1841.] Description of a Pei^sian Astrolabe. 777 



cribed for the different latitudes marked at their ends, as also the 

 Equator, the Tropics, the Solstitial and Equinoctial colures and indica- 

 tions, in round numbers of the obliquity of the Ecliptic. On some of 

 the Planispheres are drawn, the circles of sirut or circles of the direc- 

 tion of the Kaaba ; on the one given it is wanting ; a {ew of these 

 appear on the right of the upper limb, Plate I. Fig. a. one of which is 

 marked as the line of prayer for Ispahan. The others are similarly 

 marked in the Astrolabe, but I have omitted the names. 



In now taking leave of my subject, 1 have much pleasure in 

 acknowledging my obligation to Rajchunder Dutt, an intelligent 

 Pundit of Calcutta, now, I believe, employed at the Nepaul Resi- 

 denc}', for the valuable assistance which he rendered me in decypher- 

 ing the inscription ; as also to Pundit Ruttunlal of this place, who 

 has supplied me with much astrologixjal information. 



Agra, September Wthy 1841, 



Notice of the Marmot of the Himalaya and of Tibet. By B. H. Hodgson, Esq. 

 Resident at the Court of Nepal. 



In the extensive peltry trade carried on between Nepal and Tibet, no 

 skin is more commonly met with than that of the Marmot, which I long 

 ago named in my Catalogue, Arctomys Himalayanus, and now beg to 

 furnish a summary description, and correct drawing of. 



This animal is from twenty-three to twenty-four inches long from 

 snout to vent, and the tail is usually from five to six more. It is a mas- 

 sive animal, larger than the Indian Hare, with weighty broad head, furnish- 

 ed with large eyes, and small, rounded, but apart, ears. 



The neck is short, the body full, the limbs short, and of equal strength 

 fore and aft, though the anterior nails be somewhat stouter than the 

 posterior. The general structure of the feet, is that of the commoner 

 Murines, or Rats, and the digits are cleft to their bases, as in the ordinary 

 Rat and Mouse ; but the nails are rather stouter, and more suited to digging, 

 though not at all typically scansorial. The tail, one-fourth the length of 

 the animal, is rather slender and cylindric, ending in a bluff point, and not 

 having the hair at all more elongated, or more or less full than it is on the 

 body. The incisors are very powerful, and the molars are as broad on the 



