184 7.] On the Tibetan Badyer. 763 



Thetis of the Greeks, the image may have been poetical only in the first 

 instance. The accompanying transcripts satisfy the Sanscrit scholars 

 of this quarter, and they seem accurately to represent the two originals, 

 the " Ranja" and Tibetan copies respectively. It will be observed that 

 the Tibetan makes the Godhead or the Divine essence or emanation to 

 be feminine, if the rendering now given is admitted to be correct. 



The last word of the formula may apparently be regarded as a 

 " Beej " (vija) mystic root or germ equally with the first, and the 

 meaning will thus become "The Lord, the Jewel-footed, the preserver." 

 This translation does not affect the characteristic of Mr. Hodgson's 

 i( Padma Pani " or present Lotus-handed Regent " Dhyani Bodhisatwa," 

 bat it interferes with the functions of the " Oon," gone bye, he of the 

 Jewel-beating hand, Jewel-footed seems to be the more ancient notion 

 of the two, and it will be curious should the Nepalese Buddhists appear 

 to have founded a distinction between themselves and other worshippers 

 of representatives, by removing the essence or symbol of Divinity from 

 one limb to another. 



On the Tibetan Badger, Taxidia Leucurus, N. S. } with Plates, By 

 B. H. Hodgson, Esq. 



Carnivora. 



Subplantigrada. 



Arcto galida. II. Smith. Genus meles. 



Subgenus Taxidia. 



Species new. T. Leucurus, Mihh 



Tumpha of the Tibetans. 



Habitat. The plains of Tibet. 

 There is not yet, I believe, any record of the Badger as an inhabitant 

 of the east. The occurrence, however, in the sub-Himalayas of the 

 allied forms of Helictis, Urva and Ursitaxus, has led me for some time 

 past to expect such a discovery in the Himalaya or Tibet, and my anti- 

 cipations have just been fulfilled by the receipt of a very fine specimen 

 of the Badger from the neighbourhood of Lassa. The spoils obtained 

 by me are those of a female of mature or advanced age, as is proved by 

 the obliteration of the cranial sutures and by the flaccid enlargement 

 of the teats. The animal was killed in the preceding autumn when in 

 full fur, and, as the skin is well prepared without distortion, and as i( 



5 G 



