34 - 
SECOND YARKAND MISSION. 
corporis capitisque cequante, fulva, nigro breviter terminatd ; pills elongatis corporis oninib 11 * 
ad basin fuscis. Long, a rostro ad basin caudce circiter 18 ( in corio dessiccato), caud (e 
vertebrarum 6,palmce 2, plant ce fere 8, crami 3‘7 poll. 
1, 2, 3, skins ; 4, 5, skulls, Kaskasu pass, 13,000 feet high, on the road from Kashghar to Sarikol and t 1 
Pamir. 
General colour tawny to rich brownish yellow, the dorsal portion conspicuously ting e ^ 
with black from all the hairs having black tips, but these are far more conspicuous in son 1 * 
specimens (? males) than in others ; face grey to blackish with a rufous tinge, covered u r ith 
black and whitish hairs mixed, about half an inch long on the forehead. The black haU' s 
on the face are more prevalent in those specimens (perhaps males) which have the blacked 
backs ; the middle of the forehead is, in some cases, more fulvous. On the end of the n° SL 
is a blackish-brown patch, and there is a narrow band of black hairs with a few white mis e ^ 
round the lips ; the sides of the nose are paler ; whiskers black. Hans of the back lj to Is 
inches long, much mixed with woolly fibres, dark slaty at the extreme base for about \ io^ 1 ’ 
then pale straw colour, becoming deeper golden-yellow towards the extremity, the end bla^' 
In the blackest specimens the black tips are wanting on the posterior portion of the back- 
Tail yellow, the same colour as the rump, except the tip, which is black for a length vavy in -t 
from an inch to about 2\ inches (in 3 specimens out of 4 it does not exceed an inch) 
hairs of the tail about 2 inches long, brown at the base. Lower parts rather browner 
sometimes with a rufous wash, the hairs shorter and thinner, chocolate brown at the ba s< ’ 
without the short woolly underfur, which is very thick on the back. Eeet above yello"^' 1 
tawny like the sides. 
The lengths measured on the dried skins are — 
Nose to insertion of tail 
Tail 
Hairs at the end ..... 
Tore-foot (palma) measured to the end of the toes, but not 
including the claws 
Middle toe without claw measured below 
Claw measured above .... 
Hind- foot (planta) similarly measured . 
Mid toe without claw .... 
Claw ....... 
This is a much smaller species than A. caudatus 
1 6| to 18| inches. 
14 to 13 
1 2 "" -*''2 
5 to 
21 
0-8 
0-6 
2-9 
0-8 
0-52 
the tail is rather shorter in pro port* 011 ’ 
and is paler in colour, with less black at the end. The animal is also distinguished by 
tb e 
absence of the ferruginous tinge on the legs, and the underparts generally are muck 
rufous. It is a very different species from A. himalayanus (A. bobac of several auth ()l ' s ' 
being smaller, much more yellow and less grey in colour, with a longer tail. 
Of all the Himalayan species it agrees best with A. hemachalanus, Hodgson, but t 
latter is a yet smaller form with shorter tail, shorter hair, and different in colour, bei 11 ^ 
described as “ dark-grey with a full rufous tinge, which is rusty and almost ochreous re ^ 
on the sides of the head, ears, and limbs.” Now A. aureus cannot be called dark-grey, 
in the specimens obtained the ferruginous tint is confined to the abdomen. The skin and sk e ^ 
ton of a marmot from Sikkim in the old Asiatic Society’s collection ( C, Ca, of the list in Bly^ 
catalogue) belong, I believe, to A. hemachalanus. The skull differs widely from that 
aureus, being smaller and much shorter in proportion to its length, besides numerous uu' l() 
