1840.] 



Mammalogy of the Himaloyas. 



157 



but do not extend to the very elevated parts of the mountains.* Here, 

 however, are found a small brown kind of Marmot, called Bhieff by the 

 natives, hitherto undescribed ; and an equally undescribed species 

 of Rat, I with a tail not more than half an inch in length, most 

 probably a Lemming ( Georychus, Illiger), if it be not rather a La- 

 gomysj of which rare and essentially arctic genus Doctor Royle has 

 brought a beautiful specimen from the Choor Mountain. Captain 

 Herbert, in his tour up the Valley of the Sutlej,-|- met with this 

 tailless rat at an elevation of 12,000 feet, and observes that the ground 

 was every where cut up into groves by it in search of food. He conjec- 

 tures the animal to be a species of Spalax, but Dr. Royle is rather dis- 

 posed to think that it was no other than the Lagomys, as he observed 

 the ground similarly cut up in the vicinity of the spot where he obtained 

 his specimen. The circumstance of the tail, however, which, short as it 

 is, is expressly mentioned by both Capt. Herbert and Mr. Traill, ap- 

 pears to me to preclude Dr. Royle's supposition, since the Lagomys of 

 the Himalayas, like the rest of its congeners, is absolutely without any 

 rudiment of this organ. It is not improbable, indeed, that species of all 

 the three genera here mentioned may be found among the more elevated 

 ridges of the Himalayas, of which the climate is perfectly adapted to 

 their habits : and it is to be hoped that future observers will direct their 

 attention to the elucidation of this, as well as the numerous other un- 

 settled points of Himalayan Mammalogy, to which I have already been 

 so frequently obliged to refer. 



Dr. Falconer, in the report of his recent journey to Cashmere and 

 Little Thibet, mentions a Rodent under the name of the Thibet Marmot, 

 which he says was first found in a bleak and rocky tract of country, imme- 

 diately after passing to the northern slope of the great Himalayan range ; 

 but we have no farther knowledge of its characters : however, this is pre- 

 cisely the locality in which Mammals of this description might naturally 

 be expected to abound. Rats and Mice, differing little, if at all, from 

 our common European species, are abundant in all the houses. Mr. 

 Hodgson,t indeed, expressly states that both our black and brown, or 

 Norway rats, {Mus Batlus and M. decumamsj, are the common species 

 of Nepal, and Mr. Traill mentions them incidentally as inhabitants of the 

 province of Kemaon. This is another interesting and important point 

 of similarity between the Zoology of the Himalayas and that of the more 

 northern parts of Europe and Asia ; nor can we attribute the presence 



* Journ. As. Soc, v. 233. 

 + Asiat. Res., xv. 5. i Troe. Zool. Soc, ii. 98. 



