100 Asiatic Society. [No. 121. 



but the skins have been stretched so completely out of all shape, that admeasure- 

 ments of them would not be trustworthy. From Darjeeling, as before noticed. 



I have also obtained a very fine recent example of Paradoxurus typus, which has 

 been mounted : and two live kittens of the Felis Ckaus, Guldenstadt, not of Geoffroy, or 

 F. Kutas, Pearson, Jour. As. Soc. i. 75, and F. erythrotis, Hodgson, ibid, v. 233. 

 This is the common Jungle Cat of Bengal, and has a wide geographic distribution. It 

 was discovered in the Caspian marshes by M. Guldenstadt, and has since been met 

 with in the north-west of Africa by Ruppell and others, where, however, it must not 

 be confounded with the nearly allied F. caligatus, Tern., or " Booted Lynx," of the 

 Appendix to Bruce's Travels, which is the F. Chaus of M. M. Geoffroy and F. Cuvier. 

 In Persia it is common, as also on the Himalaya, but I am not aware of its occurrence 

 in Peninsular India, where doubtless, however, it exists, nor did I expect to meet 

 with it in Bengal. The young merely differ, as usual, in having the markings some- 

 what brighter and more clearly defined. 



Lastly, I have had a specimen prepared of the common Hare of Bengal, Lepus 

 rujicaudatus ? Is Geoff. Diet. Class, ix. 381, seu L. macrotis, Hodgson, Jour. 

 As. Soc. ix. 1183, being a name which, if I mistake not, is pre-occupied, beside 

 that it is much more applicable to other species, such as that of Egypt, well repre- 

 sented on some of the antique paintings of that country ; also L. Jndicus, Hodgson, 

 and L. orientalis, Brown, Bengal Sporting Magazine, July, 1836. This very com- 

 mon species was wanting to the Museum, and (as is oftentimes the case with the 

 commonest animals) is all but unknown in Europe, where the L. nigricollis is 

 erroneously supposed to be the common Hare of the Gangetic provinces, a species 

 which I cannot learn is found in this part of India. I saw living specimens of the Black- 

 necked Hare at Madras, and now regret that I did not secure some, for this 

 species is wanting to our Museum; but I expected to find it equally abundant here 

 as also certain other animals which I could have procured on the same occasion. The 

 Gangetic Hare is brought plentifully to the Calcutta bazaars, always alive if possible, 

 and both it and L. nigricollis are remarkable for the loud squealing they emit when 

 handled : they also bite severely if not taken up with caution. The flesh of the 

 Gangetic species is very insipid. This animal is cited doubtfully by Mr. Ogilby as 

 the L. rujicaudatus of M. Is. Geoffroy St. Hilaire, imperfectly described from a 

 mutilated skin, and Mr. Ogilby adds a minute description of a specimen which was 

 taken home by Dr. Royle, who informed him that the species is very common in the 

 Doon and in the neighbourhood of Delhi : this appears to be the amount of what was 

 known to European naturalists concerning it prior to the arrival of Mr. Hodgson's 

 elaborate description of the species in the Society's Journal for 1841, p. 1183, where 

 some notice occurs of its habits and favorite haunts. A previous description, however, 

 exists in the Bengal Sporting Magazine, for July, 1836, where the following habitat 

 is assigned to the species " Caubal, Punjab, and the continent of India; but as yet 

 unknown to the eastward of the Barampooter." The same writer adds, " the Hare in 

 this country sometimes takes to earth when hard pushed, but this is no more than has 

 been occasionally known in England.* In this country, too, a Hare has more oppor- 



* " The Hares of India are small, but very staunch, and have one more chance of 

 escape than their brethren in Europe, namely, by running to ground." Capt. Mundy's 

 Sketches, i. 369. They are occasionally hawked at with the Falco luggur. Jerdon, 

 ibid. ii. 39. 



