454 Asiatic Society. [No. 125. 



Mountains'. Unquestionably, it is the species described as Manis pentadactyla in 

 Shaw's ' Zoology,' I. 81, and it is as clearly the Manis Indica, v. pentadactyla, Lin. 

 of M. Lesson, in the Diet. Class. d'Hist. Nat., where the following synonyms are 

 appended; M.brachyura, Erxl., M. macroura, Desm., and M. crassicaudata, Geof- 

 froy : but the " Pangolin" of Buffon {Hist. Nat., X. 187, pi. XXXIV), as distin- 

 guished from his "Phattagen," is obviously a distinct species from any now recognised; 

 and the passage which that illustrious naturalist quotes from the traveller Desmar- 

 chais, and which has been copied by every subsequent writer on this genus, descrip- 

 tive of a species called Quogelo by the Negroes of Guinea, which is said to attain 

 to eight feet in length, of which the tail measures four, very clearly denotes another 

 species of Pangolin as yet unknown to modern cultivators of Zoology. The differences 

 of Buffon's "Pangolin" from the ordinary species of this country, is noticed in the 

 first volume of the ' Asiatic Researches' (p. 376), where a figure is given of the Indian 

 animal, and there is a notice of its anatomy in the second volume of the same work 

 (p. 353), but containing no details elucidative of specific distinctions. Dr. Cantor 

 informs me, that the geographic range of this species extends eastward to Chusan; and 

 Pennant quotes Dahlman (in Act. Stockh. 1749, 265), noting its existence in China, 

 where it is termed Chin Chian Seick, and also mentions its occurrence in Formosa. In 

 Assam I have been informed that there are Pangolins of very large size, in all probabi- 

 lity a distinct species : and from the same region a still more interesting species of 

 edentate animal may be looked for by zoologists. 



"With these preparatory observations, I now proceed to notice a species which ap- 

 pears, so far as I can find, to be undescribed ; but I regret to add that I have been 

 unable to learn its native locality. It approaches very near to the " Phattagen" of 

 Buffon, or Long-tailed Pangolin of Africa, but has the tail considerably less elongated 

 than in that species, though more so than in any other known to systematic Zoology. 

 I shall designate it Manis leptura. Length of the specimen thirty-nine inches, 

 of which the tail measures eighteen, and the head four; on each foot are five claws, 

 the innermost on the fore-feet minute : although considerably larger than two speci- 

 mens before me, which I refer to M. Javanica, the claws on its fore-feet are smaller and 

 more curved, while those on the hinder are longer: in (presumed) Javanica, the middle 

 fore-claw, though worn at the tip, measures fully an inch and three-quarters, and the 

 next externally one inch and three-eighths ; whereas the corresponding measurements 

 in the new species are one inch three- eighths, and one inch: but on the hind foot, the 

 middle claw of Javanica scarcely exceeds three-quarters of of an inch, and the next ex- 

 ternally is under five-eighths of an inch ; while in the new species these measure, respec- 

 tively, an inch and a quarter, and one inch : following out the comparison, the head of 

 leptura is considerably more slender and elongated, measuring two inches and three- 

 eighths from eye to snout, and having no trace of ear-conch; in Javanica there is a 

 distinct ear-conch, and the distance from eye to snout is but an inch and five-eighths; 

 the animal, however, being considerably smaller, though not in that proportion. In 

 Javanica, the scales upon every part are comparatively uniform in size, and there is no 

 abruptly marked difference of dimensions between those of the head and neck; in the new 

 species, as in pentadactyla, those of the head are very much smaller : in the former, 

 the lateral scales of the body are strongly carinated, while in the latter they are but 

 very slightly so indeed : the scales on the fore-limbs are much smaller, more nume- 



