1817.] On the Tibetan Badger. 769 



scarcely shaded grey near the body ; and elsewhere, pure yellowish white, 

 which colour likewise spreads round the anal and genital organs. 

 With that trivial exception the whole of the inferior surface, from chin 

 to vent both exclusive, as well as the entire limbs, are black, of a 

 more or less sooty tinge. The nude skin, wherever visible, is dark 

 brown, or black as on the belly, where the scanty pelage allows it to be 

 partially seen. The iris is clear brown, and the nails sordid horn colour. 

 The mystaceal and other bristles, blackish : the tongue and palate, pale. 



The prevalent grey cast of the colour upon the upper parts of the 

 animal results from the distribution of tints upon the longer or hairy 

 piles and upon the shorter or wooly ones, which likewise are distinctly 

 visible owing to the loose set of the former. The wool, then, wholly, 

 and the basal two -thirds of the hair also, is yellowish white: the ter- 

 minal third of the hair black, tipt more or less largely with yellowish 

 white ; and thus is produced the pepper and salt hue above spoken of, 

 which becomes paler on the flanks than on the back, because the dor- 

 sal hairs are more largely and generally furnished with the large black 

 ring than are those of the siues. 



Whoever may compare this description of the colour of the Tibetan 

 Badger with those of the English animal furnished by its describers,* 

 will at once perceive how almost absolutely identical the tints and their 

 distribution are in the two animals. I cannot confidently point out a 

 single disparity except that the tail is more entirely white in the Tum- 

 pha : and this is a very interesting circumstance as evidencing the 

 intimate affinity of the two sections of the Genus, or Meles and Taxi- 

 dia. From the English Badger or type of restricted Meles, however, 

 our animal may be at once discriminated without referring to sculls, by 

 its inferior size, greater length of tail, and partially clad planta or foot- 

 sole. Of the American Badger or Taxidia, two are spoken of, viz. the 

 Carkajou and the Tlacoyotl : but of these the former alone, I believe, 

 yet finds a place in scientific works, and it is distinguished from its 

 Asiatic analogue, the Tumpha, by the following external marks, none 

 of which belong to our animal : belly and throat white : dark vertical 

 bar down the cheek : two more longitudinal ones running from the 

 muzzle to the mid-back, where they meet, enclosing all the way a white 

 space : tip of the tail black. 



* See Note, Libr, VII. 148, and English Regne Animal II. 271 . 



