582 Proceedings of the Asiatic Society. [No. 6. 



collaris, Gray, Hardvv. III. Lid. Zool.,* — Sciurus palm arum, L. (verus), 

 — Mus dubius, Hodgson (apparently, from Aliabad Serai, top of Pir 



F. sylvestris has more than contributed to the production of the domestic breed 

 of northern Europe ; yet sufficiently to have influenced the characters of that 

 breed, by frequent intermixture probably in times when the domestic Cat was 

 introduced and continued rare, while F. sylvestris was far more abundant than 

 at present. The domestic Cats of India interbreed occasionally with F. chaus, 

 and also with F. rubiginosa of the Coromandel coast and Ceylon, as I have 

 been assured by Mr. Walter Elliot (vide J. A. S. XVII, 247, 559).— Since the 

 preceding note was penned, I have received the following notice from Mr. Theo- 

 bald, in answer to some enquiries which I made of him. — •' The Felis Huttoni 

 is one of the three common wild Cats well known to Shikdms in the Salt Range, 

 — viz. F. Huttoni, F. chaus, and a large black species which I have not seen. 

 I also shot one which is similar to, but, I think, smaller than F. chaus : I have 

 only, however, the head of it." — The word " black" here probably refers merely 

 to a dark colour. — " I should add that the F Huttoni has red eyes." 



* The species is founded on the figure cited, and has never been described. 

 General Hardwicke's specimen was from the Doab. Capt. Button's Hedgehog 

 f'om Buhawulpur (J. A. S. XIV, 351), referred dubiously to E. collaris, is 

 probably distinct and new. Mr. Gray's British Museum specimen, from •• Madras," 

 presented by Mr. Walter Elliot, is probably E. micropus, nobis (J. A. 8. XV, 

 170), from the Nilgiris; whence also the example in the Society's museum, the 

 locality of which is stated to have been unknown, loc. cit. (vide J. A. 8.V, 191) ; 

 and this southern species, though proximately affined to E. collaris, is very 

 obviously distinct from it. Perhaps, however, Capt. Hutton's third specimen of 

 supposed collaris (J. A. 8. XIV, 351,) may be no other, as formerly suggested (in 

 XV, 570). It is by no means probable that a second species of Hedgehog inhabits 

 the Nilgiris. In Nepal, Mr. Hodgson enumerates three species of this genus, E. 

 spatangus and E. Grayi of Bennet, and E. collaris. Gray (Ca/c. Joiim. Nat. 

 Hist. IV, 288). In Capt. Hutton's supposed E. collaris from Buhawulpur, 

 the quills were "white on the basal half, and jet-black on the upper half;" in Mr. 

 Theobald's three specimens from the Punjab Salt Range, the quills have their 

 terminal third black, also the extreme base, and the rest whitish with a broad 

 dusky ring, about equal to each whitish ring above and below it. In other 

 respects they accord, as well as can be made out, with Hardwicke's figure. Un- 

 fortunately, there are no skulls with them (though one has since been promised 

 by Mr. Theobald) ; and one of the skins is too much injured to be of any use, 

 though the other two have been mounted. Length of tarsus, to tips of cl'ws, l£ 

 in. Mr. Gray also mentions an Erinaceus mentalis, Black-chinned Hedge- 

 hog," from the Himalaya : but with this we are wholly unacquainted. 



