British Museum Cata- 

 logue of Mr. Hodgson's collections. In the same year, 1843, Dr. Gray, in the 

 British Museum ' List of specimens of Mammalia', united .4. Himalayanus,f 



* For references see below. 



f Under A. Himalayanns in this catalogue, after the reference to Hodgson's de- 

 scription, there is added "Griffith, Jour. A. S. B. 1841, 779 ?" The proper reference is 

 15 



