Natural History of the Mammalia of India and Ceylon Part 56

DESCRIPTION.--Upper parts rufous chestnut according to Kellaart, who named it _Sciuropterus Layardii_; rufescent fulvous or dark brownish isabelline hue, as Jerdon describes it; the fur dusky blackish colour for three-fourths of its length; the tips coa.r.s.er and coloured rufous chestnut (_Kellaart_); hairs fuscous with a fulvous tip (_Jerdon_); two-thirds of the base dusky ashy, the remainder reddish-brown with a black tip (_Anderson_); the ears are moderate in size, posteriorly ovate with a long pencil of blackish hairs at the base of the posterior margin and at the external surface of the upper angle; cheek bristles well developed; the cheeks white, washed with yellowish, as also before the ears; the margin round the eyes blackish; the parachute is dark brown above washed with pale brown, and the edge is pale yellow; lower parts yellowish-white; the tail is very bushy, and not distichous in the adult, though partially so in the young; it is sometimes yellowish-brown, sometimes dusky brown, especially in the latter half, the under surface being pale brown at the base, pa.s.sing into blackish-brown. Kellaart says of the Ceylon specimens: "Tail flat and broad, of a lighter chestnut above, washed with black, and under surface of a deep black, except at tip,"

but apparently he had only one specimen to go upon, and therefore we cannot accept his observations as conclusive.

SIZE.--Head and body, 7-3/4 inches; tail, 6-3/4 inches with hair.

NO. 307. PTEROMYS FIMBRIATUS.

_The Grey Flying Squirrel_ (_Sciuropterus of Jerdon, No. 164_).

HABITAT.--North-west Himalayas.

DESCRIPTION.--Fur long, soft greyish, with sometimes a tinge of brown; the hairs are grey at the base, then brown with a black tip; face white; orbits dark brown; chin and under parts white; the tail is broad, bushy, and rather tapering, more or less fulvous washed with black, black towards the tip; the feet are broad, and according to Dr. Gray the outer edges of the hind feet have a broad fringe of hair, whence probably its specific name; but Dr. Anderson is of opinion that this character is unreliable.

SIZE.--Head and body, 12 inches; tail, 11 inches.

Blyth's _S. Barbei_ was probably the same as this; he had only drawings and a.s.sertions to go upon. The species is extremely doubtful.

NO. 308. PTEROMYS ALBONIGER.

_The Black and White Flying Squirrel_ (_Sciuropterus of Jerdon, No. 165_).

NATIVE NAMES.--_Khim_, Lepcha; _Piam-piyu_, Bhotia.

HABITAT.--Nepal, Sikim, Bhotan, a.s.sam, Sylhet, Burmah, Western Yunnan and Cambodia.

DESCRIPTION.--Dr. Anderson says the name applied to the species is not appropriate, as many individuals have the upper parts more or less yellowish, but it is dark above, blackish, faintly washed with h.o.a.ry or rufous; white beneath with a slight yellow tinge; the ears and feet flesh-coloured.

Jerdon says the young are pure black and white; the teeth are bright orange red.

SIZE.--Head and body, 11 inches; tail, 8-1/4 to 9 inches.

Jerdon procured it near Darjeeling; it frequents elevations from 3000 to 5000 feet.

NO. 309. PTEROMYS SPADICEUS.

_The Red Flying Squirrel_.

NATIVE NAME.--_Kywet-shoo-byan_, Arakanese.

HABITAT.--Arakan.

DESCRIPTION.--Upper parts bright ferruginous bay; under parts woolly and dull white; the membrane, limbs, and tail dusky; the terminal third of the tail pale rufous.

SIZE.--Head and body, 5 inches; tail, 4-1/4 inches.

ARCTOMYDINAE--THE MARMOTS.

Stout-bodied, short-tailed animals, with a rudimentary thumb with a flat nail. They are gregarious and terrestrial, living in burrows, where they store provisions against inclement seasons. Some of the genera have cheek pouches, but the true marmots, such as our Indian species, have not. They differ somewhat in dent.i.tion from the squirrels in having the first upper molar somewhat larger, and the other molars also differ in having transverse tubercles on the crown.

The first upper tooth is smaller than the rest; the ears are short and round, as is also the tail; the hind-feet have five toes, the fore-feet a tubercle in the place of the thumb.

_GENUS ARCTOMYS_.

Stout body, short tail, large head and eyes, no cheek pouches, mammae ten to twelve.

Dental formula: Inc., 1--1/1--1; premolars, 1--1/1--1; molars, 4--4/3--3.

NO. 310. ARCTOMYS BOBAC.

_The Bobac, or Poland Marmot_ (_Thibet Marmot of Jerdon, No. 168_).

NATIVE NAMES.--_Brin_, Kashmiri; _Kadia-piu_, Thibetan; _Chibi_, Bhotia; _Lho_, or _Potsammiong_, Lepcha.

HABITAT.--The Himalayan range from Kashmir to Sikim, in Thibet, Ladakh, Yarkand, also throughout Central Asia and Eastern Europe from the south of Poland and Gallicia over the whole of Southern Russia and Siberia, to the Amoor and Kamtchatka.

DESCRIPTION.--Above sub-rufescent cat-grey, washed with blackish brown on the back and sides and front of face, rufescent yellow beneath; the hind limbs more rufous; fur close, adpressed, rather harsh; tail with a black tip.

The hairs are tinged with three bands of dusky rufescent yellow and blackish-brown, the latter being most intense on the face, forehead, head and back (_see_ 'P. Z. S.' 1871, p. 560). In the plate given in the report by Mr. Blanford on the mammalia collected during the second Yarkand Mission the back is somewhat barred with dark brown, as is also the tail. The s.e.xes are alike, and of nearly equal size.

SIZE.--Head and body, about 24 inches; tail, 5 to 6 inches. This animal is seldom found at a lower elevation than 12,000 feet, and from that to 16,000 feet according to Jerdon, but Dr. Stoliczka noticed it in Ladakh at a height of 17,800 feet.

"It burrows in the ground, living in small societies, and feeding on roots and vegetables. It lifts its food to its mouth with its fore-feet. It is easily tamed. One was brought alive to Calcutta some years ago, and did not appear, says Mr. Blyth, to be distressed by the heat of that place. It was quite tame and fearless, and used to make a loud chattering cachinnation. It was fond of collecting gra.s.s, &c., and carrying it to its den. Travellers and sportsmen often meet with this marmot, and speak of its sitting up in groups, and suddenly disappearing into its burrows. The cured skins form an important item of commerce, and are brought to Nepal, and in great numbers to China"

(_Jerdon_). Mr. Blanford, in alluding to the conditions under which marmots are liable to produce permanent varieties, says: "each colony or group being isolated, and frequently at a distance of many miles from the next colony, the two in all probability rarely, if ever, breed with each other." Therefore several which are recorded as distinct species may in time be proved to be merely varieties of one. Mr. Blanford keeps to the specific name _Himalaya.n.u.s_ of Hodgson in his report.

NO. 311. ARCTOMYS CAUDATUS.

_The Red Marmot_.

NATIVE NAME.--_Drun_, Kashmiri.

HABITAT.--The North-western Himalayan range. It is found in Kashmir, the Wurdan Pa.s.s, Ladakh, the valley of the Dras river.

DESCRIPTION.--General colour rufous-ochreous, darkest above, "the tips of the hairs are washed with black, which is most intense on the back from the occiput to the lumbar region; pale yellow on the shoulders, which have few, if any, black-tipped hairs, and also along the sides, which are nearly free from them; chin, throat, belly, fore-legs and inside of front of lower limbs deep rusty red; the outside of thighs pale rufous yellow, with a few black-tipped hairs; greyish hairs around the lips; cheeks washed with blackish; a large deep black spot on the upper surface of the nose; the rest of the front of the face rufous yellow; tail black, washed more or less with yellowish-grey, the last four inches black; the fur coa.r.s.e and nearly 2-1/2 inches in length, loose and not adpressed; the black tips are not very long, and the yellow shows through them as a rule, but there are patches where they wholly obscure it; the base of the hair generally is rather rufous dark brown, and is succeeded by a broad rufous yellow band followed by the apical black one. Palm, including nails, 2-4/12 inches; sole, including nails, 3-10/12 inches; the heel is more spa.r.s.ely clad with hairs along its margin than is the tarsus of _A. bobac_" (_Dr. J. Anderson_, 'P. Z. S.' 1871, pp. 561, 562). Mr. Blanford, who writes of this as _Arctomys caudatus_ of Jacquemont, being of opinion that Hodgson's _A. Hemachala.n.u.s_ is a smaller and differently-coloured species, and doubting whether _A.

caudatus_ inhabits the Eastern Himalayas, says: "_Arctomys caudatus_ is one of the largest species of marmot, being nearly two feet long exclusive of the tail, which measures with the hairs at the end half as much more. The general colour is yellowish-tawny, more or less washed with black on the back, and with all the under-parts and limbs rusty red. In some specimens (males?) the back is much blacker than in others, the hairs being dusky or black throughout, whilst other specimens have only the tips of the hairs black." I am inclined to think that Mr. Blanford is right, for Jerdon thus describes _A. Hemachala.n.u.s_: "General colour dark grey, with a full rufous tinge, which is rusty, and almost ochreous red on the sides of the head, ears, and limbs, especially in summer; the bridge of the nose and the last inch of the tail dusky brown; head and body above strongly mixed with black, which he equals or exceeds the pale one on these parts; claws long; pelage softer and fuller than in the last."

SIZE.--Jerdon says of the _drun_: "Head and body, about 13 inches."

Now the size given in the 'P. Z. S.' above quoted is, "length, 22 inches from tip of nose to vent; tail, 10-1/2 inches, exclusively of the hair, nearly half the length of the body and head." This agrees better with Mr. Blanford's account.

NO. 312. ARCTOMYS HEMACHALa.n.u.s.

_The Eastern Red Marmot_ (_Jerdon's No. 169_).

NATIVE NAMES.--_Sammiong_, Lepcha; _Chipi_, Bhotia.

HABITAT.--The Eastern Himalayas, Sikim, Nepal.

DESCRIPTION.--As given above by Dr. Jerdon.