1S75.] inhabiting the Himalaya, Tibet, and, the adjoining regions. 125 



Professor Peters tells me that the shin sent is from Siberia, and that he 

 has endeavoured for years in vain to procure a Polish or Galician specimen. 



Compared with the skins of A. Himalayanus, this specimen of A. 

 bobac, besides being paler and having brown instead of black tips to the 

 long dorsal hairs, has these hairs much longer and their dark tips more 

 developed, and the fur generally is finer and softer. The skull, with a 

 general similarity of outline, exhibits numerous differences, the most marked 

 being the very much smaller proportional size of the molars in the upper jaw. 

 The crown of the third molar is A. Himalayanus measures 6 mm. across, in 

 A, bobac only 4'5 mm. 



I am also indebted to Dr. Gtinther for having very obligingly re- 

 examined the tj r pes of Arctomys Hemachalanus v. Tibet amis in the British 

 Museum in order to ascertain if they were adults. He writes to me as 

 follows : 



" The skull of the type of A. Tibetamis is that of an adult animal, but 

 " this type is the most wretched specimen I have ever handled. It was an 

 " individual brought up in captivity ; size that of a very small rabbit, skin 

 " nearly hairless, claws abnormally long and as sharp as a needle, teeth 

 " carious, incisors malformed. The frontal bones are gone, but I suppose 

 " that they could not have been much arched, and the palate is very shallow, 

 " very slightly concave." 



" There is another flat and imperfect skin of this A. Tibetamis from 

 " Hodgson's collection. It is somewhat larger than the former specimen, 

 " and is evidently adult, but there is no skull. Taking all the evidence 

 " before me, I believe that this species but slightly exceeded a rabbit in 

 " size. But then what differences in size you observe in onr Swiss mar- 

 " mots." 



The important point is, of course, to ascertain that Mr. Hodgson's ori- 

 ginal types were adult. The length of the tail shews that the species is dis- 

 tinct from A. caudatus, and the skulls differ very considerably. But some 

 further evidence is forthcoming. Some time after the preceding paper was 

 written the dead body of a marmot was sent to the Indian Museum by Mr. 

 Butledge. The animal is said to have been originally brought from Bhutan, 

 but it has lived for a long time in captivity, and as usual the skin is in 

 wretched condition and almost hairless. The dimensions, however, agree 

 with those of A, Semachalanus, and when the skull had been cleaned, it 

 proved precisely similar to that of the old skeleton in the Museum, belong- 

 ing to the animal said to have brought from Sikkim and to have lived for 

 months in the Asiatic Society's compound. Mr. Eraser has also found, 

 amongst the accumulated collections of the Museum, another skin and skull 

 of a young individual, which also had been kept tame. 



There is thus evidence of 5 individuals of this species at least, and I 



