IS J/.] Proceedings of the Asiatic Society. 857 



intended, raid nothing can be more ridiculous than the drawings of the 

 Hyena, the white Weazle, the little Alactaja or Jerboa ? so common about 

 Ferozepore, and the Hogdeer. In the long legs and upturned spur it is difficult 

 to recognise the superb Minal ; and the graceful Coolon so common on the banks 

 of the Ganges is most unjustly represented by a comparative short-legged 

 bird in plate 28. Similar remarks might be applied to most of the drawings. 



With regard to the remuneration to Mr. Blyth for his notes, I am not aware 

 on what terms it was promised, but am of opinion that we should keep most 

 faithfully all promises. 



All that seems to have been done consists in guessing at the names of a 

 number of animals, intended to be represented, in a series of bad drawings, 

 with scarcely any original information regarding these animals. The little that 

 has been done has been but slovenly executed, considering a large and dis- 

 tinct remuneration is expected. I will however particularize. 



The name of Plate II. Fig. 3, can at best be but a guess, for the description 

 of the animal does not at all agree with the account of its color, &c. as given 

 in the 10th Volume of the Annals and Mag. Nat. History. — Plate IV. Fig. 2, 

 has no trouble taken with it although it is supposed to be a new species. 



Mr. B. wishes to make a new species from Plates VI. and VII. without 

 assigning any reasons for doing so, except that Sciuroptecis fimbriatus, Gray, 

 does not exceed lfft. in length, whereas this squirrel is stated to be 2ft. 

 long. In a very recent work by Schinz on Mammalia, S. fimbriatus, under 

 the name of Pteromys fimbriatus, is stated to be 1 ft. and 1 1 in. in length, 

 leaving thus 1 inch difference, perhaps accidental in measuring, to cause the 

 creation of a new species. 



Plates VIII. and IX. are labelled with the same native names, as male and 

 female, and no reason is given for assigning different names to the two. The 

 Sikeen of the Himalayas is a very different looking animal from the one 

 represented in Plate VIII. Mr. B., in his notes lays great stress on the 

 presence of a beard, without stating that several other species closely allied 

 have a beard as Capra CEgagrus, Himalayana, Falconeri, and the Neilgherry 

 Ibex. In a letter from Mr. Blyth read at a meeting of the Zoological 

 Society on 10th August, 1841 he speaks of the Neilgherry Ibex " as having 

 a considerable beard and thus differing from the Himalayan Ibex." Schinz 

 mentions the male of Capra Himalayana, Blyth, as being called Sikeen and 

 the female Damnah. He also mentions C. Falconeri as being the Narkhor 

 of Vigne and Lord. Some of these discrepancies might have been explained 

 away, if Mr. B. had zealously undertaken an essay on the animals of Aff- 

 ghanistan and neighbouring countries. 



There are also several other indications of haste and carelessness ; thus 



