1859.] Proceedings of the Asiatic Society. 271 



Eeport of Curator, Zoological Department, for February to May Meet- 

 ings, 1859. 



I have first to report on a few more gatherings from the Andaman Is- 

 lands, additional to those noticed in Vol. XXVII, p. 267 et seq. 



In the class of mammalia, inhabiting the dry land, we still know only 

 of the human animal and the peculiar Sus andamanensis ; though Bats 

 of different kinds have been observed, which as yet are undetermined ; 

 also a species of Rat, which is not of recent introduction.* A slight notice 

 and very rude figure of the skull of the tiny Hog from the Little 

 Andaman are given in Jameson's Edinburgh New Philosophical Journal, 

 Vol. XVI. (1826-7) ;t and to the imperfect description of this animal in 

 my last report, it may be added that the tail is reduced to a mere tubercle 

 (as in Mr. Hodgson's Porcula salvania). The animal is well clad with 

 somewhat shaggy black hair. 



1. Capt. Neblett, of the Steamer ' Sydney,' has presented us with 

 some bones of a nearly half-grown Duyong (Halicore), found in an 

 Andamanese hut. They consist of a lower jaw, the two scapulse, and 

 four ribs ; all daubed over in the usual way with stripes of the red pig- 

 ment with which the islanders besmear their own persons. This is the 

 first instance we know of the Duyong inhabiting the Bay of Bengal ; 

 though common in the Straits of Malacca and in the Gulf of Calpentyn 

 in Ceylon, and also found off the Malabar coast, where known to Euro- 

 peans as a Seal ! The lower jaw from the Andamans exhibits the de- 

 ciduary prsemolars worn by attrition to a flat surface, while the first pair 

 of true molars had not yet pierced the gums, but were about to do so. 



In the bird class, the Parrots have not yet been determined. Living 

 specimens of H^matornis cheela and of Blagrus letjcogaster have 



* A Mouse has since been taken from the stomach of a Trigonocephalus 

 from Port Blair. It appears to be the ordinary house Mouse of India (Mus 

 Manei), and is therefore doubtless an importation. I have also information of a 

 small quadruped from the same locality, which is probably a TupAia. 



f All that is stated, however, occurs in the description of an Andamanese hut : — 

 *' Ranged in a row round the walls, were the smoked skulls of a diminutive Hog ; 

 the canine teeth shorter than in the other species of Sus in eastern countries, the 

 jaws fastened together by strips of rattan." I have only seen the tusks of the lower 

 jaw, and they are of full proportionate size. In the larger and older of two lower jaws, 

 the tusks protrude more than 1^ in. from the bone, measuring anteriorly ; in the 

 other they are loose, had protruded more than 1| in., as shewn by the colouring, 

 and drawn from the socket they measure 4| in. round the curve outside, and 3 in. 

 in a line from base to ground tip externally. 



