34 
SECOND YARKAND MISSION. 
corporis capitisque cequante, fulvd , nigro bremter termincitd ; pilis elongatis corporis omnibus 
ad basin fuscis. Long, a rostro ad basin caudce circiter 18 (in corio dessiccato ), caudce 
vertebrarum 6, palmce 2, plantce fere 3, cranii 3'7 poll. 
1, 2, 3, skins; 4, 5, skulls, Kaskasu pass, 13,000 feet high, on the road from Kashghar to Sarikol and the 
Pamir. 
General colour tawny to rich brownish yellow, the dorsal portion conspicuously tinged 
with black from all the hairs haying black tips, but these are far more conspicuous in some 
specimens (? males) than in others ; face grey to blackish with a rufous tinge, covered with 
black and whitish hairs mixed, about half an inch long on the forehead. The black hairs 
on the face are more prevalent in those specimens (perhaps males) which have the blackest 
backs; the middle of the forehead is, in some cases, more fulvous. On the end of the nose 
is a blackish-brown patch, and there is a narrow band of black hairs with a few white mixed 
round the lips ; the sides of the nose are paler; whiskers black. Hairs of the back to 1-| 
inches long, much mixed with woolly fibres, dark slaty at the extreme base for about \ inch, 
then pale straw colour, becoming deeper golden-yellow towards the extremity, the end black. 
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 varying 
from an inch to about 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 and 
sometimes with a rufous wash, the hairs shorter and thinner, chocolate brown at the base, 
without the short woolly underfur, which is very thick on the back. Eeet above yellowish 
tawny like the sides. 
The lengths measured on the dried skins are— 
Nose to insertion of tail . . . . . . 16| to 18 J inches. 
Tail.5 to 61 „ 
Hairs at the end ..... 
. 
• 
1 \ to If 
Tore-foot (palma) measured to the end 
including the claws 
of the toes, but not 
• • • * 
2-1 
Middle toe without claw measured below 
• 
• • • 
0-8 
Claw measured above .... 
■ 
• ■ • 
0-6 
Hind-foot (planta) similarly measured . 
. 
2-9 
Mid toe without claw .... 
. 
• » * 
0-8 
Claw ....... 
0-52 
This is a much smaller species than A. caudatus ; the tail is rather shorter in proportion, 
and is paler in colour, with less black at the end. The animal is also distinguished by the 
absence of the ferruginous tinge on the legs, and the underparts generally are much less 
rufous. It is a very different species from A. himalayanus (A. bobac of several authors), 
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 the 
latter is a yet smaller form with shorter tail, shorter hair, and different in colour, being 
described as “ dark-grey with a full rufous tinge, which is rusty and almost ochreous red 
on the sides of the head, ears, and limbs.” Nowi. aureus cannot be called dark-grey, and 
in the specimens obtained the ferruginous tint is confined to the abdomen. The skin and skele¬ 
ton of a marmot from Sikkim in the old Asiatic Society’s collection ( C, Ca, of the list in Blyth’s 
catalogue) belong, I believe, to A. hemachalanus. The skull differs widely from that of 
aureus, being smaller and much shorter in proportion to its length, besides numerous minor 
