160 



Mammalogy of the Himalayas. 



[July 



cribed by Drs, Pallas and Richardson), and the hind legs cut off, but in 

 other respects it is in a sufficiently good state of preservation to enable 

 me to assign its specific characters. I propose, under the specific de- 

 nomination of Lagomys Roijlii, to dedicate it to my friend Dr. Royle, in 

 commemoration of the important service which that distinguished 

 Botanist has rendered by its discovery to the kindred science of Zoology. 



The i. i?07/Ze7 more nearly resembles the Sulgan (L.pusillus, Pallas), 

 and the American species (L. prmceps, Richardson), than either the 

 Pica or Ogotona (L. alpinus and Ogotona of Pallas). With the exception 

 of the Pica, however, it is considerably larger than any other species of 

 LagGmys : the skin here described, notwithstanding its imperfect state— 

 for the hinder parts have been partially mutilated, measuring eight and 

 ahalf inches in length, which is more than one-third as large again as 

 the Ogotona, Sulgan or American species. From the Ogotona, however, 

 it is easily distinguished by its colours, which, in that species, are light 

 grey above and pure white beneath, as well as by its naked soles. The 

 triangular form of the ears in L. pusillus, prevents that animal from being 

 confounded with any other species, and the Pica (L. alpinus), which 

 alone approaches the size of i. Roylii, is at once distinguished by the 

 sandy red colour of its fur. The L. princeps of Dr. Richardson is the 

 only remaining species of the genus at present known ; it is very similar 

 to our animal in the colour and quality of the fur, but may be readily 

 distinguished by its inferior size, and by the deep black hair which covers 

 the external surtace of its ears, and which is replaced in Z. Roylii by 

 long fur of a pure white colour. 



The fur of this species is of two kinds, .a very soft and fine internal 

 one of a beautiful blue black over every part of the head and body, as 

 well above as below, and a coarser external kind, of the same colour at 

 the base, but afterwards marked with a broad ring of a greyish yellow 

 colour, and finally tipped with dark brown. These two kinds of fur, 

 however, are not produced by an actual difference in the individual hairs ; 

 on the contrary, the same hairs exhibit both the appearances here de- 

 scribed, being extremely soft and fine at the root, and assuming a harsh 

 and rigid structure towards the extremity. These harsh tips, being the 

 only parts of the fur seen from without, give their general colour to the 

 whole body. On the upper parts of the body, the head, back and sides, 

 this is uniform brown, slightly mixed with yellowish grey, very dark on 

 the back, much more so, for instance, than in the common Rat {M. Dccu- 

 tnanus), but rather paler on the sides, and yellowish white on the belly ; 

 the hairs on this part wanting the harsh brown point, though in other 



