1S75.] inhabiting tlie Himalaya, Tibet, and the adjoining regions. 119 



Galicia, which appears to be a much smaller animal, weighing 8 to lOlhs., the 

 body being 16 inches, the tail 1 inches 4 lines, or including the hair 5' 4" 

 long, whereas in A. Himalayanus the head aud body measure 22 to 21 

 inches, and the tail 6f with the hair according to Jerdon, 5J to 6?- accord- 

 ing to Hodgson. Pallas's original measurements of A. bobac, which I 

 quote above,* are probably in French inches, which would render the 

 difference rather less, but still it is very considerable. 



Pallas's original description of the colour of A. bohac runs thus : Color 

 rostro et circa oculos mag is minusve fusco-nigricans, inter mystaces sub- 

 ferrugineus ; parotides pallidae, gula ferruginea, reliquum corpus infra et 

 artus interiore latere ferrugineo-lutescentia ; supra gryseus, pilis longioribus 

 nigris, vel fuscis apice gryseo-pallidis magis minusve inumbratus. Cauda 

 basi subtus ferruginea, majore parte lutescens, a medio picea, apice atra. 

 The animal referred to A. Himalayanus does not differ greatly in colour 

 from Pallas's description. MM. Milne-Edwards,f however, point out that 

 A. bobac is a very much paler animal than A. robustus, which appears 

 closely to resemble A. Himalayanus, and may perhaps be the same. 



On the whole I think it is far safer for the present to keep A. Hima- 

 layanus distinct from A. bobac. I have not sufficient materials at present 

 to determine whether the short-tailed marmot of the Kuenluen and Ladak 

 is absolutely identical with the type of A. Himalayanus, but it appears to 

 correspond fairly and I know of no distinction. 



The figure of A. robustus in the ' Recherches sur les Mammiferes' is 

 much more richly coloured than A. Himalayanus is, but the authors of 

 the work point out that the plate is over-coloured. The species are 

 evidently very closely allied and may possibly be identical. The skulls are 

 very similar, the nasals being a little shorter in A. robustus, and the point 

 of bifurcation of the sagittal crest further back, but there is a possibility 

 that these differences may be due to age, and it is evident from the state 

 of the teeth that the figured skull of A. robustus, although apparently full 

 grown, is younger than that of A. Himalayanus which I have compared 

 with it : this skull of A. Himalayanus is from one of the skins brought 

 by Dr. Henderson from the Sanju Pass, Kuenluen range. There are, 

 however, some little differences in the form of the zygomatic arch, &c, 

 and especially in the relation of the longitudinal to the transverse diameter, 

 which make me hesitate to consider the two the same. 



In trying to throw some light upon this question of the Himalayan 

 marmots, I have examined the following specimens. 



I. Four skins with skulls of A. aureus from the Kaskasu Pass. 



* Glires, p. 113. 



t Recherches Mam. p. 311. 



