284 Proceedings oj the Asiatic Society. [No. 3« 



fishing Cat ; and its habits were erroneously assigned by Buchanan Ha- 

 milton to F. bengalensis, for which he mistook the species. A newly 

 caught male, however, in my possession, broke through the partition 

 which separated him from a tame Leopardess considerably larger than 

 himself, and killed her during the night. Of F. celidogaster, I have 

 seen several adults quite tame and gentle, and suffered even to range 

 loose about a room ; but I never knew either F. bengalensis or F. 

 chaus to be tameable in the slightest degree, however early in life the 

 attempt had been made. A propensity for dabbling and seeking their 

 prey in water is manifested by the kittens of F. celidogaster at a very 

 early age. 



" On the Nilgiris," remarks Mr. Baker, " I saw two distinct Otters, 

 one the large brown nair, and the second not half so large, almost black 

 on the back and white underneath, and said to be common in the Pykarra 

 river. I could not procure a specimen." Probably one of the Aonyx 

 group of Otters. " The hill people mention also some creature which 

 lives in holes in the banks of streams in the mountains, with a flat tail; 

 some describe it as a smaller Otter, others as a Rat, and as large as a 

 small terrier. They dive in the water, and are said to live on Crabs and 

 Worms."* 



Sorex serpentarius, Is. Geoffroy. A species which appears to be this, 

 but of a much paler and more delicate grey colour than I have before 

 seen, with hardly a trace of the rufous tips to the fur, is sent as the ordi- 

 nary ' Musk Rat' of Malabar. The specimen is from. Tinnevelly. " It is 

 not common," remarks Mr. Baker, "on the Malabar coast, but very much 

 so on the other side ; the specimen has lost all smell now [by no means], 

 but is perfectly foetid when alive." As compared with the common S. 

 c&rulescens, the present species is much smaller, with the limbs only 

 half as large in proportion, and a much more slender tail; the teeth are 

 also much smaller, and the superior quasi-mcisors much less hooked. S. 

 heterodon, nobis, from the S. E. Himalaya, is nearly affined, but the 

 teeth are considerably larger in proportion and are of a deep buff-yellow 

 colour, whereas in S. serpentarius they are pure white. S. heterodon 

 appears also (on present evidence) to be rather a smaller species, with 



* Mr. Baker since writes — " The small Otter, of which I got a good view in 

 the Ootacamund museum, is not half the size of the other, and is black on the 

 back with a white belly. This must be the animal I told you the natives spoke of 

 in the hill streams." Seemingly an undescribed species. 



Again, he since started a pair of the " small Nilgiri Otter" in the western 

 ghats ; but the eagerness of his companions seems to have occasioned their escape. 



