JOURNAL 



OF THE 



ASIATIC SOCIETY 



Notice of the Mammals of Tibet, with Descriptions and Plates of some 

 new Species. By B. H. Hodgson, Esq., Bengal Civil Service. 



Very little is known accurately of the Zoology of Tibet. Having 

 lately received some valuable materials for its illustration from Digur- 

 chee and Lassa, I purpose, with the aid of these specimens, and of infor- 

 mation procured orally and from books, to give a cursory notice of the 



subject. 



CARNIVORA. 



Felid.e. 



1. Genus Felis, F. Uncia. Exactly answers Buffon's description, and 

 is evidently the representative in high latitudes of the tropical Leopards. 

 Equal in size to a Leopard of the largest dimensions, and distinguished 

 not only by its long full pelage and very thick tail, thicker even than in 

 Macrocelis, but also by its massive structure and for the comparative 

 absence of compression in the talons, wherein there is a vague approach 

 to Cynailurus. Length from snout to vent about four feet, and the tail 

 about 2 \ to 2^ feet. Never met with on this side the snows, and is said to 

 be a cowardly unenterprising animal compared with the next species.* 



2. Felis Macrocelis. Found on both sides of the snow in lofty Cisal- 

 pine sites as well as in Tibet ; osculant in habitat, and in structure be- 



* There is a fine stuffed specimen of Felis uncia in the British Museum, procured, I 

 believe, in the North of Persia, from which locality, Col. Hamilton Smith also saw a 

 skin of this species, which he has represented in Griffith's Animal Kingdom, II, 469. 

 I am not certain that the F. irbis, or long-haired Altaic Panther, of Humboldt and 

 Ehrenberg is distinct from the Ounce, but have no description of the Irbis to refer 

 to.— Cur. As. Soc. 



No. 124. New Series, No. 40. 2 o 



