1842.] Notice of the Mammals of Thibet. 285 



specimen thence. That from which the original description of Hard- 

 wicke was taken, was obtained alive from Muktinath in the Himalayan 

 region of Tibet, and considerably beyond the boundary of Nepal. Than 

 such a habitat nothing can be more diametrically opposite to the Saul 

 forest of the Morung, whence our Cervus Affinis was procured ; and I 

 therefore still believe in the distinctness of the two species, the more 

 particularly as I conceive that the small disparity of age between the 

 specimens compared is inadequate, even with the aid of other admitted 

 differential accessories, to account for the vast and palpable differences 

 exhibited by the horns. Mr. Blyth allows but about a year's difference 

 of age between the specimens ; yet the horns of Affinis are much more 

 than double the size of those of Wallichii (as 9 to 4) whilst what he in- 

 sists is the median, and I the subterminal, snag of the horns of Wal- 

 lichii, has an interval from the basal snag as large nearly as in Affinis. 

 Wherefore I say the snag in question of the horns of Wallichii is not a 

 median ; and that the species wants that significant mark of the true 

 Elaphoid form.* Lastly, Wallich's stag is known to the Nepalese by the 

 name Gyana Mriga ; Affinis, by that of Mool Bara Singha, that is, chief or 

 royal stag ; and I deem it generally prudent to rely on distinctions 

 attested by this sort of evidence. 



MOSCHID^E. 



Genus Moschus. 



35, 36, 37. M. Chrysogaster, M. Leucogaster, M. Saturatus. All these 

 species abound in the lofty mountains of the interior of Tibet, especially 

 towards the Chinese frontier, where the first and loveliest, or Chrysoga- 

 ster, is almost exclusively found. On the Tibetan slopes of the Hema- 

 chal, Saturatus chiefly resides, and it is difficult to distinguish this species 

 from the Moschatus of Linne, belonging to the interior, otherwise than 

 by the coarser structure of the musk pod, and inferior quality and quanti- 

 ty of its contents (on an average) in Saturatus. I have specimens of 

 all three species from Lassa and Digurchee, whilst my garden is seldom 

 deprived of the ornament of several live samples of the Saturatus of the 

 Kachar. The trade with Europe in Musk is declining greatly of late, 

 probably because its repute as a medicine is becoming fast exploded. 



* Mr. Hodgson should bear in mind, that the horns which he refers to are, most ob- 

 viously, those of a young animal which had not assumed their typical conformation. — 

 Cur. As. Soc. 



