Produced by Ron Swanson
[Frontispiece: FELIS TIGRIS.]
NATURAL HISTORY OF THE MAMMALIA OF INDIA AND CEYLON.
BY
ROBERT A. STERNDALE, F.R.G.S., F.Z.S., &C.,
AUTHOR OF "THE DENIZENS OF THE JUNGLE;" "THE AFGHAN KNIFE;"
"SEONEE, OR CAMP LIFE IN THE SATPURA RANGE," ETC.
WITH 170 ILLUSTRATIONS BY THE AUTHOR, T. W. WOOD, AND OTHERS.
CALCUTTA: THACKER, SPINK, AND CO.
BOMBAY: THACKER AND CO., LIMITED.
LONDON: W. THACKER AND CO.
1884.
LONDON: PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, LIMITED,
STAMFORD STREET AND CHARING CROSS.
THIS POPULAR HISTORY OF OUR INDIAN MAMMALS IS RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED
(BY PERMISSION) TO ONE WHO TAKES A DEEP INTEREST IN ALL THAT CONCERNS
OUR EASTERN EMPIRE, THE RIGHT HON. THE EARL OF NORTHBROOK, G.C.S.I.,
LATE GOVERNOR-GENERAL AND VICEROY OF INDIA.
PREFACE.
This work is designed to meet an existing want, viz.: a popular manual
of Indian Mammalia. At present the only work of the kind is one which
treats exclusively of the Peninsula of India, and which consequently
omits the more interesting types found in Assam, Burmah, and Ceylon,
as well as the countries bordering the British Indian Empire on the
North. The geographical limits of the present work have been extended
to all territories likely to be reached by the sportsman from India,
thus greatly enlarging the field of its usefulness.
The stiff formality of the compiled "Natural Histories" has been
discarded, and the Author has endeavoured to present, in interesting
conversational and often anecdotal style, the results of experience
by himself and his personal friends; at the same time freely availing
himself of all the known authorities upon the subject.
CONTENTS.
NO. PAGE
INTRODUCTION 1
ORDER BIMANA 3
ORDER QUADRUMANA 7
Genus Hylobates--The Gibbons--
1. Hylobates hooluck (_White-fronted Gibbon_) 8
2. " lar (_White-handed Gibbon_) 11
3. " syndactylus (_Siamang_) 12
Genus Presbytes--Cuvier's Genus Semnopithecus--
4. Semnopithecus _vel_ Presbytes entellus (_Bengal Langur_) 14
5. " _vel_ P. schistaceus (_Himalayan Langur_) 16
6. " _vel_ P. priamus (_Madras Langur_) 16
7. " _vel_ P. Johnii (_Malabar Langur_) 17
8. " _vel_ P. jubatus (_Nilgheri Langur_) 18
9. " _vel_ P. pileatus (_Capped Langur_) 18
10. " _vel_ P. Barbei (_Tipperah Langur_) 19
11. " _vel_ P. Phayrei (_Silvery-Leaf Monkey_) 19
12. " _vel_ P. obscurus (_Dusky-Leaf Monkey_) 20
13. " _vel_ P. cephalopterus (_Ceylon Langur_) 20
14. " _vel_ P. ursinus (_Great Wanderu_) 21
15. " _vel_ P. thersites 22
16. " _vel_ P. albinus (_White Langur_) 23
SUB-FAMILY PAPIONINAE 24
Genus Inuus--
17. Inuus _vel_ Macacus silenus (_Lion Monkey_) 24
18. " _vel_ M. rhesus (_Bengal Monkey_) 25
19. " _vel_ M. pelops (_Hill Monkey_) 26
20. " _vel_ M. nemestrinus (_Pig-tailed Monkey_) 26
21. " _vel_ M. leoninus (_Long-haired Pig-tailed Monkey_) 27
22. " _vel_ M. arctoides (_Brown Stump-tailed Monkey_) 28
23. " _vel_ M. Thibetanus (_Thibetan Stump-tailed Monkey_) 28
Genus Macacus--
24. Macacus radiatus (_Madras Monkey_) 28
25. " pileatus (_Capped Monkey_) 29
26. " cynomolgus (_Crab-eating Macacque_) 30
27. " carbonarius (_Black-faced Crab-eating Monkey_) 31
FAMILY LEMURIDAE 31
Genus Nycticebus--
28. Nycticebus tardigradus (_Slow-paced Lemur_) 31
Genus Loris--
29. Loris gracilis (_Slender Lemur_) 33
SUB-ORDER PLEUROPTERA--FAMILY GALAEOPITHECIDAE 33
Genus Galaeopithecus--
30. Galaeopithecus volans (_Flying Lemur_) 34
ORDER CARNARIA 35
CHEIROPTERA 35
MEGACHIROPTERA--SUB-FAMILY PTEROPODIDAE 36
Genus Pteropus--
31. Pteropus Edwardsii _vel_ medius (_Common Flying Fox_) 37
32. " Leschenaultii (Cynonycteris amplexicaudata)
(_Fulvous Fox-Bat_) 40
Genus Cynopterus--
33. Cynopterus marginatus (_Small Fox-Bat_) 40
34. Macroglossus (Pteropus) minimus (_Tenasserim Fox-Bat_) 41
Genus Eonycteris--
35. Eonycteris spelaea 41
MICROCHIROPTERA--SUB-FAMILY VAMPYRIDAE 42
Genus Megaderma--
36. Megaderma lyra (_Large-eared Vampire Bat_) 42
37. " spectrum (_Cashmere Vampire_) 43
38. " spasma 43
RHINOLOPHINAE 44
Genus Rhinolophus--
39. Rhinolophus perniger _vel_ luctus (_Large Leaf-Bat_) 44
40. " mitratus (_Mitred Leaf-Bat_) 44
41. " tragatus _vel_ ferrum-equinum (_Dark-brown
Leaf-Bat_) 45
42. " Pearsonii (_Pearson's Leaf-Bat_) 46
43. " affinis (_Allied Leaf-Bat_) 46
44. " rouxi (_Rufous Leaf-Bat_) 46
45. " macrotis (_Large-eared Leaf-Bat_) 47
46. " sub-badius (_Bay Leaf-Bat_) 47
47. " rammanika 47
48. " Andamanensis 48
49. " minor 48
50. " coelophyllus 48
51. " Garoensis 48
52. " Petersii 49
53. " trifoliatus 49
Genus Hipposideros _vel_ Phyllorhina--
54. Hipposideros armiger (_Large Horse-shoe Bat_) 50
55. " speoris (_Indian Horse-shoe Bat_) 50
56. " murinus (_Little Horse-shoe Bat_) 51
57. " cineraceus (_Ashy Horse-shoe Bat_) 51
58. " larvatus 51
59. " vulgaris (_Common Malayan Horse-shoe Bat_) 52
60. " Blythii 52
61. Phyllorhina diadema 52
62. " Masoni 53
63. " Nicobarensis 53
64. " armigera 53
65. " leptophylla 54
66. " galerita 54
67. " bicolor 55
Genus Coelops--
68. Coelops Frithii (_Frith's Tailless Bat_) 55
Genus Rhinopoma--
69. Rhinopoma Hardwickii (_Hardwick's Long-tailed Leaf-Bat_) 56
SUB-FAMILY NOCTILIONIDAE 56
Genus Taphozous--
70. Taphozous longimanus (_Long-armed Bat_) 57
71. " melanopogon (_Black-bearded Bat_) 57
72. " saccolaimus (_White-bellied Bat_) 58
73. " Theobaldi 58
74. " Kachhensis 58
Genus Nyctinomus--
75. Nyctinomus plicatus (_Wrinkle-lipped Bat_) 59
76. " tragatus 59
SUB-FAMILY VESPERTILIONIDAE 60
Genus Plecotus--
77. Plecotus auritus _vel_ homochrous 60
Genus Vesperugo--
78. Vesperugo noctula 61
79. " leucotis 61
80. " maurus 62
81. " affinis 62
82. " pachyotis 62
83. " atratus 62
84. " Tickelli 63
85. " pachypus 63
86. " annectans 63
87. " dormeri 63
88. (Vesperugo) Scotophilus serotinus (_Silky Bat_) 63
89. " " Leisleri (_Hairy-armed Bat_) 64
Scotophilus pachyomus 64
90. (Vesperugo) Scotophilus Coromandelianus (_Coromandel Bat_) 64
91. " " lobatus (_Lobe-eared Bat_) 65
Genus Scotophilus--
92. Scotophilus fuliginosus (_Smoky Bat_) 65
93. " Temminckii 65
94. " Heathii 66
95. " emarginatus 66
96. " ornatus 66
97. " pallidus 67
Noctulinia noctula 67
Nycticejus Heathii (_Large Yellow Bat_) 67
" luteus (_Bengal Yellow Bat_) 67
" Temminckii (_Common Yellow Bat_) 67
" castaneus (_Chestnut Bat_) 67
" atratus (_Sombre Bat_) 67
" canus (_Hoary Bat_) 67
" ornatus (_Harlequin Bat_) 68
98. " nivicolus (_Alpine Bat_) 68
Genus Harpiocephalus--
99. Harpiocephalus harpia 69
100. " (Murina) suillus (_The Pig-Bat_) 69
101. " auratus 70
102. " griseus 70
103. " leucogaster 70
104. " cyclotis 70
Genus Kerivoula--
105. Kerivoula picta (_Painted Bat_) 71
" pallida 72
106. " papillosa 72
107. " Hardwickii 72
Genus Vespertilio--
108. Myotis (Vespertilio) murinus 73
109. " Theobaldi 73
110. " parvipes 73
111. Vespertilio longipes 73
112. " mystacinus 73
113. " muricola 73
114. " montivagus 74
115. " murinoides 74
116. " formosus 74
117. " Nepalensis 74
118. " emarginatus 75
Genus Miniopterus--
119. Miniopterus Schreibersii 76
Genus Barbastellus--
120. Barbastellus communis 76
121. Nyctophilus Geoffroyi 76
INSECTIVORA 77
FAMILY TALPIDAE--THE MOLES 79
Genus Talpa--
122. Talpa micrura (_Short-tailed Mole_) 81
123. " macrura (_Long-tailed Mole_) 81
124. " leucura (_White-tailed Mole_) 81
FAMILY SORECIDAE 82
Genus Sorex--
125. Sorex caerulescens (_Common Musk Shrew, better known as
Musk-rat_) 83
126. " murinus (_Mouse-coloured Shrew_) 85
127. " nemorivagus (_Nepal Wood Shrew_) 85
128. " serpentarius (_Rufescent Shrew_) 85
129. " saturatior (_Dark-brown Shrew_) 86
130. " Tytleri (_Dehra Shrew_) 86
131. " niger (_Neilgherry Wood Shrew_) 86
132. " leucops (_Long-tailed Shrew_) 87
133. " soccatus (_Hairy-footed Shrew_) 87
134. " montanus (_Ceylon Black Shrew_) 87
135. " ferrugineus (_Ceylon Rufescent Shrew_) 87
136. " Griffithi (_Large Black Shrew_) 88
137. " heterodon 88
Genus Feroculus--
138. Feroculus macropus (_Large-footed Shrew_) 88
139. Sorex Hodgsoni (_Nepal Pigmy-Shrew_) 88
140. " Perroteti (_Neilgherry Pigmy-Shrew_) 89
141. " micronyx (_Small-clawed Pigmy-Shrew_) 89
142. " melanodon (_Black-toothed Pigmy-Shrew_) 89
143. " nudipes (_Naked-footed Shrew_) 89
144. " atratus (_Black Pigmy-Shrew_) 89
Sub-genus Soriculus--
145. Soriculus nigrescens (_Mouse-tailed Shrew_) 90
Genus Crossopus--
146. Crossopus Himalaicus (_Himalayan Water-Shrew_) 90
Genus Nyctogale--
147. Nyctogale elegans (_Thibet Water-Shrew_) 92
Genus Corsira--
148. Corsira Alpina (_Alpine Shrew_) 92
Genus Anurosorex--
149. Anurosorex Assamensis (_Assam Burrowing Shrew_) 93
FAMILY ERINACEIDAE--THE HEDGEHOGS 93
Genus Erinaceus--
150. Erinaceus collaris (_Collared Hedgehog_) 96
151. " micropus (_Small-footed Hedgehog_) 96
152. " pictus (_Painted Hedgehog_) 97
153. " Grayi 97
154. " Blanfordi 97
155. " Jerdoni 97
156. " megalotis (_Large-eared Hedgehog_) 98
FAMILY HYLOMIDAE 99
Genus Hylomys--
157. Hylomys Peguensis (_Short-tailed Tree-Shrew_) 99
FAMILY TUPAIIDAE 99
Genus Tupaia--
158. Tupaia Ellioti (_Elliot's Tree-Shrew_) 101
159. " Peguana _vel_ Belangeri (_Pegu Tree-Shrew_) 101
160. " Chinensis 103
161. " Nicobarica 103
162. Gymnura Rafflesii (_Bulau_) 104
CARNIVORA 105
ARCTOIDEA--PLANTIGRADA 108
URSIDAE 108
Genus Ursus--
163. Ursus Isabellinus (_Himalayan Brown Bear_) 111
164. " (Helarctos) torquatus _vel_ Tibetanus
(_Himalayan Black Bear_) 113
165. " (Helarctos) gedrosianus (_Baluchistan Bear_) 116
166. " " Malayanus (_Bruang or Malayan Sun Bear_) 116
167. " (Melursus) labiatus (_Common Indian Sloth Bear_) 118
AILURIDAE 123
Genus Ailuropus--
168. Ailuropus melanoleucos 124
Genus Ailurus--
169. Ailurus fulgens (_Red Cat-Bear_) 128
SEMI-PLANTIGRADES 130
MELIDIDAE; OR, BADGER-LIKE ANIMALS 130
Genus Arctonyx--
170. Arctonyx collaris (_Hog-Badger_) 131
171. " taxoides (_Assam Badger_) 132
Genus Meles (Sub-genus Taxidia)--
172. Meles (Taxidia) leucurus (_Thibetan White-tailed Badger_) 133
173. " albogularis (_White-throated Thibetan Badger_) 134
Genus Mellivora--
174. Mellivora Indica (_Indian Ratel or Honey-Badger_) 134
Genus Gulo--The Glutton or Wolverene 136
Genus Helictis--
175. Helictis Nipalensis (_Nepal Wolverene_) 138
176. " moschata (_Chinese Wolverene_) 138
MUSTELIDAE--MARTENS AND WEASELS 139
Genus Martes--The Martens--
177. Martes flavigula (_White-cheeked Marten_) 141
178. " abietum (_Pine Marten_) 142
179. " toufoeus 143
Genus Mustela--The Weasels--
180. Mustela (Vison: _Gray_) sub-hemachalana (_Sub-Hemachal
Weasel_) 145
181. " (Gymnopus: _Gray_) kathiah (_Yellow-bellied
Weasel_) 145
182. " (Gymnopus: _Gray_) strigidorsa (_Striped Weasel_) 146
183. " erminea (_Ermine or Stoat_) 146
184. " (Vison: _Gray_) canigula (_Hoary Red-necked
Weasel_) 146
185. " Stoliczkana 147
186. " (Vison) Sibirica 147
187. " alpina (_Alpine Weasel_) 147
188. " Hodgsoni 147
189. " (Vison) Horsfieldi 148
190. " (Gymnopus) nudipes 148
Genus Putorius--The Pole-cat--
191. Putorius larvatus _vel_ Tibetanus (_Black-faced
Thibetan Pole-cat_) 149
192. " Davidianus 149
193. " astutus 150
194. " Moupinensis 150
LUTRIDAE--The Otters 150
Genus Lutra--
195. Lutra nair (_Common Indian Otter_) 153
196. " monticola _vel_ simung 155
197. " Ellioti 155
198. " aurobrunnea 155
Genus Aonyx--Clawless Otters--
199. Aonyx leptonyx (_Clawless Otter_) 156
AELUROIDEA 156
FELIDAE--The Cat Family
Genus Felis--
200. Felis leo (_Lion_) 159
201. " tigris (_Tiger_) 161
THE PARDS OR PANTHERS 175
202. Felis pardus (_Pard_) 179
203. " panthera (_Panther_) 183
204. " uncia (_Ounce or Snow Panther_) 184
205. " Diardii _vel_ macrocelis (_Clouded Panther_) 185
206. " viverrina (_Large Tiger-Cat_) 187
207. " marmorata (_Marbled Tiger-Cat_) 188
208. " Bengalensis (_Leopard-Cat_) 189
209. " Jerdoni (_Lesser Leopard-Cat_) 191
210. " aurata (_Bay Cat_) 191
211. " rubiginosa (_Rusty-spotted Cat_) 192
212. " torquata (_Spotted Wild-Cat_) 193
213. " manul (_Black-chested Wild-Cat_) 193
214. " scripta 194
215. " Shawiana (_Yarkand Spotted Wild-Cat_) 194
216. " chaus (_Common Jungle-Cat_) 195
217. " isabellina (_Thibetan Lynx_) 197
218. " caracal (_Red Lynx_) 198
219. " jubata (_Hunting Leopard_) 200
HYAENIDAE--THE HYAENAS 203
Genus Hyaena--
220. Hyaena striata (_Striped Hyaena_) 205
VIVERRIDAE--THE CIVET FAMILY 207
Genus Viverra--
221. Viverra zibetha (_Large Civet Cat_) 208
222. " civettina (_Malabar Civet-Cat_) 209
223. " megaspila 209
224. " Malaccensis (_Lesser Civet-Cat_) 211
Genus Prionodon--
225. Prionodon pardicolor (_Tiger Civet or Linsang_) 212
226. " maculosus (_Spotted Linsang_) 213
227. " gracilis (_Malayan Linsang_) 215
Genus Paradoxurus--The Musangs--
228. Paradoxurus musanga (_Common Musang_) 216
229. " (Paguma _of Gray_) Grayii (_Hill Musang_) 217
230. " bondar (_Terai Musang_) 218
231. " trivirgatus (_Three-striped Musang_) 218
232. " leucotis (_White-eared Musang_) 219
233. " zeylanicus (_Golden Musang_) 220
234. " (Paguma) laniger 220
Genus Arctictis--
235. Arctictis binturong (_Binturong_) 221
HERPESTIDAE--THE ICHNEUMON OR MUNGOOSE FAMILY 222
Genus Herpestes--
236. Herpestes pallidus _vel_ griseus (_Common Grey Mungoose_) 223
237. " Jerdoni _vel_ monticolus (_Long-tailed Mungoose_) 225
238. " Smithii (_Ruddy Mungoose_) 225
239. " auropunctatus (_Gold-speckled Mungoose_) 225
240. " fuscus (_Neilgherry Brown Mungoose_) 226
241. " (Onychogale _of Gray_) Maccarthiae 226
242. " ferrugineus 226
243. " vitticollis (_Stripe-necked Mungoose_) 227
244. Urva cancrivora (_Crab-eating Mungoose_) 227
CYNOIDEA 228
Genus Canis--The Dog--
245. Canis pallipes (_Indian Wolf_) 232
246. " laniger (Lupus chanco _of Gray_) (_Thibetan Wolf_) 235
247. " lupus (_European Wolf_) 237
248. " aureus (_Jackal_) 237
Genus Cuon--
249. Canis (Cuon) rutilans (_Indian Wild Dog_) 239
Genus Vulpes--
250. Vulpes Bengalensis (_Indian Fox_) 243
251. " leucopus (_Desert Fox_) 244
252. " ferrilatus (_Thibetan Grey Fox_) 245
253. " montanus (_Hill Fox_) 245
254. " pusillus (_Punjab Fox_) 245
255. " flavescens (_Persian Fox_) 246
256. " Griffithii (_Afghanistan Fox_) 246
MARINE CARNIVORA 246
ORDER CETACEA--THE WHALES 247
Denticete--The Toothed Whales 248
FAMILY DELPHINIDAE--THE DOLPHINS OR PORPOISES 250
Genus Platanista--The River Dolphins--
257. Platanista Gangetica (_Gangetic Porpoise_) 251
Genus Orcella--The Round-headed River Dolphins--
258. Orcella brevirostris (_Short-nosed Round-headed
River Dolphin_) 255
259. " fluminalis (_Fresh-water Round-headed Dolphin_) 255
Genus Delphinus--The Marine Dolphins--
260. Delphinus perniger (_Black Dolphin_) 258
261. " plumbeus (_Lead-coloured Dolphin_) 258
262. " gadamu 258
263. " lentiginosus (_Freckled Dolphin_) 259
264. " maculiventer (_Spot-bellied Dolphin_) 259
265. " fusiformis (_Spindle-shaped Dolphin_) 259
266. " pomeegra (_Black or Pomeegra Dolphin_) 260
267. " longirostris (_Long-snouted Dolphin_) 260
268. " velox 260
Genus Phocaena--The Porpoises 260
Genus Globicephalus--The Ca'ing or Pilot Whale--
269. Globicephalus Indicus (_Indian Ca'ing Whale_) 261
PHYSETERIDAE--THE CACHELOTS OR SPERM WHALES 261
Genus Euphysetes--
270. Physeter _or_ Euphysetes simus (_Snub-nosed Cachelot_) 261
MYSTICETE--WHALEBONE OR BALEEN WHALES 262
Genus Balaena--The Right Whales 262
Genus Balaenoptera--Finback Whales or Rorquals--
271. Balaenoptera Indica (_Indian Rorqual_) 264
SIRENIA--THE MANATEES 267
Genus Halicore--The Dugong--
272. Halicore dugong (_Dugong_) 268
ORDER RODENTIA--THE GNAWERS 269
SUB-ORDER SIMPLICIDENTATA--SIMPLE-TOOTHED RODENTS 272
SCIUROMORPHA 273
SCIURIDAE--THE SQUIRRELS 274
Genus Sciurus--
273. Sciurus Indicus (_Bombay Squirrel of Pennant_) 276
274. " maximus (_Central Indian Red Squirrel_) 277
275. " macrourus (_Long-tailed Forest Squirrel_) 278
276. " giganteus (_Black Hill Squirrel_) 279
277. " lokriah (_Orange-bellied Grey Squirrel_) 280
278. " lokroides (_Hoary-bellied Grey Squirrel_) 280
279. " pygerythrus 282
280. " caniceps (_Golden-backed Squirrel_) 282
281. " Phayrei (_Laterally-banded or Phayre's Squirrel_) 282
282. " Blanfordii (_Blanford's Squirrel_) 283
283. " atrodorsalis (_Black-backed Squirrel_) 284
284. " erythraeus (_Assam Red-bellied Squirrel_) 285
285. " Gordoni (_Gordon's Squirrel_) 285
286. " hippurus (_Chestnut-bellied Assam Squirrel_) 285
287. " Sladeni (_Sladen's Squirrel_) 286
288. " ferrugineus (_Rusty-coloured Squirrel_) 287
289. " palmarum (_Common Indian Ground Squirrel_) 287
290. " tristriatus (_Three-striped Ground-Squirrel_) 289
291. " Layardi (_Layard's Striped Ground-Squirrel_) 289
292. " sublineatus (_Dusky-striped Ground-Squirrel_) 290
293. " McClellandi (_McClelland's Ground-Squirrel_) 290
294. " Berdmorei (_Berdmore's Ground-Squirrel_) 291
295. " quinquestriatus (_Stripe-bellied Squirrel_) 291
296. " (Rhinosciurus) tupaoides (_Long-nosed Squirrel_) 292
Genus Pteromys--
297. Pteromys oral (_Brown Flying Squirrel_) 294
298. " cineraceus (_Ashy Flying Squirrel_) 296
299· " Yunnanensis (_Yunnan Flying Squirrel_) 296
300. " melanopterus (_Black-flanked Flying Squirrel_) 297
301. " alborufus (_Red and White Flying Squirrel_) 297
302. " magnificus (_Red-bellied Flying Squirrel_) 298
303. " albiventer (_White-bellied Flying Squirrel_) 299
304. " caniceps (_Grey-headed Flying Squirrel_) 299
305. " Pearsonii (_Hairy-footed Flying Squirrel_) 300
306. " fuscocapillus (_Small Travancore Flying
Squirrel_) 300
307. " fimbriatus (_Grey Flying Squirrel_) 301
308. " alboniger (_Black and White Flying Squirrel_) 301
309. " spadiceus (_Red Flying Squirrel_) 302
ARCTOMYDINAE--THE MARMOTS 302
Genus Arctomys--
310. Arctomys bobac (_Bobac, or Poland Marmot_) 303
311. " caudatus (_Red Marmot_) 304
312. " Hemachalanus (_Eastern Red Marmot_) 305
313. " aureus (_Golden Marmot_) 305
314. " dichrous 306
315. " robustus 306
MYOMORPHA--MOUSE-LIKE RODENTS 306
FAMILY MURIDAE 307
Genus Platacanthomys--
316. Platacanthomys lasiurus (_Long-tailed Spiny Mouse_) 308
SUB-FAMILY GERBILLINAE 309
Genus Gerbillus--
317. Gerbillus Indicus (_Indian Jerboa-Rat, or Kangaroo-Rat_) 309
318. " Hurrianae (_Desert Jerboa-Rat_) 311
319. " cryptorhinus (_Lobe-nosed Jerboa-Rat_) 312
320. " erythrurus (_Red-tailed Jerboa-Rat_) 313
321. " nanus (_Dwarf Jerboa-Rat_) 313
SUB-FAMILY PHLOEMYINAE 314
Genus Nesokia--
322. Nesokia Hardwickii (_Hardwick's Field-Rat_) 315
323. " Huttoni (_Hutton's Field-Rat_) 315
324. " Scullyi (_Scully's Field-Rat_) 315
325. " providens (_Southern India Field-Rat_) 316
326. " Blythiana (_Bengal Field-Rat_) 317
327. " Barclayiana (_Barclay's Field-Rat_) 318
328. Mus (Nesokia) Elliotanus (_Elliot's Field-Rat_) 318
329. " " giganteus (_Bandicoot_) 319
SUB-FAMILY CRICETINAE 320
Genus Cricetus--The Hamsters--
330. Cricetus phaeus (_Persian Hamster_) 321
331. " fulvus (_Sandy Hamster_) 321
SUB-FAMILY MURINAE 321
Genus Mus--
332. Mus rattus (_Black Rat_) 322
333. " decumanus (_Brown Rat_) 323
334. " Andamanensis (_Andaman Rat_) 325
335. " robustulus (_Burmese Common Rat_) 325
336. " Sladeni (_Sladen's Rat_) 326
337. " rubricosa (_Small Red Rat of the Kakhyen Hills_) 326
338. " Yunnanensis (_Common House Rat of Yunnan_) 327
339. " infralineatus (_Striped-bellied Rat_) 327
340. " brunneus (_Tree Rat_) 327
341. " rufescens (_Rufescent Tree Rat_) 328
342. " niveiventer (_White-bellied House Rat_) 329
343. " nitidus (_Shining Brown Rat_) 329
344. " caudatior (_Chestnut Rat_) 329
345. " concolor (_Common Thatch Rat of Pegu_) 330
346. " palmarum (_Nicobar Tree Rat_) 330
347. " Ceylonus 330
348. " plurimammis 331
349. " aequicaudalis 331
350. " oleraceus (_Long-tailed Tree Mouse_) 331
351. " Nilagiricus (_Neilgherry Tree Mouse_) 332
352. " badius (_Bay Tree Mouse_) 332
353. " gliroides (_Cherrapoonjee Tree Mouse_) 333
354. " Peguensis (_Pegu Tree Mouse_) 333
355. " urbanus (_Common Indian Mouse_) 333
356. " homourus 335
357. " Darjeelingensis 335
358. " Tytleri 335
359. " bactrianus 335
360. " crassipes (_Large-footed Mouse_) 337
361. " sublimis 337
362. " pachycercus 337
363. " erythronotus 337
364. " cervicolor (_Fawn-coloured Field Mouse_) 338
365. " terricolor (_Earth-coloured Field Mouse_) 338
366. " Peguensis (_Pegu Field Mouse_) 338
367. " nitidulus (_Shiny Little House Mouse of Pegu_) 338
368. " Beaveni (_Beaven's Mouse_) 339
369. " cunicularis (_Little Rabbit-Mouse_) 339
370. " erythrotis (_Cherrapunji Red-eared Mouse_) 339
371. " fulvidiventris 340
372. " Kakhyenensis (_Kakhyen Mouse_) 340
373. " viculorum (_Kakhyen House Mouse_) 340
Genus Leggada--
374. Leggada platythrix (_Brown Spiny Mouse_) 341
375. " spinulosa (_Dusky Spiny Mouse_) 342
376. " Jerdoni (_Himalayan Spiny Mouse_) 342
377. " lepida (_Small Spiny Mouse_) 342
Genus Golunda--
378. Golunda Ellioti (_Bush Rat or Coffee Rat_) 343
379. " meltada (_Soft-furred Bush Rat_) 344
Genus Hapalomys--
380. Hapalomys longicaudatus 345
381. Mus ouang-thomae (_Kiangsi Rat_) 346
382. " flavipectus (_Yellow-breasted Rat_) 346
383. " griseipectus (_Grey-breasted Rat_) 346
384. " Confucianus 347
385. " Chevrieri 347
386. " pygmaeus (_Pigmy Mouse_) 347
ARVICOLINAE 347
Genus Arvicola--
387. Arvicola Stoliczkanus (_Yarkand Vole_) 349
388. " Stracheyi (_Kumaon Vole_) 349
389. " Wynnei (_Murree Vole_) 350
390. " Roylei (_Cashmere Vole_) 350
391. " Blanfordi (_Gilgit Vole_) 350
392. " Blythii 351
393. " mandarinus (_Afghan Vole_) 351
394. " Sikimensis (_Sikim Vole_) 351
395. " melanogaster 352
FAMILY SPALACIDAE 352
Genus Rhizomys--The Bamboo-Rat--
396. Rhizomys badius (_Chestnut Bamboo-Rat_) 353
397. " erythrogenys (_Red-cheeked Bamboo-Rat_) 354
398. " pruinosus (_Hoary Bamboo-Rat_) 354
399. " minor (_Small Bamboo-Rat_) 354
FAMILY DIPODIDAE 355
Genus Dipus--The Jerboas--
400. Dipus lagopus (_Yarkand Jerboa_) 357
Genus Alactaga--
401. Alactaga Indica 358
HYSTRICOMORPHA--PORCUPINE-LIKE RODENTS 359
FAMILY HYSTRICIDAE--THE PORCUPINES 360
SUB-FAMILY HYSTRICINAE--THE TRUE PORCUPINES 360
Genus Atherura--The Long-tailed Porcupine--
402. Atherura fasciculata (_Brush-tailed Porcupine_) 361
Genus Hystrix--The Porcupine--
403. Hystrix leucura (_White-tailed Indian Porcupine_) 362
404. " Bengalensis (_Bengal Porcupine_) 365
405. " (Acanthion) longicauda (_Crestless Porcupine_) 366
406. " Yunnanensis 366
SUB-ORDER DUPLICIDENTATA--DOUBLE-TOOTHED RODENTS 367
FAMILY LEPORIDAE--THE HARES 368
Genus Lepus--
407. Lepus ruficaudatus (_Common Indian Red-tailed Hare_) 369
408. " nigricollis (_Black-naped Hare_) 369
409. " Peguensis (_Pegu Hare_) 370
410. " hypsibius (_Mountain Hare_) 370
411. " pallipes (_Pale-footed Hare_) 370
412. " Tibetanus (_Thibet Hare_) 371
413. " Yarkandensis (_Yarkand Hare_) 371
414. " Pamirensis (_Pamir Hare_) 372
415. " Stoliczkanus (_Stoliczka's Hare_) 372
416. " craspedotis (_Large-eared Hare_) 372
417. " hispidus (_Hispid Hare_) 373
FAMILY LAGOMYIDAE--THE PIKAS, OR MOUSE-HARES 373
Genus Lagomys--
418. Lagomys Roylei (_Royle's Pika_) 374
419. " Curzoniae (_Curzon's Pika_) 374
420. " Ladacensis (_Ladak Pika_) 374
421. " auritus (_Large-eared Pika_) 375
422. " macrotis 375
423. " griseus (_Grey Pika_) 375
424. " rufescens (_Red Pika_) 376
ORDER PROBOSCIDEA 377
Genus Elephas--The Elephant--
425. Elephas Indicus (_Indian or Asiatic Elephant_) 389
ORDER UNGULATA 397
SUB-ORDER PERISSODACTYLA 397
FAMILY EQUIDAE--THE HORSE 398
Genus Equus--
426. Equus onager (_Wild Ass of Kutch_) 399
427. " hemionus (_Kiang or Wild Ass of Thibet_) 401
FAMILY TAPIRIDAE--THE TAPIR 403
Genus Tapirus--
428. Tapirus Malayanus (_Malay Tapir_) 404
FAMILY RHINOCEROTIDAE 405
Genus Rhinoceros--
429. Rhinoceros Indicus 407
430. " Sondaicus (_Javan Rhinoceros_) 410
Genus Ceratorhinus--
431. Rhinoceros _vel_ Ceratorhinus (Crossi?) lasiotis
(_Ear-fringed Rhinoceros_) 411
432. Rhinoceros _vel_ Ceratorhinus Sumatrensis
(_Sumatran Rhinoceros_) 412
SUB-ORDER ARTIODACTYLA 413
FAMILY SUIDAE--THE HOGS 414
Genus Sus--
433. Sus scrofa (_European Wild Boar_) 415
434. " Indicus (_Indian Boar_) 416
435. " Andamanensis (_Andaman Island Pig_) 420
436. " Moupinensis 420
Genus Porcula--
437. Porcula Salvania (_Pigmy Hog of the Saul Forests_) 421
RUMINANTIA--THE RUMINANTS 422
FAMILY BOVIDAE--HOLLOW-HORNED RUMINANTS 424
SUB-FAMILY CAPRINAE--GOATS AND SHEEP 424
Genus Ovis--The Sheep--
438. Ovis Polii (_Marco Polo's Sheep_) 424
439. " Hodgsoni (_Argali or Ovis Ammon of Thibet_) 427
440. " Karelini (_Karelin's Wild Sheep_) 430
441. " Brookei (_Brooke's Wild Sheep_) 434
442. " Vignei (_Vigne's Wild Sheep_) 435
443. " cycloceros (_Punjab Wild Sheep_) 435
444. " Blanfordii (_Blanford's Wild Sheep_) 437
445. " nahura _vel_ burhel (_Blue Wild Sheep_) 438
Genus Capra--The Goats--
446. Capra megaceros (_Markhor_) 441
447. " Sibirica (_Himalayan Ibex_) 444
448. " aegagrus (_Wild Goat of Asia Minor_) 446
Sub-genus Hemitragus--
449. Capra _vel_ Hemitragus Jemlaicus (_Tahr_) 449
450. " " " hylocrius (_Neilgherry Wild
Goat, or Ibex of Madras Sportsmen_) 451
THE GOAT ANTELOPES, OR CAPRICORNS 454
Genus Nemorhoedus--
451. Nemorhoedus bubalina (_Serow, or Forest Goat_) 454
452. " rubida _vel_ Sumatrensis (_Arakanese
Capricorn_) 456
453. " Edwardsii (_Thibetan Capricorn_) 457
454. " goral (_Small Himalayan Capricorn_) 457
Genus Budorcas--
455. Budorcas taxicolor (_Takin_) 460
Genus Gazella--The Gazelles--
456. Gazella Bennetti (_Indian Gazelle_) 463
457. " fuscifrons (_Baluchistan Gazelle_) 465
458. " subgutterosa (_Persian Gazelle_) 466
459. " picticaudata (_Thibetan Gazelle_) 467
Genus Pantholops--
460. Pantholops Hodgsonii (_Chiru_) 469
Genus Antelope (restricted)--
461. Antelope bezoartica (_Indian Antelope_) 472
Genus Portax--The Nylgao--
462. Portax pictus _vel_ tragocamelus (_Nylgao or Blue Bull_) 476
Genus Tetraceros--
463. Tetraceros quadricornis (_Four-horned Antelope_) 479
BOVINAE--CATTLE 480
Genus Gavaeus--
464. Gavaeus gaurus (_Gaur, popularly called Bison_) 481
465. " frontalis (_Mithun or Gayal_) 486
466. " Sondaicus (_Burmese Wild Ox_) 488
Genus Poephagus--The Yak--
467. Poephagus grunniens (_Yak or Grunting Ox_) 489
Genus Bubalus--The Buffalos--
468. Bubalus arni (_Wild Buffalo_) 490
Genus Moschus--The Musk Deer--
469. Moschus moschiferus (_Musk Deer_) 494
CERVIDAE--THE DEER 495
Genus Cervulus--The Muntjacs or Rib-faced Deer--
470. Cervulus muntjac _vel_ aureus (_Muntjac or Rib-faced
Deer_) 500
Genus Rusa--The Rusine Deer--
471. Rusa Aristotelis (_Sambar_) 503
Genus Axis--
472. Axis maculatus (_Spotted Deer_) 506
473. " porcinus (_Hog Deer_) 508
Genus Rucervus--
474. Rucervus Duvaucelli (_Swamp-Deer_) 510
475. " _vel_ Panolia Eldii (_Brown Antlered or Eld's
Deer_) 511
Genus Cervus--
476. Cervus Cashmirianus (_Kashmir Stag_) 512
477. " affinis _vel_ Wallichii (_Sikhim Stag_) 514
TRAGULIDAE--THE CHEVROTIANS OR DEERLETS 515
Genus Tragulus--
478. Tragulus napu (_Javan Deerlet_) 516
Genus Meminna--
479. Meminna Indica (_Indian Mouse Deer_) 516
TRIBE TYLOPODA--THE CAMELS 518
ORDER EDENTATA 519
Genus Manis--
480. Manis pentadactyla _or_ brachyura (_Five-fingered or
Short-tailed Pangolin_) 520
481. " aurita (_Eared Pangolin_) 521
482. " Javanica (_Javan Ant-eater_) 522
APPENDIX A 523
APPENDIX B 525
APPENDIX C 526
APPENDIX D 532
INDEX 535
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
SECTION
_Felis Tigris_ _Frontispiece_
Skull of _Hylobates hooluck_ 1
_Hylobates lar_; _Hylobates hooluck_ 2
_Presbytes entellus_ 4
" _thersites_ 15
_Macacus silenus_ 17
" _rhesus_ 18
" _nemestrinus_ 20
" _radiatus_ and _Macacus pileatus_ 24
" _cynomolgus_ 26
_Loris gracilis_ and _Nycticebus tardigradus_ 28
_Galaeopithecus volans_ 30
Sternum of _Pteropus_ Cheiroptera
The Flying Fox at Home 31
Head of _Pteropus medius_ 31
_Cynopterus marginatus_ 33
_Megaderma lyra_ 36
" _spasma_ 38
_Rhinolophus luctus_ 39
" _ferrum-equinum_ 41
_Phyllorhina armigera_ (male and female) 64
Skull of _Rhinopoma_ 69
_Plecotus auritus_ 77
_Vesperugo noctula_ 78
" _Leisleri_ 89
_Scotophilus Temminckii_ 93
Skull of _Harpiocephalus harpia_ 99
_Vespertilio murinus_ 108
" _formosus_ 116
_Synotus barbastellus_ Genus Barbastellus
Dentition of Shrew (magnified) Genus Sorex
" of Hedgehog Family Erinaceidae
Hedgehog Genus Erinaceus
Dentition of _Tupaia_ 158
_Tupaia Peguana_ 159
_Gymnura Rafflesii_ 162
Dentition of Tiger and Indian Black Bear Carnivora
" of Bear Ursidae
Skull of Bear (under view) Ursidae
_Ursus Isabellinus_ 163
" _Tibetanus_ 164
" _Malayanus_ 166
" _labiatus_ 167
_Ailuropus melanoleucos_ 168
_Ailurus fulgens_ 169
_Arctonyx collaris_ 170
_Mellivora Indica_ 174
Skull of _Putorius_ Mustelidae
_Martes abietum_ 178
_Mustela_ Genus Mustela
Otter's skull (side and under view) Lutridae
_Lutra nair_ 195
Skull of Tiger (side view) Felidae
Tendons of Tiger's toe Felidae
Auditory apparatus of Tiger (section) Felidae
_Felis leo_ (Indian variety) 200
Head of Tiger 201
Tiger's skull (under part) 201
_Felis panthera_ (_From a fine specimen in the Regent's Park
Gardens_) 203
" _uncia_ 204
" _Diardii_ 205
Skull of _Felis viverrina_ 206
_Felis marmorata_ 207
" _aurata_ 210
" _caracal_ 218
" _jubata_ 219
Skull of _Felis jubata_ 219
Skull of Hyaena Hyaenidae
_Hyaena striata_ 220
Dentition of Civet Viverridae
_Viverra zibetha_ 221
" _megaspila_ 223
" _Malaccensis_ 224
_Prionodon maculosus_ 226
_Paradoxurus trivirgatus_ 231
_Arctictis binturong_ 235
_Urva cancrivora_ 244
Dentition of Wolf Genus Canis
_Canis pallipes_ 245
_Cuon rutilans_ 249
_Platanista Gangetica_ 257
Gangetic Dolphin; Round-headed River Dolphin; Gadamu Dolphin;
Freckled Dolphin; Black Dolphin Genus Delphinus
Skull of Baleen Whale Genus Balaena
Rorqual 271
_Halicore dugong_ 272
Skull of _Pteromys_ (Flying Squirrel) Genus Sciurus
_Sciurus maximus_ 274
_Pteromys oral_ 297
Dentition of _Gerbillus_ Genus Gerbillus
Dentition of _Cricetus_ Genus Cricetus
_Cricetus_ Genus Cricetus
Dentition of Black Rat 332
" of _Arvicola_ Arvicolinae
_Rhizomys badius_ 396
Dentition of Jerboa Family Dipodidae
_Dipus_ Genus Dipus
Skull of Porcupine Family Hystricidae
_Hystrix leucura_ 403
Dentition of Hare Sub-order Duplicidentata
Side view of Grinders of Asiatic Elephant Genus Elephas
Grinder of Asiatic Elephant Genus Elephas
" of African Elephant Genus Elephas
Section of Elephant's Skull Genus Elephas
Skeleton of Elephant Genus Elephas
Muscles of Elephant's Trunk Genus Elephas
Dentition of Horse Family Equidae
_Equus onager_ 426
Dentition of Tapir Family Tapiridae
_Tapirus Malayanus_ 428
Dentition of Rhinoceros Genus Rhinoceros
_Rhinoceros Indicus_ 429
" _Indicus_ 429
" _Sondaicus_ 430
" _lasiotis_ (_R. Indicus_ and _R. Sondaicus_ in
the distance) 431
Bones of a Pig's foot Sub-order Artiodactyla
Dentition of Wild Boar Family Suidae
_Sus Indicus_ 434
_Porcula Salvania_ 437
_Ovis Polii_ 438
Horns of _Ovis Polii_ 438
_Ovis Hodgsoni_ 439
Skull of _Ovis Hodgsoni_ 439
Horns of _Ovis Karelini_ 440
_Ovis Brookei_ 441
" _cycloceros_ 443
" _nahura_ 445
_Capra megaceros_. No. 1 variety 446
" " No. 2 variety 446
" _Sibirica_ 447
_Hemitragus Jemlaicus_ 449
_Nemorhoedus bubalina_ 451
" _goral_ 454
_Budorcas taxicolor_ 455
_Gazella Bennetti_ (male and female) 456
" _subgutterosa_ 458
Saiga Antelope Genus Pantholops
_Pantholops Hodgsoni_ 460
_Antelope bezoartica_ 461
_Portax pictus_ 462
_Tetraceros quadricornis_ 463
_Gavaeus gaurus_ 464
" _frontalis_ 465
_Bubalus arni_ 468
Skull of Musk Deer 468
_Moschus moschiferus_ 469
" _moschiferus_ 469
Stag with Horns matured Cervidae
" " " in velvet Cervidae
_Cervulus aureus_ 470
_Rusa Aristotelis_ 471
_Axis maculatus_ 472
" _porcinus_ 473
_Cervus Cashmirianus_ 476
_Tragulus napu_ 478
Mouse Deer 479
_Manis pentadactyla_ 480
Dentition of Dormouse (magnified) Appendix A
_Myoxus_ Appendix A
Osteology of the skull of _Platanista Gangetica_ Appendix B
The Slow Loris Appendix C
Osteology of the feet of Pig, or African deerlet; Javan
deerlet; Roebuck; Sheep; Camel Appendix C
Gaur Appendix C
NATURAL HISTORY
OF THE
MAMMALIA OF BRITISH INDIA AND CEYLON.
INTRODUCTION.
In laying before the public the following history of the Indian
Mammalia, I am actuated by the feeling that a popular work on the
subject is needed, and would be appreciated by many who do not care
to purchase the expensive books that exist, and who also may be more
bothered than enlightened by over-much technical phraseology and
those learned anatomical dissertations which are necessary to the
scientific zoologist.
Another motive in thus venturing is, that the only complete history
of Indian Mammalia is Dr. Jerdon's, which is exhaustive within the
boundaries he has assigned to India proper; but as he has excluded
Assam, Cachar, Tenasserim, Burmah, Arracan, and Ceylon, his book is
incomplete as a Natural History of the Mammals of British India. I
shall have to acknowledge much to Jerdon in the following pages, and
it is to him I owe much encouragement, whilst we were together in
the field during the Indian Mutiny, in the pursuit of the study to
which he devoted his life; and the general arrangement of this work
will be based on his book, his numbers being preserved, in order that
those who possess his 'Mammals of India' may readily refer to the
noted species.
But I must also plead indebtedness to many other naturalists who have
left their records in the 'Journals of the Asiatic Society' and other
publications, or who have brought out books of their own, such as
Blyth, Elliott, Hodgson, Sherwill, Sykes, Tickell, Hutton, Kellaart,
Emerson Tennent, and others; Col. McMaster's 'Notes on Jerdon,' Dr.
Anderson's 'Anatomical and Zoological Researches,' Horsfield's
'Catalogue of the Mammalia in the Museum of the East India Company,'
Dr. Dobson's 'Monograph of the Asiatic Chiroptera,' the writings of
Professors Martin Duncan, Flowers, Kitchen Parker, Boyd Dawkins,
Garrod, Mr. E. R. Alston, Sir Victor Brooke and others; the
Proceedings and Journals of the Zoological, Linnean, and Asiatic
Societies, and the correspondence in _The Asian_; so that after all
my own share is minimised to a few remarks here and there, based on
personal experience during a long period of jungle life, and on
observation of the habits of animals in their wild state, and also
in captivity, having made a large collection of living specimens from
time to time.
As regards classification, Cuvier's system is the most popular, so
I shall adopt it to a certain extent, keeping it as a basis, but
engrafting on it such modifications as have met with the approval
of modern naturalists. For comparison I give below a synopsis of
Cuvier's arrangement. I have placed Cetacea after Carnivora, and
Edentata at the end. In this I have followed recent authors as well
as Jerdon, whose running numbers I have preserved as far as possible
for purposes of reference.
Cuvier divides the Mammals into nine orders, as follows. (_The
examples I give are Indian ones, except where stated otherwise_):--
_Order I_.--BIMANA. Man.
_Order II_.--QUADRUMANA. Two families--1st, Apes and Monkeys; 2nd,
Lemurs.
_Order III_.--CARNARIA. Three families--1st, _Cheiroptera_, Bats;
2nd, _Insectivora_, Hedgehogs, Shrews, Moles, Tupaiae, &c.; 3rd,
_Carnivora_: Tribe 1, _Plantigrades_, Bears, Ailurus, Badger,
Arctonyx; 2, _Digitigrades_, Martens, Weasels, Otters, Cats,
Hyaenas, Civets, Musangs, Mongoose, Dogs, Wolves and Foxes.
_Order IV_.--MARSUPIATA. Implacental Mammals peculiar to America
and Australia, such as Opossums, Dasyures, Wombats, and Kangaroos.
We have none in India.
_Order V_.--RODENTIA. Squirrels, Marmots, Jerboas, Mole-Rats, Rats,
Mice, Voles, Porcupines, and Hares.
_Order VI_.--EDENTATA, or toothless Mammals, either partially or
totally without teeth. Three families--1st, _Tardigrades_, the
Sloths, peculiar to America; 2nd, _Effodientia_, or Burrowers, of
which the Indian type is the Manis, but which includes in other parts
of the world the Armadillos and Anteaters; 3rd, _Monotremata_, Spiny
Anteaters or Echidnas, and the Ornithorynchus.
_Order VII_.--PACHYDERMATA, or thick-skinned Mammals. Three
families--1st, _Proboscidians_, Elephants; 2nd, _Ordinary
Pachyderms_, Rhinoceroses, Hogs; 3rd, _Solidungula_, Horses.
_Order VIII_.--RUMINANTIA, or cud-chewing Mammals. Four
families--1st, _Hornless Ruminants_, Camels, Musks; 2nd, _Cervidae_,
true horns shed periodically, Deer; 3rd, _Persistent horns_,
Giraffes; 4th, _Hollow-horned Ruminants_, Antelopes, Goats, Sheep
and Oxen.
_Order IX._--CETACEA. Three families--1st, _Herbivorous Cetacea_,
Manatees, Dugongs; 2nd, _Ordinary Cetacea_, Porpoises; 3rd,
_Balaenidae_, Whales.
ORDER BIMANA.
Some people have an extreme repugnance to the idea that man should
be treated of in connection with other animals. The development
theory is shocking to them, and they would deny that man has anything
in common with the brute creation. This is of course mere sentiment;
no history of nature would be complete without the noblest work of
the Creator. The great gulf that separates the human species from
the rest of the animals is the impassable one of intellect.
Physically, he should be compared with the other mammals, otherwise
we should lose our first standpoint of comparison. There is no
degradation in this, nor is it an acceptance of the development
theory. To argue that man evolved from the monkey is an ingenious
joke which will not bear the test of examination, and the Scriptural
account may still be accepted. I firmly believe in man as an original
creation just as much as I disbelieve in any development of the Flying
Lemur (_Galeopithecus_) from the Bat, or that the habits of an animal
would in time materially alter its anatomy, as in the case of the
abnormal length of the hind toe and nail of the Jacana. It is not
that the habit of running over floating leaves induced the change,
but that an all-wise Creator so fashioned it that it might run on
those leaves in search of its food. I accept the development theory
to the extent of the multiplication of species, or perhaps, more
correctly, varieties in genera. We see in the human race how
circumstances affect physical appearance. The child of the ploughman
or navvy inherits the broad shoulders and thick-set frame of his
father; and in India you may see it still more forcibly in the
difference between Hindu and Mahomedan races, and those Hindus who
have been converted to Mahomedanism. I do not mean isolated converts
here and there who intermarry with pure Mahomedan women, but I mean
whole communities who have in olden days been forced to accept Islam.
In a few generations the face assumes an unmistakable Mahomedan type.
It is the difference in living and in thought that effects this change.
It is the same with animals inhabiting mountainous districts as
compared with the same living in the plains; constant enforced
exercise tells on the former, and induces a more robust and active form.
Whether diet operates in the same degree to effect changes I am
inclined to doubt. In man there is no dental or intestinal difference,
whether he be as carnivorous as an Esquimaux or as vegetarian as a
Hindu; whereas in created carnivorous, insectivorous, and
herbivorous animals there is a striking difference, instantly to be
recognised even in those of the same family. Therefore, if diet has
operated in effecting such changes, why has it not in the human race?
"Who shall decide when doctors disagree?" is a quotation that may
aptly be applied to the question of the classification of man; Cuvier,
Blumenbach, Fischer, Bory St. Vincent, Prichard, Latham, Morton,
Agassiz and others have each a system.
Cuvier recognises only three types--the Caucasian, the Mongolian,
and the Negro or Ethiopian, including Blumenbach's fourth and fifth
classes, American and Malay in Mongolian. But even Cuvier himself
could hardly reconcile the American with the Mongol; he had the high
cheek-bone and the scanty beard, it is true, but his eyes and his
nose were as Caucasian as could be, and his numerous dialects had
no affinity with the type to which he was assigned.
Fischer in his classification divided man into seven races:--
1_st_.--_Homo japeticus_, divided into three varieties--_Caucasicus_,
_Arabicus_ and _Indicus_.
2_nd_.--_H. Neptunianus_, consisting of--1st, the Malays peopling
the coasts of the islands of the Indian Ocean, Madagascar, &c.; 2nd,
New Zealanders and Islanders of the Pacific; and, 3rd, the Papuans.
3_rd_.--_H. Scythicus_. Three divisions, viz.: 1st, Calmucks and
other Tartars; 2nd, Chinese and Japanese; and, 3rd, Esquimaux.
4_th_.--_H. Americanus_, and
5_th_.--_H. Columbicus_, belong to the American Continent.
6_th_.--_H. AEthiopicus_. The Negro.
7_th_.--_H. Polynesius_. The _inland_ inhabitants of the Malay
Peninsula, of the Islands of the Indian Ocean, of Madagascar, New
Guinea, New Holland, &c.
I think this system is the one that most commends itself from its
clearness, but there are hardly two writers on ethnology who keep
to the same classification.
Agassiz classifies by realms, and has eight divisions.
The Indian races with which we have now to deal are distributed,
generally speaking, as follows:--
Caucasian.--(_Homo japeticus_, Bory and Fischer). Northerly,
westerly, and in the Valley of the Ganges in particular, but
otherwise generally distributed over the most cultivated parts of
the Peninsula, comprising the Afghans (Pathans), Sikhs, Brahmins,
Rajputs or Kshatryas of the north-west, the Arabs, Parsees, and
Mahrattas of the west coast, the Singhalese of the extreme south,
the Tamils of the east, and the Bengalis of the north-east.
Mongolians (_H. Scythicus_), inhabiting the chain of mountains to
the north, from Little Thibet on the west to Bhotan on the east, and
then sweeping downwards southerly to where Tenasserim joins the
Malay Peninsula. They comprise the Hill Tribes of the N. Himalayas,
the Goorkhas of Nepal, and the Hill Tribes of the north-eastern
frontier, viz. Khamtis, Singphos, Mishmis, Abors, Nagas, Jynteas,
Khasyas, and Garos. Those of the northern borders: Bhotias, Lepchas,
Limbus, Murmis and Haioos; of the Assam Valley Kachari, Mech and Koch.
The Malays (_H. Neptunianus_) Tipperah and Chittagong tribes, the
Burmese and Siamese.
Now comes the most difficult group to classify--the aborigines of
the interior, and of the hill ranges of Central India, the Kols, Gonds,
Bhils, and others which have certain characteristics of the
Mongolian, but with skins almost as dark as the Negro, and the full
eye of the Caucasian. The main body of these tribes, which I should
feel inclined to classify under Fischer's _H. Polynesius_, have been
divided by Indian ethnologists into two large groups--the Kolarians
and Dravidians. The former comprise the Juangs, Kharrias, Mundas,
Bhumij, Ho or Larka Kols, Santals, Birhors, Korwas, Kurs, Kurkus or
Muasis, Bhils, Minas, Kulis. The latter contains the Oraons, Malers,
Paharis of Rajamahal, Gonds and Kands.
The Cheroos and Kharwars, Parheyas, Kisans, Bhuikers, Boyars,
Nagbansis, Kaurs, Mars, Bhunyiars, Bendkars form another great group
apart from the Kolarians and Dravidians, and approximating more to
the Indian variety of the Japetic class.
Then there are the extremely low types which one has no hesitation
in assigning to the lowest form of the Polynesian group, such as the
Andamanese, the jungle tree-men of Chittagong, Tipperah, and the
vast forests stretching towards Sambhulpur.
On these I would now more particularly dwell as points of comparison
with the rest of the animal kingdom. I have taken but a superficial
view of the varieties of the higher types of the human race in India,
for the subject, if thoroughly entered into, would require a volume
of no ordinary dimensions; and those who wish to pursue the study
further should read an able paper by Sir George Campbell in the
'Journal of the Asiatic Society' for June 1866 (vol. xxxv. Part II.),
Colonel Dalton's 'Ethnology of Bengal,' the Rev. S. Hislop's
'Memoranda,' and the 'Report of the Central Provinces Ethnological
Committee.' There is as yet, however, very little reliable
information regarding the wilder forms of humanity inhabiting dense
forests, where, enjoying apparently complete immunity from the
deadly malaria that proves fatal to all others, they live a life but
a few degrees removed from the Quadrumana.
I have in my book on the Seonee District described the little colonies
in the heart of the Bison jungles. Clusters of huts imbedded in
tangled masses of foliage, surrounded by an atmosphere reeking with
the effluvia of decaying vegetation, where, unheedful of the great
outer world beyond their sylvan limits, the Gonds pass year after
year of uneventful lives.
In some of these hamlets I was looked upon with positive awe, as being
the first white man the _Baigas_ had seen. But these simple savages
rank high in the scale compared with some others, of whom we have
as yet but imperfect descriptions.
Some years ago Mr. Piddington communicated to the Asiatic Society
an account of some "Monkey-men" he came across on the borders of the
Palamow jungle. He was in the habit of employing the aboriginal
tribes to work for him, and on one occasion a party of his men found
in the jungle a man and woman in a state of starvation, and brought
them in. They were both very short in stature, with disproportionately
long arms, which in the man were covered with a reddish-brown hair.
They looked almost more like baboons than human beings, and their
language was unintelligible, except that words here and there
resembled those in one of the Kolarian dialects. By signs, and by the
help of these words, one of the Dhangars managed to make out that they
lived in the depths of the forest, but had to fly from their people on
account of a blood feud. Mr. Piddington was anxious to send them down
to Calcutta, but before he could do so, they decamped one night, and
fled again to their native wilds. Those jungles are, I believe, still
in a great measure unexplored; and, if some day they are opened out,
it is to be hoped that the "Monkey-men" will be again discovered.[1]
[Footnote 1: There has been lately exhibited in London a child from
Borneo which has several points in common with the monkey--hairy face
and arms, the hair on the fore-arm being reversed, as in the apes.]
The lowest type with which we are familiar is the Andamanese, and
the wilder sort of these will hardly bear comparison with even the
degraded Australian or African Bosjesman, and approximate in
debasement to the Fuegians.
The Andamanese are small in stature--the men averaging about five
feet, the women less. They are very dark, I may say black, but here
the resemblance to the Negro ceases. They have not the thick lips
and flat nose, nor the peculiar heel of the Negro. In habit they are
in small degree above the brutes, architecture and agriculture being
unknown. The only arts they are masters of are limited to the
manufacture of weapons, such as spears, bows and arrows, and canoes.
They wear no kind of dress, but, when flies and mosquitoes are
troublesome, plaster themselves with mud. The women are fond of
painting themselves with red ochre, which they lay thickly over their
heads, after scraping off the hair with a flint-knife. They swim and
dive like ducks, and run up trees like monkeys. Though affectionate
to their children, they are ruthless to the stranger, killing every
one who happens to be cast away on their inhospitable shores. They
have been accused of cannibalism, but this is open to doubt. The
bodies of those they have killed have been found dreadfully mutilated,
almost pounded to a jelly, but no portion had been removed.[2]
[Footnote 2: Since the above was written there has been published
in the 'Journal of the Anthropological Institute,' vol. xii., a most
interesting and exhaustive paper on these people by Mr. E. H. Man,
F.R.G.S., giving them credit for much intelligence.]
In the above description I speak of the savage Andamanese in his wild
state, and not of the specimens to be seen at Port Blair, who have
become in an infinitesimal degree civilised--that is to say, to the
extent of holding intercourse with foreigners, making some slight
additions to their argillaceous dress-suits, and understanding the
principles of exchange and barter--though as regards this last a
friend informs me that they have no notion of a token currency, but
only understand the _argumentum ad hominem_ in the shape of
comestibles, so that your bargains, to be effectual, must be made
within reach of a cookshop or grocery. The same friend tells me he
learnt at Port Blair that there were marriage restrictions on which
great stress was laid. This may be the case on the South Island; there
is much testimony on the other side as regards the more savage
Andamanese.
The forest tribes of Chittagong are much higher in the scale than
the Andamanese, but they are nevertheless savages of a low type.
Captain Lewin says: "The men wear scarcely any clothing, and the
petticoat of the women is scanty, reaching only to the knee; they
worship the terrene elements, and have vague and undefined ideas of
some divine power which overshadows all. They were born and they die
for ends to them as incomputable as the path of a cannon-shot fired
into the darkness. They are cruel, and attach but little value to
life. Reverence or respect are emotions unknown to them, they salute
neither their chiefs nor their elders, neither have they any
expression conveying thanks." There is, however, much that is
interesting in these wild people, and to those who wish to know more
I recommend Captain Lewin's account of 'The Hill Tracts of Chittagong.'
ORDER QUADRUMANA.
The monkeys of the Indian Peninsula are restricted to a few groups,
of which the principal one is that of the _Semnopitheci_. These
monkeys are distinguished not only by their peculiar black faces,
with a ridge of long stiff black hair projecting forwards over the
eyebrows, thin slim bodies and long tails, but by the absence of cheek
pouches, and the possession of a peculiar sacculated stomach, which,
as figured in Cuvier, resembles a bunch of grapes. Jerdon says of
this group that, out of five species found on the continent there
is only one spread through all the plains of Central and Northern
India, and one through the Himalayas, whilst there are three
well-marked species in the extreme south of the Peninsula; but then
he omits at least four species inhabiting Chittagong, Tenasserim,
Arracan, which also belong to the continent of India, though perhaps
not to the actual Peninsula. Sir Emerson Tennent, in his 'Natural
History of Ceylon,' also mentions and figures three species, of which
two are not included in Jerdon's 'Mammals,' though incidentally
spoken of. I propose to add the Ceylon Mammalia to the Indian, and
therefore shall allude to these further on.
The next group of Indian monkeys is that of the Macaques or Magots,
or Monkey Baboons of India, the _Lal Bundar_ of the natives. They
have simple stomachs and cheek pouches, which last, I dare say, most
of us have noticed who have happened to give two plantains in
succession to one of them.
Although numerically the _Langurs_ or Entellus Monkeys form the most
important group of the Quadrumana in India, yet the Gibbons (which
are not included by Jerdon) rank highest in the scale, though the
species are restricted to but three--_Hylobates hooluck_, _H. lar_
and _H. syndactylus_. They are superior in formation (that is taking
man as the highest development of the form, to which some people take
objection, though to my way of thinking there is not much to choose
between the highest type of monkey and the lowest of humanity, if
we would but look facts straight in the face), and they are also
vastly superior in intellect to either the _Langurs_ or the
_Macaques_, though inferior perhaps to the Ourangs.
_GENUS HYLOBATES--THE GIBBONS_,
Which, with the long arms of the Ourangs and the receding forehead
of the Chimpanzee, possess the callosities of the true monkeys, but
differ from them in having neither tail nor cheek pouches. They are
true bipeds on the ground, applying the sole of the foot flatly, not,
as Cuvier and others have remarked of the Ourangs, with the outer
edge of the sole only, but flat down, as Blyth, who first mentions
it, noticed it, with the thumb or big toe widely separated.
NO. 1. HYLOBATES HOOLUCK.
_The White-fronted Gibbon_.
NATIVE NAMES.--_Hooluck_, _Hookoo_.
HABITAT.--Garo and Khasia Hills, Valley of Assam, and Arracan.
DESCRIPTION.--Males deep black, marked with white across the
forehead. Females vary from brownish black to whitish-brown, without,
however, the fulvous tint observable in pale specimens of the next
species.
"In general they are paler on the crown, back, and outside of limbs,
darker in front, and much darker on the cheeks and chin."--_Blyth_.
SIZE.--About two feet.
[Figure: Skull of _Hylobates hooluck_.]
I think of all the monkey family this Gibbon makes one of the most
interesting pets. It is mild and most docile, and capable of great
attachment. Even the adult male has been caught, and within the short
space of a month so completely tamed that he would follow and come
to a call. One I had for a time, some years ago, was a most engaging
little creature. Nothing contented him so much as being allowed to
sit by my side with his arm linked through mine, and he would resist
any attempt I made to go away. He was extremely clean in his habits,
which cannot be said of all the monkey tribe. Soon after he came to
me I gave him a piece of blanket to sleep on in his box, but the next
morning I found he had rolled it up and made a sort of pillow for
his head, so a second piece was given him. He was destined for the
Queen's Gardens at Delhi, but unfortunately on his way up he got a
chill, and contracted a disease akin to consumption. During his
illness he was most carefully tended by my brother, who had a little
bed made for him, and the doctor came daily to see the little patient,
who gratefully accepted his attentions; but, to their disappointment,
he died. The only objection to these monkeys as pets is the power
they have of howling, or rather whooping, a piercing and somewhat
hysterical "Whoop-poo! whoop-poo! whoop-poo!" for several minutes,
till fairly exhausted.
They are very fond of swinging by their long arms, and walk something
like a tipsy sailor. A friend, resident on the frontiers of Assam,
tells me that the full-grown adult pines and dies in confinement.
I think it probable that it may miss a certain amount of insect diet,
and would recommend those who cannot let their pets run loose in a
garden to give them raw eggs and a little minced meat, and a spider
or two occasionally.
In its wild state this Gibbon feeds on leaves, insects, eggs and small
birds. Dr. Anderson notices the following as favourite leaves:
_Moringa pterygosperma_ (horse-radish tree), _Spondias mangifera_
(amra), _Ficus religiosa_ (the pipal), also _Beta vulgaris_; and it
is specially partial to the _Ipomoea reptans_ (the water convolvulus)
and the bright-coloured flowers of the Indian shot (_Canna Indica_).
Of insects it prefers spiders and the Orthoptera; eggs and small birds
are also eagerly devoured.
NO. 2. HYLOBATES LAR.
_The White-handed Gibbon_.
HABITAT.--Arracan, Lower Pegu, Tenasserim, and the Malayan Peninsula.
[Figure: _HYLOBATES LAR_. _HYLOBATES HOOLUCK_.]
DESCRIPTION.--"This species is generally recognisable by its pale
yellowish, almost white hands and feet, by the grey, almost white,
supercilium, whiskers and beard, and by the deep black of the rest
of the pelage."--_Anderson_.
SIZE.--About same as _H. hooluck_.
It is, however, found in every variety of colour, from black to
brownish, and variegated with light-coloured patches, and
occasionally of a fulvous white. For a long time I supposed it to
be synonymous with _H. agilis_ of Cuvier, or _H. variegatus_ of
Temminck, but both Mr. Blyth and Dr. Anderson separate it. Blyth
mentions a significant fact in distinguishing the two Indian Gibbons,
whatever be their variations of colour, viz.: "_H. hooluck_ has
constantly a broad white frontal band either continuous or divided
in the middle, while _H. lar_ has invariably white hands and feet,
less brightly so in some, and a white ring encircling the visage,
which is seldom incomplete."[3]
[Footnote 3: There is an excellent coloured drawing by Wolf of these
two Gibbons in the 'Proceedings of the Zoological Society,' 1870,
page 86, from which I have partly adapted the accompanying sketch.]
_H. lar_ has sometimes the index and middle fingers connected by a
web, as in the case of _H. syndactylus_ (a Sumatran species very
distinct in other respects). The very closely allied _H. agilis_ has
also this peculiarity in occasional specimens. This Gibbon was
called "_agilis_" by Cuvier from its extreme rapidity in springing
from branch to branch. Duvaucel says: "The velocity of its movements
is wonderful; it escapes like a bird on the wing. Ascending rapidly
to the top of a tree, it then seizes a flexible branch, swings itself
two or three times to gain the necessary impetus, and then launches
itself forward, repeatedly clearing in succession, without effort
and without fatigue, spaces of forty feet."
Sir Stamford Raffles writes that it is believed in Sumatra that it
is so jealous that if in captivity preference be given to one over
another, the neglected one will die of grief; and he found that one
he had sickened under similar circumstances and did not recover till
his rival (a Siamang, _H. syndactylus_) was removed.
NO. 3. _HYLOBATES SYNDACTYLUS_.
_The Siamang_.
HABITAT.--Tenasserim Province, Sumatra, Malayan Peninsula.
DESCRIPTION.--A more robust and thick-set animal than the two last;
deep, woolly, black fur; no white supercilium nor white round the
face. The skull is distinguished from the skull of the other Gibbons,
according to Dr. Anderson, by the greater forward projection of the
supraorbital ridges, and by its much deeper face, and the occipital
region more abruptly truncated than in the other species. The index
and middle toes of the foot are united to the last phalange.
SIZE.--About three feet.
This Gibbon is included in the Indian group on the authority of Helfer,
who stated it to be found in the southern parts of the Tenasserim
province. Blyth mentions another distinguishing characteristic--it
is not only larger than the other Gibbons, but it possesses an
inflatable laryngeal sac. Its arms are immense--five feet across in
an adult of three feet high.
The other species of this genus inhabiting adjacent and other
countries are _H. Pileatus_ and _H. leucogenys_ in Siam; _H.
leuciscus_, Java; _H. Mulleri_ and _H. concolor_, Borneo.
_GENUS PRESBYTES--CUVIER'S GENUS SEMNOPITHECUS_.
These monkeys are characterised by their slender bodies and long
limbs and tails. Jerdon says the Germans call them Slim-apes. Other
striking peculiarities are the absence of cheek pouches, which, if
present, are but rudimentary. Then they differ from the true monkeys
(_Cercopithecus_) by the form of the last molar tooth in the lower
jaw, which has five tubercles instead of four; and, finally, they
are to be distinguished by the peculiar structure of the stomach,
which is singularly complicated, almost as much so as in the case
of Ruminants, which have four divisions. The stomach of this genus
of monkey consists of three divisions: 1st, a simple cardiac pouch
with smooth parietes; 2nd, a wide sacculated middle portion; 3rd,
a narrow elongated canal, sacculated at first, and of simple
structure towards the termination. Cuvier from this supposes it to
be more herbivorous than other genera, and considers this conclusion
justified by the blunter tubercles of the molars and greater length
of intestines and caecum, all of which point to a vegetable diet.
"The head is round, the face but little produced, having a high facial
angle."--_Jerdon_.
But the _tout ensemble_ of the _Langur_ is so peculiar that no one
who has once been told of a long, loosed-limbed, slender monkey with
a prodigious tail, black face, with overhanging brows of long stiff
black hair, projecting like a pent-house, would fail to recognise
the animal.
The _Hanuman_ monkey is reverenced by the Hindus. Hanuman was the
son of Pavana, god of the winds; his strength was enormous, but in
attempting to seize the sun he was struck by Indra with a thunderbolt
which broke his jaw (_hanu_), whereupon his father shut himself up
in a cave, and would not let a breeze cool the earth till the gods
had promised his son immortality. Hanuman aided Rama in his attack
upon Ceylon, and by his superhuman strength mountains were torn up
and cast into the sea, so as to form a bridge of rocks across the
Straits of Manar.[4]
[Footnote 4: The legend, with native picture, is given in Wilkin's
'Hindoo Mythology.']
The species of this genus of monkey abound throughout the Peninsula.
All Indian sportsmen are familiar with their habits, and have often
been assisted by them in tracking a tiger. Their loud whoops and
immense bounds from tree to tree when excited, or the flashing of
their white teeth as they gibber at their lurking foe, have often
told the shikari of the whereabouts of the object of his search. The
_Langurs_ take enormous leaps, twenty-five feet in width, with
thirty to forty in a drop, and never miss a branch. I have watched
them often in the Central Indian jungles. Emerson Tennent
graphically describes this: "When disturbed their leaps are
prodigious, but generally speaking their progress is not made so much
by _leaping_ as by swinging from branch to branch, using their
powerful arms alternately, and, when baffled by distance, flinging
themselves obliquely so as to catch the lower boughs of an opposite
tree, the momentum acquired by their descent being sufficient to
cause a rebound of the branch that carries them upwards again till
they can grasp a higher and more distant one, and thus continue their
headlong flight."
Jerdon's statement that they can run with great rapidity on all-fours
is qualified by McMaster, who easily ran down a large male on
horseback on getting him out on a plain.
A correspondent of the _Asian_, quoting from the _Indian Medical
Gazette_ for 1870, states that experiments with one of this genus
(_Presbytes entellus_) showed that strychnine has no effect on
_Langurs_--as much as five grains were given within an hour without
effect. "From a quarter to half of a grain will kill a dog in from
five to ten minutes, and even one twenty-fourth of a grain will have
a decided tetanic effect in human beings of delicate
temperament."--_Cooley's Cycl_. Two days after _ten_ grains of
strychnine were dissolved in spirits of wine, and mixed with rum and
water, cold but sweet, which the animal drank with relish, and
remained unhurt.
The same experiment was tried with one of another genus (_Inuus
rhesus_), who rejected the poisoned fruit at once, and on having
strychnine in solution poured down his throat, died.
The _Langur_ was then tried with cyanide of potassium, which he
rejected at once, but on being forced to take a few grains, was dead
in a few seconds.
Although we may not sympathize with those who practise such cruel
experiments as these above alluded to, the facts elucidated are worth
recording, and tend to prove the peculiar herbivorous nature of this
genus, which, in common with other strictly herbivorous animals,
instinctively knows what to choose and what to avoid, and can partake,
without danger, of some of the most virulent vegetable poisons. It
is possible that in the forests they eat the fruit of the _Strychnos
nux-vomica_, which is also the favourite food of the pied hornbill
(_Hydrocissa coronata_).
NO. 4. SEMNOPITHECUS _vel_ PRESBYTES ENTELLUS.
_The Bengal Langur_ (_Jerdon's No. 1_).
NATIVE NAMES.--_Langur_, _Hanuman_, Hindi; _Wanur_ and _Makur_,
Mahratti; _Musya_, Canarese.
HABITAT.--Bengal and Central India.
[Figure: _Presbytes entellus_.]
DESCRIPTION.--Pale dirty or ashy grey; darker on the shoulders and
rump; greyish-brown on the tail; paler on the head and lower parts;
hands and feet black.
SIZE.--Length of male thirty inches to root of tail; tail forty-three
inches.
The _Entellus_ monkey is in some parts of India deemed sacred, and
is permitted by the Hindus to plunder their grain-shops with
impunity; but I think that with increasing hard times the _Hanumans_
are not allowed such freedom as they used to have, and in most parts
of India I have been in they are considered an unmitigated nuisance,
and the people have implored the aid of Europeans to get rid of their
tormentors. In the forest the _Langur_ lives on grain, fruit, the
pods of leguminous trees, and young buds and leaves. Sir Emerson
Tennent notices the fondness of an allied species for the flowers
of the red hibiscus (_H. rosa sinensis_). The female has usually only
one young one, though sometimes twins. The very young babies have
not black but light-coloured faces, which darken afterwards. I have
always found them most difficult to rear, requiring almost as much
attention as a human baby. Their diet and hours of feeding must be
as systematically arranged; and if cow's milk be given it must be
freely diluted with water--two-thirds to one-third milk when very
young, and afterwards decreased to one-half. They are extremely
susceptible to cold. In confinement they are quiet and gentle whilst
young, but the old males are generally sullen and treacherous. Jerdon
says, on the authority of the _Bengal Sporting Magazine_ (August
1836), that the males live apart from the females, who have only one
or two old males with each colony, and that they have fights at
certain seasons, when the vanquished males receive charge of all the
young ones of their own sex, with whom they retire to some
neighbouring jungle. Blyth notices that in one locality he found only
males of all ages, and in another chiefly females. I have found these
monkeys mostly on the banks of streams in the forests of the Central
Provinces; in fact, the presence of them anywhere in arid jungles
is a sign that water is somewhere in the vicinity. They are timid
creatures, and I have never seen the slightest disposition about them
to show fight, whereas I was once most deliberately charged by the
old males of a party of _Rhesus_ monkeys. I was at the time on field
service during the Mutiny, and, seeing several nursing mothers in
the party, tried to run them down in the open and secure a baby; but
they were too quick for me, and, on being attacked by the old males,
I had to pistol the leader.
NO. 5. SEMNOPITHECUS _vel_ PRESBYTES SCHISTACEUS.[5]
_The Himalayan Langur_ (_Jerdon's No. 2_).
[Footnote 5: Mr. J. Cockburn, of the Imperial Museum, has, since I
wrote about the preceding species, given me some interesting
information regarding the geographical distribution of _Presbytes
entellus_ and _Hylobates hooluck_. He says: "The latter has never
been known to occur on the north bank of the Brahmaputra, though
swarming in the forests at the very water's edge on the south bank.
The _entellus_ monkey is also not found on the north bank of the
Ganges, and attempts at its introduction have repeatedly failed."
_P. schistaceus_ replaces it in the Sub-Himalayan forests.]
NATIVE NAMES.--_Langur_, Hindi; _Kamba Suhu_, Lepcha; _Kubup_, Bhotia.
HABITAT.--The whole range of the Himalayas from Nepal to beyond Simla.
DESCRIPTION (after Hodgson).--Dark slaty above; head and lower parts
pale yellowish; hands concolorous with body, or only a little darker;
tail slightly tufted; hair on the crown of the head short and
radiated; on the cheeks long, directed backwards, and covering the
ears. Hutton's description is, dark greyish, with pale hands and feet,
white head, dark face, white throat and breast, and white tip to the
tail.
SIZE.--About thirty inches; tail, thirty-six inches.
Captain Hutton, writing from Mussoorie, says: "On the Simla side I
observed them also, leaping and playing about, while the fir-trees,
among which they sported, were loaded with snow-wreaths, at an
elevation of 11,000 feet."--'Jour. As. Soc. Beng.' xiii. p. 471.
Dr. Anderson remarks on the skull of this species, that it can be
easily distinguished from _entellus_ by its larger size, the
supraorbital ridge being less forwardly projected, and not forming
so thick and wide a pent roof, but the most marked difference lies
in the much longer facial portion of _schistaceus_; the teeth are
also larger; the symphysis or junction of the lower jaw is
considerably longer and broader, and the lower jaw itself is
generally more massive and deep.
NO. 6. SEMNOPITHECUS _vel_ PRESBYTES PRIAMUS.
_The Madras Langur_.
NATIVE NAME.--_Gandangi_, Telugu.
HABITAT.--The Coromandel Coast and Ceylon.
DESCRIPTION.--Ashy grey, with a pale reddish or _chocolat-au-lait_
tint overlying the whole back and head; sides of the head, chin,
throat, and beneath pale yellowish; hands and feet whitish; face,
palms and fingers, and soles of feet and toes black; hair long and
straight, not wavy; tail of the colour of the darker portion of the
back, ending in a whitish tuft.--_Jerdon_.
SIZE.--About the same as _P. entellus_.
Blyth, who is followed by Jerdon, describes this monkey as having
a compressed high vertical crest, but Dr. Anderson found that the
specimens in the Indian Museum owed these crests to bad stuffing.
Kellaart, however, mentions it, and calls the animal "the Crested
Monkey." In Sir Emerson Tennent's figure of _P. priamus_ a slight
crest is noticeable; but Kellaart is very positive on this point,
saying: "_P. priamus_ is easily distinguished from all other known
species of monkeys in Ceylon by its high compressed vertical crest."
Jerdon says this species is not found on the Malabar Coast, but
neither he nor McMaster give much information regarding it. Emerson
Tennent writes: "At Jaffna, and in other parts of the island where
the population is comparatively numerous, these monkeys become so
familiarised with the presence of man as to exhibit the utmost daring
and indifference. A flock of them will take possession of a palmyra
palm, and so effectually can they crouch and conceal themselves among
the leaves that, on the slightest alarm, the whole party becomes
invisible in an instant. The presence of a dog, however, excites such
irrepressible curiosity that, in order to watch his movements, they
never fail to betray themselves. They may be frequently seen
congregated on the roof of a native hut; and, some years ago, the
child of a European clergyman, stationed near Jaffna, having been
left on the ground by the nurse, was so teased and bitten by them
as to cause its death."
In these particulars this species resembles _P. entellus_.
NO. 7. SEMNOPITHECUS _vel_ PRESBYTES JOHNII.
_The Malabar Langur_ (_Jerdon's No. 4_).
HABITAT.--The Malabar Coast, from N. Lat. 14 degrees or 15 degrees
to Cape Comorin.
DESCRIPTION.--Above dusky brown, slightly paling on the sides; crown,
occiput, sides of head and beard fulvous, darkest on the crown; limbs
and tail dark brown, almost black; beneath yellowish white.--_Jerdon_.
SIZE.--Not quite so large as _P. entellus_.
This monkey was named after a member of the Danish factory at
Tranquebar, M. John, who first described it. It abounds in forests,
and does not frequent villages, though it will visit gardens and
fields, where, however, it shuns observation.
The young are of a sooty brown, or nearly black, without any
indication of the light-coloured hood of the adult.
NO. 8. SEMNOPITHECUS _vel_ PRESBYTES JUBATUS.
_The Nilgheri Langur_ (_Jerdon's No. 5_).
HABITAT.--The Nilgheri Hills, the Animallies, Pulneys, the Wynaad,
and all the higher parts of the range of the Ghats as low as
Travancore.
DESCRIPTION.--Dark glossy black throughout, except head and nape,
which are reddish brown; hair very long; in old individuals a greyish
patch on the rump.--_Jerdon_.
SIZE.--Length of head and body, 26 inches; tail, 30.
This monkey does not, as a rule, descend lower than 2,500 to 3,000
feet; it is shy and wary. The fur is fine and glossy, and is much
prized (Jerdon). Its flesh is excellent food for dogs (McMaster).
Dr. Anderson makes this synonymous with the last.
NO. 9. SEMNOPITHECUS _vel_ PRESBYTES PILEATUS.
_The Capped Langur_.
HABITAT.--Assam, Chittagong, Tipperah.
DESCRIPTION.--General colour dark ashy grey, with a slight
ferruginous tint; darker near head and on shoulders; underneath and
on the inside of the limbs pale yellowish, with a darker shade of
orange or golden yellow on the breast and belly. The crown of the
head is densely covered with bristly hairs, regularly disposed and
somewhat elongated on the vertex so as to resemble a cap, whence the
name. Along the forehead is a superciliary crest of long black
bristles, directed outwardly; whiskers full and down to the chin:
behind the ears is a small tuft of white hairs; the tail is long,
one third longer than the body, darker near the end, and tufted;
fingers and toes black.
SIZE.--A little smaller than _P. entellus_.
This monkey is found in Northern Assam, Tipperah and southwards to
Tenasserim; in Blyth's 'Catalogue of the Mammals of Burmah' it is
mentioned as _P. chrysogaster_ (_Semnopithecus potenziani_ of
Bonaparte and Peters). He writes of it: "Females and young have the
lower parts white, or but faintly tinted with ferruginous, and the
rest of the coat is of a pure grey; the face black, and there is no
crest, but the hairs of the crown are so disposed as to appear like
a small flat cap laid upon the top of the head. The old males seem
always to be of a deep rust-colour on the cheeks, lower parts, and
more or less on the outer side of the limbs; while in old females
this rust colour is diluted or little more than indicated."
Dr. Anderson says that a young one he had was of a mild disposition,
which however is not the character of the adult animal, which is
uncertain, and the males when irritated are fierce, and determined
in attack. No rule, however, is without its exception, for one adult
male, possessed by Blyth, is reported as having been an exceeding
gentle animal.
NO. 10. SEMNOPITHECUS _vel_ PRESBYTES BARBEI.
_The Tipperah Langur_.
HABITAT.--Tipperah, Tenasserim.
DESCRIPTION.--No vertical crest of hair on the head, nor is the
occipital hair directed downwards, as in the next species. Shoulders
and outside of arm silvered; tail slightly paler than body, "which
is of a blackish fuliginous hue."
More information is required about this monkey, which was named by
Blyth after its donor to the Asiatic Society, the Rev. J. Barbe. Blyth
considered it as distinct from _P. Phayrei_ and _P. obscurus_, which
last is from Malacca.
Dr. Anderson noticed it in the valley of the Tapeng in the centre
of the Kakhyen Hills, in troops of thirty to fifty, in high forest
trees overhanging the mountain streams. Being seldom disturbed, they
permitted a near approach.
NO. 11. SEMNOPITHECUS _vel_ PRESBYTES PHAYREI.
_Syn_.--SEMNOPITHECUS CRISTATUS.
_The Silvery-Leaf Monkey_ (_Blyth_).
HABITAT.--Arracan, Malayan Peninsula, Sumatra, Borneo.
DESCRIPTION.-Colour dusky grey-brown above, more or less dark, with
black hands and feet; a conspicuous crest on the vertex; under parts
white, scarcely extending to the inside of the limbs; sides grey like
the back; whiskers dark, very long, concealing the ears in front;
lips and eyelids conspicuously white, with white moustachial hairs
above and similar hairs below.
SIZE.--Two feet; tail, 2 feet 6 inches.
This monkey was named by Blyth after Captain (now Sir Arthur) Phayre,
who first brought it to his notice; but he afterwards reconciled it
as being synonymous with _Semnopithecus cristatus_. The colouring,
according to different authors, seems to vary considerably, which
causes some confusion in description. It differs from an allied
species, _S. maurus_, in selecting low marshy situations near the
banks of streams. Its favourite food is the fruit of the Nibong palm
(_Oncosperma filamentosa_).
NO. 12. SEMNOPITHECUS _vel_ PRESBYTES OBSCURUS.
_The Dusky-Leaf Monkey_.
HABITAT.--Mergui and the Malayan Peninsula.
DESCRIPTION.--Adults ashy or brownish black, darker on forehead,
sides of face, shoulder, and sides of body; the hair on the nape is
lengthened and whitish. The newly-born young are of a golden
ferruginous colour, which afterward changes to dusky-ash colour, the
terminal half of the tail being last to change; the mouth and eyelids
are whitish, but the rest of the face black.
SIZE.--Body, 1 foot 9 inches; tail, 2 feet 8 inches.
This monkey is most common in the Malayan Peninsula, but has been
found to extend to Mergui, where Blyth states it was procured by the
late Major Berdmore. Dr. Anderson says it is not unfrequently offered
for sale in the Singapore market.
NO. 13. SEMNOPITHECUS _vel_ PRESBYTES CEPHALOPTERUS.
_The Ceylon Langur_.
NATIVE NAME.--_Kallu Wanderu_.
HABITAT.--The low lands of Ceylon.
DESCRIPTION.--General colour cinereous black; croup and inside of
thighs whitish; head rufescent brown; hair on crown short,
semi-erect; occipital hairs long, albescent; whiskers white, thick
and long, terminating at the chin in a short beard, and laterally
angularly pointed; upper lip thinly fringed with white hairs;
superciliary hairs black, long, stiff and standing erect; tail
albescent and terminating in a beard tuft; face, palms, soles,
fingers, toes and callosities black; irides brown.--_Kellaart_.
SIZE.--Length, 20 inches; tail 24 inches.
Sir E. Tennent says of this monkey that it is never found at a higher
elevation than 1,300 feet (when it is replaced by the next species).
"It is an active and intelligent creature, little larger than the
common bonneted macaque, and far from being so mischievous as others
of the monkeys in the island. In captivity it is remarkable for the
gravity of its demeanour and for an air of melancholy in its
expression and movements, which are completely in character with its
snowy beard and venerable aspect. In disposition it is gentle and
confiding, sensible in the highest degree of kindness, and eager for
endearing attention, uttering a low plaintive cry when its
sympathies are excited. It is particularly cleanly in its habits when
domesticated, and spends much of its time in trimming its fur and
carefully divesting its hair of particles of dust. Those which I kept
at my house near Colombo were chiefly fed upon plantains and bananas,
but for nothing did they evince a greater partiality than the
rose-coloured flowers of the red hibiscus (_H. rosa sinensis_).
These they devoured with unequivocal gusto; they likewise relished
the leaves of many other trees, and even the bark of a few of the
more succulent ones."
NO. 14. SEMNOPITHECUS _vel_ PRESBYTES URSINUS.
_The Great Wanderu_.
NATIVE NAME.--_Maha Wanderu_.
HABITAT.--The mountainous district of Ceylon.
DESCRIPTION.--Fur long, almost uniformly greyish black; whiskers
full and white; occiput and croup in old specimens paler coloured;
hands and feet blackish; tail long, getting lighter towards the lower
half. The young and adults under middle age have a rufous tint,
corresponding with that of the head of all ages.
SIZE.--Body about 22 inches; tail, 26 inches.
The name Wanderu is a corruption of the Singhalese generic word for
monkey, _Ouandura_, or _Wandura_, which bears a striking resemblance
to the Hindi _Bandra_, commonly called _Bandar_--_b_ and _v_ being
interchangeable--and is evidently derived from the Sanscrit _Banur_,
which in the south again becomes _Wanur_, and further south, in
Ceylon, _Wandura_. There has been a certain amount of confusion
between this animal and _Inuus silenus_, the lion monkey, which had
the name _Wanderu_ applied to it by Buffon, and it is so figured in
Cuvier. They are both large monkeys, with great beards of light
coloured hair, but in no other respect do they resemble. Sir Emerson
Tennent says: "It is rarely seen by Europeans, this portion of the
country having till very recently been but partially opened; and even
now it is difficult to observe its habits, as it seldom approaches
the few roads which wind through these deep solitudes. At early
morning, ere the day begins to dawn, its loud and peculiar howl, which
consists of quick repetition of the sound _how-how!_ may be
frequently heard in the mountain jungles, and forms one of the
characteristic noises of these lofty situations." This was written
in 1861; since then much of the mountainous forest land has been
cleared for coffee-planting, and the Wanderu either driven into
corners or become more familiarised with man. More therefore must
be known of its habits by this time, and information regarding it
is desirable.
NO. 15. SEMNOPITHECUS _vel_ PRESBYTES THERSITES.
NATIVE NAME.--_Ellee Wanderu_ (Kellaart).
HABITAT.--Ceylon.
[Figure: _Presbytes thersites_.]
DESCRIPTION.--Chiefly distinguished from the others by wanting the
head tuft; uniform dusky grey, darker on crown and fore-limbs; slaty
brown on wrists and hands; hair on toes whitish; whiskers and beard
largely developed and conspicuously white.
The name was given by Blyth to a single specimen forwarded by Dr.
Templeton, and it was for a time doubtful whether it was really a
native, till Dr. Kellaart procured a second. Dr. Templeton's
specimen was partial to fresh vegetables, plantains, and fruit, but
he ate freely boiled rice, beans, and gram. He was fond of being
noticed and petted, stretching out his limbs in succession to be
scratched, drawing himself up so that his ribs might be reached by
the finger, closing his eyes during the operation, and evincing his
satisfaction by grimaces irresistibly ludicrous.--_Emerson
Tennent_.
Dr. Anderson considers this monkey as identical with _Semnopithecus
priamus_, but Kellaart, as I have before stated, is very positive
on the point of difference, calling _S. priamus_ emphatically the
crested monkey, and alleging that _thersites_ has no crest, and it
is probable he had opportunities of observing the two animals in
life; he says he had a young specimen of _priamus_, which distinctly
showed the crest, and a young _thersites_ of the same age which showed
no sign of it.
In Emerson Tennent's 'Natural History of Ceylon,' (1861) page 5,
there is a plate of a group in which are included _priamus_ and
_thersites_; in the original they are wrongly numbered--the former
should be 2 and not 3, and the latter 3 and not 2. If these be correct
(and Wolf's name should be a voucher for their being so) there is
a decided difference. There is no crest in the latter, and the white
whiskers terminate abruptly on a level with the eyebrow, and the
superciliary ridge of hair is wanting.
NO. 16. SEMNOPITHECUS _vel_ PRESBYTES ALBINUS (_Kellaart_).
_The White Langur_.
HABITAT.--Ceylon, in the hills beyond Matelle.
DESCRIPTION.--Fur dense, sinuous, nearly of uniform white colour,
with only a slight dash of grey on the head; face and ears black;
palm, soles, fingers and toes flesh-coloured; limbs and body the
shape of _P. ursinus_; long white hairs prolonged over the toes and
claws, giving the appearance of a white spaniel dog to this monkey;
irides brown; whiskers white, full, and pointed laterally.--_Kellaart_.
The above description was taken by Dr. Kellaart from a living
specimen. He considered it to be a distinct species, and not an Albino,
from the black face and ears and brown eyes.
The Kandyans assured him that they were to be seen (rarely however)
in small parties of three and four over the hills beyond Matelle,
but never in company with the dark kind.
Emerson Tennent also mentions one that was brought to him taken
between Ambepasse and Kornegalle, where they were said to be
numerous; except in colour it had all the characteristics of _P.
cephalopterus_. So striking was its whiteness that it might have been
conjectured to be an Albino, but for the circumstance that its eyes
and face were black. An old writer of the seventeenth century, Knox,
says of the monkeys of Ceylon (where he was captive for some time)
that there are some "milk-white in body and face, but of this sort
there is not such plenty."--_Tennent's 'Natural History of Ceylon,'
page 8_.
NOTE.--Since the above was in type I have found in the List of Animals
in the Zoological Society's Gardens, a species entered as
_Semnopithecus leucoprymnus_, the Purple-faced Monkey from
Ceylon--see P.Z.S.
PAPIONINAE.
This sub-family comprises the true baboons of Africa and the
monkey-like baboons of India. They have the stomach simple, and
cheek-pouches are always present. According to Cuvier they possess,
like the last family, a fifth tubercle on their last molars. They
produce early, but are not completely adult for four or five years;
the period of gestation is seven months.
The third sub-family of _Simiadae_ consists of the genera
_Cercopithicus_, _Macacus_, and _Cynocephalus_, as generally
accepted by modern zoologists, but Jerdon seems to have followed
Ogilby in his classification, which merges the long-tailed Macaques
into _Cercopithecus_, and substituting _Papio_ for the others.
_GENUS INUUS_.
Cuvier applies this term to the Magots or rudimentary-tailed
Macaques. The monkeys of this genus are more compactly built than
those of the last. They are also less herbivorous in their diet,
eating frogs, lizards, crabs and insects, as well as vegetables and
fruit. Their callosities and cheek-pouches are large, and they have
a sac which communicates with the larynx under the thyroid cartilage,
which fills with air when they cry out.
Some naturalists of the day, however, place all under the generic
name Macacus.
NO. 17. INUUS _vel_ MACACUS SILENUS.
_The Lion Monkey_ (_Jerdon's No. 6_).
NATIVE NAMES.--_Nil bandar_, Bengali; _Shia bandar_, Hindi; _Nella
manthi_, Malabari.
HABITAT.--The Western Ghats of India from North Lat. 14 degrees to
the extreme south, but most abundant in Cochin and Travancore
(_Jerdon_), also Ceylon (_Cuvier_ and _Horsfield_), though
not confirmed by Emerson Tennent, who states that the _silenus_ is
not found in the island except as introduced by Arab horse-dealers
occasionally, and that it certainly is not indigenous. Blyth was also
assured by Dr. Templeton of Colombo that the only specimens there
were imported.
[Figure: _Macacus silenus_.]
DESCRIPTION.--Black, with a reddish-white hood or beard surrounding
the face and neck; tail with a tuft of whitish hair at the tip; a
little greyish on the chest.
SIZE.--About 24 inches; tail, 10 inches.
There is a plate of this monkey in Carpenter and Westwood's edition
of Cuvier, under the mistaken name of _Wanderoo_.
It is somewhat sulky and savage, and is difficult to get near in a
wild state. Jerdon states that he met with it only in dense
unfrequented forest, and sometimes at a considerable elevation. It
occurs in troops of from twelve to twenty.
NO. 18. INUUS _vel_ MACACUS RHESUS.
_The Bengal Monkey_ (_Jerdon's No. 7_).
NATIVE NAMES.--_Bandar_, Hindi; _Markot_, Bengali; _Suhu_, Lepcha,
_Piyu_, Bhotia.
HABITAT.--India generally from the North to about Lat. 18 degrees
or 19 degrees; but not in the South, where it is replaced by _Macacus
radiatus_.
[Figure: _Macacus rhesus_.]
DESCRIPTION.--Above brownish ochrey or rufous; limbs and beneath
ashy-brown; callosities and adjacent parts red; face of adult males
red.
SIZE.--Twenty-two inches; tail 11 inches.
This monkey is too well-known to need description. It is the common
acting monkey of the _bandar-wallas_, the delight of all
Anglo-Indian children, who go into raptures over the romance of
_Munsur-ram_ and _Chameli_, their quarrels, parting, and
reconciliation, so admirably acted by these miniature comedians.
NOTE.--For _Macacus rheso-similis_, Sclater, see P.Z.S. 1872, p. 495,
pl. xxv., also P.Z.S. 1875, p. 418.
NO. 19. INUUS _vel_ MACACUS PELOPS.
_Syn_.--MACACUS ASSAMENSIS.
_The Hill Monkey_ (_Jerdon's No. 8_).
HABITAT.--The Himalayan ranges and Assam.
DESCRIPTION.--Brownish grey, somewhat mixed with slaty, and rusty
brownish on the shoulders in some; beneath light ashy brown; fur
fuller and more wavy than in _rhesus_; canine teeth long; of stout
habit; callosities and face less red than in the last species
(_Jerdon_). Face flesh-coloured, but interspersed with a few black
hairs (_McClelland_).
NO. 20. INUUS _vel_ MACACUS NEMESTRINUS.
_The Pig-tailed Monkey_.
HABITAT.--Tenasserim and the Malay Archipelago.
[Figure: _Macacus nemestrinus_.]
DESCRIPTION.--General colour grizzled brown; the piles annulated
with dusky and fulvous; crown darker, and the middle of the back also
darker; the hair lengthened on the fore-quarters; the back stripe
extends along the tail, becoming almost black; the tail terminates
in a bright ferruginous tuft. This monkey is noted for its docility,
and in Bencoolen is trained to be useful as well as amusing. According
to Sir Stamford Raffles it is taught to climb the cocoa palms for
the fruit for its master, and to select only those that are ripe.
NO. 21. INUUS _vel_ MACACUS LEONINUS.
_The Long-haired Pig-tailed Monkey_.
HABITAT.--Arracan.
DESCRIPTION.--A thick-set powerful animal, with a broad, rather
flattened head above, and a moderately short, well clad, up-turned
tail, about one-third the length of the body and head; the female
smaller.--_Anderson_.
Face fleshy brown; whitish round the eyes and on the forehead;
eyebrows brownish, a narrow reddish line running out from the
external angle of the eye. The upper surface of the head is densely
covered with short dark fur, yellowish brown, broadly tipped with
black; the hair radiating from the vertex; on and around the ear the
hair is pale grey; above the external orbital angle and on the sides
of the face the hair is dense and directed backwards, pale greyish,
obscurely annulated with dusky brown, and this is prolonged
downwards to the middle of the throat. On the shoulders, back of the
neck, and upper part of the thighs, the hairs are very long, fully
three inches in the first-mentioned localities; the basal halves
greyish; and the remainder ringed with eleven bands of dark brown
and orange; the tips being dark. The middle and small of the back
is almost black, the shorter hair there being wholly dark; and this
colour is prolonged on the tail, which is tufted. The hair on the
chest is annulated, but paler than on the shoulders, and it is
especially dense on the lower part. The lower halves of the limbs
are also well clad with annulated fur, like their outsides, but their
upper halves internally and the belly are only sparsely covered with
long brownish grey plain hairs, not ringed.
The female differs from the male in the absence of the black on the
head and back, and in the hair of the under parts being brownish grey,
without annulations. The shoulders somewhat brighter than the rest
of the fur, which is yellowish olive; greyish olive on outside of
limbs; dusky on upper surface of hands and feet; and black on upper
surface of tail.
SIZE.--Length of male, head and body 23 inches; tail, without hair,
8 inches; with hair 10 inches.
The above description is taken from Dr. Anderson's account, 'Anat.
and Zool. Res.,' where at page 54 will be found a plate of the skull
showing the powerful canine teeth. Blyth mentions a fine male with
hair on the shoulders four to five inches long.
NO. 22. INUUS _vel_ MACACUS ARCTOIDES.
_The Brown Stump-tailed Monkey_.
HABITAT.--Cachar, Kakhyen Hills, east of Bhamo.
DESCRIPTION.--Upper surface of head and along the back dark brown,
almost blackish; sides and limbs dark brown; the hair, which is very
long, is ringed with light yellowish and dark brown, darker still
at the tips; face red; tail short and stumpy, little over an inch
long.
This monkey is one over which many naturalists have argued; it is
synonymous with _Macacus speciosus_, _M. maurus_, _M. melanotus_,
and was thought to be with _M. brunneus_ till Dr. Anderson placed
the latter in a separate species on account of the non-annulation
of its hair. It is essentially a denizen of the hills; it has been
obtained in Cachar and in Upper Assam. Dr. Anderson got it in the
Kakhyen Hills on the frontier of Yunnan, beyond which, he says, it
spreads to the southeast to Cochin-China.
NO. 23. INUUS _vel_ MACACUS THIBETANUS.
_The Thibetan Stump-tailed Monkey_.
DESCRIPTION.--Head large and whiskered; form robust; tail stumpy and
clad; general colour of the animal brown; whiskers greyish; face nude
and flesh-coloured, with a deep crimson flush round the eyes.
SIZE.--Two feet 9 inches; tail about 3 inches.
This large monkey, though not belonging to British India, inhabiting,
it is said, "the coldest and least accessible forests of Eastern
Thibet," is mentioned here, as the exploration of that country by
travellers from India is attracting attention.
_GENUS MACACUS_.
Tail longer than in _Inuus_, and face not so lengthened; otherwise
as in that genus.--_Jerdon_.
NO. 24. MACACUS RADIATUS.
_The Madras Monkey_ (_Jerdon's No. 9_).
NATIVE NAMES.--_Bandar_, Hindi; _Makadu_ or _Wanur_, Mahratti;
_Kerda mahr_ of the Ghats; _Munga_, Canarese; _Koti_, Telegu; _Vella
munthi_, Malabar.
HABITAT.--All over the southern parts of India, as far north as lat.
18 degrees.
[Figure: _Macacus radiatus_ and _Macacus pileatus_.]
DESCRIPTION.--Of a dusky olive brown, paler and whitish underneath,
ashy on outer sides of limbs; tail dusky brown above, whitish
beneath; hairs on the crown of the head radiated.
SIZE.--Twenty inches; tail 15 inches.
Elliott remarks of this monkey that it inhabits not only the wildest
jungles, but the most populous towns, and it is noted for its audacity
in stealing fruit and grain from shops. Jerdon says: "It is the monkey
most commonly found in menageries, and led about to show various
tricks and feats of agility. It is certainly the most inquisitive
and mischievous of its tribe, and its powers of mimicry are surpassed
by none." It may be taught to turn a wheel regularly; it smokes
tobacco without inconvenience.--_Horsfield_.
NO. 25. MACACUS PILEATUS (_vel_ SINICUS, _Lin_.).
_The Capped Monkey_, or _Bonneted Macaque_ of _Cuvier_.
NATIVE NAME.--_Rilawa_, Singhalese.
HABITAT.--Ceylon and China.
DESCRIPTION.--Yellowish brown, with a slight shade of green in old
specimens; in some the back is light chestnut brown; yellowish brown
hairs on the crown of the head, radiating from the centre to the
circumference; face flesh-coloured and beardless; ears, palms,
soles, fingers, and toes blackish; irides reddish brown; callosities
flesh-coloured; tail longish, terminating in short tuft.--_Kellaart_.
SIZE.--Head and body about 20 inches; tail 18 inches.
This is the _Macacus sinicus_ of Cuvier, and is very similar to the
last species. In Ceylon it takes the place of our rhesus monkey with
the conjurors, who, according to Sir Emerson Tennent, "teach it to
dance, and in their wanderings carry it from village to village, clad
in a grotesque dress, to exhibit its lively performances." It also,
like the last, smokes tobacco; and one that belonged to the captain
of a tug steamer, in which I once went down from Calcutta to the
Sandheads, not only smoked, but chewed tobacco. Kellaart says of it:
"This monkey is a lively, spirited animal, but easily tamed;
particularly fond of making grimaces, with which it invariably
welcomes its master and friends. It is truly astonishing to see the
large quantity of food it will cram down its cheek pouches for future
mastication."
NO. 26. MACACUS CYNOMOLGUS.
_The Crab-eating Macaque_.
NATIVE NAME.--_Kra_, Malay.
HABITAT.--Tenasserim, Nicobars, Malay Archipelago.
[Figure: _Macacus cynomolgus_.]
DESCRIPTION.--"The leading features of this animal are its massive
form, its large head closely set on the shoulders, its stout and
rather short legs, its slender loins and heavy buttocks, its tail
thick at the base" (Anderson). The general colour is similar to that
of the Bengal rhesus monkey, but the skin of the chest and belly is
bluish, the face livid, with a white area between the eyes and white
eyelids. Hands and feet blackish.
SIZE.--About that of the Bengal rhesus.
According to Captain (now Sir Arthur) Phayre "these monkeys frequent
the banks of salt-water creeks and devour shell-fish. In the
cheek-pouch of the female were found the claws and body of a crab.
There is not much on record concerning the habits of this monkey in
its wild state beyond what is stated concerning its partiality for
crabs, which can also, I believe, be said of the rhesus in the Bengal
Sunderbunds."
NO. 27. MACACUS CARBONARIUS.
_The Black-faced Crab-eating Monkey_.
HABITAT.--Burmah.
DESCRIPTION.--In all respects the same as the last, except that its
face is blackish, with conspicuously white eyelids.
FAMILY LEMURIDAE.
The Indian members of this family belong to the sub-family named by
Geoffroy _Nycticebinae_.
_GENUS NYCTICEBUS_.
NO. 28. NYCTICEBUS TARDIGRADUS.
_The Slow-paced Lemur_ (_Jerdon's No. 10_).
NATIVE NAME.--_Sharmindi billi_, Hindi.
HABITAT.--Eastern Bengal, Assam, Garo Hills, Sylhet,
Arracan.--_Horsfield_.
[Figure: _Loris gracilis_ and _Nycticebus tardigradus_.]
DESCRIPTION.--Dark ashy grey, with a darker band down middle of back,
beneath lighter grey; forehead in some dark, with a narrow white
stripe between the eyes, disappearing above them; ears and round the
eye dark; tail very short.--_Jerdon_.
SIZE.--Length about 14 to 15 inches; tail 5/8 of an inch.
Nocturnal in its habits; sleeping during the day in holes of trees,
and coming out to feed at night. Sir William Jones describes one kept
by him for some time; it appeared to have been gentle, though at times
petulant when disturbed; susceptible of cold; slept from sunrise to
sunset rolled up like a hedgehog. Its food was chiefly plantains,
and mangoes when in season. Peaches, mulberries, and guavas, it did
not so much care for, but it was most eager after grasshoppers, which
it devoured voraciously. It was very particular in the performance
of its toilet, cleaning and licking its fur. Cuvier also notices this
last peculiarity, and with regard to its diet says it eats small birds
as well as insects. These animals are occasionally to be bought in
the Calcutta market. A friend of mine had a pair which were a source
of great amusement to his guests after dinner. (See Appendix C, p.526.)
_GENUS LORIS_.
Body and limbs slender; no tail; eyes very large, almost contiguous;
nose acute.
NO. 29. LORIS GRACILIS.
_The Slender Lemur_ (_Jerdon's No. 11_).
NATIVE NAMES.--_Tevangar_, Tamil; _Dewantsipilli_, Telegu. (_Oona
happslava_, Singhalese.--_Kellaart_.)
HABITAT.--Southern India and Ceylon.
DESCRIPTION.--Above greyish rufescent (tawny snuff brown:
Kellaart); beneath a paler shade; a white triangular spot on forehead,
extending down the nose; fur short, dense, and soft; ears thin,
rounded (Jerdon). A hooped claw on inner toes; nails of other toes
flat; posterior third of palms and soles hairy (Kellaart).
SIZE.--About 8 inches; arm, 5; leg, 5-1/2.
This, like the last, is also nocturnal in its habits, and from the
extreme slowness of its movements is called in Ceylon "the Ceylon
sloth." Its diet is varied--fruit, flower, and leaf buds, insects,
eggs, and young birds. Sir Emerson Tennent says the Singhalese assert
that it has been known to strangle pea-fowl at night and feast on
the brain, but this I doubt. Smaller birds it might overcome. Jerdon
states that in confinement it will eat boiled rice, plantains, honey
or syrup and raw meat. McMaster, at page 6 of his 'Notes on Jerdon,'
gives an interesting extract from an old account of 'Dr. John Fryer's
Voyage to East India and Bombain,' in which he describes this little
animal as "Men of the Woods, or more truly Satyrs;" asleep during
the day; but at "Night they Sport and Eat." "They had Heads like an
owl. Bodied like a monkey without Tails. Only the first finger of
the Right Hand was armed with a claw like a bird, otherwise they had
hands and feet which they walk upright on, not pronely, as other
Beasts do."
These little creatures double themselves up when they sleep, bending
the head down between their legs. Although so sluggish generally,
Jerdon says they can move with considerable agility when they choose.
SUB-ORDER PLEUROPTERA.--FAMILY GALAEOPITHECIDAE.
There is a curious link between the Lemurs and the Bats in the Colugos.
(_Galaeopithecus_): their limbs are connected with a membrane as in
the Flying Squirrels, by which they can leap and float for a hundred
yards on an inclined plane. They are mild, inoffensive animals,
subsisting on fruits and leaves. Cuvier places them after the Bats,
but they seem properly to link the Lemurs and the frugivorous Bats.
As yet they have not been found in India proper, but are common in
the Malayan Peninsula, and have been found in Burmah.
NO. 30. GALAEOPITHECUS VOLANS.
_The Flying Lemur_.
NATIVE NAME.--_Myook-hloung-pyan_, Burmese.
HABITAT.--Mergui; the Malayan Peninsula.
[Figure: _Galaeopithecus volans_.]
DESCRIPTION.--Fur olive brown, mottled with irregular whitish spots
and blotches; the pile is short, but exquisitely soft; head and brain
very small; tail long and prehensile. The membrane is continued from
each side of the neck to the fore feet; thence to the hind feet, again
to the tip of the tail. This animal is also nocturnal in its habits,
and very sluggish in its motions by day, at which time it usually
hangs from a branch suspended by its fore hands, its mottled back
assimilating closely with the rugged bark of the tree; it is
exclusively herbivorous, possessing a very voluminous stomach, and
long convoluted intestines. Wallace says of it, that its brain is
very small, and it possesses such tenacity of life that it is very
difficult to kill; he adds that it is said to have only one at a birth,
and one he shot had a very small blind naked little creature clinging
closely to its breast, which was quite bare and much wrinkled.
Raffles, however, gives two as the number produced at each birth.
Dr. Cantor says that in confinement plantains constitute the
favourite food, but deprived of liberty it soon dies. In its wild
state it "lives entirely on young fruits and leaves; those of the
cocoanut and _Bombax pentandrum_ are its favourite food, and it
commits great injury to the plantations of these."--_Horsfield's_
'Cat. Mam.' Regarding its powers of flight, Wallace, in his 'Travels
in the Malay Archipelago,' says: "I saw one of these animals run up
a tree in a rather open space, and then glide obliquely through the
air to another tree on which it alighted near its base, and
immediately began to ascend. I paced the distance from one tree to
the other, and found it to be seventy yards, and the amount of descent
not more than thirty-five or forty feet, or less than one in five.
This, I think, proves that the animal must have some power of guiding
itself through the air, otherwise in so long a distance it would have
little chance of alighting exactly upon the trunk."
There is a carefully prepared skeleton of this animal in the Indian
Museum in Calcutta.
ORDER CARNARIA.
CHEIROPTERA.
It may seem strange to many that such an insignificant, weird little
creature as a bat should rank so high in the animal kingdom as to
be but a few removes from man. It has, however, some striking
anatomical affinities with the last Order, _Quadrumana_, sufficient
to justify its being placed in the next link of the great chain of
creation.
[Figure: Sternum of _Pteropus_.]
"Bats have the arms, fore-arms and fingers excessively elongated,
so as to form with the membrane that occupies their intervals, real
wings, the surface of which is equally or more extended than in those
of birds. Hence they fly high and with great rapidity."--_Cuvier_.
They suckle their young at the breast, but some of them have pubic
warts resembling mammae. The muscles of the chest are developed in
proportion, and the sternum has a medial ridge something like that
of a bird. They are all nocturnal, with small eyes (except in the
case of the frugivorous bats), large ears, and in some cases
membranous appendages to the nostrils, which may possibly be for the
purpose of guiding themselves in the dark, for it is proved by
experiment that bats are not dependent on eyesight for guidance, and
one naturalist has remarked that, in a certain species of bat which
has no facial membrane, this delicacy of perception was absent. I
have noticed this in one species, _Cynopterus marginatus_, one of
which flew into my room not long ago, and which repeatedly dashed
itself against a glass door in its efforts to escape. I had all the
other doors closed.
Bats are mostly insectivorous; a few are fruit-eaters, such as our
common flying-fox. They produce from one to two at a birth, which
are carried about by the mother and suckled at the breast, this
peculiarity being one of the anatomical details alluded to as
claiming for the bats so high a place.
Bats are divided into four sub-families--Pteropodidae, Vampyridae,
Noctilionidae, and Vespertilionidae.
MEGACHIROPTERA.
SUB-FAMILY PTEROPODIDAE.
_GENUS PTEROPUS_.
These are frugivorous bats of large size, differing, as remarked by
Jerdon, so much in their dentition from the insectivorous species
that they seem to lead through the flying Lemurs (_Colugos_) directly
to the _Quadrumana_. The dentition is more adapted to their diet;
they have cutting incisors to each jaw, and grinders with flat crowns,
and their intestines are longer than those of the insectivorous bats.
They produce but one at birth, and the young ones leave their parents
as soon as they can provide for themselves. The tongue is covered
with rough papillae. They have no tail. These bats and some of the
following genus, which are also frugivorous, are distinguished from
the rest of the bats by a claw on the first or index finger, which
is short.
Dental formula: Inc., 4/4; can., 1--1/1--1; premolars, 2--2/3--3;
molars, 3--3/3--3.
NO. 31. PTEROPUS EDWARDSII _vel_ MEDIUS.
_The Common Flying Fox_ (_Jerdon's No. 12_).
NATIVE NAMES.--_Badul_, Bengali and Mahratti; _Wurbagul_, Hindi;
_Toggul bawali_, Canarese; _Sikurayi_, Telegu.
HABITAT.--All through India, Ceylon, and Burmah.
[Figure: The Flying Fox at Home.]
DESCRIPTION.--Head and nape rufous black; neck and shoulders golden
yellow (the hair longer); back dark brown; chin dark; rest of body
beneath fulvous or rusty brown; interfemoral membrane brownish
black.--_Jerdon_.
SIZE.--Length, 12 to 14 inches; extent of wings, 46 to 52 inches.
These bats roost on trees in vast numbers. I have generally found
them to prefer tamarinds of large size. Some idea of the extent of
these colonies may be gathered from observations by McMaster, who
attempted to calculate the number in a colony. He says: "In five
minutes a friend and I counted upwards of six hundred as they passed
over head, _en route_ to their feeding grounds; supposing their
nightly exodus to continue for twenty minutes, this would give
upwards of two thousand in one roosting place, exclusive of those
who took a different direction."
[Figure: Head of _Pteropus medius_.]
Tickell's account of these colonies is most graphic, though Emerson
Tennent has also given a most interesting and correct account of
their habits. The former writes:--"From the arrival of the first
comer until the sun is high above the horizon, a scene of incessant
wrangling and contention is enacted among them, as each endeavours
to secure a higher and better place, or to eject a neighbour from
too close vicinage. In these struggles the bats hook themselves along
the branches, scrambling about hand over hand with some speed, biting
each other severely, striking out with the long claw of the thumb,
shrieking and cackling without intermission. Each new arrival is
compelled to fly several times round the tree, being threatened from
all points, and, when he eventually hooks on, he has to go through
a series of combats, and be probably ejected two or three times before
he makes good his tenure." For faithful portraying, no one could
improve on this description. These bats are exceeding strong on the
wing. I was aware that they went long distances in search of food,
but I was not aware of the power they had for sustained flight till
the year 1869, when, on my way to England on furlough, I discovered
a large flying fox winging his way towards our vessel, which was at
that time more than two hundred miles from land. Exhausted, it clung
on to the fore-yard arm; and a present of a rupee induced a Lascar
to go aloft and seize it, which he did after several attempts. The
voracity with which it attacked some plantains showed that it had
been for some time deprived of food, probably having been blown off
shore by high winds. Hanging head-downwards from its cage, it stuffed
the fruit into its cheeks, monkey-fashion, and then seemed to chew
it at leisure. When I left the steamer at Suez it remained in the
captain's possession, and seemed to be tame and reconciled to its
imprisonment, tempered by a surfeit of plantains. In flying over
water they frequently dip down to touch the surface. Jerdon was in
doubt whether they did this to drink or not, but McMaster feels sure
that they do this in order to drink, and that the habit is not peculiar
to the _Pteropodidae_, as he has noticed other bats doing the same.
Colonel Sykes states that he "can personally testify that their flesh
is delicate and without disagreeable flavour;" and another colonel
of my acquaintance once regaled his friends on some flying fox
cutlets, which were pronounced "not bad." Dr. Day accuses these bats
of intemperate habits; drinking the toddy from the earthen pots on
the cocoanut trees, and flying home intoxicated. The wild almond is
a favourite fruit.
Mr. Rainey, who has been a careful observer of animals for years,
states that in Bengal these bats prefer clumps of bamboos for a
resting place, and feed much on the fruit of the betel-nut palm when
ripe. Another naturalist, Mr. G. Vidal, writes that in Southern India
the _P. medius_ feeds chiefly on the green drupe or nut of the
Alexandrian laurel (_Calophyllum inophyllum_), the kernels of which
contain a strong-smelling green oil on which the bats fatten
amazingly; and then they in turn yield, when boiled down, an oil which
is recommended as an excellent stimulative application for the hair.
I noticed in Seonee a curious superstition to the effect that a bone
of this bat tied on to the ankle by a cord of black cowhair is a
sovereign remedy, according to the natives, for rheumatism in the
leg. Tickell states that these bats produce one at a time in March
or April, and they continue a fixture on the mother till the end of
May or beginning of June.
NO. 32. PTEROPUS LESCHENAULTII (CYNONYCTERIS AMPLEXICAUDATA).
_The Fulvous Fox-Bat_ (_Jerdon's No. 13_).
Dobson places this bat in the sub-group _Cynonycteris_. It seems to
differ from _Pteropus_ only, as far as I can see, in having a small
distinct tail, though the above-quoted author considers it closely
allied to the next genus.
HABITAT.--The Carnatic, Madras and Trichinopoly; stated also
procurable at Calcutta and Pondicherry (_Jerdon_); Ceylon
(_Kellaart_).
DESCRIPTION.--Fur short and downy; fulvous ashy, or dull light ashy
brown colour, denser and paler beneath; the hairs whitish at the
base; membranes dark brown.
SIZE.--Length, 5 to 5-1/2 inches; extent of wing, 18 to 20 inches.
More information is required regarding the habits of this bat.
_GENUS CYNOPTERUS_.
This genus has four molars less than the last, a shorter muzzle; the
cheek-bones or zygomatic arch more projecting; tongue rather longer
and more tapering, and slightly extensile.
Dental formula: Inc., 4/4 or 4/2; can., 1--1/1--1; premolars,
2--2/3--3; molars, 2--2/2--2.
NO. 33. CYNOPTERUS MARGINATUS.
_The Small Fox-Bat_ (_Jerdon's No. 14_).
NATIVE NAME.--_Chamgadili_, Hindi; _Coteekan voulha_, Singhalese.
HABITAT.--India generally, and Ceylon.
[Figure: _Cynopterus marginatus_.]
DESCRIPTION.--General colour fulvous olivaceous, paler beneath and
with an ashy tinge; ears with a narrow margin of white (_Jerdon_.)
A reddish smear on neck and shoulders of most specimens; membranes
dusky brown. Females paler (_Kellaart_).
SIZE.--Length, 4-1/2 to 5-1/2 inches; extent of wing, 17 to 20
inches.
This bat is found all over India; it is frugivorous exclusively,
though some of this sub-order are insectivorous. Blyth says he kept
some for several weeks; they would take no notice of the buzz of an
insect held to them, but are ravenous eaters of fruit, each devouring
its own weight at a meal, voiding its food but little changed whilst
slowly munching away; of guava it swallows the juice only. Blyth's
prisoners were females, and after a time they attracted a male which
hovered about them for some days, roosting near them in a dark
staircase; he was also caught, with one of the females who had escaped
and joined him. Dr. Dobson writes that in three hours one of these
bats devoured twice its own weight. This species usually roosts in
trees.
NO. 34. MACROGLOSSUS (PTEROPUS) MINIMUS.
_The Tenasserim Fox-Bat_.
NATIVE NAME.--_Lowo-assu_ (dog-bat), Javanese.
HABITAT.--The Himalayas, Burmah, Tenasserim, and the Indian
Archipelago.
DESCRIPTION.--Ears half length of head, narrow and rounded at tip;
face abruptly narrowed in front of eyes; muzzle long, narrow,
cylindrical; lower jaw slightly projecting; eyes large; tongue very
long, last third attenuated, covered with brush-like papillae;
interfemoral membrane very narrow, especially at root of tail; fur
reddish brown, and very long.
SIZE.--Head and body, 2-3/10 inches.
Like other _Pteropi_ this bat feeds on fruit of every description,
but particularly attacks the various cultivated varieties of
_Eugenia_ (Jamoon).
_GENUS EONYCTERIS_.
Muzzle long and cylindrical; nostrils scarcely projecting; upper lip
with a shallow vertical groove in front; _index finger without a
claw_; thumb short; part of the terminal phalanx included in the wing
membrane; metacarpal bone of the second finger equal to the index
finger in length; tail short and distinct; the base contained in the
narrow interfemoral membrane; tongue long, as in _Macroglossus_.
Dentition: Inc., 4/4; can., 1--1/1--1; premolars, 2--2/2--2; molars,
3--3/3--3.
NO. 35. EONYCTERIS SPELAEA.
HABITAT.--Burmah.
DESCRIPTION.--Head long; muzzle narrow, cylindrical, abruptly
narrowed in front of the eyes; nostrils with an intervening
emargination, which also passes down to the lips; tongue very long
and pointed; ears conical, with rounded tips; body clothed with very
short and thinly-spread fur of a uniform dark brown colour; the fur
on the head extends only as far as the inner corners of the eye,
leaving the rest of the face naked; tail half an inch. On each side,
and a little behind the anal opening, are two small, kidney-shaped
subcutaneous glandular bodies.
SIZE.--Head and body, 4 inches; tail, 1/2 inch.
Found in Farm Caves, Moulmein. The absence of the claw on the index
finger is specially to be noted.
MICROCHIROPTERA.
SUB-FAMILY VAMPYRIDAE.
_GENUS MEGADERMA_.
Bats with simple or complicated nose-leaves or membranes. The conch
of the ear very large, and joined together on the top of the head;
tragus large and bifurcated; nasal membranes complicated; no tail;
wings remarkably ample. They have four incisors below but none above,
the intermaxillaries remaining cartilaginous.
Dental formula: Inc., 0/4; can., 1--1/1--1; pre-m., 2--2/2--2;
molars, 3--3/3--3.
NO. 36. MEGADERMA LYRA.
_The Large-eared Vampire Bat_ (_Jerdon's No. 15_).
HABITAT.--India and Ceylon.
[Figure: _Megaderma lyra_.]
DESCRIPTION.--Above ashy blue, slaty or pale mouse colour; albescent
or yellowish ashy beneath; nasal appendage large, oblong, free at
the tip, reaching to the base of the ears with a fold down the centre;
tragus (_oreillon_) cordate, two-lobed, anterior long, narrow and
pointed, posterior lobe half the height and rounded; muzzle
truncated; under-lip cleft; wing membranes dark brown.
SIZE.--Head and body, 3 or 3-1/2 inches; wing extent, 14 to 19 inches.
Very abundant in old buildings. They are beyond doubt blood-suckers.
Blyth noticed one fly into his room one evening with a small
_vespertilio_, which it dropped on being chased. The smaller bat was
weak from loss of blood, and next morning (the Megaderm having been
caught), on both bats being put into the same cage, the little one
was again attacked and devoured; it was seized both times behind the
ear. McMaster writes that in Rangoon he had a tame canary killed by
a bat, and the bird's mate soon afterwards was destroyed in the same
way. The case was clearly proved.
Mr. Frith informed Mr. Blyth that these bats were in the habit of
resorting to the verandah of his house at Mymensing, and that every
morning the ground under them was strewed with the hind quarters of
frogs, and the wings of large grasshoppers and crickets. On one
occasion the remains of a small fish were observed; but frogs
appeared to be their chief diet--never toads; and of a quiet evening
these animals could be distinctly heard crunching the heads and
smaller bones of their victims.
NO. 37. MEGADERMA SPECTRUM.
_The Cashmere Vampire_ (_Jerdon's No. 16_).
HABITAT.--Cashmere.
DESCRIPTION.--Above slaty cinereous, whitish beneath; the vertical
nose-leaf of moderate size, oval; inner lobe of tragus ovate
(_Jerdon_).
SIZE.--Two and three-quarter inches.
Dobson makes this bat synonymous with the last.
NO. 38. MEGADERMA SPASMA.
HABITAT.--Tenasserim, Ceylon.
[Figure: _Megaderma spasma_.]
DESCRIPTION.--Muzzle, ear-conch, and tragus similar to those of _M.
lyra_; the posterior portion of the tragus, however, is longer and
more attenuated upwards, and more acutely pointed; the nose-leaf is
shorter, with convex sides; but the anterior concave disc is
considerably larger, and the base of the thickened process is
cordate; thumbs and wings as in _M. lyra_; interfemoral membrane
deeper; the calcaneum stronger; colour the same.
SIZE.--Head and body, about 3 inches. This bat is alluded to by Jerdon
as _M. Horsfieldii_.
RHINOLOPHINAE.
Nasal leaf complicated, and crests resting on the forehead,
presenting more or less the figure of a horse-shoe; tail long and
placed in the interfemoral membrane; ears large, but separate, and
not joined at the base, as in the last genus; without a tragus, but
often with a lobe at the base of the outer margin; wings large and
long; forefinger of a single joint.
_GENUS RHINOLOPHUS_.
Nose-leaf cordate, or semi-orbicular, bi-lobed in front of the
nostrils; a longitudinal crest along the nose and an erect frontal
leaf posteriorly more or less lanceolate.--_Jerdon_.
Dental formula: Inc., 2/4; can., 1--1/1--1; premolars, 2--2/2--2;
molars, 3--3/3--3.
NO. 39. RHINOLOPHUS PERNIGER _vel_ LUCTUS.
_The Large Leaf-Bat_ (_Jerdon's No. 17_).
HABITAT.--Nepaul, Darjeeling, Khasya Hills.
[Figure: _Rhinolophus luctus_.]
DESCRIPTION.--Ears very large, much longer than the head; broad,
acutely pointed; nasal apparatus very complicated; the lower leaf
very large, concealing the upper lip like a door knocker; the upper
leaf like a graduated spire; ears transversely striate; a rather
large semi-circular lobe at base of ear; fur long, dense, soft, and
lax, slightly curled or woolly black with a silvery grizzle, or
greyish-black or rich chestnut-brown.--_Jerdon_.
SIZE.--Length, 3-3/4; tail, 1-3/4; wing expanse, 17 inches.
NO. 40. RHINOLOPHUS MITRATUS.
_The Mitred Leaf-Bat_ (_Jerdon's No. 18_).
HABITAT.--Chybassa, Central India, Mussoorie(?)
DESCRIPTION.--Ears large; anti-helix moderately developed; upper
leaf triangular acute; tail extending beyond the tibia; color above
light brown; paler beneath.--_Jerdon_.
SIZE.--Head and body, 2-1/2 inches; tail, 1-1/2 inch; wing expanse,
12 to 14 inches.
NO. 41. RHINOLOPHUS TRAGATUS _vel_ FERRUM-EQUINUM.
_The Dark-brown Leaf-Bat_ (_Jerdon's No. 19_).
HABITAT.--Nepaul, Mussoorie.
[Figure: _Rhinolophus ferrum-equinum_.]
DESCRIPTION.--Upper process like a barbed spear-head; central one
small and narrow, a little expanded at the summit; anti-tragus less
developed than usual; lips simple; colour a uniform deep brown, with
tips of the hair paler, and somewhat rusty.--_Jerdon_.
SIZE.--Head and body, 2-5/8 inches; tail, 1-7/8 inch; wing, 15-1/2
inches.
The tail of this species seems unusually long. It is found in cavities
of rock, and issues forth soon after dusk--sooner, according to
Hodgson, than the species of _vespertilio_.
NO. 42. RHINOLOPHUS PEARSONII.
_Pearson's Leaf-Bat_ (_Jerdon's No. 20_).
HABITAT.--Lower Himalayan range, Darjeeling, Mussoorie, &c.
DESCRIPTION.--Colour above dark brown, with a slight shade of
chestnut; underneath brown, with a sooty cast; fur very long, dense
and soft; ears distinct, with an additional rounded lobe below,
measuring anteriorly nearly three-fourths of an inch; point of the
facial crest moderately developed; length from the tip of the nose
to root of tail three inches; tail half an inch; length of fore-arm
two inches; expanse of the wings eleven inches. Although allied to
Mr. Hodgson's _R. tragatus_, possesses distinct characters.--_Horsfield_.
SIZE.--As given by Horsfield above.
This bat was first sent from Darjeeling by Mr. J. T. Pearson, and
was named after him. It has also, according to Jerdon, been found
by Captain Hutton at Mussoorie; it is therefore reasonable to suppose
that it inhabits the whole range of the lower Himalayas. One striking
difference between it and the last species is the very short tail,
and it is easily to be recognised by the great length of the fur.
NO. 43. RHINOLOPHUS AFFINIS.
_The Allied Leaf-Bat_ (_Jerdon's No. 21_).
HABITAT.--Ceylon, Burmah, and perhaps the Malabar coast.
DESCRIPTION.--Above bright red ferruginous brown; tips of hair
darker, paler beneath; ears pointed and external; edge deeply
emarginated; internal edge and basal third of external surface
hairy; anti-helix well developed; nasal process apparently very
similar to that of _R. mitratus_ (_Kellaart_). Upper leaf triangular,
emarginate at the tip, reaching above the base of the ears
(_Jerdon_).
SIZE.--Head and body about 2-3/10 inches; tail, 1 inch; wing extent,
12 inches.
This bat seems to vary much in colour. Kellaart says some are of a
brighter red than others, and a few had a yellower tinge. Another
marked variety was of a uniform pale yellow brown.
NO. 44. RHINOLOPHUS ROUXI.
_The Rufous Leaf-Bat_ (_Jerdon's No. 22_).
HABITAT.--India generally.
DESCRIPTION.--Ears large, pointed, externally notched; tragus
broad; tips of upper nose-leaf triangular, with its sides well
emarginate, reaching above the base of the ears; no upper incisors
[as in _Megaderma lyra_]; lower molars only five; canines very large;
fur short, crisp; colour above smoky brown in some, reddish brown
in others, and golden rufous in some; beneath paler.--_Jerdon_.
SIZE.--Length, 2-3/8 inches; tail, 1-1/8; wing expanse, 13 inches.
Hodgson considers this bat as allied to the two following species.
It is the _R. lepidus_ of Blyth.
NO. 45. RHINOLOPHUS MACROTIS.
_The Large-eared Leaf-Bat_ (_Jerdon's No. 23_).
HABITAT.--Lower Himalayas.
DESCRIPTION.--Ears very large, broad, oval, with pointed recurved
tip, and a large obtuse tragus; anterior central crest of nose-leaf
produced in front over the top of the flat transverse front edge;
hinder leaf lanceolate triangular; above sooty brown or light earthy
olive-brown, paler below, some with a rufous or Isabelline tint; no
pubic teats.--_Jerdon_.
SIZE.--Head and body, 1-3/4 inch; tail, 3/4; wing expanse, 9-3/4.
NO. 46. RHINOLOPHUS SUB-BADIUS.
_The Bay Leaf-Bat_ (_Jerdon's No. 24_).
HABITAT.--Nepaul.
DESCRIPTION.--Ears not larger than the head, obtusely pointed and
ovoid; nasal appendage quadrate, with a transverse bar nearly
surmounting it; upper leaf triangular, with slightly emarginate
sides; clear brown above, paler below and on head and face.
SIZE.--Head and body, 1-1/2 inch; tail, 1-1/4; wing expanse,
7-1/2.--_Jerdon_.
NO. 47. RHINOLOPHUS RAMMANIKA (_Kellaart_).
HABITAT.--Ceylon.
DESCRIPTION.--Above rufescent, beneath ashy brown; face slightly
fulvous; round the base of the ears and on the sides of the posterior
half of the body bright fulvous; tail enclosed in the interfemoral
membrane.
SIZE.--Head and body, 2-1/2 inches; tail, 1; wing expanse, 10 inches.
This is a doubtful species. Dr. Kellaart got one from Amanapoora hill
at Kaduganava. He says: "As the specimen reached us in a dried
condition, we are unable to say anything more about its nasal
processes than that in place of a transverse process above the
nostrils it had a small triangular peak over the usual horse-shoe
process surrounding the nasal opening. This triangular crest was
hairy; superiorly there was no appearance of a sac above it to the
best of our recollection."
NO. 48. RHINOLOPHUS ANDAMANENSIS.
HABITAT.--Southern Andaman Island.
DESCRIPTION (_apud_ Dobson).--Like _R. affinis_ generally, but the
anterior horizontal horse-shoe shaped membrane is very broad,
completely concealing the muzzle when viewed from above, as in _R.
Pearsonii_; the posterior terminal leaf is also much longer,
produced backwards between the ears, and not concave on the sides
as in _R. affinis_. The thumb is also much longer. Fur bright reddish
brown above and beneath.
NO. 49. RHINOLOPHUS MINOR.
HABITAT.--Burmah, Yunan.
DESCRIPTION.--Light brown above, greyish brown beneath; ears
slightly shorter than the head, sub-acutely pointed; anti-tragus
large, separated by a deep angular notch; lower lip with three
vertical grooves.
SIZE.--Length of head and body from 1 to 1-3/4 inch.
NO. 50. RHINOLOPHUS COELOPHYLLUS.
HABITAT.--Burmah.
DESCRIPTION.--Fur brown, with whitish roots, light brownish white
below; ears large, with pointed tips projecting outwards;
"anti-tragus large, separated by an angular emargination from the
outer margin of the ear; horse-shoe large; horizontal margins of
central nose-leaf triangular, small; erect portion rather short,
with parallel sides and rounded summit, meeting the connected
vertical process at the same level" (_Dobson_). For a more detailed
description see Dobson's Monograph, page 53. Three vertical grooves
on lower lip.
SIZE.--Length of head and body about 2 inches.
NO. 51. RHINOLOPHUS GAROENSIS.
HABITAT.--Garo Hills, Assam; Himalayas (Mussoorie).
DESCRIPTION (_apud_ Dobson).--Ears acutely pointed, with a large
anti-tragus, as in _R. affinis_; anterior vertical process of the
sella maintaining the same breadth upwards and rounded off above,
considerably exceeded in height by the upper edge of the connecting
process, which develops a long acutely pointed projection; terminal
portion of the posterior leaf broad with straight sides, forming an
almost equilateral triangle.
Wing membrane from the ankles, inter femoral membrane square behind;
extreme tip of the tail free.
SIZE.--Length of head and body about 1.5 inch.
This bat is figured (head only) in Dobson's Monograph, page 48.
NO. 52. RHINOLOPHUS PETERSII.
HABITAT.--India. Precise locality unknown.
DESCRIPTION.--Ears acutely pointed, with an emargination
immediately beneath the tip; anti-tragus large, separated from the
outer margin by a deep angular incision; nose-leaf horizontal,
horse-shoe-shaped, not so broad as the muzzle; vertical part of the
sella almost same breadth upwards, and rounded off above, exceeded
considerably in height by the upper margin of the posterior
connecting process; lower lip with three vertical grooves; fur dark
brown above, greyish brown beneath.
SIZE.--Length of head and body, 2.5 inches; tail, 1 inch.
There are two good woodcuts of the head of this bat in Dobson's
Monograph.
NO. 53. RHINOLOPHUS TRIFOLIATUS.
HABITAT.--East coast of India.
DESCRIPTION.--Very much like _R. perniger_ (_luctus_), but is
distinguished by its smaller size and by the more pointed vertical
process of the central nose-leaf, which in the other is truncated.
SIZE.--Length of head and body, 2 inches; tail about 1 inch.
_GENUS HIPPOSIDEROS_ (_GRAY_) VEL _PHYLLORHINA_ (_BONAPARTE_).
Nasal-leaf broad, depressed, transverse; ears with transverse
wrinkles; a circular sac behind the nasal crest, which can be turned
inside out; when alarmed the animal blows it out, and then withdraws
it at each breath; it contains a waxy matter of green or yellow colour.
Blyth thinks that this sac is affected by the amorous season, as in
the case of the infra-orbital cavities of various ruminants and
analogous glandular follicles in other animals.
This genus is also distinguishable from the last by the form of the
ear conch, the small size of the anti-tragus, and, as Dr. Dobson
particularly points out, by the presence of _two_ joints only in all
the toes, as also by the number and character of the teeth, which
are as follows:--
Inc., 2/4; can., 1--1/1--1; premolars, 2--2/2--2; molars, 3--3/3--3.
NO. 54. HIPPOSIDEROS ARMIGER.
_The Large Horse-shoe Bat_ (_Jerdon's No. 25_).
HABITAT.--Lower Himalaya ranges; Ceylon.
DESCRIPTION.--Nasal-leaf large and square; lips with a triple fold
of skin on each side; tragus vaguely developed and wavily emarginate;
of a uniform light-brown colour, with maroon tips to the hairs of
the upper parts; membranes black.
SIZE.--Head and body, 4-1/2 inches; tail, 2-1/2; wing expanse, 22.
Jerdon makes this out to be the same as Kellaart's _H. lankadiva_
and the Malayan _H. nobilis_, but those are synonymous with
_Phyllorhina diadema_. Kellaart supposed it to be identical with _H.
insignis_, which will be found further on as _Phyllorhina larvata_,
all those bats closely resembling each other in a general way. I think
this No. 25 of Jerdon is the same as Peter's _Phyllorhina armigera_.
Hutton found it at Darjeeling, and writes of it as follows:--
"When captured alive the large ears are kept in a constant state of
rapid tremulous motion, and the animal emits a low purring sound,
which becomes a sharp scream when alarmed or irritated. When
suspended at rest the tail and inter-femoral membrane are turned up,
not in front, like the _Rhinolophi_, but behind, over the lower part
of the back; neither does it appear to envelope itself in its wings
so completely as does _R. luctus._" He then goes on to say he has
noticed the tremor of the ears and facial crests in all the
_Rhinolophi_ when disturbed, and concludes with a graphic
description of this species, sallying forth in the evening to prey
upon the noisy _Cicadas_; leisurely wheeling with noiseless,
cautious flight round some wide-spreading oak, "scanning each branch
as he slowly passes by--now rising to a higher circle, and then
perchance descending to the lower branches, until at length,
detecting the unfortunate minstrel, it darts suddenly into the tree,
and snatching the still screaming insect from its perch, bears it
away."
Jerdon procured specimens at Darjeeling, and Kellaart says it is
found in great abundance at Kandy and its neighbourhood; Kurnegalle
Tunnel swarms with them.
NO. 55. HIPPOSIDEROS SPEORIS.
_The Indian Horse-shoe Bat_ (_Jerdon's No. 26_).
HABITAT.--India generally and Ceylon.
DESCRIPTION.--Mouse brown or fulvous brown. Occasionally golden
fulvous and sometimes dusky black above, paler beneath; membranes
dusky brown; interfemoral membrane narrow, enclosing the tail except
the last half joint (about 2-10ths of an inch), which is free.
Ear large, erect and pointed, rounded at the base and emarginated
on the outer edge; nasal process complicated. "Males have a frontal
sac; females none" (_Kellaart_). Pubis naked, with two inguinal
warts.
SIZE.--Head and body, 2 inches; tail, 1-2/10; wing expanse, 12.
Inhabits old buildings, wells, &c.
NO. 56. HIPPOSIDEROS MURINUS.
_The Little Horse-shoe Bat_ (_Jerdon's No. 27_).
HABITAT.--Southern India, Ceylon, and Burmah.
DESCRIPTION.--Muzzle short; body short and thick; a transverse
frontal leaf with a sac behind it; no folds of skin on each side of
the horse-shoe as in the last species; ears large, naked and rounded;
colour dusky brown or mouse, sometimes light fawn; wing membrane
blackish; interfemoral membrane large, and including the tail all
but the tip.
SIZE.--Head and body, 1-4/5 inch; tail, 1-1/5 inch; wing expanse,
10.
Jerdon says the mouse-coloured variety is common in the Carnatic,
but he has only seen the light fulvous race on the Nilgheries; but
Mr. Elliot procured both in the southern Mahratta country. A dark
variety of this bat was called _Rhinolophus ater_ by Templeton, and
_H. atratus_ by Kellaart; in other respects it is identical, only
a little smaller.
NO. 57. HIPPOSIDEROS CINERACEUS.
_The Ashy Horse-shoe Bat_ (_Jerdon's No. 28_).
HABITAT.--Punjab Salt range.
DESCRIPTION.--Similar to the last, but larger, and I should think
the argument against _H. atratus_ would apply to this as a distinct
species.
NO. 58. HIPPOSIDEROS LARVATUS.
_Syn_.--PHYLLORHINA LARVATA.
HABITAT.--Arracan.
DESCRIPTION.--The fur of the upper part bright fulvous; more or less
tinged with maroon on the back, lighter underneath; membranes dusky,
but tinged with the prevailing colour of the fur; ears angulated;
a minute false molar in front of the carnassial in the upper jaw.
SIZE.--Head and body, 2-3/4 inches; tail, 1-1/4; wing extent, 12.
Kellaart writes of this bat under his _H. aureus_. He describes it
as head, neck, and body of a bright golden yellow, with a slight
maroon shade on the tips of the hairs on the back. Females paler
coloured. Frontal sac only in males; the waxy matter of a yellow
colour, and quite transparent.
NO. 59. HIPPOSIDEROS VULGARIS.
_Syn_.--PHYLLORHINA LARVATA.
_The Common Malayan Horse-shoe Bat_.
HABITAT.--Arracan and Malayana.
DESCRIPTION.--"It differs from the last in being rather smaller, and
of a brown colour above, much paler at the base of the hairs and at
their extreme tips, and lighter coloured below; the ears more
apiculated, or rather they appear so from being strongly emarginated
externally towards the tip."--_Blyth_.
SIZE.--2-3/10 inches; tail 1-2/10; wing expanse about 12.
NO. 60. HIPPOSIDEROS BLYTHII.
HABITAT.--Ceylon, Fort Frederic.
DESCRIPTION.--Above surface colour a rich dark tawny brown; base of
hairs much lighter coloured, of a brighter yellow tinge; beneath
paler; face partially blackish; ears black; tip of tail excerted;
no frontal sac; membranes blackish; nasal processes as in _H.
speoris_.
SIZE.--Head and body, 2-2/10 inches; tail, 1; wing expanse, 12.
Dr. Kellaart considered this a new and undescribed species,
distinguished from _H. speoris_ and _H. vulgaris_ (_vel
Templetonii_--Kellaart) by the greater length of the fore-arm, which
is two inches. This remark however does not apply to _vulgaris_, of
which Kellaart himself gives two inches as the length of the radius,
and Blyth gives two and a quarter. The absence of the frontal sac
would have been a greater proof, but both specimens on which Kellaart
made his observations were females; and as colouring is so varied
in the bat tribe as to preclude the division of species on this ground,
I think we may put this down as a doubtful species on which more
information is desirable.
NO. 61. PHYLLORHINA DIADEMA.
HABITAT.--India generally; Ceylon and Burmah.
DESCRIPTION.--The fur with three shades--buff, then reddish brown
with ashy tips, underneath greyish or pale brown. "The hinder erect
nose-leaf," according to Dobson's description, "equals the
horse-shoe and slightly exceeds the sella in width, its free margin
forming a segment of the circumference of a circle, with a small blunt
projection in the centre and three vertical ridges on its concave
front surface; sella large, with a prominent ridge in the centre,
forming a small projection above and one smaller on each side; sides
of the muzzle with prominent vertical leaves, three on each side;
no frontal pore."
There is a good figure of the head of this bat in Cuvier's 'Animal
Kingdom,' Carpenter's and Westwood's edition, under the name of
_Rhinolophus nobilis_. It is the same also as Kellaart's
_Hipposideros lankadiva_. Captain Hutton, who was a keen observer
of the habits of the bats at Mussoorie, says of this one: "Like _R.
affinis_, this species may frequently be heard during its flight
cracking and crunching the hard wings of beetles, which in the
evening hours are usually abundant among the trees; the teeth are
strong, and the _tout ensemble_ of its aspect is not unlike that of
a bull-dog."--'Proc. Zoo. Soc.,' 1872, page 701.
NO. 62. PHYLLORHINA MASONI.
HABITAT.--Burmah (Moulmein).
DESCRIPTION.--This bat resembles the last closely; such difference
as exists is that the concave surface of the terminal nose-leaf is
divided into two cells only by a single central vertical ridge, and
from the under surface of the juncture of the mandible a small bony
process projects downwards about equal to the lower canine tooth in
vertical extent, and covered by the integument.
There is an excellent figure of this bat in Dobson's Monograph, from
whence I have also taken the above description.
NO. 63. PHYLLORHINA NICOBARENSIS.
HABITAT.--Nicobar Island.
DESCRIPTION.--"Ears large, acute; outer margin slightly concave
beneath the tip; no frontal sac behind the nose-leaf; upper margin
of the transverse terminal leaf simple, forming an arc of a circle,
folded back and overhanging the concave front surface, which is
divided into _two_ cells only by a single central longitudinal ridge;
in front the margin of the horse-shoe is marked by three small points"
(_Dobson_). Fur light brown, then greyish, with light brown tips.
SIZE.--Length of head and body, 3 inches.
NO. 64. PHYLLORHINA ARMIGERA.
HABITAT.--The entire range of the Himalayas, Khasya Hills, and
Ceylon.
[Figure: _Phyllorhina armigera_. Male. Female.]
DESCRIPTION.--The hinder erect nose-leaf narrow, not so broad as the
horse-shoe; upper edge sinuate, slightly elevated in the centre, and
at either extremity; vertical ridges beneath well developed,
prominent, enclosing moderately deep cells; wart-like granular
elevations on each side above the eyes are usually greatly developed,
forming large thickened longitudinal elevations extending forward
on each side of the posterior erect nose-leaf, and backwards towards
the frontal sac (_Dobson_). The colour varies.
SIZE.--Length of head and body from 3 to 4 inches; tail about 2.
This is the largest of this genus, and one of the most interesting
of the species. My space will not admit of extensive quotations from
those who have written about it, but there is a fuller description
of it in Dr. Dobson's book, and a very interesting account of its
habits by Capt. J. Hutton, in the 'Proceedings of the Zoological
Society,' 1872, page 701.
NO. 65. PHYLLORHINA LEPTOPHYLLA.
HABITAT.--Khasya Hills.
DESCRIPTION.--Ears large, broad, triangular, with subacute tips;
outer margin slightly concave; upper transverse nose-leaf small;
upper edge simple, narrower than horse-shoe, thin; three vertical
folds in front faintly descernible at base only; horse-shoe with
small incision in centre of front free edge; frontal pore small,
placed at some distance behind the transverse nose-leaf; fur and
integuments dark throughout.--_Dobson_.
SIZE.--Length of head and body, 2 inches; tail, 1-6/10.
NO. 66. PHYLLORHINA GALERITA.
HABITAT.--Central India, Deccan.
DESCRIPTION.--"Ear comparatively small, as broad as long; inner
margin very convex forward; outer margin slightly concave beneath
the tip; nose-leaf as in _P. larvata_, but the transverse terminal
leaf is more rectangular; the superior margin less convex, and its
concave front surface is marked by three very prominent vertical
ridges; frontal pore small, indistinct, not larger than in the
females of _P. larvata_."--_Dobson_.
SIZE.--Head and body about 2 inches; tail, 1 inch.
NO. 67. PHYLLORHINA BICOLOR.
HABITAT.--India (N. W. Himalaya), Nicobar Islands.
DESCRIPTION.--Fur above reddish chestnut; the base of the hairs pale
reddish-white, or base of hair pure white, the tip, dark
reddish-brown. Ears as long as the head, broad; the lower half of
the inner margin very convex; the summit of the ear conch rounded
off broadly as far as a point on the outer side, where a slight but
distinct flattening occurs, and indicates the position of the tip.
Horse-shoe small, square; the concave front surface divided into
four cells by three distinct vertical ridges; no secondary leaflets
external to the horse-shoe; frontal sac distinct in males,
rudimentary in females (_Dobson_). Blyth includes this bat in his
Burmese Catalogue, but does not say much about it.
GENUS COELOPS.
Possesses the general characteristics of _Rhinolophus_, but the tail
and calcanea wanting entirely; the intercrural membrane acutely
emarginate to the depth of a line even with the knees; ears large,
broad and rounded; the summit of the facial membranes rising abruptly,
obtusely bifid, bent forward; fur long, delicately fine.--_Jerdon_.
Dental formula: Inc., 1--1/4; can., 1--1/1--1; premolars,
2--2/2--2; molars, 3--3/3--3.
NO. 68. COELOPS FRITHII.
_Frith's Tailless Bat_ (_Jerdon's No. 29_).
HABITAT.--The Sunderbunds, Bengal.
DESCRIPTION.--Colour dusky or blackish; the fur tipped with ashy
brown above, paler and somewhat ashy beneath; membranes fuscous.
SIZE.--Length, 1-7/8 inch; membrane beyond 3/4 inch; forearm, 1-3/4.
This bat is rare. The above description, given by Jerdon, is based
on one specimen sent to Mr. Blyth by Mr. Frith, who obtained it in
the Sunderbunds. It also inhabits Java. Dr. Dobson examined a
specimen from thence in the Leyden Museum. He says: "Calcanea and
tail very short," whereas the above description says entirely
wanting. "The ears are funnel-shaped, and thickly covered with fine
hair. Metacarpal bone of thumb very long; the wing membrane enclosing
the thumb up to the base of the claw; wing to the tarsus close to
the ankles; feet very slender; toes with strong claws."
_GENUS RHINOPOMA_.
Ears moderate, but joined above, as in the Megaderms; the nostrils
at the end of the muzzle, with a little lamina above, forming a kind
of snout; tail slender and joined at the base with the intercrural
membrane, but extending far beyond it.
Dental formula: Inc., 2/4; can., 1--1/1--1; premolars, 1--1/2--2;
molars 3--3/3--3.
NO. 69. RHINOPOMA HARDWICKII.
_Hardwick's Long-tailed Leaf Bat_ (_Jerdon's No. 30_).
HABITAT.--All over India, Burmah and Malayana.
[Figure: Skull of _Rhinopoma_.]
DESCRIPTION.--Muzzle long, thick, truncated, and surrounded by a
small leaf; tragus oblong, bi-acuminate; forehead concave with a
channel down the centre; fur soft and very fine, dull brown
throughout; face, rump, and part of abdominal region naked.--_Jerdon_.
SIZE.--Head and body, 2-6/10 inches; tail, 2-1/2; expanse, 13.
Frequents old ruins, caves, and clefts in rocks.
SUB-FAMILY NOCTILIONIDAE.
Bats without facial membranes; with short obtuse and bull-doggish
heads; large lips.
_GENUS TAPHOZOUS_.
Have a small rounded indenture on the forehead; no raised lamina on
the nostrils; the head pyramidal; eyes rather large; ears moderate
in size and not joined at the base, but widely apart; the tip of the
tail free above the membrane, which is much longer.
The males have a transverse cavity under the throat; wings long and
narrow, collapsing with a double flexure outwards; fur soft and
velvety. (Dobson includes this genus in his Family _Emballonuridae_.)
Dental formula: Inc., 1--1/4; can., 1--1/1--1; premolars,
2--2/2--2; molars, 3--3/3--3; premaxillaries cartilaginous,
supporting only one pair of weak incisors with a gap between them.
NO. 70. TAPHOZOUS LONGIMANUS.
_The Long-armed Bat_ (_Jerdon's No. 31_).
HABITAT.--India generally.
DESCRIPTION.--"Ears oval, with many distinct folds, naked except at
the base; tragus securiform; fur thick, close, fuscous-black; or
dark fuscous-brown above; beneath paler, except on the throat, the
hairs being conspicuously tipped with grey, the upper hairs being
all white at their base; face nude, and the membrane dark
brownish-black" (_Jerdon_). The gular sac, though represented in the
male, is almost absent in the female, being but a rudimentary fold
of skin; in this it differs from another common Indian species, _T.
saccolaimus_, in which the gular sac is well developed in both sexes,
though larger in the male.
SIZE.--Length, 5 inches; expanse, 15 to 16; tail, 1; fore-arm, 2-5/8;
tibia, 1 inch.
This bat frequents old buildings, dark cellars, old ruins, &c.; the
young are fulvescent, and become darker with age. Blyth states that
it has a surprising faculty for creeping about on the vertical board
of a cage, hitching its claws into the minute pores of the wood.
NO. 71. TAPHOZOUS MELANOPOGON.
_The Black-bearded Bat_ (_Jerdon's No. 32_).
HABITAT.--Common about Calcutta, East Coast of India, Burmah, and
Cochin China.
DESCRIPTION.--"No gular sac, the openings of small pores appearing
along a line corresponding to the position of the mouth of the gular
sac in other species; in some male specimens the hair behind these
pores is very long, forming a dense black beard" (_Dobson_). Ears
moderate, oval, with the outer margin extending under the eyes,
dilated into a large rounded lobe; the tragus leaf-shaped; the head,
muzzle, and chin covered with short hairs.
SIZE.--Length of head and body about 3-1/2; tail, 2/3; wing expanse,
14 inches.
Horsfield says it occurs in caves in Java inhabited by the esculent
swallows (_Collocalia nidifica_), the gelatinous nests of which are
used for soup by the Chinese. Dobson remarks that the black beard
is not always developed in the males; he conceives it to be owing
to certain conditions, probably connected with the amorous seasons.
In five males in the Indian Museum the beard is well developed; he
found that only two per cent. of the Cochin China specimens in the
Paris Museum possessed it.
NO. 72. TAPHOZOUS SACCOLAIMUS.
_The White-bellied Bat_ (_Jerdon's No. 33_).
HABITAT.--Peninsula of India, Burmah, and Ceylon.
DESCRIPTION.--"Muzzle angular, naked, very acute; nostrils small,
close; ears distant, shorter than the head, large inner margin
recurved, outer margin dilated, reaching to the commissure of the
mouth; tragus wide, securiform (i.e. axe-shaped); fur short, smooth,
blackish on the head, chestnut brown on the back; beneath,
dirty-white or black brown above with white pencillings; pure white
below" (_Jerdon_). Dobson says of the fur: "above, white at the base,
the terminal three-fourths of the hairs black, with a few irregular
small white patches on the back; beneath dark brown." The gular sac
is to be found in both sexes, but somewhat larger in the males.
SIZE.--About 5 inches; wing expanse, 17.
NO. 73. TAPHOZOUS THEOBALDI.
HABITAT.--Tenasserim.
DESCRIPTION.--The gular sac is absent in both sexes; ears larger than
in any others of the sub-genus; the muzzle, from the corners of the
eyes downwards, naked.
SIZE.--Head and body about 3-1/10 inches; tail, 1-1/4.
NO. 74. TAPHOZOUS KACHHENSIS.
HABITAT.--Kachh, N. W. India.
DESCRIPTION (_apud_ Dobson).--"Gular sac absent in both male and
female; its usual position indicated in the male by a semi-circular
fold of skin and nakedness of the integument in this situation; in
other respects similar to _T. nudiventris_. The deposits of fat about
the tail very large."
SIZE.--Head and body about 3 inches; tail, 1-1/4.
_T. nudiventris_, above alluded to, is an inhabitant of Asia Minor,
Egypt, and Nubia; similar to the above, only that it has a small gular
sac in the male, of which a trace only exists in the female. Its most
striking peculiarity is the deposit of fat at the root of the tail,
which may possibly be for purposes of absorption during the dormant
winter season.
_GENUS NYCTINOMUS_.
"Ears broad, short, approximate or connate with the outer margin,
terminating in an erect lobe beyond the conch; tragus small,
concealed" (often very small and quadrate, but never reduced to a
mere point, as in _Molossus_--Dobson); "wings narrow, folded as in
_Taphozous_; intercrural membrane short, truncate; tall free at the
tip; feet short, with strong toes; muzzle thick; lips tumid, lax;
upper lip with coarse wrinkles."--_Jerdon_.
Dental formula: Inc., 2/6 or 2/4; can., 1--1/1--1; premol.,
2--2/2--2; mol., 3--3/3--3.
NO. 75. NYCTINOMUS PLICATUS.
_The Wrinkle-lipped Bat_ (_Jerdon's No. 34_).
HABITAT.--India generally.
DESCRIPTION.--Muzzle broad and thick; upper lip overhanging the
lower, marked by vertical wrinkles; ears large and quadrilateral;
outer margin ending in a decided anti-tragus; tail thick; the lower
part of the leg is free from the wing membrane, which however, is
connected with the ankle by a strong fibrous band; fur dense, smoky
or snuff brown above (or bluish black--_Dobson_); paler beneath.
SIZE.--Head and body about 2-1/10 inches; tail, 1-1/10. Jerdon gives
length, 4-1/4 to 4-1/10; expanse, 13-1/2; tail, 1-3/4.
This bat is common about Calcutta, frequenting ruins, dark places
and hollow trees. It is allied to _N. tenuis_ (_Horsfield_), and it
is mentioned as inhabiting hollow trees in such numbers as to attract
attention by the hissing noise from within, every available spot in
the interior being occupied. A synonym of the genus is _Dysopes_.
NO. 76. NYCTINOMUS TRAGATUS.
HABITAT.--India generally.
DESCRIPTION.--This differs from the last in having the wing membrane
from the ankles, and in the free portion of the tail being shorter;
ears united at the base; tragus broad and rounded above, partially
concealed by the large anti-tragus.
SIZE.--About the same as the last.
SUB-FAMILY VESPERTILIONIDAE.
These bats have simple nostrils, as in the frugivorous ones, with
no complications of foliated cutaneous appendages; the muzzle is
conical, moderately long, and clad with fur; the ears wide apart;
the inner margins springing from the sides, not the top of the head;
the tragi are large; eyes usually very small, and the tail, which
is long, is wholly included in the membrane.
Dentition (usually): Inc., 2--2/6; can., 1--1/1--1, premol.,
3--3/3--3; mol., 3--3/3--3. The upper incisors are small, and placed
in pairs near the canines, leaving a gap in the centre. The lower
ones sharp-edged and somewhat notched. At birth there are twenty-two
teeth, which are shed, and replaced by others, with sixteen
additional ones, the adult bat having thirty-eight teeth.
_GENUS PLECOTUS_.
Ears very large, united at the base; outer margin of the ear conch
terminating opposite the base of the tragus, the inner margin with
an abrupt rounded projection directed inwards above the base; tragus
very large, tapering upwards, with a lobe at the base of the outer
margin.
Dentition: Inc., 2--2/6; can., 1--1/1--1; premolars, 2--2/2--2;
molars, 3--3/3--3.
The English species _P. auritus_ is very common there, and also in
France; its ears are nearly as long as its body, yet, when reposing,
they are so folded as to be almost out of sight. The Indian species
is only a variety distinguishable by its yet longer ears ("and
comparative shortness of the thumbs"--_Dobson_).
NO. 77. PLECOTUS AURITUS _vel_ HOMOCHROUS.
HABITAT.--The Himalayas and the Khasia Hills.
[Figure: _Plecotus auritus_.]
DESCRIPTION.--Head slightly raised above the face-line; ears nearly
as long as the fore-arm, joined by a low band across the forehead
at the bases of their inner margins; wings from the base of the toes;
feet slender; tip of the tail free; fur silky, short, and of a uniform
dull brown.
SIZE.--Head and body, 1.7 inch; ears, 1.55 (ears of English type of
same size, 1.4 inch); tail, 1.7 inch. Jerdon gives larger results,
but I put more reliance on Dobson's figures.
_GENUS VESPERUGO_.
Bats with very broad and obtuse muzzles; the glandular prominences
much developed between the eyes and the nostrils; crown of the head
flat; but what distinguishes it from the following genus,
_Scotophilus_, is the presence of four incisors in the upper jaw,
whereas _Scotophilus_ has two only--otherwise the two genera are
very similar.
NO. 78. VESPERUGO NOCTULA.
HABITAT.--Nepal.
[Figure: _Vesperugo noctula_.]
DESCRIPTION.--Head broad and flat; ears oval and broad; the outer
margin convex, reflected backwards, and forming a thick lobe
terminating close to the angle of the mouth; tragus short and curved
inwards; muzzle devoid of hair; fur dark reddish brown.
NO. 79. VESPERUGO LEUCOTIS.
HABITAT.--Deserts of Northern India, and Beluchistan.
DESCRIPTION.--"Ears, sides of face, about the eyes, interfemoral
membrane, antehumeral membrane, and that portion of the wing
membrane along the sides of the body, white, very translucent;
remaining portion of wing membrane sepia, traversed by very distinct
reticulations; fur on the upper surface black at the base of the hairs
for about half their length, remaining portion light yellowish
brown; beneath the same, but paler, almost white."--_Dobson_.
NO. 80. VESPERUGO MAURUS.
HABITAT.--Khasya Hills.
DESCRIPTION.--Muzzle broad and flat, with large labial development;
ears broad, triangular, broadly rounded off above; tragus broad and
square; fur long and dense, uniformly sooty brown, with greyish tips;
membranes, nose, ears and lips black.
SIZE.--Head and body 1-1/10 inch; tail, 1 inch.
NO. 81. VESPERUGO AFFINIS.
HABITAT.--Burmah (Bhamo, Yunan).
DESCRIPTION (_apud_ Dobson).--Head flat; upper labial glands so
developed as to cause a deep depression between them on the face
behind the nostrils; ears broad as long from behind; the outer margin
extends from the tip to its termination near the corner of the mouth
without emargination or lobe; tragus broad; inner margin straight;
outer convex; small triangular lobe at base. Fur chocolate brown
above, lighter on head and neck; beneath dark brown with lighter tips
on the pubes, and along the thighs dirty white or pale buff.
SIZE.--Head and body, 1.9 inch; tail, 1.65 inch.
There is a good figure of the head of this bat in Dobson's Monograph;
it was obtained by Dr. J. Anderson at an elevation of 4500 feet at
Bhamo.
NO. 82. VESPERUGO PACHYOTIS.
DESCRIPTION.--"This species is readily distinguished by the
peculiar thickness of the lower half of the outer side of the
ear-conch, which appears as it were excavated out of the thick
integument of the neck; tragus short, curved inwards."--_Dobson_.
This bat is more fully described with three illustrations in Dobson's
Monograph; he does not mention where it is found, so it may or it
may not be an Indian species.
NO. 83. VESPERUGO ATRATUS.
_Syn_.--NYCTICEJUS ATRATUS.
HABITAT.--Darjeeling.
DESCRIPTION.--Head broad; muzzle obtuse; upper labial glands
largely developed; ears large, oval, with rounded tips, which in the
natural position of the ears appear acute, owing to the longitudinal
folding of the outer side of the conch on the inner, commencing at
and almost bisecting the tip (_Dobson_). Fur long, dense and black;
Jerdon says rich dark brown; paler beneath.
SIZE.--Head and body, 1.9 inch; tail, 1.8 inch.
NO. 84. VESPERUGO TICKELLI.
HABITAT.--Chybassa, Jashpur, and Sirguja.
DESCRIPTION.--Head broad and flat; labial glands developed; ears
moderate, rounded above; outer edge straight, emarginate opposite
base of tragus, terminating in a small lobe; tragus lunate; tail
long; last vertebra free. The face is more clad with fur than in other
species of this genus; fur of the body pale, straw brown above, pale
buff beneath. For a fuller description and illustration, see
Dobson's Monograph.
SIZE.--Head and body, 1.65 inch; tail, 2 inches.
NO. 85. VESPERUGO PACHYPUS.
HABITAT.--Darjeeling, Tenasserim, and Andaman Islands.
DESCRIPTION.--Crown of head very flat; ears short, triangular, with
broadly rounded tips, tragus short; under surface of the base of the
thumb and soles of the feet with broad fleshy pads; wings rather
short; fur fine and dense, above reddish brown, paler beneath.
SIZE.--Head and body, 1.75 inch; tail 1 inch.
NO. 86. VESPERUGO ANNECTANS.
HABITAT.--Naga Hills and Assam.
DESCRIPTION.--Muzzle sharper; face hairy; ears pointed; tragus
long; colour dark brown; illustration in Dobson's Monograph.
SIZE.--About 2 inches; tail, 1.6 inch.
Unites the appearance of a _Vespertilio_ to the dentition of
_Vesperugo_.
NO. 87. VESPERUGO DORMERI.
HABITAT.--Southern India and Bellary Hills.
DESCRIPTION.--Head flat; ears shorter, triangular, with rounded
tips; tragus with a small triangular lobe near base of outer margin;
fur brown, with ashy tips above, darker brown below, with the
terminal third of the hairs white. Dentition approaches the next
genus, there being only one pair of unicuspidate upper incisors
placed, one by each upper canine.
NO. 88. (VESPERUGO) SCOTOPHILUS SEROTINUS.
_Syn_.--VESPERUGO SEROTINUS.
_The Silky Bat_ (_Jerdon's No. 35_).
HABITAT.--Europe, but extending through Asia to the Himalayas,
Beluchistan and Kashmir.
DESCRIPTION.--Ears shorter than head, widely separate, ovate,
angular, projecting forward, terminating in a convex; lobe ending
on a level with the corner of the mouth; tragus twice the length of
its breadth, semi-cordate; fur deep bay or chestnut brown; above
fulvous, grey beneath; hairs of back long and silky, but the colour
of the fur varies considerably.
SIZE.--Head and body, 2-1/2 inches; tail, 2; wing expanse, 13.
This is a rare bat in India, though Captain Hutton has procured it
at Mussoorie. In England it is not uncommon even near London; it flies
steadily and rather slow, and is found in ruins, roofs of churches,
and sometimes old hollow trees.
NO. 89. (VESPERUGO) SCOTOPHILUS LEISLERI.
_Syn_.--VESPERUGO LEISLERI.
_The Hairy-armed Bat_ (_Jerdon's No. 36_).
HABITAT.--Himalayas.
[Figure: _Vesperugo Leisleri_.]
DESCRIPTION.--Ears short, oval, triangular; tragus short, rounded
at tip; membrane attached to base of outer toe; all toes short;
membrane over the arms very hairy, some cross-lines of hair on the
interfemoral membrane; fur long, deep fuscous brown at base,
chestnut at the tip; beneath greyish brown.--_Jerdon_.
SIZE.--Head and body, 2-1/4 inches; tail, 3-3/4; expanse, 11-1/2.
SCOTOPHILUS PACHYOMUS.
(_Jerdon's No. 37._)
Synonymous with his No. 35; see Dobson's Monograph.
NO. 90. (VESPERUGO) SCOTOPHILUS COROMANDELIANUS.
_Syn_.--VESPERUGO ABRAMUS; VESPERTILIO COROMANDELICUS.
_The Coromandel Bat_ (_Jerdon's No. 38_).
HABITAT.--India generally, Burmah and Ceylon.
DESCRIPTION.--Ears triangular, rather large; outer margin straight
or slightly concave; tragus lunate; feet small; wing membrane
attached to the base of the toes; fur short, above dingy brown, the
hairs tipped with a lighter tinge, paler beneath.
SIZE.--2-1/2 inches, including tail, which is about 1-1/8; wing
expanse, 7-1/2.
This is a very common little bat, akin to the English Pipistrelle,
and is found everywhere in roofs, hollow bamboos, &c.
NO. 91. (VESPERUGO) SCOTOPHILUS LOBATUS.
_Syn_.--VESPERUGO KUHLII.
_The Lobe-eared Bat_ (_Jerdon's No. 39_).
HABITAT.--India generally.
DESCRIPTION.--Ears small, triangular; the base of the margin very
convex forward; a triangular lobule above the base of the outer
margin; tragus short and uniform in width; a short muzzle; wings from
the base of the toes; feet small; calcaneum long; tip of tail free;
fur blackish yellow above, ashy beneath.
SIZE.--Two and a-half inches, of which the tail is 1-1/4; expanse
7-2/3. Jerdon, quoting Tomes, states that this is the same as _V.
Abramus_, but that is the synonym of the last species.
_GENUS SCOTOPHILUS_.
Muzzle short, bluntly conical, devoid of hair; ears longer than
broad; tail shorter than the head and body; wing membrane attached
to the base of the toes.
Dentition: Inc., 1--1/6; can., 1--1/1--1; premolars, 1--1/2--2;
molars 3--3/3--3.
Jerdon's formula gives upper incisors 4.
NO. 92. SCOTOPHILUS FULIGINOSUS.
_The Smoky Bat_ (_Jerdon's No. 40_).
HABITAT.--Central Nepal.
DESCRIPTION (_apud_ Hodgson).--"Feet very small, included in the
wing membrane nearly to the end of the toes; ears acutely pointed,
shorter than the head; muzzle groved, nudish; face sharp; rostrum
somewhat recurved; wholly sooty brown; a little smaller than _Vesp.
formosa_."
I cannot find this bat mentioned by any other author, and Jerdon
says it does not seem to be recognised.
NO. 93. SCOTOPHILUS TEMMINCKII.
_Syn_.--NYCTICEJUS TEMMINCKII (_Jerdon_).
HABITAT.--India generally; Burmah and Ceylon.
[Figure: _Scotophilus Temminckii_.]
DESCRIPTION.--Ears short, rounded and narrow; tragus narrow, curved
and pointed inwards; muzzle thick, blunt and conical; the fur varies,
sometimes dark olive brown, fulvous beneath, and occasionally
chestnut, with a paler shade of yellow below.
SIZE.--Four and a-half inches, of which the tail is 1-1/2; expanse,
13.
A very common species, appearing early in the evening. Horsfield says
of it that it collects by hundreds in hollow trees, and feeds chiefly
on white ants.
NO. 94. SCOTOPHILUS HEATHII.
HABITAT.--India and Ceylon (Rajanpore, Punjab).
DESCRIPTION.--Similar to the above, but longer in all its
measurements (_Dobson_). Judging from drawings, the head and muzzle
of this are more in a line than in the last species, the ears project
forward, and are also larger, the tragus especially, and there is
a greater width between the ears.
SIZE.--Five inches, of which the tail is 2.
NO. 95. SCOTOPHILUS EMARGINATUS.
HABITAT.--India; precise locality unknown.
DESCRIPTION.--Head broad and flat; muzzle obtuse and thick; ears
long and large, with rounded tips turning outwards; tragus short;
thumb long with a strong claw; wing membrane quite devoid of hair,
except on the interfemoral membrane, which is half covered; fur
tricolored, first dark chestnut, buff, and then yellowish brown.
SIZE.--Head and body, 2-1/10 inches; tail, 2 inches.
NO. 96. SCOTOPHILUS ORNATUS.
_Syn_.--NYCTICEJUS ORNATUS.
HABITAT.--India and Burmah.
DESCRIPTION.--Head broad; muzzle short; ears triangular, erect,
with rounded tips, and broadly rounded lobe at the base; tragus
narrow, semi-lunate, curved towards the front; fur a light
Isabelline brown, spotted with white; a white spot on the centre of
the forehead, and from the back of the head down the spine for
two-thirds of its length a narrow white streak; on each side of the
body two white patches; a broad white collar, or rather demi-collar,
from one ear spot to the other, passing under the throat. Dr. Dobson
says the position of these patches is very constant, but the size
varies, being greatest in individuals of a pale rusty red colour,
and these he found always to be males.
SIZE.--Head and body, 3 inches; tail, 2 inches; expanse, 15.
NO. 97. SCOTOPHILUS PALLIDUS.
HABITAT.--Mian Mir, Lahore.
DESCRIPTION.--Head and muzzle as in _S. Temminckii_; ears slightly
shorter than the head; internal basal lobe convex, evenly rounded;
tip broadly rounded off; tragus moderately long and rounded at the
tip; a prominent triangular lobe at base. Wing membrane from base
of toes; lobule at the heel very narrow and long; last rudimentary
caudal vertebra free; fur of the body, wings, and interfemoral
membrane pale buff throughout.
SIZE.--Head and body, 2 inches; tail, 1.4 inch.
NOCTULINIA NOCTULA.
(See _ante: Vesperugo noctula--Jerdon's No. 41_.)
NYCTICEJUS HEATHII.
_Large Yellow Bat_ (_Jerdon's No. 42_).
(See _ante: Scotophilus Heathii_.)
NYCTICEJUS LUTEUS.
_The Bengal Yellow Bat_ (_Jerdon's No. 43_).
NYCTICEJUS TEMMINCKII.
_The Common Yellow Bat_ (_Jerdon's No. 44_).
Both the above (Nos. 43 and 44) are, according to Dr. Dobson,
synonymous with _Scotophilus Temminckii_, which see.
NYCTICEJUS CASTANEUS.
_The Chestnut Bat_ (_Jerdon's No. 45_).
This is also a variety of _Scotophilus Temminckii_.
NYCTICEJUS ATRATUS.
_The Sombre Bat_ (_Jerdon's No. 46_).
(See _ante: Vesperugo atratus_.)
NYCTICEJUS CANUS.
_The Hoary Bat_ (_Jerdon's No. 47_).
(See _ante: Vesperugo lobatus_.)
NYCTICEJUS ORNATUS.
_The Harlequin Bat_ (_Jerdon's No. 48_).
(See _ante: Scotophilus ornatus_.)
NO. 98. NYCTICEJUS NIVICOLUS.
_The Alpine Bat_ (_Jerdon's No. 49_).
HABITAT.--Sikim.
DESCRIPTION.--"Head and body above uniform light brown with a slight
yellowish shade; underneath, from the throat to the vent, dark grey
with a brownish tint, lighter on the sides of the throat. Ears long,
attenuated to an obtuse point."--_Jerdon_.
SIZE.--Head and body, 3 inches; tail, 2 inches; expanse, 19 inches.
This bat was described by Hodgson ('Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist.' 1855), but
there is some doubt about it, and it has been classed as a _Lasiurus_
and also with _Scot. ornatus_ and _Vesp. formosa_, but Jerdon thinks
it a _distinct_ species. I cannot find any mention of it in Dobson's
monograph.
_GENUS HARPIOCEPHALUS_.
This is also the genus _Murina_ of Gray. Dr. Dobson explains his
acceptance of the former term in the following way: that he first
accepted _Murina_ on the score of priority in a paper showing that
_Harpiocephalus_ and _Murina_ must be united in a single genus; but
finding afterwards that Gray had founded _Murina_ on a specimen of
what he believed to be _Vesp. suillus_ (Temm.), but which was in
reality a specimen of a very different species from Darjeeling,
belonging to the same section of the genus as _Vespertilio harpia_
(Temm.) the type of his genus _Harpiocephalus_, it remained
therefore either to discard both names or to retain _Harpiocephalus_,
in which course he was supported by Professor Peters, to whom he
mentioned the facts.
Horsfield's genus _Lasiurus_ is included in this one, though Jerdon
considers it distinct from _Murina_.
Muzzle elongated, conical; _nostrils prominent, tubular; produced
beyond the upper lip_, opening laterally or sublaterally, emarginate
between; crown of the head scarcely raised above the face line; ears
thin, generally covered with glandular papillae; tragus long,
attenuated towards the tip, and inclined outwards; thumb very large,
with a large, strongly curved claw; wings around interfemoral
membrane very hairy.--_Dobson_.
Dentition: Inc., 2--2/6; can. 1--1/1--1; premolars, 2--2/2--2;
molars, 3--3/3--3.
NO. 99. HARPIOCEPHALUS HARPIA.
_Lasiurus Pearsonii_ (_Horsfield_) (_Jerdon's No. 50_).
HABITAT.--Darjeeling and Khasia hills.
DESCRIPTION.--"Fur above very soft, silky, and rather long; colour
on the head, neck, and shoulders brownish grey, with a ferruginous
cast, variegated with whitish hairs; the rest of the body above, with
the base of the membrane, the thighs and the interfemoral membrane,
have a deep bay or reddish-brown hue, and delicate hairs of the same
colour are scattered over the membrane and project from its border;
the body underneath is thickly covered with a grey fur, which is paler
on the breast and body; the interfemoral membrane marked with
regularly parallel transverse lines" (_Horsfield_). Ears ovoid;
tragus rather long, nearly straight, acute at the tip (_Jerdon_).
Muzzle rather short, obtusely conical; end of nose projecting
considerably beyond the lip, consisting of diverging tubular
nostrils opening laterally, with a slight emargination between each
(_Dobson_).
SIZE.--Head and body, 3 inches; tail, 1-1/2 inch; expanse, 14.
Hodgson, who procured it at Darjeeling, writes of it: "Entire legs
and caudal membrane clad in fur like the body, which is thick and
woolly. Colour bright rusty above; sooty below, the hairs tipped with
hoary."
[Figure: Skull of _Harpiocephalus harpia_.]
This bat is, for its size, one of the most powerfully armed with teeth.
The skull reminds one of that of a dog or hyaena in miniature; the
teeth are very stout, the canines blunt and conical, and the cusps
of the molars short and blunt, well coated with enamel; the jaws are
correspondingly muscular and adapted to the food of the animal, which
consists of hard-shelled beetles, the crushed cases of which have
been found in its stomach.
NO. 100. HARPIOCEPHALUS (MURINA) SUILLUS.
_The Pig-Bat_ (_Jerdon's No. 51_).
HABITAT.--Darjeeling (_Jerdon_); Malayan archipelago.
DESCRIPTION.--Muzzle narrow, elongated; nostrils very prominent,
which, viewed from below, resemble in shape a small hour-glass placed
horizontally at the extremity of the muzzle; ears moderate, shorter
than the head, rounded at the tips; tragus moderately long,
attenuated above and slightly curved outwards; fur light
greyish-brown; extremities dark brown; beneath light greyish-brown
throughout.--_Dobson_.
SIZE.--Head and body, 1-3/4 to 2 inches; tail, 1-1/2 inch; expanse
9 to 10.
NO. 101. HARPIOCEPHALUS AURATUS.
HABITAT.--Thibet.
DESCRIPTION.--Head and muzzle as in _H. suillus_, but the nostrils
are differently shaped; each nostril forms a distinct tube directed
sublaterally with a circular aperture marked by a very small notch
on the outer and upper margin (_Dobson_). The whole body is thickly
clad; the fur on the back is black, with bright golden yellow tips;
the back of the fore-arm covered with short golden hair; the hair
of the under parts black with silvery tips, whiter on the lower jaw,
neck and pubis; the interfemoral membrane is covered with very long
hair, which forms a fringe along its free margin extending on the
legs and feet, and projecting beyond the toes; underneath short
silvery hair.
SIZE.--Head and body 1.4 inch; tail 1.2.
NO. 102. HARPIOCEPHALUS GRISEUS.
HABITAT.--Jeripani, N.W. Himalayas.
DESCRIPTION.--Head and muzzle as in _H. suillus_; fur above dark
brown, with yellowish-brown extremities; beneath similar, but with
the extreme points of the hairs ashy.
SIZE.--Head and body, 1.4 inch; tail 1 inch.
This bat was found near Mussoorie by Captain Hutton, who writes that
it occurs, but sparingly, on the outer southern range of hills at
5500 feet. It skims close to the ground, and somewhat leisurely over
the surface of the crops and grass; and one which flew into his room
kept low down, passing under chairs and tables, instead of soaring
towards the ceiling, as bats generally do.
NO. 103. HARPIOCEPHALUS LEUCOGASTER.
HABITAT.--N.W. Himalayas, Thibet.
DESCRIPTION.--Head and muzzle as in _H. harpia_; fur long and dense,
above brown with grey bases; underneath whitish; sides light brown.
It differs from the next species by a small projecting tooth on the
inner margin of the ear conch, by the smaller size of the first upper
premolar, and by the colour.--_Dobson_.
SIZE.--Head and body, 1.9 inch; tail 1.5.
NO. 104. HARPIOCEPHALUS CYCLOTIS.
HABITAT.--Darjeeling, Ceylon.
DESCRIPTION.--Similar to the last, but with round ears; fur
bicoloured, the hairs being dark brown at the base, with bright
ferruginous tips; below pale brown; the upper surface of the
interfemoral membrane and back of the feet covered with hair, which
also extends beyond the toes; the first premolar in the upper jaw
nearly equal in size to the second, whereas in the last species it
is only about three-fourths.
SIZE.--Head and body, 1.7 inch; tail, 1.5.
_GENUS KERIVOULA_.
DESCRIPTION.--Muzzle long and narrow; skull very concave between the
nasal bones and the vertex, so that the crown appears considerably
vaulted; ears funnel-shaped and semi-transparent; tragus very long,
narrow and pointed; wings very wide; tail longer than head and body,
wholly contained within the interfemoral membrane.
Dentition: Inc., 2--2/6; can., 1--1/1--1; premolars, 3--3/3--3;
molars, 3--3/3--3.
The generic name of this bat is composed of two Singhalese
words--_kehel_ or _kela_, the plantain, and _voulha_, which is the
Singhalese for bat, the specimen on which Gray founded his genus
being the following:--
NO. 105. KERIVOULA PICTA.
_The Painted Bat_ (_Jerdon's No. 53_).
HABITAT.--India generally, Burmah and Ceylon.
DESCRIPTION.--"Fur fine, woolly; above yellowish-red or golden
rufous, beneath less brilliant and more yellow; wing membranes inky
black, with rich orange stripes along the fingers extending in
indentations into the membrane."--_Jerdon_.
Ears moderate, laid forwards; the tips reach midway between the eyes
and the middle of the muzzle; tragus very long and straight; thumb
short; wings to the base of the toes.
SIZE.--Head and body, 1-1/2 inch; tail, 1.6 inch; expanse about 10
inches.
This beautiful little bat is found all over India, but is not common;
it is occasionally caught in plantain gardens, as it resorts to the
leaves of that tree for shelter during the night, and may sometimes
be discovered in the folds of a leaf. As Jerdon remarks, it looks
more like a butterfly or a moth when disturbed during the day time.
Dr. Dobson pertinently observes that the colours of this bat appear
to be the result of the "protective mimicry" which we see so often
in insects, the Mantidea and other genera, the colours being adapted
to their abiding places. He alludes to Mr. Swinhoe's account ('P.
Z. S.,' 1862, p. 357) of an allied species:--"The body of this bat
was of an orange yellow, but the wings were painted with orange yellow
and black. It was caught suspended head downwards on a cluster of
the round fruit of the longan tree. (_Nephelium_ [_Scytalia_]
_longanum_) [the _ash phul_ of Bengal]. Now this tree is an evergreen,
and all the year through some portion of its foliage is undergoing
decay, the particular leaves being in such a stage partially orange
and black; this bat can therefore at all seasons suspend from its
branches and elude its enemies by its resemblance to the leaf of the
tree." This bat was named by Pallas _Vespertilio pictus_. Boddaert
in 1785 termed it _Vesp. kerivoula_, and Gray afterwards took the
second specific name for that of the genus, leaving the first as it is.
KERIVOULA PALLIDA.
(_Jerdon's No. 54._)
This is synonymous with _Vespertilio formosus_, which see further
on, it is the same as the _Kerivoula formosa_ of Gray.
NO. 106. KERIVOULA PAPILLOSA.
(_Jerdon's No. 55._)
HABITAT.--Java, but said by Jerdon to have been found in Calcutta
and Ceylon.
DESCRIPTION.--Fur fine woolly, long, bicoloured; above light
shining brown, paler below; the free edge of the interfemoral
membrane margined with small papillae.
NO. 107. KERIVOULA HARDWICKII.
HABITAT.--India (Assam--Shillong, Khasia hills).
DESCRIPTION.--Same size as _K. picta_, but ears larger; fur
uniformly dark above and below, with shining greyish-brown
extremities.
_GENUS VESPERTILIO_.
Muzzle long; ears often larger than the head, oval, apart; tragus
long, acute; crown of head vaulted; feet moderate; wing membrane from
base of toes; tail, wholly included in interfemoral membrane, less
than length of head and body.
Dentition: Inc., 2--2/6; can., 1--1/1--1; premolars, 3--3/3--3;
molars, 3--3/3--3.
NO. 108. MYOTIS (VESPERTILIO) MURINUS.
(_Jerdon's No. 61._)
HABITAT.--N.W. Himalayas.
[Figure: _Vespertilio murinus_.]
DESCRIPTION.--Fur above light reddish or smoke brown beneath dusky
white, the base of the hairs dark.
SIZE.--Head and body, 2-1/2 inches; tail, 2 inches; expanse, 15
inches.
NOS. 109 & 110. MYOTIS THEOBALDI and MYOTIS PARVIPES.
(_Jerdon's Nos. 62 & 63._)
Both these appear to be closely allied to the _pipistrelle_ of Europe,
and are stated to have been found at Mussoorie and in Kashmir.
NO. 111. VESPERTILIO LONGIPES.
HABITAT.--Kashmir (caves of Bhima Devi, 6000 feet).
DESCRIPTION.--Wings from the ankles; _feet very large_, about
one-fourth the length of the head and body; fur black above,
underneath black with whitish tips.
SIZE.--Head and body, 1.75 inch; tail, 1.45 inch.
NO. 112. VESPERTILIO MYSTACINUS.
HABITAT.--Himalayas.
DESCRIPTION.--Muzzle narrow; skull vaulted; ears as long as head,
wings from base of toes; fur dark brown.
NO. 113. VESPERTILIO MURICOLA.
HABITAT.--Himalayas, Arracan.
DESCRIPTION.--Similar to the above, but may be distinguished by a
small lobe behind the heel, by the deep emargination of the upper
third of the outer margin of the ear; by the intensely black colour
of the fur and membranes, and by its small size.--_Dobson_.
SIZE.--Head and body, 1.6 inch; tail, 1.55 inch.
NO. 114. VESPERTILIO MONTIVAGUS.
HABITAT.--Burmah, Hotha, Yunan.
DESCRIPTION.--Head slightly elevated above the face line; muzzle
obtuse; ears narrow, tapering, _with_ rounded tips slightly turned
outwards; tragus long, narrow, and acutely pointed; feet very small;
toes two-thirds the length of the whole foot; tail wholly contained
in the membrane; wings from base of toes; fur dark brown above, the
tips paler and shining, beneath much darker, almost black, with ashy
tips to the hairs; face much covered with hair, which almost conceals
the eyes; the tip of the nose alone naked; wing membranes partially
covered with fur.
SIZE.--Head and body, 1.8 inch; tail, 1.6 inch.
This bat, of which the above description is taken from Dobson's
monograph, was obtained by Dr. J. Anderson during the Yunan
Expedition.
NO. 115. VESPERTILIO MURINOIDES.
HABITAT.--N.W. Himalayas (Chamba), 3000 feet.
DESCRIPTION.--General form of the ear triangular, with narrow
rounded tips; outer margin concave beneath tips; tragus slender and
acutely pointed, with a quadrangular lobe at the base of the outer
margin; fur dark brown above with light brown tips; dark brown below,
almost black with greyish tips.
SIZE.--Head and body, 2.5 inches; tail 2.
NO. 116. VESPERTILIO FORMOSUS.
HABITAT.--N.W. Himalayas (Nepal, Darjeeling), Khasia hills.
[Figure: _Vespertilio formosus_.]
DESCRIPTION.--Wing membrane broad and variegated with orange and
rich dark brown; the portions of the dark-coloured membrane are
triangular in form, and occupy the spaces between the second and
third and third and fourth fingers; all the remaining portions of
the membranes, including interfemoral, are orange, as are also the
ears; the orange colour extends in narrow lines along each side of
the fingers, and is dispersed over the dark triangular space in dots
and streaks.
SIZE.--Head and body, 2 inches; tail, 1.1; expanse 11.
NO. 117. VESPERTILIO NEPALENSIS.
HABITAT.--Khatmandu, Nepal.
DESCRIPTION.--Fur of head and back long and dense, bicoloured; base
black, tips brown; underneath the hairs are two-thirds black, with
the remaining upper third pure white.
SIZE.--Head and body, 1.65 inch; tail, 1.35.
NO. 118. VESPERTILIO EMARGINATUS.
VARIETY.--_Desertorum_.
HABITAT.--Beluchistan.
DESCRIPTION.--The upper third of the outer margin of the ears deeply
emarginate; colour of fur light brownish; ears and interfemoral
membranes pale yellowish white; membranes dusky white.
SIZE.--Head and body, 2 inches; tail 1.6.
_GENUS MINIOPTERUS_ (_Bonaparte_).
DESCRIPTION.--Crown of head abruptly and very considerably raised
above the face line; ears separate, rhomboidal, the outer margin
carried forward to the angle of the mouth; tragus like that in
_Vesperugo_; first phalanx of the second or longest finger very
short; feet long and slender; tail as long as head and body, wholly
contained in the membrane.
Dentition: Inc., 2--2/6; can., 1--1/1--1, premolars, 2--2/3--3,
molars, 3--3/3--3.
NO. 119. MINIOPTERUS SCHREIBERSII.
HABITAT.--Burmah and Ceylon.
DESCRIPTION.--Colour of fur varies, the basal half of the hair always
dark greyish black, dark brown or black; the extremities varying from
light grey to light reddish-grey, dark reddish-brown and black. For
further details see Dobson's monograph.
_GENUS BARBASTELLUS_.
Ears large, connate at the base in front, triangular, emarginate on
the outer margin, broad, concealing the back of the head, hairy in
the middle; tragus broad at the base, narrow at the tip, and curved
outwardly.
[Figure: _Synotus barbastellus_.]
Dentition: Inc., 2--2/6; can., 1--1/1--1; premolars, 2--2/2--2;
molars, 3--3/3--3.
NO. 120. BARBASTELLUS COMMUNIS.
(_Jerdon's No. 65._)
HABITAT.--Himalayas, Nepal and Mussoorie.
DESCRIPTION.--Fur above blackish brown; the hairs fulvous at the
tips; abdomen greyish brown; hairs fine silky.
SIZE.--Head and body, 2 inches; tail, 1-2/12; expanse;
10-1/2.--_Jerdon_.
This is the same as the English Barbastelle, and it appears in
Dobson's monograph as _Synotus Darjeelinensis_.
NO. 121. NYCTOPHILUS GEOFFROYI.
(_Jerdon's No. 66._)
HABITAT.--Mussoorie.
Jerdon here goes back to the nose-leafed bats. I can find no trace
of it in Dobson's monograph, which is so exhaustive as far as Asiatic
species are concerned.
DESCRIPTION.--Over the eyes, at the hind corner, a tuft of black
hair; fur dark brown, above throat and flank brownish-white; below
black with white tips. A simple transverse nose-leaf; ears large,
ovoid, united at base as in _Plecotus_.
SIZE.--Head and body, 1-3/4 to 2 inches; tail, 1-5/12; expanse,
9-3/4.
* * * * *
We have now concluded our notice of Indian bats but yet much is to
be discovered concerning them. Very little is known of the habits
of these small nocturnal animals, only a few of the most familiar
large ones are such as one can discourse upon in a popular way; the
lives and habits of the rest are a blank to us. We see them flit about
rapidly in the dusky evening, and capture one here and there, but,
after a bare description, in most cases very uninteresting to all
save those who are "bat fanciers," what can be said about them? Many
of them have been written about for a century, yet how little
knowledge has been gained! It has been no small labour to collate
all the foregoing species, and to compare them with various works;
it would have been a most difficult task but for the assistance I
have received from Dr. Dobson's book, which every naturalist should
possess if he desires to have a thorough record of all the Indian
Chiroptera.
INSECTIVORA.
These are mostly small animals of, with few exceptions, nocturnal
habits.
Their chief characteristic lies in their pointed dentition, which
enable them to pierce and crush the hard-shelled insects on which
they feed. The skull is elongated, the bones of the face and jaw
especially, and those of the latter are comparatively weak. Before
we come to the teeth we may notice some other peculiarities of this
order.
The limbs are short, feet five-toed and plantigrade, with the entire
sole placed on the ground in running, and these animals are all
possessed of clavicles which in the next order are but rudimentary;
in this respect they legitimately follow the Bats. The mammae are
placed under the abdomen, and are more than two. None of them (except
_Tupaia_) have a caecum (this genus has been most exhaustively
described in all its osteological details by Dr. J. Anderson: see
his 'Anatomical and Zoological Researches'); the snout is usually
prolonged and mobile. The dentition is eccentric, and not always easy
to determine; some have long incisors in front, followed by other
incisors along the sides of their narrow jaws and canines, all
shorter than the molars; others have large separated canines,
between which are placed small incisors. In Blyth's additions to
Cuvier he states that "in this group we are led to identify the canine
tooth as simply the first of the false molars, which in some has two
fangs, and, as in the Lemurs, to perceive that the second in the lower
jaw is in some more analogous in size and character to an ordinary
canine than that which follows the incisors. The incisor teeth are
never more than six in number, which is the maximum throughout
_placental_ mammalia (as opposed by _marsupial_), and in several
instances one or two pairs are deficient. (It should be remarked that
a single tooth with two fangs is often represented by two separate
teeth, each with one fang.) The canines, with the succeeding false
molars, are extremely variable, but there are ordinarily three
tuberculated molars posterior to the representative of the
carnivorous or cutting grinder of the true _Carnivora_." All the
molar teeth are studded with sharp points or cusps; the deciduous
teeth are developed and disappear before birth. This order is divided
into four families, viz., _Talpidae_ or Moles, _Sorecidae_ or Shrews,
_Erinaceidae_ or Hedgehogs, and the _Tupaiadae_, Banxrings or
Tree-shrews. Of all these well-defined types are to be found in India,
but America and Africa possess various genera which we have not, such
as the Condylures (_Condylura_, Illiger), the Shrew-moles
(_Scalops_, Cuvier), belonging to _Talpidae_; the Solendons,
Desmans, and Chrysochlores to _Sorecidae_; the Sokinahs, Tenrecs and
Gymnures to _Erinaceidae_; and the Macroscelles or Elephant-mice of
the Cape Colony form another group more allied to _Tupaia_ than the
rest. This last family is the most interesting. Anatomically
belonging to this order, they externally resemble the squirrels so
closely as to have been frequently mistaken for them. The grovelling
Mole and creeping Shrew are as unlike the sprightly Tupaia, as it
springs from branch to branch, whisking its long bushy tail, as it
is possible to conceive. I intend further on to give an illustration
of this little animal. The first we have on record concerning it is
in the papers relating to Captain Cook's third voyage, which are now
in the British Museum, where the animal is described and figured as
_Sciurus dissimilis_; it was obtained at Pulo Condore, an island 100
miles from Saigon, in 1780.
Sir T. Stamford Raffles was the next to describe it, which he did
under the generic name _Tupaia_--_tupai_ being a Malayan word
applied to various squirrel-like small animals--but he was somewhat
forestalled in the publication of his papers by MM. Diard and
Duvaucel. Dr. Anderson relates how Sir T. Raffles engaged the
services of these two naturalists to assist him in his researches,
on the understanding that the whole of the observations and
collections were to be the property of the East India Company; but
ultimately on this point there arose a disagreement between them,
and the paper that was first read before the Asiatic Society of Bengal
on the 10th of March, 1820, was drawn up by MM. Diard and Duvaucel,
though forwarded by Sir T. Raffles, whose own paper on the subject
was not read before the Linnean Society until the 5th of December
of that year, nor published till 1821; therefore to the others
belongs the credit of first bringing this curious group to notice.
They regarded it in the light of a true Shrew, disguised in the form
and habits of a squirrel, and they proposed for it the name
_Sorex-Glis_, i.e. Shrew-squirrel (_Glis_ properly means a dormouse,
but Linnaeus used it for his rodential group which he termed
_Glires_); this was afterwards changed by Desmarest and Giebel to
_Gli Sorex_ and _Glisosorex_, which latter stands for one of the
generic terms applied to the group. F. Cuvier, objecting to _Tupaia_,
proposed _Cladobates_ (signifying branch walkers), and Temminck,
also objecting to _Tupaia_, suggested _Hylogale_ (from Gr. _hyla_,
forest, and _gale_, a weasel), so now we have four generic names for
this one small group. English naturalists have however accepted
_Tupaia_; and, as Dr. Anderson fairly remarks, though it is a pity
that some definite rules are not laid down for the guidance of
naturalists for the acceptance or rejection of terms, still those
who reject _Tupaia_ on the ground of its being taken from a savage
tongue should be consistent, and refuse all others of similar origin.
He is quite right; but how many we should have to reject if we did
so--_Siamanga_ in Quadrumana, _Kerivoula_ in Cheiroptera, _Tupaia_
in Insectivora, _Golunda_ in Rodentia, _Rusa_ in Ruminantia, and
others! At the same time these names are wrong; they convey no
meaning; and had they a meaning (which only _Kerivoula_ or
_Kelivoulha_, i.e. plantain-bat, has) it is not expressed in
languages common to all western nations, such as the Latin and Greek.
_Tupaia_ is an unfortunate selection, inasmuch as it does not apply
to one type of animal, but reminds me somewhat of the Madras _puchi_,
which refers, in a general way, to most creeping insects, known or
unknown.
FAMILY TALPIDAE--THE MOLES.
These animals have a small cylindrical body, very short arm attached
to a large shoulder-blade, supported by a stout clavicle or
collar-bone. The fore-feet are of great breadth, supported by the
powerful muscles of the arm; the palm of the foot or hand is directed
outwards or backwards, the lower edge being trenchant, with scarcely
perceptible fingers armed with long, flat nails, strong and sharp,
with which to tear up the ground and shovel the earth aside. The hind
feet are small and weak in comparison, with slender claws. The head
tapers to a point, the long snout being provided with a little bone
which assists it in rooting, and the cervical muscles are very strong.
The eyes are microscopical, and almost concealed in the fur. At one
time it was a popular delusion that the mole was devoid of the power
of sight, but this is not the case. The sense of hearing is extremely
acute, and the tympanum is large, although externally there is no
aural development. The tail is short, the fur set vertically in the
skin, whence it is soft and velvety. The bones of the pubis do not
join, and the young when produced are large. The mammae are six in
number. The jaws are weak, the incisors are six above and eight below.
The canines (false molars?) have two roots. There are four false
molars above and three below, and three molars with pointed cusps.
Moles live principally on earth-worms, snails, and small insects,
though they are also said to devour frogs and small birds. They are
more common in Europe than in India, where the few known species are
only to be found in hilly parts. I have, I think, procured them on
the Satpura range some years ago, but I cannot speak positively to
the fact at this lapse of time, as I had not then devoted much
attention to the smaller mammalia, and it is possible that my
supposed moles were a species of shrew.
They are seldom if ever trapped in India, for the simple reason that
they are not considered worth trapping, and the destruction of moles
in England has long been carried on in the same spirit of ignorance
which led farmers, both there and in France, to destroy small birds
wholesale, till they did themselves much injury by the
multiplication of noxious insects. Moles, instead of being the
farmers' foes, are the farmers' friends. Mr. Buckland in his notes
to Gilbert White's 'Natural History of Selborne'(Macmillan's
_edition de luxe_ of 1876)--says: "After dinner we went round the
sweetstuff and toy booths in the streets, and the vicar, my
brother-in-law, the Rev. H. Gordon, of Harting, Petersfield, Hants,
introduced me to a merchant of gingerbread nuts who was a great
authority on moles. He tends cows for a contractor who keeps a great
many of the animals to make concentrated milk for the navy. The moles
are of great service; eat up the worms that eat the grass, and
wherever the moles have been afterwards the grass grows there very
luxuriantly. When the moles have eaten all the grubs and the worms
in a certain space, they migrate to another, and repeat their
gratuitous work. The grass where moles have been is always the best
for cows." In another place he says: "M. Carl Vogt relates an instance
of a landed proprietor in France who destroyed every mole upon his
property. The next season his fields were ravaged with wire-worms,
and his crops totally destroyed. He then purchased moles of
his neighbours, and preserved them as his best friends."
The poor little despised mole has had its part to play in history.
My readers may remember that William the Third's horse is supposed
to have put his foot into a mole-pit, and that the king's death was
hastened by the unconscious agency of "the little gentleman in
black," who was so often toasted afterwards by the Jacobites.
_GENUS TALPA_
NO. 122. TALPA MICRURA.
_The Short-tailed Mole_ (_Jerdon's No. 67_).
HABITAT.--The Eastern Himalayan range.
NATIVE NAMES.--_Pariam_, Lepcha; _Biyu-kantyen_, Bhotia
(_Jerdon_).
DESCRIPTION.--Velvety black, with a greyish sheen in certain lights;
snout nude; eyes apparently wanting. Jerdon says there is no
perforation of the integument over the eyes, but this I doubt, and
think that by examination with a lens an opening would be discovered,
as in the case of the Apennine mole, which M. Savi considered to be
quite blind. I hope to have an opportunity of testing this shortly.
The feet are fleshy white, also the tail, which, as its specific name
implies, is very small. "There are three small upper premolars
between the quasi-canine tooth and the large scissor-toothed
premolar, which is much developed."
SIZE.--Length, 4-3/4 to 5 inches; head alone, 1-3/4; palm with claws,
7/8 inch; tail, 3/16 of an inch or less.
Jerdon says: "This mole is not uncommon at Darjeeling, and many of
the roads and pathways in the station are intersected by its runs,
which often proceed from the base of some mighty oak-tree to that
of another. If these runs are broken down or holes made in them they
are generally repaired during the night. The moles do not appear to
form mole-hills as in Europe." Jerdon's specimens were dead ones
picked up, as the Lepchas do not know how to trap them.
NO. 123. TALPA MACRURA.
_The Long-tailed Mole_ (_Jerdon's No. 68_).
HABITAT.--Sikim.
DESCRIPTION.--Deep slaty blue, with a whitish or hoary gloss,
iridescent when wet; the tail covered with soft hair.
SIZE.--Head and body, 4 inches; tail, 1-1/4 inch; head alone, 1-1/8
inch; palm, 3/4 inch.
NO. 124. TALPA LEUCURA (_Blyth_).
_The White-tailed Mole_.
HABITAT.--Sylhet, Burmah (Tenasserim).
DESCRIPTION.--Similar to _micrura_, but with a short tail covered
with white hairs, and it has one premolar less.
FAMILY SORECIDAE.
Small animals, which from their size, shape, and nocturnal habits
are frequently confounded with rats and mice, as in the case of the
common Indian Shrew, known to most of us as the Musk-rat; they have
distinct though small eyes, distinct ears, the conch of which is like
that of a mouse. The tail _thick_ and tapering, whence the generic
name _Pachyura_, applied by De Selys Longchamp, and followed
latterly by Blyth; but there is also a sub-family of bats to which
the term has been applied. "On each flank there is a band of stiff
closely-set bristles, from between which, during the rutting season,
exudes an odorous fluid, the product of a peculiar gland" (_Cuvier_);
the two middle superior incisors are hooked and dentated at the base,
the lower ones slanted and elongated; five small teeth follow the
larger incisors on the upper jaw, and two those on the lower. There
are three molars with sharp-pointed cusps in each jaw, with a small
tuberculous tooth in the upper. The feet are five-toed, separate,
not webbed like the moles; the snout is long and pointed and very
mobile.
This family has been subdivided in various genera by naturalists,
each one having his followers; and it is puzzling to know which to
adopt. Simplicity being the great point to aim at in all these matters,
I may broadly state that Shrews are divided into land and water shrews
(_Sorex_ and _Hydrosorex_); the former includes _Crocidura_ of
Wagner, _Corsira_ of Gray, and _Anurosorex_ of Milne-Edwards, the
latter _Crossopus_ and _Chimarrogale_, Gray.
For ages both in the West and East this poor little animal has been
the victim of ignorance. In England, even in the last century, it
was looked upon as an evil thing, as Gilbert White says: "It is
supposed that a shrew-mouse is of so baneful and deleterious a nature
that wherever it creeps over a beast, be it horse, cow, or sheep,
the suffering animal is afflicted with cruel anguish, and threatened
with loss of the use of the limb," the only remedy in such cases being
the application of the twigs of a shrew ash, which was an ash-tree
into which a large hole had been bored with an augur, into which a
poor little shrew was thrust alive and plugged up (_see_ Brand's
'Popular Antiquities' for a description of the ceremonies). It is
pleasant to think that such barbarities have now ceased, for though
shrew ashes are to be found in various parts of England, I have never
heard (in my own county, Derbyshire, at least) of the necessity for
their use. In an article I contributed to a magazine some thirteen
years ago, I pointed out a coincident superstition prevailing in
India. Whilst marching as a Settlement officer in the district of
Seonee, I noticed that one of my camels had a sore back and on
inquiring into the cause was told by the natives that a musk-rat (our
commonest shrew) had run over him. Jerdon also remarks that in
Southern India (Malabar) the bite of _S. murinus_ is considered
venomous, and so it is in Bengal.
_GENUS SOREX_ (_Linn_.).
SYNONYM.--_Pachyura_, De S. Long; _Crocidura_, Wagner.
[Figure: Dentition of Shrew (magnified).]
DESCRIPTION.--Upper front teeth large; "inferior incisors entire,
or rarely so much as the trace of a serrated upper edge;" between
these and the first cutting molar four teeth as follows: large, small,
middling, very small; teeth wholly white; tail thick and tapering,
with a few scattered hairs, some with glands secreting a pungent
musky odour, some without.
NO. 125. SOREX CAERULESCENS.
_The Common Musk Shrew, better known as Musk-rat_.
NATIVE NAME.--_Chachhunder_, Hind.; _Sondeli_, Canarese.
HABITAT.--India generally.
DESCRIPTION.--Bluish gray, sometimes slightly mouse-coloured;
naked parts flesh-coloured.
SIZE.--Head and body, 6 to 7 inches; tail 3-1/2 to 4 inches.
This little animal is almost too well known, as far as its appearance
is concerned, to need much description, though most erroneous ideas
prevail about its habits. It is proverbially difficult to uproot an
old-established prejudice; and, though amongst my friends I have
been fighting its battles for the poor little shrew for years, I doubt
whether I have converted many to my opinions. Certainly its
appearance and its smell go strongly against it--the latter
especially--but even here its powers are greatly exaggerated. I
think by this time the old fallacy of musk-rats tainting beer and
wine in bottles by simply running over them is exploded. When I came
out in 1856 it was a common thing at the mess table, or in one's own
house, to reject a bottle of beer or wine, because it was
"musk-ratty;" but how seldom is the complaint made now since
country-bottled beverages are not used? Jerdon, Kellaart, and every
Indian naturalist scouts the idea of this peculiar power to do what
no chemist has yet succeeded in, viz., the creation of an essence
subtle enough to pass through glass. That musky bottles were frequent
formerly is due to impregnated corks and insufficient washing before
the bottle was filled. The musk-rat in a quiescent state is not
offensive, and its odour is more powerful at certain seasons. I am
peculiarly sensitive to smells, and dislike that of musk in
particular, yet I have no objection to a musk-rat running about my
room quietly if I do not startle him. I never allow one to be killed,
and encourage their presence in the house, for I think the temporary
inconvenience of a whiff of musk is amply repaid by the destruction
of the numerous objectionable insects which lurk in the corners of
Indian houses. The notion that they do damage by gnawing is an
erroneous one, the mischief done by mice and rats being frequently
laid to their charge; they have not the powerful dentition necessary
for nibbling through wood and mortar. In my book on 'Camp Life in
Seonee,' I say a good word for my little friends, and relate as
follows an experiment which I tried many years ago: "We had once been
talking at mess about musk-rats; some one declared a bottle of sherry
had been tainted, and nobody defended the poor little beast but
myself, and I was considerably laughed at. However, one night soon
after, as I was dressing before dinner, I heard a musk-rat squeak
in my room. Here was a chance. Shutting the door, I laid a clean
pocket-handkerchief on the ground next to the wall, knowing the way
in which the animal usually skirts round a room; on he came and ran
over the handkerchief, and then, seeing me, he turned and went back
again. I then headed him once more and quietly turned him; and thus
went on till I had made him run over the handkerchief five times.
I then took it up, and there was not the least smell. I then went
across to the mess house, and, producing the handkerchief, asked
several of my brother officers if they could perceive any peculiar
smell about it. No, none of them could. 'Well, all I know is,' said
I, 'that I have driven a musk-rat five times over that
pocket-handkerchief just now.'"
When I was at Nagpore in 1864 I made friends with one of these shrews,
and it would come out every evening at my whistle and take
grasshoppers out of my fingers. It seemed to be very short-sighted,
and did not notice the insect till quite close to my hand, when, with
a short swift spring, it would pounce upon its prey.
A correspondent of _The Asian_, writing from Ceylon, gives an account
of a musk-rat attacking a large frog, and holding on to it in spite
of interference.
McMaster says that these shrews will also eat bread, and adds:
"insects, however, form their chief diet, so they thus do us more
good than harm. I once disturbed one that evidently had been eating
part of a large scorpion."
NO. 126. SOREX MURINUS.
_The Mouse-coloured Shrew_ (_Jerdon's No. 70_).
HABITAT.--India generally, Burmah and Ceylon.
DESCRIPTION.--Brownish-grey above, paler beneath; fur coarser and
longer than in the last species, and in the young ones the colour
is more of a bluish-grey, browner on the back. The ears are larger
than those of _S. caerulescens_; tail nearly equal to the body, thick
at the base, and sparsely covered with long coarse hairs; feet and
tail flesh-coloured in the living animal.
SIZE.--Head and body about 6 inches; tail, 3-1/2 inches.
"This," as Jerdon says, "is the common musk-rat of China, Burmah,
and the Malayan countries, extending into Lower Bengal and Southern
India, especially the Malabar Coast, where it is said to be the common
species, the bite of which is considered venomous by the natives."
Kellaart mentions it in Ceylon as the "common _musk shrew_ or rat
of Europeans;" but he confuses it with the last species. He gives
the Singhalese name as "_koone meeyo_." The musky odour of this
species is less powerful, and is almost absent in the young. Blyth
states that he was never able to obtain a specimen of it in Lower
Bengal, yet the natives here discriminate between the light and
dark-coloured shrews, and hold, with the people of Malabar, that the
bite of the latter is venomous. Horsfield states that it has been
found in Upper India, Nepal, and Assam, and he gives the vernacular
name in the last-named country as "_seeka_."
NO. 127. SOREX NEMORIVAGUS.
_The Nepal Wood Shrew_ (_Jerdon's No. 71_).
HABITAT.--Nepal.
DESCRIPTION.--Differs from the last "by a stouter make, by ears
smaller and legs entirely nude, and by a longer and more tetragonal
tail; colour sooty black, with a vague reddish smear; the nude parts
fleshy grey; snout to rump, 3-5/8 inches; tail, 2 inches, planta,
11/16 inch. Found only in woods and coppices."--_Hodgson_.
NO. 128. SOREX SERPENTARIUS.
_The Rufescent Shrew_ (_Jerdon's No. 72_).
HABITAT.--Southern India, Burmah and Ceylon.
DESCRIPTION.--Colour dusky greyish, with rufous brown tips to the
hairs (_Blyth_). Above dusky slate colour with rufescent tips to the
fur; beneath paler, with a faint rufous tinge about the breast
(_Jerdon_). Fur short ashy-brown, with a ferruginous smear on the
upper surface; beneath a little paler coloured (_Kellaart_). Teeth
and limbs small; tail slender.
SIZE.--Head and body about 4-1/2 inches; tail, 2 inches; skull,
1-2/10 inch.
The smell of this musk shrew is said by Kellaart, who names it _S.
Kandianus_, to be quite as powerful as that of _S. caerulescens_.
Blyth seems to think that this animal gets more rufescent with age,
judging from two examples sent from Mergui. By some oversight, I
suppose, he has not included this species in his 'Catalogue of the
Mammals of Burmah.'
NO. 129. SOREX SATURATIOR.
_The Dark Brown Shrew_ (_Jerdon's No. 73_).
HABITAT.--Darjeeling.
DESCRIPTION.--"Colour uniform deep brown, inclining to blackish,
with a very slight rufescent shade; fur short, with an admixture of
a few lengthened piles, when adpressed to the body smooth, but
reversed somewhat harsh and rough; tail cylindrical, long, gradually
tapering; mouth elongated, regularly attenuated, ears moderate,
rounded."
SIZE.--Head and body, 5-1/2 inches; tail, 3 inches.
Jerdon seems to think this is the same as _S. Griffithi_ or closely
allied; I cannot say anything about this, as I have no personal
knowledge of the species, but on comparison with the description of
_S. Griffithi_ (which see further on) I should say they were
identical.
NO. 130. SOREX TYTLERI.
_The Dehra Shrew_ (_Jerdon's No. 74_).
HABITAT.--Dehra Doon.
DESCRIPTION.--"Light rufescent sandy brown, paler beneath;
unusually well clad even on the feet and tail, this last being covered
with shortish fur having numerous long hairs intermixed; form very
robust; basal portion of tail very thick."
SIZE.--Head and body, 4-1/2 inches; tail, 2-3/4 inches; hind foot,
7/8 inch.
NO. 131. SOREX NIGER.
_The Neilgherry Wood Shrew_ (_Jerdon's No. 75_).
HABITAT.--Ootacamund, Neilgherry hills.
DESCRIPTION.--"Blackish-brown, with a rufescent shade on the upper
parts; abdomen greyish; tail equal in length to the entire animal,
exclusive of the head, gradually tapering to a point; snout greatly
attenuated. Length of head and body, 3-1/2 inches; of the tail, 2-1/2
inches."--_Horsfield_.
NO. 132. SOREX LEUCOPS.
_The Long-tailed Shrew_ (_Jerdon's No. 76_).
HABITAT.--Nepal.
DESCRIPTION.--Uniform blackish-brown colour; tail very long and
slender, exceeding in length the head and body, terminating in a
whitish tip of half an inch long.
SIZE.--Head and body, 3 inches; tail, 2-1/2 inches. Jerdon supposes
that it is found at great altitudes, from Hodgson having in another
place described it (MSS.) under the name _nivicola_.
NO. 133. SOREX SOCCATUS.
_The Hairy-footed Shrew_ (_Jerdon's No. 77_).
HABITAT.--Nepal, Sikim, Mussoorie.
DESCRIPTION.--According to Hodgson, nearly the size of _S.
nemorivagus_, "but distinguished by its feet being clad with fur down
to the nails, and by its depressed head and tumid bulging cheeks
(mystaceal region); ears large and exposed; colour a uniform sordid
or brownish-slaty blue, extending to the clad extremities; snout to
rump, 3-1/2 inches; tail, 2-1/2 inches; planta, 13/16 inch. This
animal was caught in a wood plentifully watered, but not near the
water. It had no musky smell when brought to me dead."
NO. 134. SOREX MONTANUS.
_The Ceylon Black Shrew_.
HABITAT.--Ceylon, mountainous parts.
DESCRIPTION.--"Fur above sooty black without any ferruginous smear,
beneath lighter coloured; whiskers long, silvery grey; some parts
of legs and feet greyish, clothed with adpressed hairs; claws short,
whitish; ears large, round, naked; outer margin lying on a level with
the fur of the head and neck, the ears being thus concealed
posteriorly; tail tetragonal, tapering, shorter than head and
body."--_Kellaart_.
SIZE.--Head and body, 3-3/4 inches; tail, 2-1/4 inches; hind feet,
1/3 inch.
NO. 135. SOREX FERRUGINEUS.
_The Ceylon Rufescent Shrew_.
HABITAT.--Ceylon, Dimboola, below Newara Elia.
DESCRIPTION.--"Colour uniform dusky or dusky slate, with the tips
of the fur rufescent; fur long; large sebaceous anal glands; smell
very powerful."--_Kellaart_.
SIZE.--Head and body, 3-3/4 inches; tail, 2-1/4 inches.
NO. 136. SOREX GRIFFITHI.
_The Large Black Shrew_.
HABITAT.--Khasia hills and Arracan.
DESCRIPTION.--"Deep blackish-brown, with a slight rufous reflection
in a certain light; fur short, close, soft, and adpressed; tail thick
at the base, with a few long very slender straggling hairs along its
entire length; ears small and rounded; snout elongated."--_Horsfield_.
SIZE.--Head and body, 5-3/4 inches; tail, 2-1/2 inches.
Horsfield puts this down as having been found in Afghanistan by
Griffiths, but this is an error owing to Griffiths' Afghanistan and
Khasia collections having got mixed up.
NO. 137. SOREX HETERODON.
HABITAT.--Khasia hills.
DESCRIPTION.--"Very similar to _S. soccatus_ in general appearance,
but less dark coloured, with shorter fur, and pale instead of
blackish feet and tail underneath; the feet too are broader,
especially the hind feet, and they have a hairy patch below the heel"
(_Blyth_). The skull is narrower, and the upper incisors less
strongly hooked.
_GENUS FEROCULUS_.
Teeth small; upper incisors shorter and less strongly hooked than
in restricted _Sorex_; posterior spur large; lower incisors serrated
with three coronal points. Feet very large.
NO. 138. FEROCULUS MACROPUS.
_The Large-footed Shrew_.
HABITAT.--Ceylon.
DESCRIPTION.--Fur, long, soft uniform blackish--faint rufescent
tinge.
SIZE.--Head and body 4-1/4 inches; tail 2-1/4.
* * * * *
The following species are of a more diminutive type, and are commonly
called "pigmy-shrews;" in other respects they are true shrews.
NO. 139. SOREX HODGSONI.
_The Nepal Pigmy-Shrew_ (_Jerdon's No. 78_).
HABITAT.--Nepal and Sikim.
DESCRIPTION.--Brown, with a slight tinge of chestnut; feet and tail
furred; claws white.
SIZE.--Head and body 1-1/2 inch; tail, 1 inch.
Found in coppices and fields; rarely entering houses.
NO. 140. SOREX PERROTETI.
_The Neilgherry Pigmy-Shrew_ (_Jerdon's No. 79_).
HABITAT.--Neilgherry hills, probably also other parts of Southern
India.
DESCRIPTION.--"Back deep blackish-brown; belly pale; limbs and feet
brown; palms and plantae clad with hairs; ears large, conspicuous."
SIZE.--Head and body, 1-4/12 inch; tail, 11/12 inch.
NO. 141. SOREX MICRONYX.
_The Small-clawed Pigmy-Shrew_ (_Jerdon's No. 80_).
HABITAT.--West Himalayas, Kumaon, Mussoorie.
DESCRIPTION.--Claws very minute, with fine hairs impending them,
only to be detected by a lens; fur paler and more chestnut-brown than
any other of these minute shrews, and more silvery below.
SIZE.--Head and body, 1-5/8 inch; tail 1-1/8 inch.
NO. 142. SOREX MELANODON.
_The Black-toothed Pigmy-Shrew_ (_Jerdon's No. 81_).
HABITAT.--Calcutta.
DESCRIPTION.--Called _melanodon_ from the remarkable colouring of
its teeth, which are piceous and white-tipped; colour uniform
fuscous, scarcely paler beneath.
SIZE.--Head and body, 1-7/8 inch; tail, 1-1/16 inch.
NO. 143. SOREX NUDIPES.
_The Naked-footed Shrew_.
HABITAT.--Tenasserim.
DESCRIPTION.--"Remarkable for its naked feet and very large ears;
also for the odoriferous glands on the sides being strongly developed,
whereas we can detect them in no other of these minute species"
(_Blyth_). Colour brown above, a little grizzled and glistening,
more silvery below.
SIZE.--Head and body, 1-3/4 inch; tail, 1-1/16 inch.
NO. 144. SOREX ATRATUS.
_The Black Pigmy-Shrew_.
HABITAT.--Khasia hills.
DESCRIPTION.--"Very dark colour, extending over the feet and tail
which is even _blackish underneath_; fur blackish-brown above, a
little tinged rufescent, and with dark greyish underneath; the feet
and tail conspicuously furred, beside the scattered long hairs upon
the latter."--_Blyth_.
This species was determined by Blyth on a single specimen, which was
found without its head, impaled by some shrike upon a thorn at
Cherrapunji. The same thing occasionally occurs in England, when the
common shrew may be found impaled by the rufous-backed shrike
(_Lanius collurio_).
_SUB-GENUS SORICULUS_ (_Blyth_).
The foregoing species being of the _white-toothed_ variety (with the
exception of _S. melanodon_, which, however, exhibits coloration
decidedly the _reverse_ of the following type), we now come to the
shrews with teeth tipped with a darker colour; the dentition is as
in the restricted shrews, with the peculiarity of colour above
mentioned. The hind feet of ordinary proportions, unadapted for
aquatic habits, and the tail slender and tapering, like that of a
mouse, instead of being cylindrical with a stiff brush at the end.
NO. 145. SORICULUS NIGRESCENS.
_The Mouse-tailed Shrew_ (_Jerdon's No. 82_).
HABITAT.--Sikim and Nepal.
DESCRIPTION.--"Above dark-blackish or blackish-brown, slightly
tinged rufescent, and with a silvery cast in certain lights; beneath
greyish-black" (_Jerdon_). Feet and claws pale; tail slender,
straight and naked.
SIZE.--Head and body, 3-1/4 inches; tail, 1-1/2 inch; hind foot, 5/8
inch.
Jerdon says that Kellaart named an allied species from Ceylon
_Corsira newera ellia_, but I have not been able to find it in his
'Prodromus Faunae Zeylanicae,' nor elsewhere.
_GENUS CROSSOPUS_ (_Wagner_).
The hind feet large; the lower surface, as also of the tail, fringed
with stiff hairs; tail somewhat compressed towards the tip; habits
aquatic.
NO. 146. CROSSOPUS HIMALAICUS.
_The Himalayan Water-Shrew_ (_Jerdon's No. 83_).
NATIVE NAMES.--_Oong lagniyu_, Lepcha; _Choopitsi_, Bhot.
HABITAT.--Darjeeling.
DESCRIPTION.--Fur dark brown above, paler beneath; rusty brown on
the lower part of throat and middle of belly, according to Jerdon;
slate coloured back with scattered long hairs, which are longer and
white-tipped on the sides and rump, according to Blyth's memoir; ears
very small, hairy, concealed; tail long, slender, fringed with stiff
whitish hair beneath; whiskers long and brown.
SIZE.--Head and body, 5 to 6 inches; tail about 3-1/2 inches; hind
foot, 3/4 to 11/12 inch.
Jerdon procured this water-shrew at Darjeeling in the Little Rungeet
river; it is said to live on small fish, tadpoles, water insects,
&c. The movements of the English water-shrew, when swimming, are very
agile. It propels itself by alternate strokes of its hind feet, but
with an undulating motion, its sides being in a manner extended, and
body flattened, showing a narrow white border on each side; then the
fur collects a mass of tiny air bubbles which make the submerged
portion glow like silver. It prefers clear still water, but at the
same time will make its way up running streams and ditches, and
occasionally wanders away into fields, and has been found in houses
and barns.
Its food is principally aquatic insects, worms, mollusca, and
freshwater crustacea. In Bell's 'British Quadrupeds' its mode of
poking about amongst stones in search of fresh-water shrimps
(_Gammarus pulex_) is well described. Mr. F. Buckland states that
he once dissected a water-shrew and found the intestines to contain
a dark fluid pulpy matter, which, on being examined by a microscope,
proved to consist entirely of the horny cases and legs of minute water
insects. Continental writers declare that it will attack any small
animal that comes in its way, giving it quite a ferocious character,
and it is said to destroy fish spawn. I can hardly believe in its
destroying large fish by eating out their brain and eyes. Brehm, who
gives it credit for this, must have been mistaken. I have also read
of its attacking a rat in a trap which was dead, and was discovered
devouring it, having succeeded in making a small hole through the
skin.
In England this animal breeds in May. The young are from five to seven
in number, and are brought forth in a small chamber in the bank, which
is constructed with several openings, one of which is usually under
the level of the water.
Dr. Anderson has very fully described the Himalayan species under
the name of _Chimarrogale Himalaica_. He caught a specimen in a
mountain stream at Ponsee in the Kakhyen hills, 3500 feet above the
sea level, and observed it running over the stones in the bed of the
stream and plunging freely into the water hunting for insects.
_GENUS NYCTOGALE_.
Head and skull as in _Soricidae_, but with palmated feet and
compressed tail, as in _Myogalidae_. Special characteristic, large
pads on the soles of the feet, which form sucking discs.
NO. 147. NYCTOGALE ELEGANS.
_The Thibet Water-Shrew_.
HABITAT.--Moupin in Thibet.
DESCRIPTION.--Fur of two kinds, a soft under down of slaty grey
colour through which pass longer hairs, grey at the base with white
tips, "causing the animal to vary considerably in appearance
according as these hairs are raised or laid flat;" ears quite
concealed, and without a conch; tail stout, longer than the body,
quadrangular at the base, then triangular, and finally flattened;
feet large and palmated, with large pads on the soles, depressed in
the middle, forming sucking discs, which are a peculiar
characteristic of this animal.
SIZE.--Head and body about 3-1/2 inches; tail about 4 inches.
Though this is not properly an Indian animal, I have thought fit to
include it as belonging to a border country in which much interest
is taken, and which has as yet been imperfectly explored.
_GENUS CORSIRA_.
Of Gray, _Amphisorex_ of Duvernoy; differs in dentition from the last
in having the lower quasi-incisors serrated with three or four
coronal points, and the anterior point of the upper incisors not
prolonged beyond the posterior spur, tipped with ferruginous; the
lateral small teeth in the upper jaw are five in number, diminishing
in size from the first backwards. Tail cylindrical, not tapering,
and furnished with a stiffish brush at the extremity. The common
British land-shrew is of this type.
NO. 148. CORSIRA ALPINA.
_The Alpine Shrew_ (_Jerdon's No. 84_).
HABITAT.--Darjeeling.
DESCRIPTION.--Deep blackish brown, very slightly rufescent in
certain lights; tail slender, nearly naked, very slightly attenuated,
compressed at the tip.
SIZE.--Head and body, 2-1/2 inches; tail 2-1/2 inches.
This is identical with the European Alpine shrew; the _Sorex
caudatus_ of Horsfield's Catalogue (No. 148), which was a specimen
named by Hodgson, is also the same animal.
_GENUS ANUROSOREX_.
Remarkably for its large head, nude, scaly extremities, and
extremely short, nude, scaly tail. "The structure of the ear, limbs
and tail has special reference to a burrowing animal--the ear being
valvular, so that it may be effectually closed against the entrance
of foreign substances, and the feet devoid of hair, but scaly, and
the tail reduced to very small dimensions. The eye is also
excessively small, and buried deep in the dense silky fur. The hind
feet, contrary to what is almost invariably the case in burrowing
mammals, are larger than the fore feet."--_Anderson_.
NO. 149. ANUROSOREX ASSAMENSIS.
_The Assam Burrowing Shrew_.
HABITAT.--Assam, Thibet.
DESCRIPTION.--General colour dark slaty, faintly washed with
brownish rusty on the long hairs of the rump; fur long and silky,
longest over the rump; occasional long brown hairs with pale tips
are scattered over the body; long whiskers, yellow claws; naked parts
of snout, limbs and tail flesh-coloured.
SIZE.--Head and body nearly 3 inches; tail, 1/2 inch; forefoot, 1/2
inch; hind foot, 3/4 inch.
The skull and dentition of this animal are essentially soricine. The
Thibetan species (_A. squamipes_) is described as being over four
inches in length, of a greyish colour, with a greenish-brown tinge;
feet and nails whitish. It lives in burrows which it digs in the earth.
I think it should properly come after the moles, which it resembles
in some particulars.
FAMILY ERINACEIDAE--THE HEDGEHOGS.
The molar teeth broad; the hinder ones nearly square, the tubercles
on their upper surface rounded; the other teeth are three incisors
on each side, of which the inner one is considerably larger than the
rest; behind these, separated by a little gap, come three premolars
gradually increasing in size, then one having much the appearance
of a true molar, but furnished with a cutting edge; then three molar
teeth, two of which are nearly square with strong tubercles. The last
molar is small. In the lower jaw the lowermost incisor is very large,
and projects almost horizontally forwards, and it is followed by
three small teeth now acknowledged to be premolars, with another
large premolar, which is of the nature of a carnassial or cutting
tooth acting on the one in the upper jaw. Then three molars as above,
two large and one small, but with sharp tubercles. The skull has a
more carnivorous form; it has "a complete zygomatic arch, and the
tympanic bone forms a bundle-like swelling on each side of the back
of the skull." Feet pentadactylous or five-toed; legs very short.
The tibia and fibula (two bones of the shank) are joined together.
The back is clothed with hair intermixed with sharp spines or
bristles. Tail short or wanting entirely.
[Figure: Dentition of Hedgehog.]
_GENUS ERINACEUS_.
The European hedgehog is well known to most of us. Few boys who have
lived a country life have been without one at some time or other as
a pet. I used to keep mine in a hole at the root of an old apple-tree,
which was my special property, and they were occasionally brought
into the house at the cook's request to demolish the black-beetles
in the kitchen. These they devour with avidity and pursue them with
the greatest ardour. They also eat slugs, worms, and snails; worms
they seize and eat from end to end, like a Neapolitan boy with a string
of maccaroni, slowly masticating, the unconsumed portion being
constantly transferred from one side of the mouth to the other, so
that both sides of the jaws may come into play. Dr. Dallas quaintly
remarks on the process: "This must be an unpleasant operation for
the worm, much as its captor may enjoy it." Toads, frogs, mice, and
even snakes are eaten by the European hedgehog. It would be
interesting to find out whether the Indian hedgehog also attacks
snakes; even the viper in Europe is devoured by this animal, who
apparently takes little heed of its bite. The European species also
eats eggs when it can get them, and I have no doubt does much damage
to those birds who make their nests on the ground.
Few dogs will tackle a hedgehog, for the little creature at once rolls
itself into a spiny ball, all sharp prickles, by means of the
contraction of a set of cutaneous muscles, the most important of
which, the _orbicularis panniculi_, form a broad band encircling the
body which draws together the edges of the spiny part of the skin.
There is a most interesting account of the mechanism of the spines
in Mr. F. Buckland's notes to White's 'Natural History of Selborne,'
vol. ii., page 76. A jet of water poured on to the part within which
the head is concealed will make the creature unroll, and it is said
that foxes and some dogs have discovered a way of applying this plan,
and also that foxes will roll a hedgehog into a ditch or pond, and
thus make him either expose himself to attack or drown. Gipsies eat
hedgehogs, and consider them a delicacy--the meat being white and
as tender as a chicken (not quite equal to porcupine, I should say);
they cook them by rolling them in clay, and baking them till the clay
is dry; when the ball is broken open the prickles come off with the
crust.
[Figure: Hedgehog.]
Hedgehogs have had several popular fallacies concerning them. They
were supposed to suck cows dry during the night and to be proof
against poisons. Mr. Frank Buckland tried prussic acid on one with
fatal results, but he says the bite of a viper seemed to have no effect.
Pallas, I know, has remarked that hedgehogs will eat hundreds of
cantharides beetles with impunity, whereas one or two will cause
extreme agony to a cat or dog. The female goes with young about seven
weeks, and she has from three to eight in number. The little ones
when born have soft spines--which, however, soon harden--are blind,
and, with the exception of the rudimentary prickles, quite naked.
They are white at birth, but in about a month acquire the colour of
the mother.
NO. 150. ERINACEUS COLLARIS.
_The Collared Hedgehog_ (_Jerdon's No. 85_).
HABITAT.--Northern India and Afghanistan. Dallas says from Madras
to Candahar; but Jerdon calls it the North Indian hedgehog, and
assigns to it the North-west, Punjab, and Sind, giving Southern India
to the next species.
DESCRIPTION.--Spines irregularly interwoven, ringed with white and
black, with yellowish tips, or simply white and black, or black with
a white ring in the middle; ears large; chin white; belly and legs
pale brown.
SIZE.--Head and body, 8 to 9 inches; tail, 7/12 inch.
I have found this species in the Punjab near Lahore. One evening,
whilst walking in the dusk, a small animal, which I took to be a rat,
ran suddenly between my legs. Now I confess to an antipathy to rats,
and, though I would not willingly hurt any animal, I could not resist
an impulsive kick, which sent my supposed rat high in the air. I felt
a qualm of conscience immediately afterwards, and ran to pick up my
victim, and was sorry to find I had perpetrated such an assault on
an unoffending little hedgehog, which was however only stunned, and
was carried off by me to the Zoological Gardens. Captain Hutton
writes of them that they feed on beetles, lizards, and snails; "when
touched they have the habit of suddenly jerking up the back with some
force so as to prick the fingers or mouth of the assailant, and at
the same time emitting a blowing sound, not unlike the noise produced
when blowing upon a flame with a pair of bellows." He also says they
are very tenacious of life, bearing long abstinence with apparent
ease; when alarmed they roll themselves up into a ball like the
European species.
Hutton also remarks that _E. collaris_, on hearing a noise, jerks
the skin and quills of its neck completely over its head, leaving
only the tip of the nose free.
NO. 151. ERINACEUS MICROPUS.
_The Small-footed Hedgehog_ (_Jerdon's No. 86_).
HABITAT.--South India.
DESCRIPTION.--"Ears moderately large; form somewhat elongated; tail
very short, concealed; feet and limbs very small; head and ears nude,
sooty-coloured; belly very thinly clad with yellowish hairs; spines
ringed dark brown and whitish, or whitish with a broad brown
sub-terminal ring, tipped white."--_Jerdon_.
SIZE.--Head and body about 6 inches. Dr. Anderson considers this as
identical with _E. collaris_.
NO. 152. ERINACEUS PICTUS.
_The Painted Hedgehog_.
HABITAT.--Central India, Goona, Ulwar, Agra, Kurrachee.
DESCRIPTION.--Similar to the above, but the tips of the spines are
more broadly white, and the brown bands below not so dark; the ears
are somewhat larger than _micropus_, and the feet narrower and not
so long.
NO. 153. ERINACEUS GRAYI.
HABITAT.--North-west India.
DESCRIPTION.--The general colour is blackish-brown; the spines are
narrowly tipped with black, succeeded by a narrowish yellow band;
then a blackish-brown band, the rest of the spine being yellowish;
the broad dark-brown band is so strongly developed as to give the
animal its dark appearance when viewed from the side; some animals
are, however, lighter than others. The feet are large; the fore-feet
broad, somewhat truncated, with moderately long toes and powerful
claws.
SIZE.--Head and body about 6-3/4 inches.
NO. 154. ERINACEUS BLANFORDI (_Anderson_).
HABITAT.--Sind, where one specimen was obtained by Mr. W. T.
Blanford, at Rohri.
DESCRIPTION.--Muzzle rather short, not much pointed; ears
moderately large, but broader than long, and rounded at the tips;
feet larger and broader than in the next species, with the first toe
more largely developed than in the last. The spines meet in a point
on the forehead, and there is no bare patch on the vertex. Each spine
is broadly tipped with deep black, succeeded by a very broad yellow
band, followed by a dusky brown base; fur deep brown; a few white
hairs on chin and anterior angle of ear.
SIZE.--Head and body, 5.36 inches.
NO. 155. ERINACEUS JERDONI (_Anderson_).
HABITAT.--Sind, Punjab frontier.
DESCRIPTION.--Muzzle moderately long and pointed; ears large, round
at tip and broad at base; feet large, especially the fore-feet; claws
strong. The spines begin on a line with the anterior margins of the
ears; large nude area on the vertex; spines with two white and three
black bands, beginning with a black band. When they are laid flat
the animal looks black; but an erection the white shows and gives
a variegated appearance.
SIZE.--Head and body about 7-1/2 inches.
NO. 156. ERINACEUS MEGALOTIS.
_The Large-eared Hedgehog_.
HABITAT.--Afghanistan.
More information is required about this species. Jerdon seems to
think it may be the same as described by Pallas (_E. auritus_), which
description I have before me now ('Zoographica Rosso Asiatica,' vol.
i. page 138), but I am unable to say from comparison that the two
are identical--the ears and the muzzle are longer than in the common
hedgehog. This is the species which he noticed devouring blistering
beetles with impunity. It has a very delicate fur of long silky white
hairs, covering the head, breast and abdomen, "forming also along
the sides a beautiful ornamental border" (_Horsfield_, from a
specimen brought from Mesopotamia by Commander Jones, I.N.)
The space to which I am obliged to limit myself will not allow of
my describing at greater length; but to those of my readers who are
interested in the Indian hedgehogs, I recommend the paper by Dr. J.
Anderson in the 'Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal' for 1878,
page 195, with excellently drawn plates of the heads, skulls and feet
of the various species. There is one peculiarity which he notices
regarding the skull of _E. collaris_ (or, as he calls it,
_micropus_): the zygomatic arch is not continuous as in the other
species, but is broken in the middle, the gap being caused by the
absence of the _malar_ or cheek-bone. In this respect it resembles,
though Dr. Anderson does not notice it, the _Centetidae_ or _Tanrecs_
of Madagascar.
Dr. Anderson's classification is very simple and good. He has two
groups: the first, containing _E. micropus_ and _E. pictus_, is
distinguished by the _second upper premolar simple, one-fanged, the
feet club-shaped; soles tubercular_. The second group, containing
_E. Grayi_, _E. Blanfordi_ and _E. Jerdoni_, has _the second upper
premolar compound, three-fanged, and the feet well developed and
broad_. The first group has also a division or bare area on the
vertex; the second has not.
FAMILY HYLOMIDAE (_Anderson_).
The following little animal has affinities to both _Erinaceidae_ and
_Tupaiidae_, and therefore it may appropriately be placed here. Dr.
Anderson on the above ground has placed it in a separate family,
otherwise it is generally classed with the _Erinaceidae_. Its skull
has the general form of the skull of _Tupaia_, but in its imperfect
orbit, in the rudiment of a post-orbital process, and in the absence
of any imperfections of the zygomatic arch and in the position of
the lachrymal foramen it resembles the skull of _Erinaceus_. The
teeth are 44 in number: Inc., 3--3/3--3; can., 1--1/1--1; premolars,
4--4/4--4; molars, 3--3/3--3, and partake of the character of both
_Tupaia_ and _Erinaceus_. The shank-bones being united and the
rudimentary tail create an affinity to the latter, whilst its
arboreal habits are those of the former.
_GENUS HYLOMYS_.
Head elongate; ears round; feet arboreal, naked below; tail
semi-nude; pelage not spiny.
NO. 157. HYLOMYS PEGUENSIS.
_The Short-tailed Tree-Shrew_.
HABITAT.--Burmah, Pegu, Ponsee in the Kakhyen hills.
Appears to be identical with the species from Borneo (_H. suillus_).
FAMILY TUPAIIDAE.
These interesting little animals were first accurately described
about the year 1820, though, as I have before stated, it was noticed
in the papers connected with Captain Cook's voyages, but was then
supposed to be a squirrel. Sir T. Stamford Raffles writes: "This
singular little animal was first observed tame in the house of a
gentleman at Penang, and afterwards found wild at Singapore in the
woods near Bencoolen, where it lives on the fruit of the kayogadis,
&c." Another species, _T. Javanica_, had, however, been discovered
in Java fourteen years before, but not published till 1821. They are
sprightly little creatures, easily tamed, and, not being purely
insectivorous, are not difficult to feed in captivity. Sir T. S.
Raffles describes one that roamed freely all over the house,
presenting himself regularly at meal-times for milk and fruit. Dr.
Sal. Muller describes the other species (_T. Javanica_) as a
confiding, simple little animal, always in motion, seeking its food
at one time amongst dry leaves and moss on the ground, and again on
the stems and branches of trees, poking its nose into every crevice.
Its nest, he says, is formed of moss at some height from the ground,
supported on clusters of orchideous plants. Dr. Cantor, in his
'Catalogue of the Mammalia of the Malayan Peninsula,' writes as
follows: "In a state of nature it lives singly or in pairs, fiercely
attacking intruders of its own species. When several are confined
together they fight each other, or jointly attack and destroy the
weakest. The natural food is mixed insectivorous and frugivorous.
In confinement, individuals may be fed exclusively on either, though
preference is evinced for insects; and eggs, fish and earth-worms
are equally relished. A short, peculiar, tremulous, whistling sound,
often heard by calls and answers in the Malayan jungle, marks their
pleasurable emotions, as for instance on the appearance of food,
while the contrary is expressed by shrill protracted cries. Their
disposition is very restless, and their great agility enables them
to perform the most extraordinary bounds in all directions, in which
exercise they spend the day, till night sends them to sleep in their
rudely-constructed lairs in the highest branches of trees. At times
they will sit on their haunches, holding their food between their
forelegs, and after feeding they smooth the head and face with both
fore-paws, and lick the lips and palms. They are also fond of water,
both to drink and to bathe in. The female usually produces one young."
The above description reminds one forcibly of the habits of squirrels,
so it is no wonder that at one time these little creatures were
confounded with the _Sciuridae_.
_GENUS TUPAIA_.
The dentition of this genus is as follows: Either four or six incisors
in the upper jaw, but always six in the lower; four premolars and
three molars in each jaw, upper and lower. The skull has a complete
bony orbit, and the zygomatic arch is also complete, but with a small
elongated perforation; the muzzle attenuated, except in _T.
Ellioti_; ears oval; the stomach possesses a caecum or blind gut;
the eyes are large and prominent, and the tail bushy, like that of
a squirrel; the toes are five in number, with strong claws; the
shank-bones are not united as in the hedgehogs. The diet is mixed
insectivorous and frugivorous.
NO. 158. TUPAIA ELLIOTI.
_Elliot's Tree-Shrew_ (_Jerdon's No. 87_).
HABITAT.--Southern India, Godavery district, Cuttack; the Central
Provinces, Bhagulpore range.
[Figure: Dentition of _Tupaia_.]
DESCRIPTION.--Fur pale rufous brown, darker on the back and paler
on the sides; the chin, throat, breast and belly yellowish, also a
streak of the same under the tail; the upper surface of the tail is
of the same colour as the centre of the back; there is a pale line
from the muzzle over the eye, and a similar patch beneath it; the
fur of this species is shorter and more harsh, and the head is more
blunt than in the Malayan members of the family.
SIZE.--Head and body, 7 to 8 inches; tail, 7 to 9 inches.
NO. 159. TUPAIA PEGUANA.
_Syn_.--TUPAIA BELANGERI.
_The Pegu Tree-Shrew_ (_Jerdon's No. 88_).
HABITAT.--Sikim (Darjeeling), Assam and through Arakan to
Tenasserim.
[Figure: _Tupaia Peguana_.]
DESCRIPTION.--Jerdon says: "General hue a dusky greenish-brown, the
hairs being ringed brown and yellow; lower parts the same, but
lighter; and with a pale buff line; a stripe from the throat to the
vent, broadest between the forearms and then narrowing; ears livid
red, with a few short hairs; palms and soles dark livid red." Dr.
Anderson remarks that the fur is of two kinds of hairs--one fine and
wavy at the extremity, banded with black, yellow and black; the
second being strong and somewhat bristly, longer than the other, and
banded with a black basal half and then followed by rings of yellow
and black, then yellow again with a black tip, the black basal half
of the hairs being hidden, the annulation of the free portions
produces a rufous olive-grey tint over the body and tail.
SIZE.--Head and body about 7 inches; tail, 6-1/2.
Jerdon says of it that those he procured at Darjeeling frequented
the zone from 3000 to 6000 feet; they were said by the natives to
kill small birds, mice, &c. The Lepcha name he gives is
_Kalli-tang-zhing_. McMaster in his notes writes: "The Burmese
Tupaia is a harmless little animal; in the dry season living in trees
and in the monsoon freely entering our houses, and in impudent
familiarity taking the place held in India by the common palm
squirrel. It is, however, probably from its rat-like head and
thievish expression, very unpopular. I have found them in rat-traps,
however, so possibly they deserve to be so." He adds he cannot endorse
the statement regarding their extraordinary agility mentioned by Dr.
Cantor and quoted by Jerdon, for he had seen his terriers catch them,
which they were never able to do with squirrels; and cats often seize
them.
Mason says: "One that made his home in the mango-tree near my house
at Tonghoo made himself nearly as familiar as the cat. Sometimes I
had to drive him off the bed, and he was very fond of putting his
nose into the teacups immediately after breakfast, and acquired a
taste both for tea and coffee. He lost his life at last by
incontinently walking into a rat-trap."
The Burmese name for it is _Tswai_ in Arracan. Jerdon states that
it is one of the few novelties that had escaped the notice of Mr.
Brian Hodgson, but Dr. Anderson mentions a specimen (unnamed) from
Nepal in the British Museum which was obtained by Hodgson.
NO. 160. TUPAIA CHINENSIS (_Anderson_).
HABITAT.--Burmah, Kakhyen hills, east of the valley of the
Irrawaddy.
DESCRIPTION.--Ferruginous above, yellowish below, the basal
two-thirds of the hair being blackish, succeeded by a yellow, a black,
and then a yellow and black band, which is terminal; there is a faint
shoulder streak washed with yellowish; the chest pale orange yellow,
which hue extends along the middle of the belly as a narrow line;
under surfaces of limbs grizzled as on the back, but paler; upper
surface of tail concolorous with the dorsum.
SIZE.--Head and body, 6-1/2 inches; tail, 6.16.
The teeth are larger than those of _T. Ellioti_, but smaller than
the Malayan _T. ferruginea_, and the skull is smaller than that of
the last species, and the teeth are also smaller. Dr. Anderson says:
"When I first observed the animal it was on a grassy clearing close
to patches of fruit, and was so comporting itself that in the distance
I mistook it for a squirrel. The next time I noticed it was in
hedgerows."
The other varieties of _Tupaia_ belong to the Malayan
Archipelago--_T. ferruginea_, _T. tana_, _T. splendidula_, and _T.
Javanica_ to Borneo and Java. There is one species which inhabits
the Nicobars.
NO. 161. TUPAIA NICOBARICA.
HABITAT.--Nicobar Island.
DESCRIPTION.--Front and sides of the face, outside of fore-limbs,
throat and chest, golden yellow; inner side of hind limbs rich red
brown, which is also the colour of the hind legs and feet; head dark
brown, with golden hairs intermixed; back dark maroon, almost black;
upper surface of the tail the same; pale oval patch between shoulders,
dark band on each side between it and fore-limbs, passing forward
over the ears.
SIZE.--Head and body, 7.10; tail, 8 inches.
* * * * *
There is a little animal allied to the genus _Tupaia_, which has
hitherto been found only in Borneo and Sumatra, but as Sumatran types
have been found in Tenasserim, perhaps some day the _Ptilocercus
Lowii_ may be discovered there. It has a rather shorter head than
the true Banxrings, more like _T. Ellioti_, but its dentition is
nearly the same, as also are its habits. Its chief peculiarity lies
in its tail, which is long, slender and naked, like that of a rat
for two-thirds of its length, the terminal third being adorned with
a broad fringe of hair on each side, like the wings of an arrow or
the plumes of a feather. There is an excellent coloured picture of
it in the 'Proc. Zool. Society,' vol. of Plates.
* * * * *
I had almost concluded my sketch of the Insectivora without alluding
to one most interesting genus, which ought properly to have come
between the shrews and the hedgehogs, the _Gymnura_, which, though
common in the Malay countries, has only recently been found in
Burmah--a fact of which I was not aware till I saw it included in
a paper on Tenasserim mammals by Mr. W. T. Blanford ('Jour. As. Soc.
Beng.,' 1878, page 150). Before I refer to his notes I may state that
this animal is a sort of link between the _Soricidae_ and the
_Erinaceidae_, and De Blainville proposed for it the generic name
of _Echinosorex_, but the one generally adopted is _Gymnura_, which
was the specific name given to it by its discoverer, Sir Stamford
Raffles, who described it as a _Viverra_ (_V. gymnura_); however,
Horsfield and Vigors and Lesson, the two former in England and the
latter in France, saw that it was not a civet, and, taking the naked
tail as a peculiarity, they called the genus _Gymnura_, and the
specimen _Rafflesii_. There is not much on record regarding the
anatomy of the animal, and in what respects it internally resembles
the hedgehogs. Outwardly it has the general soricine form, though
much larger than the largest shrew. The long tail too is against its
resemblance to the hedgehogs, which rests principally on its spiny
pelage.
The teeth in some degree resemble _Erinaceus_, the molars and
premolars especially, but the number in all is greater, there being
forty-four, or eight more. It would be interesting to know whether
the zygomatic arch is perfect and the tibia and fibula united, as
in the hedgehogs, or wanting and distinct as in the shrews. I have
given a slight sketch in outline of the animal.
NO. 162. GYMNURA RAFFLESII.
_The Bulau_.
HABITAT.--Tenasserim (Sumatra, Borneo); Malacca.
[Figure: _Gymnura Rafflesii_.]
DESCRIPTION.--Long tapering head, with elongated muzzle, short legs,
shrew-like body, with a long, round, tapering and scaly rat-like tail,
naked, with the exception of a few stiff hairs here and there among
the scales. In each jaw on each side three incisors, one canine (those
in the upper jaw double-fanged) and seven premolars and molars; feet
five-toed, plantigrade, armed with strong claws. Fur of two kinds,
fine and soft, with longer and more spiny ones intermixed. The colour
varies a good deal, the general tint being greyish-black, with head
and neck pale or whitish, and with a broad black patch over the eye.
Some have been found almost wholly white, with the black eye-streak
and only a portion of the longer hairs black, so that much stress
cannot be laid on the colouring; the tail is blackish at the base,
whitish and compressed at the tip. Mr. Blanford says: "The small
scales covering the tail are indistinctly arranged in rings and
sub-imbricate; on the lower surface the scales are convex
and distinctly imbricate, the bristles arising from the interstices.
Thus the under surface of the tail is very rough, and may probably
be of use to the animal in climbing." He also refers to the fact that
the claws of his specimen are not retractile, and mentions that in
the original description both in Latin and English the
retractability of the claws is pointed out as a distinction between
_Gymnura_ and _Tupaia_. In the description given of the Sumatran
animal both by Dallas and Cuvier nothing is mentioned about this
feature.
SIZE.--A Sumatran specimen: head and body, 14 inches; tail, 12 inches.
Mr. Blanford's specimen: head and body, 12 inches; tail, 8.5.
Mr. Blanford was informed by Mr. Davison, who obtained it in Burmah,
that the _Gymnura_ is purely nocturnal in its habits, and lives under
the roots of trees. It has a peculiar and most offensive smell,
resembling decomposed cooked vegetables. The Bulau has not the power
of rolling itself up like the hedgehog, nor have the similar forms
of insectivores which resemble the hedgehog in some respects, such
as the Tenrecs (_Centetes_), Tendracs (_Ericulus_), and Sokinahs
(_Echinops_) of Madagascar.
CARNIVORA.
Speaking generally, the whole range of mammals between the
_Quadrumana_ and the _Rodentia_ are _carnivorous_ with few
exceptions, yet there is one family which, from its muscular
development and dentition, is pre-eminently flesh-eating, as Cuvier
aptly remarks, "the sanguinary appetite is combined with the force
necessary for its gratification." Their forms are agile and
muscular; their circulation and respiration rapid. As Professor
Kitchen Parker graphically writes: "This group, which comprises all
the great beasts of prey, is one of the most compact as well as the
most interesting among the mammalia. So many of the animals contained
in it have become 'familiar in our mouths as household words,'
bearing as they do an important part in fable, in travel, and even
in history; so many of them are of such wonderful beauty, so many
of such terrible ferocity, that no one can fail to be interested in
them, even apart from the fact likely to influence us more in their
favour than any other, that the two home pets, which of all others
are the commonest and the most interesting, belong to the group. No
one who has had a dog friend, no one who has watched the wonderful
instance of maternal love afforded by a cat with her kittens, no one
who loves riding across country after a fox, no lady with a taste
for handsome furs, no boy who has read of lion and tiger hunts and
has longed to emulate the doughty deeds of the hunter, can fail to
be interested in an assemblage which furnishes animals at once so
useful, so beautiful and so destructive. It must not be supposed from
the name of this group that all its members are exclusively
flesh-eaters, and indeed it will be hardly necessary to warn the
reader against falling into this mistake, as there are few people
who have never given a dog a biscuit, or a bear a bun. Still both
the dog and several kinds of bears prefer flesh-meat when they can
get it, but there are some bears which live almost exclusively on
fruit, and are, therefore, in strictness not carnivorous at all. The
name must, however, be taken as a sort of general title for a certain
set of animals which have certain characteristics in common, and
which differ from all other animals in particular ways." I would I
had more space at my disposal for further quotations from Professor
Parker's 'General Remarks on the Land Carnivora,' his style is so
graphic.
The dentition of the Carnivora varies according to the exclusiveness
of their fleshy diet, and the nature of that diet.
In taking two typical forms I give below sketches from skulls in my
possession of the tiger, and the common Indian black bear; the one
has trenchant cutting teeth which work up and down, the edges sliding
past each other just like a pair of scissors; the other has flat
crowned molars adapted for triturating the roots and herbage on which
it feeds. A skull of an old bear which I have has molars of which
the crowns are worn almost smooth from attrition. In the most
carnivorous forms the tubercular molars are almost rudimentary.
[Figure: Dentition of Tiger and Indian Black Bear]
The skull exhibits peculiar features for the attachment of the
necessary powerful muscles. The bones of the face are short in
comparison with the _cranial_ portion of the skull (the reverse of
the _Herbivores_); the strongly built zygomatic arch, the roughened
ridges and the broad ascending ramus of the lower jaw, all afford
place for the attachment of the immense muscular development. Then
the hinge of the jaw is peculiar; it allows of no lateral motion,
as in the ruminants; the _condyle_, or hinge-bolt of a tiger's jaw
(taken from the largest in my collection), measures two inches, and
as this fits accurately into its corresponding (glenoid) cavity,
there can be no side motion, but a vertical chopping one only. The
skeleton of a typical carnivore is the perfection of strength and
suppleness. The tissue of the bones is dense and white; the head small
and beautifully articulated; the spine flexible yet strong. In those
which show the greatest activity, such as the cats, civets and dogs,
the spinous processes, especially in the lumbar region, are greatly
developed--more so than in the bears. These serve for the attachment
of the powerful muscles of the neck and back. The clavicle or
collar-bone is wanting, or but rudimentary. The stomach is simple;
the intestinal canal short; liver lobed; organs of sight, hearing,
and smell much developed.
Now we come to the divisions into which this group has been separated
by naturalists. I shall not attempt to describe the various systems,
but take the one which appears to me the simplest and best to fit
in with Cuvier's general arrangement, which I have followed. Modern
zoologists have divided the family into two great groups--the
_Fissipedia_ (split-feet) or land Carnivora, and the _Pinnipedia_
(fin-feet) or water Carnivora. Of the land Carnivora some
naturalists have made the following three groups on the
characteristics of the feet, _viz_., _Plantigrada_, _Sub-plantigrada_
and _Digitigrada_. The dogs and cats, it is well known, walk on their
toes--they are the _Digitigrada_; the bears and allied forms on the
palms of their hands and soles of their feet, more or less, and thus
form the other two divisions, but there is another classification
which recommends itself by its simplicity and accuracy. Broadly
speaking, there are three types of land carnivores--the cat, the dog,
and the bear, which have been scientifically named _AEluroidea_ (from
the Greek _ailouros_, a cat); _Cynoidea_ (from _kuon_, a dog); and
_Arctoidea_ (from _arctos_, a bear). The distinction is greater
between the families of _Digitigrades_, the cat and dog, than between
the _Plantigrades_ and _Sub-plantigrades_, and therefore I propose to
adopt the following arrangement:--
I. ARCTOIDEA |_Plantigrades_.
|_Sub-plantigrades_.
II. AELUROIDEA |
|_Digitigrades_.
III. CYNOIDEA |
I may here remark that the Insectivora are in most cases plantigrade,
therefore the term is not an apposite one as applied to the bear and
bear-like animals only, but in treating of them under the term
_Arctoidea_ we may divide them again into _Plantigrades_ and
_Sub-plantigrades_.
ARCTOIDEA.
PLANTIGRADA.
_URSIDAE_.
The bears differ from the dogs and cats widely in form and manner,
and diet. The cat has a light springy action, treading on the tips
of its toes, a well-knit body glistening in a silky coat, often richly
variegated, "a clean cut," rounded face, with beautifully chiselled
nostrils and thin lips, and lives exclusively on flesh. The bear
shambles along with an awkward gait, placing the entire sole of his
foot on the ground; he has rough dingy fur, a snout like a pig's,
and is chiefly a vegetarian--and in respect to this last peculiarity
his dentition is modified considerably: the incisors are large,
tri-cuspidate; the canines somewhat smaller than in the restricted
carnivora; these are followed by three small teeth, which usually
fall out at an early period, then comes a permanent premolar of
considerable size, succeeded by two molars in the upper, and three
in the under jaw. The dental formula is therefore: Inc., 3--3/3--3;
can., 1--1/1--1; premolars, 4--4/4--4; molars, 2--2/3--3. In actual
numbers this formula agrees with that for the dogs; but the form of
the teeth is very different, inasmuch as the large premolars and the
molars have flat tuberculated crowns, constituting them true
grinders, instead of the trenchant shape of the cats, which is also,
to a modified extent, possessed by the dogs, of which the last two
molars have, instead of cutting edges, a grinding surface with four
cusps. The trenchant character is entirely lost in the bear, even
in the carnivorous species which exhibit no material difference in
the teeth, any more than, as I mentioned at the commencement of this
work, do the teeth of the human race, be they as carnivorous as the
Esquimaux, or vegetarian as the Hindu.
[Figure: Dentition of Bear.]
[Figure: Skull of Bear (under view).]
There is also another peculiarity in the bear's skull as compared
with the cat's. In the latter there is a considerable bulging below
the aperture of the ear called the _bulla tympani_, or bulb of the
drum. This is almost wanting in the bear, and it would be interesting
to know whether this much affects its hearing. I myself am of opinion
that bears are not acute in this sense, but then my experience has
been with the common Indian _Ursus_, or _Melursus labiatus_ only,
and the skulls of this species in my possession strongly exhibit this
peculiarity.[6] The cylindrical bones resemble those of man nearer
than any other animal, the _femur_ especially; and a skinned bear
has a most absurd resemblance to a robust human being. The sole of
the hind foot leaves a mark not unlike that of a human print.
[Footnote 6: On referring to Mr. Sanderson's interesting book,
'Thirteen Years among the Wild Beasts of India,' and General
Shakespear's 'Wild Sports,' I find that both those authors
corroborate my assertion that the sloth bear is deficient in the
sense of hearing. Captain Baldwin, however, thinks otherwise; but
the evidence seems to be against him in this respect.]
The Brown Bear of Europe (_Ursus arctos_) is the type of the family,
and has been known from the earliest ages--I may say safely
prehistoric ages, for its bones have been frequently found in
post-pliocene formations along with those of other animals of which
some are extinct. An extinct species of bear, _Ursus spelaeus_,
commonly called the Cave Bear, seems to have been the ancestor of
the Brown Bear which still is found in various parts of Europe, and
is said to have been found within historic times in Great Britain.
The bear of which we have the oldest record is almost the same as
our Indian Brown or Snow Bear. Our bear (_U. Isabellinus_) is but
a variety of _U. Syriacus_, which was the one slain by David, and
is spoken of in various parts of the Bible. It is the nearest approach
we have to the European _U. arctos_.
NO. 163. URSUS ISABELLINUS.
_The Himalayan Brown Bear_ (_Jerdon's No. 89_).
NATIVE NAME.--_Barf-ka-rich_ or _Bhalu_, Hind.; _Harput_, Kashmiri;
_Drin-mor_, Ladakhi.
[Figure: _URSUS ISABELLINUS_.]
DESCRIPTION.--A yellowish-brown colour, varying somewhat according
to sex and time of year. Jerdon says: "In winter and spring the fur
is long and shaggy, in some inclining to silvery grey, in others to
reddish brown; the hair is thinner and darker in summer as the season
advances, and in autumn the under fur has mostly disappeared, and
a white collar on the chest is then very apparent. The cubs show this
collar distinctly. The females are said to be lighter in colour than
the males."
Gray does not agree in the theory that _Ursus Syriacus_ is the same
as this species; in external appearance he says it is the same, but
there are differences in the skull; the nose is broader, and the
depression in the forehead less. The zygomatic arch is wider and
stronger; the lower jaw stronger and higher, and the upper tubercular
grinders shorter and thicker than in _Ursus Isabellinus_.
"It is found," Jerdon says, "only on the Himalayas and at great
elevations in summer close to the snow. In autumn they descend lower,
coming into the forests to feed on various fruits, seeds, acorns,
hips of rose-bushes, &c., and often coming close to villages to
plunder apples, walnuts, apricots, buckwheat, &c. Their usual food
in spring and summer is grass and roots. They also feed on various
insects, and are seen turning over stones to look for scorpions (it
is said) and insects that harbour in such places. In winter they
retreat to caves, remaining in a state of semi-torpidity, issuing
forth in March and April. Occasionally they are said to kill sheep
or goats, often wantonly, apparently, as they do not feed upon them.
They litter in April and May, the female having generally two cubs.
This bear does not climb trees well."
* * * * *
The next three species belong to the group of Sun Bears; _Helarctos_
of some authors.
NO. 164. URSUS (HELARCTOS) TORQUATUS _vel_ TIBETANUS.
_The Himalayan Black Bear_ (_Jerdon's No. 90_).
NATIVE NAME.--_Bhalu_, Hind.; _Thom_, Bhot.; _Sona_, Lepcha.
HABITAT.--The Himalayas, Nepal, Assam, Eastern Siberia, and China.
[Figure: _URSUS TIBETANUS_.]
DESCRIPTION.--Entirely black, with the exception of a broad white
V-shaped mark on the chest and a white chin. Neck thick, head
flattened; ears large; claws very long and curved; fur short; body
and head more slender than the preceding species.
Jerdon remarks that the specific name of this bear is unfortunate,
since it is rare in Thibet. However the more appropriate specific
name _torquatus_ is now more generally adopted. It seems to be common
in all the Himalayan ranges, where it is to be found from 5000 to
12,000 feet. Jerdon says it lives chiefly on fruit and roots,
apricots, walnuts, apples, currants, &c., and also on various grains,
barley, Indian corn, buckwheat, &c., and in winter on acorns,
climbing the oak trees and breaking down the branches. They are not
afraid of venturing near villages, and destroy not only garden stuff,
but--being, like all bears, fond of honey--pull down the hives
attached to the cottages of the hill people. "Now and then they will
kill sheep, goats, &c., and are said occasionally to eat flesh. This
bear has bad eyesight, but great power of smell, and if approached
from windward is sure to take alarm. A wounded bear will sometimes
show fight, but in general it tries to escape. It is said sometimes
to coil itself into the form of a ball, and thus roll down steep hills
if frightened or wounded." If cornered it attacks savagely, as all
bears will, and the face generally suffers, according to Jerdon; but
I have noticed this with the common Indian Sloth Bear, several of
the men wounded in my district had their scalps torn. He says: "It
has been noticed that if caught in a noose or snare, if they cannot
break it by force they never have the intelligence to bite the rope
in two, but remain till they die or are killed." In captivity this
bear, if taken young, is very quiet, but is not so docile as the
Malayan species.[7]
[Footnote 7: Since writing the above, the following letter appeared
in _The Asian_ of May 11, 1880:--
"THE HIMALAYAN BLACK BEAR.
"SIR,--Mr. Sterndale, in the course of his interesting papers on the
Mammalia of British India, remarks of _Ursus Tibetanus_, commonly
known as the Himalayan Black Bear, that 'a wounded one will sometimes
show fight, but in general it tries to escape.' This description is
not, I think, quite correct. As it would lead one to suppose that
this bear is not more savage than any other wild animal--the nature
of most of the _ferae_ being to try to escape when wounded, _unless_
they see the hunter who has fired at them, when many will charge at
once, and desperately. The Himalayan Black Bear will not only do this
_almost invariably_, but often attacks men without any provocation
whatever, and is altogether about the most fierce, vicious,
dangerous brute to be met with either in the hills or plains of India.
They inflict the most horrible wounds, chiefly with their paws, and
generally--as Mr. Sterndale states--on the face and head. I have
repeatedly met natives in the interior frightfully mutilated by
encounters with the Black Bear, and cases in which Europeans have
been killed by them are by no means uncommon. These brutes are totally
different in their dispositions to the Brown Bear (_Ursus
Isabellinus_), which, however desperately wounded, will never
charge. I believe there is no case on record of a hunter being charged
by a Brown Bear; or even of natives, under any circumstances, being
attacked by one; whereas every one of your readers who has ever
marched in the Himalayas must have come across many victims of the
ferocity of _Ursus Tibetanus_. As I said before, this brute often,
unwounded, attacks man without any provocation whatever. Two cases
that I know of myself may not be without interest. An officer shooting
near my camp was stalking some thar. He was getting close to them,
when a Black Bear rushed out at him from behind a large rock on his
right and above him. He was so intent on the thar, and the brute's
rush was so sudden, that he had barely time to pull from the hip,
but he was fortunate enough to kill the animal almost at his feet.
I heard this from him on the morning after it happened. On another
occasion, I was shooting in Chumba with a friend. One evening he
encamped at a village, about which there was, as usual, a little
cultivation on terraces, and a good many apricot-trees. Lower down
the khud there was dense jungle. The villagers told us that a Black
Bear had lately been regularly visiting these trees, and generally
came out about dusk, so that if we would go down and wait, we should
be pretty sure of a shot. We went, and took up positions behind trees,
about 200 yards apart, each of us having a man from the village with
us. Intervening jungle prevented us from seeing each other. I had
not been at my post more than ten minutes when I was startled by loud
shrieks and cries from the direction of my companion. No shot was
fired, and the coolie with me said that the bear had killed some one.
In less than a minute I had reached the spot where I had left my friend.
He, and the man with him, had disappeared; but, guided by the shrieks,
which still continued, I made my way into the thick cover in front
of his post, and about fifty yards inside it, much to my relief, came
upon him, rifle in hand, standing over the dead body of a man, over
which two people--the coolie that had been with my friend and an old
woman--were weeping, and shrieking loudly, 'Look out!' said he, as
I came up, 'the bear has just killed this fellow!' The first thing
to be done was to carry him out into the open. I helped to do this,
and directly I touched him I felt that he was stone cold, and a further
examination showed he must have been dead some hours. That he had
been killed by a bear was also very evident. He was naked to the waist,
and had been cutting grass. His bundle lay by him, and the long curved
kind of sickle that the hillmen used to cut grass with was stuck in
his girdle, showing that he had not had time to draw it to strike
one blow in his defence. The mark of the bear's paw on his left side
was quite distinct. This had felled him to the ground, and then the
savage brute had given him one bite--no more, but that one had
demolished almost the whole of the back of his head, and death must
have been instantaneous. The man had apparently cut his load of grass,
and was returning with it to the village, when he disturbed the bear,
which attacked him at once. The old woman was his mother, and the
coolie with J---- some relation. Her son having been away all day,
I suppose the old woman had gone to look for him. She found his body,
as described, just below J----'s post, and at once set up a
lamentation which brought the coolie, J----'s attendant, down to her,
and J---- following himself, thought at first that the man had been
killed then and there. There was such a row kicked up that no bear
came near the apricots that night, and the next day we had to march,
as our leave was up. I have heard of many other cases of the Black
Bear attacking without any provocation, and from what I know of the
brute I quite believe them; and, after all, the animal is not worth
shooting. Their skins are always poor and mangy, and generally so
_greasy_ that they are very difficult to keep until you can make them
over to the dresser. The skin of the Snow or Brown Bear, on the other
hand, particularly if shot early in the season, is a splendid trophy,
and forms a most beautiful and luxurious rug, the fur being extremely
soft, and several inches in depth.
"SPINDRIFT."]
In _The Asian_ of January 7th, 1879, page 68, a correspondent ("N.
F. T. T.") writes that he obtained a specimen of this bear which was
coal black throughout, with the exception of a dark dirty yellow on
the lower lip, but of the usual crescentic white mark she had not
a trace. This exceptional specimen was shot in Kumaon. Robinson, in
his 'Account of Assam,' states that these bears are numerous there,
and in some places accidents caused by them are not unfrequent.
All the Sun Bears are distinguished for their eccentric antics,
conspicuous among which is the gift of walking about on their hind
legs in a singularly human fashion. Those in the London Zoological
Gardens invariably attract a crowd. They struggle together in a
playful way, standing on their hind legs to wrestle. They fall and
roll, and bite and hug most absurdly.
Captain J. H. Baldwin, in his 'Large and Small Game of Bengal,' puts
this bear down as not only carnivorous, but a foul feeder. He says:
"On my first visit to the hills I very soon learnt that this bear
was a flesh-eater, so far as regards a sheep, goats, &c., but I could
hardly believe that he would make a repast on such abominations (i.e.
carrion), though the paharies repeatedly informed me that such was
the case. One day, however, I saw a bear busy making a meal off a
bullock that had died of disease, and had been thrown into the bed
of a stream." In another page Captain Baldwin states that the
Himalayan Bear is a good swimmer; he noticed one crossing the River
Pindur in the flood, when, as he remarks, "no human being, however
strong a swimmer, could have stemmed such a roaring rapid."
NO. 165. URSUS (HELARCTOS) GEDROSIANUS.
_Baluchistan Bear_.
NATIVE NAME.--_Mamh_.
HABITAT.--Baluchistan.
DESCRIPTION.--Fur ranging from brown to brownish-black, otherwise
as in last species.
This is a new species, brought to notice by Mr. W. T. Blanford, and
named by him. The skull of the first specimen procured was scarcely
distinguishable from that of a female of _Ursus torquatus_, and he
was for a time apparently in doubt as to the distinctness of the
species, taking the brown skin as merely a variety; but a
subsequently received skull of an adult male seems to prove that it
is a much smaller animal.
NO. 166. URSUS (HELARCTOS) MALAYANUS.
_The Bruang or Malayan Sun Bear_.
NATIVE NAME.--_Wet-woon_, Arracan.
HABITAT.--Burmah, Malay Peninsula and adjacent islands.
[Figure: _Ursus Malayanus_.]
DESCRIPTION.--Smaller than _U. torquatus_, not exceeding four and
a half feet in length. Fur black, brownish on the nose; the chest
marked with a white crescent, or, in the Bornean variety, an
orange-coloured heart-shaped patch; the claws are remarkably long;
mouth and lower jaw dirty white; the lower part of the crescent
prolonged in a narrow white streak down to the belly, where it is
widened out into a large irregular spot. Marsden, in his 'History
of Sumatra,' published towards the end of the last century, speaks
of this bear under the name of _Bruang_ (query: is our _Bruin_ derived
from this?), and mentions its habit of climbing the cocoa-nut trees
to devour the tender part, or cabbage.
It is more tamable and docile than the Himalayan Sun Bear, and is
even more eccentric in its ways. The one in the London "Zoo," when
given a biscuit, lies down on its back, and passes it about from fore
to hind paws, eyeing it affectionately, and making most comical
noises as it rolls about. Sir Stamford Raffles writes of one which
was in his possession for two years:--"He was brought up in the
nursery with the children; and when admitted to my table, as was
frequently the case, gave a proof of his taste by refusing to eat
any fruit but mangosteens, or to drink any wine but champagne. The
only time I ever knew him out of humour was on an occasion when no
champagne was forthcoming. He was naturally of a playful and
affectionate disposition, and it was never found necessary to chain
or chastise him. It was usual for this bear, the cat, the dog, and
a small blue mountain bird, or lory, of New Holland, to mess together
and eat out of the same dish. His favourite playfellow was the dog,
whose teasing and worrying was always borne, and returned with the
utmost good humour and playfulness. As he grew up he became a very
powerful animal, and in his rambles in the garden he would lay hold
of the largest plantains, the stems of which he could scarcely
embrace, and tear them up by the roots." The late General A. C.
McMaster gives an equally amusing account of his pet of this species
which was obtained in Burmah. "Ada," he writes, "is never out of
temper, and always ready to play with any one. While she was with
me, 'Ada' would not eat meat in any shape; but I was told by one of
the ship's officers that another of the same species, 'Ethel' (also
presented by me to the Committee of the People's Park of Madras, and
by them sent to England), while coming over from Burmah killed and
devoured a large fowl put into her cage. I do not doubt the _killing_,
for at that time 'Ethel' had not long been caught, and was a little
demon in temper, but I suspect that, while attention was taken off,
some knowing lascar secured the body of the chicken, and gave her
credit for having swallowed it. 'Ada's' greatest delight was in
getting up small trees; even when she was a chubby infant I could,
by merely striking the bark, or a branch some feet above her head,
cause her to scramble up almost any tree. At this time poor 'Ada,'
a Burman otter, and a large white poodle were, like many human beings
of different tastes or pursuits, very fast friends." In another part
he mentions having heard of a bear of this species who delighted in
cherry brandy, "and on one occasion, having been indulged with an
entire bottle of this insinuating beverage, got so completely
intoxicated that it stole a bottle of blacking, and drank off the
contents under the impression that they were some more of its
favourite liquor. The owner of the bear told me that he saw it
suffering from this strange mixture, and evidently with, as may
easily be imagined, a terrible headache."
So much for the amusing side of the picture, now for the other.
Although strictly frugivorous, still it has been known to attack and
devour man in cases of the greatest want, and it also occasionally
devours small animals and birds, in the pursuit of which, according
to Dr. Sal Muller, it prefers those that live on a vegetable diet.
The Rev. Mr. Mason, in his writings about Burmah, says "they will
occasionally attack man when alone;" he instances a bear upsetting
two men on a raft, and he goes on to add that "last year a Karen of
my acquaintance in Tonghoo was attacked by one, overcome, and left
by the bear for dead." In this case there was no attempt to devour,
and it may have been, as I have often observed with the Indian Sloth
Bear, that such attacks are made by females with young.
Dr. Sal Muller states: "in his native forests this bear displays much
zeal and ingenuity in discovering the nests of bees, and in
extracting their contents by means of his teeth from the narrow
orifices of the branches of the trees in which they are concealed."
* * * * *
The next species constitutes the genus _Melursus_ of Meyer or
_Prochilus_ of Illiger. It is an awkward-shaped beast, from which
it probably derives its name of "Sloth Bear," for it is not like the
sloth in other respects. It has long shaggy hair, large curved claws
(which is certainly another point of resemblance to the sloth), and
a very much elongated mobile snout. Another peculiarity is in its
dentition; instead of six incisors in the upper jaw it has only four.
Blyth, in his later writings, adopts Illiger's generic name
_Prochilus_.
NO. 167. URSUS (MELURSUS) LABIATUS.
_The Common Indian Sloth Bear_.
NATIVE NAMES.--_Bhalu_, Hind.; _Reench_, Hind.; _Riksha_, Sanscrit;
_Aswail_, Mahr.; _Elugu_, Tel.; _Kaddi_ or _Karadi_, Can.; _Yerid_
or _Asol_ of the Gonds; _Banna_ of the Coles.
HABITAT.--All over the peninsula of India. Blyth says it is not found
in Burmah.
[Figure: _Ursus labiatus_.]
DESCRIPTION.--General shape of the ursine type, but more than
usually ungainly and awkward. Hair very long and shaggy, all black,
with the exception of a white V-shaped mark on the chest, and dirty
whitish muzzle and tips to its feet; snout prolonged and flexible;
claws very large.
SIZE.--A large animal of this species will measure from five to six
feet in length, and stand nearly three feet high, weighing from
fifteen to twenty stones.
Our old friend is so well known that he hardly requires description,
and the very thought of him brings back many a ludicrous and exciting
scene of one's jungle days. There is frequently an element of
comicality in most bear-hunts, as well as a considerable spice of
danger; for, though some people may pooh-pooh this, I know that a
she-bear with cubs is no despicable antagonist. Otherwise the male
is more anxious to get away than to provoke an attack.
This bear does not hibernate at all, but is active all the year round.
In the hot weather it lies all day in cool caves, emerging only at
night. In March and April, when the _mohwa_-tree is in flower, it
revels in the luscious petals that fall from the trees, even
ascending the branches to shake down the coveted blossoms. The
_mohwa_ (_Bassia latifolia_) well merits a slight digression from
our subject. It is a large-sized umbrageous tree, with oblong leaves
from four to eight inches long, and two to four inches broad. The
flowers are globular, cream coloured, with a faint greenish tint,
waxy in appearance, succulent and extremely sweet, but to my taste
extremely nasty, there being a peculiar disagreeable flavour which
lingers long in the mouth. However not only do all animals,
carnivorous as well as herbivorous, like them, but they are highly
appreciated by the natives, who not only eat them raw, but dry them
in the sun and thus keep them for future consumption, and also distil
an extremely intoxicating spirit from them. The fresh refuse, or
_marc_, after the extraction of the spirit is also attractive to
animals. Some years ago I sent to Mr. Frank Buckland, for publication
in _Land and Water_, an account of a dog which used to frequent a
distillery for the purpose of indulging in this refuse, the result
of which was his becoming completely intoxicated. This _marc_, after
further fermentation, becomes intensely acid, and on one occasion
I used it successfully in cleaning and brightening a massive steel
and iron gate which I had constructed. I made a large vat, and filling
it with this fermented refuse, put the gate in to pickle. The seeds
of the _mohwa_ yield an oil much prized by the natives, and used
occasionally for adulterating _ghee_. The wood is not much used; it
is not of sufficient value to compensate for the flower and fruit,
consequently the tree is seldom cut down. When an old one falls the
trunk and large limbs are sometimes used for sluices in tanks, for
the heart wood is generally rotten and hollow, and it stands well
under water. If you ask a Gond about the _mohwa_ he will tell you
it is his father and mother. His fleshly father and mother die and
disappear, but the _mohwa_ is with him for ever! A good _mohwa_ crop
is therefore always anxiously looked for, and the possession of trees
coveted; in fact a large number of these trees is an important item
for consideration in the assessment of land revenues. No wonder then
that the villager looks with disfavour on the prowling bear who
nightly gathers up the fallen harvest, or who shakes down the
long-prayed-for crop from the laden boughs.
The Sloth Bear is also partial to mangos, sugar-cane, and the pods
of the _amaltas_ or _cassia_(_Cathartocarpus fistula_), and the
fruit of the jack-tree (_Artocarpus integrifolia_).
It is extremely fond of honey, and never passes an ant-hill without
digging up its contents, especially those of white ants. About twenty
years ago my first experience of this was in a neighbour's garden.
He had recently built himself a house, and was laying out and sowing
his flower-beds with great care. It so happened that one of the beds
lay over a large ants' nest, and to his dismay he found one morning
a huge pit dug in the centre of it, to the total destruction of all
his tender annuals, by a bear that had wandered through the station
during the night. Tickell describes the operation thus: "On arriving
at an ant-hill the bear scrapes away with the fore-feet till he
reaches the large combs at the bottom of the galleries. He then with
violent puffs dissipates the dust and crumbled particles of the nest,
and sucks out the inhabitants of the comb by such forcible
inhalations as to be heard at two hundred yards distant or more. Large
larvae are in this way sucked out from great depths under the soil."
Insects of all sorts seem not to come amiss to this animal, which
systematically hunts for them, turning over stones in the operation.
The Sloth Bear has usually two young ones at a birth. They are born
blind, and continue so till about the end of the third week. The
mother is a most affectionate parent, defending her offspring with
the greatest ferocity. A she-bear with cubs is always an awkward
customer, and she continues her solicitude for them till they are
nearly full grown. The young ones are not difficult to rear if
ordinary care be taken. The great mistake that most people make in
feeding the young of wild animals is the giving of pure cows' milk.
I mentioned this in 'Seonee' in speaking of a bear:--
"The little brute was as savage as his elders, and would do nothing
but walk to the end of the string by which he was attached to a tent
peg, roll head over heels, and walk in a contrary direction, when
a similar somersault would be performed; and he whined and wailed
just like a child; one might have mistaken it for the puling of some
villager's brat. Milford was going to give it pure cows' milk when
Fordham advised him not to do so, but to mix it with one half the
quantity of water. 'The great mistake people make,' he said, 'who
try to rear wild animals, is to give them what they think is best
for them, viz., good fresh cows' milk, and they wonder that the little
creatures pine away and die, instead of flourishing on it. Cows' milk
is too rich; buffalos' milk is better, but both should be mixed with
water. It does not matter what the animal is: tiger-cub, fawn, or
baby monkey--all require the same caution.'"
I had considerable experience in the bringing up of young things of
all sorts when in the Seonee district, and only after some time learnt
the proper proportions of milk and water, and also that regularity
in feeding was necessary--two-thirds water to one of milk for the
first month; after that half and half.
The Sloth Bear carries her cubs on her back, as do the opossums, and
a singular little animal called the koala (_Phascolarctos
cinereus_)--and she seems to do this for some time, as Mr. Sanderson
writes he shot one which was carrying a cub as large as a sheep-dog.
In that most charming of all sporting books ever written, Campbell's
'Old Forest Ranger,' there is an amusingly-told bit with reference
to this habit of cub-carrying which I am sure my readers will forgive
me for extracting. Old Dr. Jock M'Phee had been knocked over by a
she-bear, and is relating his grievances to Charles:--
"Well, as I was saying, I was sitting at my pass, and thinking o'
my old sweethearts, and the like o' that, when a' at ance I heard
a terrible stramash among the bushes, and then a wild growl, just
at my very lug. Up I jumps wi' the fusee in my hand, and my heart
in my mouth, and out came a muckle brute o' a bear, wi' that wee towsie
tyke sitting on her back, as conciety as you please, and haudin' the
grip like grim death wi' his claws. The auld bear, as soon as she
seed me, she up wi' her birse, and shows her muckle white teeth, and
grins at me like a perfect cannibal; and the wee deevil he sets up
his birse too, and snaps his bit teeth, and tries to grin like the
mither o't, with a queer auld farrant look that amaist gart me laugh;
although, to tell the blessed truth, Maister Charles, I thought it
nae laughing sport. Well, there was naething else for it, so I lets
drive at them wi' the grit-shot, thinking to ding them baith at ance.
I killed the sma' ane dead enough; but the auld one, she lets a roar
that amaist deeved me, and at me she comes like a tiger. I was that
frighted, sir, I did na ken what to do; but in despair I just held
out the muzzle o' the fusee to fend her off, and I believe that saved
my life, for she gripped it atween her teeth, dang me o'er the braid
o' my back, and off she set, trailing me through the bushes like a
tether-stick; for some way or other I never let go the grip I had
o' the stock. I was that stupefied I hae nae recollection what
happened after this, till I found mysel' sticking in the middle o'
a brier-bush, wi' my breeks rived the way you see, and poor old 'Meg'
smashed in bits--de'el be in her skin that did it."
Poor old Jock M'Phee! On the whole he did well to escape with but
injury to his garments. I have seen several men mauled by she-bears;
one of them was scalped and torn to such an extent that it was a long
time before he recovered; and I always marvelled to think he got over
it at all.
The British soldier is rather fond of a bear cub as a pet; and Captain
Baldwin tells an amusing story of one which followed the men on to
the parade ground, and quite disorganised the manoeuvres by
frightening the colonel's horse. In 1858 I was quartered for a time
with a naval brigade; and once, when there was an alarm of the enemy,
Jack went to the front with all his pets, including Bruin, which
brought up the rear, shuffling along in blissful ignorance of the
bubble reputation to be found at the cannon's mouth.
Although as a rule vegetarian, yet this species is not altogether
free from the imputation of being a devourer of flesh when it comes
in its way. In such cases it possibly has been impelled by hunger,
and I doubt whether it ever kills for the sake of eating. I have known
even ruminants eat meat, and in their case hunger could not have been
urged as an excuse. Mr. Sanderson mentions an instance when a Barking
Deer he shot was partially devoured by a bear during the night.
Very few elephants, however steady with tigers, will stand a bear.
Whether it is that bears make such a row when wounded, or whether
there be anything in the smell, I know not, but I have heard many
sportsmen allude to the fact. A favourite elephant I had would stand
anything but a bear and a pig. Few horses will approach a bear, and
this is one difficulty in spearing them; and for this reason I think
bear dancers should be prohibited in towns. Calcutta used to swarm
with them at one time. It always makes me angry when I see these men
going about with the poor brutes, whose teeth and claws are often
drawn, and a cruel ring passed through their sensitive nostrils. I
should like to set an old she-bear after the _bhalu-wallas_, with
a fair field and no favour.
The bear rising to hug its adversary is a fallacy as far as this
species is concerned; it does not squeeze, but uses its claws freely
and with great effect.
* * * * *
I think we have now exhausted our Indian bears. Some have spoken of
a dwarf bear supposed to inhabit the Lower Himalayas, but as yet it
is unknown--possibly it may be the _Ailuropus_. We now come to the
Bear-like animals, the next in order, being the Racoons (_Procyon_),
Coatis (_Nasua_), Kinkajous (_Cercoleptes_), and the Cacomixle
(_Bassaris_) of North and South America, and then our own Panda or
Cat-Bear (_Ailurus fulgens_).
This, with the above-mentioned Racoons, &c., forms a small group of
curious bear-like animals, mostly of small size. Externally they
differ considerably, especially in their long bushy tails, but in
all essential particulars they coincide. They are plantigrade, and
are without a caecum or blind gut; the skull, however it may approach
to a viverrine or feline shape, has still marked arctoid
characteristics. The ear passage is well marked and bony, as in that
of the bear, but the bulb of the drum (_bulla tympani_) is much
developed, as in the dogs and cats. The molars are more tuberculated
than in the bears, resembling the hinder molars of a dog.
AILURIDAE.
F. Cuvier, who received the first specimen of the type of this family
from his son-in-law, M. Duvaucel, was not happy in his selection of
a name, which would lead one to suppose that it was affixed to the
cats instead of the bears. It certainly in some degree resembles the
cat externally, and it has also semi-retractile claws, but in greater
measure it belongs to the Arctoidea. There are only two genera as
yet known--the Red Cat-Bear, _Ailurus fulgens_, and the Thibetan
_Ailuropus melanoleucos_.
_GENUS AILUROPUS_.
This very rare and most curious animal should properly come between
the bears and _Ailurus_, as it seems to form a link between the two.
Such also is the idea of a naturalist friend of mine, who, in writing
to me about it, expressed it as being a link between _Helarctos
Malayanus_ and _Ailurus fulgens_. Very little is, however, known of
the creature, which inhabits the most inaccessible portions of a
little-known country--the province of Moupin in Eastern Thibet. It
was procured there by the Abbe David, who, after a prolonged
residence in China, lived for nearly a year in Moupin, and he sent
specimens of the skull, skin, &c., to M. Alphonse Milne-Edwards, from
whose elaborate description in his 'Recherches sur les Mammiferes'
I have extracted the following notice. The original article is too
long to translate _in extenso_, but I have taken the chief points.
NO. 168. AILUROPUS MELANOLEUCOS.
HABITAT.--The hilly parts Moupin, Eastern Thibet.
[Figure: _Ailuropus melanoleucos_.]
DESCRIPTION.--The _Ailuropus_ has a thick-set heavy form. His head
is short, rather slender in front, but extremely enlarged in the
middle and after part; the nose is small and naked at its extremity;
the forehead very large and convex; the eyes are small; the ears short,
wide between and rounded at the ends; neck thick and very strong;
the body is squat and massive; the tail is so short as to be hardly
distinguishable. The feet are short, very large, nearly of the same
length, terminated by five toes very large and with rounded ends,
the general conformation of which recalls in all respects those of
the bears, but of which the lower parts, instead of being completely
placed on the sole in walking and entirely naked or devoid of hair,
are always in great measure raised, and abundantly clad with fur to
almost their full extent.
On the hind feet can be noticed at the base of the toes a transverse
range of five little fleshy pads, and towards the anterior extremity
of the metatarsal region another naked cushion placed transversely;
but between these parts, as well as the posterior two-thirds of the
planta, the hair is as abundant and as long almost as on the upper
part of the foot. In the fore-limbs the disposition is much the same,
though the metacarpal cushion may be larger; and there is another
fleshy pad without hair near the claws.
The _Ailuropus_ is thus an animal not strictly plantigrade, like the
Bears in general, or the same as the Polar Bear, of which the feet,
although placed flat on the earth, are not devoid of hair; but, on
the contrary, the _Ailuropus_ resembles the _Ailurus_, which is
semi-plantigrade, yet hairy under Its soles.
The colouring of the _Ailuropus_ is remarkable: it is white with the
exception of the circumferences of the eyes, the ears, the shoulders,
and the lower part of the neck which are entirely black. These stand
out clearly on a groundwork of slightly yellowish-white; the spots
round the eyes are circular, and give a strange aspect to the animal;
those on the shoulders represent a sort of band placed transversely
across the withers, widening as they descend downwards to lower limbs.
The hinder limbs are also black from the lower part of the thigh down
to the toes, but the haunches, as also the greater part of the tail,
are as white as the back and belly; the colouring is the same in young
and old. The fur is long, thick, and coarse, like that of the bears.
From the general form of the skull it would seem impossible to
determine the family to which this animal belongs. In effect the head
differs considerably from the _Ursidae_ and the _Mustelidae_, and
presents certain resemblances to that of the hyaena; but there are
numerous and important particulars which indicate a special
zoological type, and it is only by an inspection of the dental system
that the natural affinities of the _Ailuropus_ can be determined.
In the upper jaw the incisors are, as usual, in three pairs. They
are remarkable for their oblique direction; the centre ones are small
and a little widened at the base; the second pair are stronger and
dilated towards the cutting edge; the external incisors are also
strong and excavated outside to admit the canines of the lower jaw.
The canines are stout, but short, with a well-marked blunt ridge down
the posterior side, as in the Malayan bears.
The molars are six in number on each side, of which four are premolars,
and two true molars. The first premolar, situated behind, a little
within the line of the canine, is very small, tuberculiform, and a
little compressed laterally. The second is strong and essentially
carnassial; it is compressed laterally and obliquely placed. It is
furnished with three lobes: the first lobe is short, thick, and
obtuse; the second is raised, triangular and with cutting edges; the
third of the size of the first, but more compressed--in short, a
double-fanged tooth. This molar differs considerably from the
corresponding tooth of the bear by its form and relative development,
since in that family it is one-fanged, very low and obtuse. On the
contrary, it approaches to that of the hyaenas and felines. With the
panda (_Ailurus fulgens_) the corresponding premolar is equally
large, double-fanged and trenchant, but the division in lobes is not
so marked.
The third or penultimate molar of the _Ailuropus_ is larger and
thicker than the preceding, divided in five distinct lobes--three
outer ones in a line, and two less projecting ones within.
The last premolar is remarkably large; it is much larger behind than
in front, and its crown is divided into six lobes, of which five are
very strong; the three external ones are much developed and trenchant,
the centre one being the highest and of a triangular shape. Of the
internal lobes, the first one is almost as large as the external ones;
the second is very small, almost hidden in the groove between the
last mentioned; and the third, which is very large, rounded and
placed obliquely inwards in front, and outwards behind. Professor
Milne-Edwards remarks that he knows not amongst the carnivora a
similar example of a tooth so disposed. That of _Ailurus_ shows the
least difference, that is to say it is nearest in structure, having
also six lobes, but more thick-set or depressed.
The true molars are remarkable for their enormous development: the
first is almost square, with blunt rounded cusps, four-fanged, and
presenting a strange mixture of characteristics, in its outward
portion resembling an essentially carnivorous type, and its internal
portion that of molars intended to triturate vegetable substances.
Amongst bears, and especially the Malayan bears, this character is
presented, but in a less striking degree; the panda resembles it more,
with certain restrictions, but the most striking analogy is with the
genus _Hyaenarctos_.
The last molar is peculiar in shape, longer than broad, and is
tuberculous, as in the bears, but it differs in this respect from
the pandas, in which the last molar is almost a repetition of the
preceding one, and its longitudinal diameter is less than its
transverse.
In the lower jaw the first premolar, instead of being small and
tuberculate, as its corresponding tooth in the upper jaw, is large,
double-fanged, trenchant and tri-lobed, resembling, except for size,
the two following ones. The second is not inserted obliquely like
its correspondent in the upper jaw, its axis is in a line with that
of its neighbours; tricuspidate, the middle lobe being the highest.
The third premolar is very large, and agrees with its upper one,
excepting the lobule on the inner border.
The first true molar is longer than broad, and wider in front; the
crown, with five conical tubercles in two groups, separated by a
transverse groove; the next molar is thicker and stouter than the
preceding one, and the last is smaller, and both much resemble those
of the bears, and differ notably from the pandas.
From what M. Milne-Edwards describes, we may briefly epitomise that
the premolarial dentition of the _Ailuropus_ is ailuroid or feline,
and that the true molars are arctoid or ursine.
The skull is remarkable for the elongation of the cranium and the
elevation of the occipital crest, for the shortness of the muzzle,
for the depression of the post-frontal portion, and for the enormous
development of the zygomatic arches. In another part M.
Milne-Edwards remarks that there is no carnivorous animal of which
the zygomatic arches are so developed as in the _Ailuropus_. He
states that it inhabits the most inaccessible mountains of Eastern
Thibet, and it never descends from its retreats to ravage the fields,
as do the Black Bears; therefore it is difficult to obtain. It lives
principally on roots, bamboos and other vegetables; but we may
reasonably suppose from its conformation that it is carnivorous at
times, when opportunity offers, as are some of the bears, and as is
the _Ailurus_. I have dwelt at some length on this animal, though
not a denizen of India proper; but it will be a prize to any of our
border sportsmen who come across it on the confines of Thibet, and
therefore I have deemed it worthy of space.
SIZE.--From muzzle to tail, about four feet ten inches; height about
twenty-six inches.
_GENUS AILURUS_.
NO. 169. AILURUS FULGENS.
_The Red Cat-Bear_ (_Jerdon's No. 92_).
NATIVE NAMES.--_Wah_, Nepal; _Wah-donka_, Bhot.; _Sunnam_ or
_Suknam_, Lepch.; _Negalya_, _Ponya_ of the Nepalese (_Jerdon_). In
the Zoological Gardens in London it is called the _Panda_, but I am
unable just now to state the derivation of this name.
HABITAT.--Eastern Himalayas and Eastern Thibet.
[Figure: _Ailurus fulgens_.]
DESCRIPTION.--"Skull ovate; forehead arched; nose short; brain case
ovate, ventricose; the zygomatic arches very large, expanded; crown
bent down behind" (_Gray_). The lower jaw is very massive, and the
ascending ramus unusually large, extending far above the zygomatic
arch, forming almost a right angle with equal arms. Hodgson's
description is: "Ursine arm; feline paw; profoundly cross-hinged,
yet grinding jaw, and purely triturative and almost ruminant molar
of _Ailurus_; tongue smooth; pupil round; feet enveloped in woolly
socks with leporine completeness. It walks like the marten; climbs
and fights with all the four legs at once, like the _Paradoxuri_,
and does not employ its forefeet--like the racoon, coatis, or
bears--in eating."
Jerdon's outward description is: "Above deep ochreous-red; head and
tail paler and somewhat fulvous, displayed on the tail in rings; face,
chin, and ears within white; ears externally, all the lower surface
and the entire limbs and tip of tail jet-black; from the eye to the
gape a broad vertical line of ochreous-red blending with the dark
lower surface; moustache white; muzzle black."
The one at present in the London "Zoo" is thus described: "Rich
red-chestnut in colour on the upper surface, jet black as to the lower
surface, the limbs also black, the snout and inside of ears white;
the tail bushy, reddish-brown in colour and indistinctly ringed."
SIZE.--Head and body 22 inches; tail 16; height about 9; weight about
8 lbs.
Jerdon has epitomised Hodgson's description of the habits of this
animal as follows: "The Wah is a vegetivorous climber, breeding and
feeding chiefly on the ground, and having its retreat in holes and
clefts of rock. It eats fruits, roots, sprouts of bamboo, acorns,
&c.; also, it is said, eggs and young birds; also milk and ghee, which
it is said to purloin occasionally from the villages. They feed
morning and evening, and sleep much in the day. They are excellent
climbers, but on the ground move rather awkwardly and slowly. Their
senses all appear somewhat blunt, and they are easily captured. In
captivity they are placid and inoffensive, docile and silent, and
shortly after being taken may be suffered to go abroad. They prefer
rice and milk to all other food, refusing animal food, and they are
free from all offensive odour. They drink by lapping with the tongue,
spit like cats when angered, and now and then utter a short deep grunt
like a young bear. The female brings forth two young in spring. They
usually sleep on the side, and rolled into a ball, the head concealed
by the bushy tail." (For the full account see 'Jour. As. Soc. Beng.'
vol. xvi. p. 1113.)
Mr. Bartlett, who has studied the habits of the specimen in the London
Gardens, says that in drinking it sucks up the fluids like a bear
instead of licking it up like a dog or cat, which disagrees with what
Hodgson states above. "When offended it would rush at Mr. Bartlett,
and strike at him with both feet, the body being raised like a bear's,
and the claws projecting."
General Hardwicke was the first to discover this animal, which he
described in a paper read before the Linnaean Society on the 6th of
November 1821, but it was not published for some years, and in the
meanwhile M. Duvaucel sent one to M. F. Cuvier, who introduced it
first to the world. Some years ago I had a beautiful skin of one
offered to me for sale at Darjeeling by some Bhotias, but as it was
redolent of musk and other abominations quite foreign to its innocent
inodorous self, I declined to give the high price wanted for it.
SEMI-PLANTIGRADES.
These form part of the Plantigrada of Cuvier and part of the
Digitigrada; they walk on their toes, but at the same time keep the
wrist and heel much nearer to the ground than do the true Digitigrades,
and sometimes rest on them. Of those Semi-plantigrades with which
we now have to deal there are three sections, viz., the _Mustelidae_,
containing the Gluttons, Martens, Weasels, Ferrets, Grisons, &c.,
the _Melidae_, _Melididae_ and _Melinidae_ of various authors: i.e.
Badgers, Ratels, and Skunks; and the _Lutridae_ or Otters. Some
writers bring them all under one great family, _Mustelidae_, but the
above tripartite arrangement is, I think, better for ordinary
purposes. To the mind of only moderate scientific attainments, a
distinct classification of well-defined groups is always an easier
matter than a large family split up into many genera defined by
internal anatomical peculiarities.
Of the Semi-plantigrades at large Jerdon remarks: "None of them have
more than one true molar above and another below, which, however,
vary much in development, and the flesh tooth is most marked in those
in which the tuberculate is least developed, and _vice versa_. The
great and small intestines differ little in calibre, and many of them
(i.e. the family) can diffuse at will a disgusting stench." This last
peculiarity is a specialty of the American members of the family,
notably the skunk, of the power of which almost incredible stories
are told. I remember reading not long ago an account of a train
passing over a skunk, and for a time the majority of the passengers
suffered from nausea in consequence. Sir John Richardson writes: "I
have known a dead skunk thrown over the stockades of a trading port
produce instant nausea in several women in a house with closed doors,
upwards of a hundred yards distant." The secretion is intensely
inflammatory if squirted in the eye.
MELIDIDAE; OR, BADGER-LIKE ANIMALS.
This group is distinguished by a heavier form, stouter limbs, coarse
hair, and slower action; in most the claws are adapted for burrowing.
None of them are arboreal, although in olden times marvellous tales
were told of the wolverene or glutton as being in the habit of
dropping down from branches of trees on the backs of large animals,
clinging on to them and draining their life blood as they fled. Some
of them are capable of emitting a noisome smell. The teledu of Java
(_Mydaus meliceps_) is the worst of the family in this respect, and
almost equals the skunk. It is possible that this animal may be found
in Tenasserim.
_GENUS ARCTONYX_.
Dentition much the same as that of the Badger (_Meles_). Incisors,
6/6; can., 1--1/1--1; premolars, 3--3/3--3; molars, 1--1/1--1. The
incisors are disposed in a regular curve, vertical in the upper jaw,
obliquely inclined in the lower; canines strong, grinders
compressed; general form of the badger, but stouter. Feet five-toed,
with strong claws adapted for digging, that of the index finger being
larger than the other.
NO. 170. ARCTONYX COLLARIS.
_The Hog-Badger_ (_Jerdon's No. 93_).
NATIVE NAMES.--_Balu-suar_, Hind., Sand-pig, or, as Jerdon has it,
_Bhalu-soor_, Hind., i.e. Bear-pig; _Khway-too-wet-too_,
Arakanese.
HABITAT.--Nepal, Sikim, Assam, Sylhet, Arakan, extending, as Dr.
Anderson has observed, to Western Yunnan. The late General A. C.
McMaster found it in Shway Gheen On the Sitang river in Pegu. I heard
of it in the forests of Seonee in the Central Provinces, but I never
came across one.
[Figure: _Arctonyx collaris_.]
DESCRIPTION.--"Hair of the body rough, bristly, and straggling; that
of the head shorter, and more closely adpressed. Head, throat, and
breast yellowish white; on the upper part this colour forms a broad
regularly-defined band from the snout to the occiput; ears of the
same colour; the nape of the neck, a narrow band across the breast,
the anterior portion of the abdomen, the extremities, a band arising
from the middle of the upper lip, gradually wider posteriorly,
including the eyes and ears, and another somewhat narrower arising
from the lower lip, passing the cheek, uniting with the former on
the neck, are deep blackish-brown" (_Horsfield_). The tail is short,
attenuated towards the end, and covered with rough hairs.
SIZE.--From snout to root of tail, 25 inches; tail, 7 inches; height
at the rump, 12 inches.
M. Duvaucel states that "it passes the greatest part of the day in
profound somnolence, but becomes active at the approach of night;
its gait is heavy, slow, and painful; it readily supports itself
erect on its hind feet, and prefers vegetables to flesh."
Jerdon alludes to all this, and adds, "one kept in captivity
preferred fruit, plantains, &c., as food, and refused all kinds of
meat. Another would eat meat, fish, and used to burrow and grope under
the walls of the bungalow for worms and shells." My idea is
_Balu-suar_, or Sand-pig is the correct name, although _Bhalu-suar_
or Bear-pig may hit off the appearance of the animal better, but its
locality has always been pointed out to me by the Gonds in the sandy
beds of rivers in the bamboo forests of Seonee; and Horsfield also
has it _Baloo-soor_, Sand-pig.
Bewick, who was the first to figure and describe it, got, as the
vulgar phrase hath it, the wrong pig by the lug, as he translates
it _Sand-bear_. McMaster also speaks of those he saw as being in deep
ravines on the Sitang river.
The stomach of Arctonyx is simple; there is no caecum, as is the case
also with the bears; the liver has five lobes; under the tail it has
glands, as in the Badgers, secreting a fatty and odorous substance.
NO. 171. ARCTONYX TAXOIDES.
_The Assam Badger_.
HABITAT.--Assam and Burmah.
DESCRIPTION.--Smaller than the last, with longer and finer fur,
narrower muzzle, smaller ears, shorter tail, and more distinct
markings. The measurement of the respective skulls show a great
difference. The length of a skull of a female of this species given
by Dr. Anderson is 4.75 inches against 6.38 of a female of _A.
collaris_. The breadth across the zygomatic arch is 2.38 against 3.64
of _A. collaris_. The breadth of the palate between the molars is
only 0.81 against 1.07.
_GENUS MELES_.
_SUB-GENUS TAXIDIA_.
This sub-genus is that of the American type of Badger, to which
Hodgson, who first described the Thibetan _T. leucurus_, supposed
his species to belong; but other recent naturalists, among whom are
Drs. Gray and Anderson, prefer to class it as _Meles_. Hodgson
founded his classification on the dentition of his specimen, but
Blyth has thrown some doubt on its correctness, believing that the
skull obtained by Hodgson with the skin was that of _Meles
albogularis_. Hodgson, however, says: "from the English Badger type
of restricted _Meles_ our animal may be at once discriminated without
referring to skulls by its inferior size, greater length of tail,
and partially-clad planta or foot-sole."
NO. 172. MELES (TAXIDIA) LEUCURUS.
_The Thibetan White-tailed Badger_.
NATIVE NAME.--_Tampha_.
HABITAT.--The plains of Thibet.
DESCRIPTION.--"Fur long, flaccid, dark iron-grey and white mixed;
hair long, white, with a broad sub-lunate black band and a white tip;
under fur abundant, long, white; a streak on each side of the forehead
blackish grey, varied; chin, throat, legs and under side of the body
black; tail, sides of head, and body whitish."--_Gray_.
The aspect, according to Hodgson, is entirely that of a long-tailed
Badger (Gray remarks: "it most resembles the European animal "), with
somewhat smaller head, with longer, finer fur than usual; the entire
sole of the foot is not naked, but only about two-thirds, and the
toe-pads are very much developed, thus raising the powerful long
fossorial claws from the ground in walking.
SIZE.--Total length 37 inches, of which the tail, with the hair, is
10 inches, and without the hair 7 inches; the longest hair of the
body is 4-1/2 inches.
There is not much known about the _Tampha_. According to what Hodgson
was able to gather concerning his habits, "he dwells in the more
secluded spots of inhabited districts, makes a comfortable, spacious
and well-arranged subterraneous abode, dwells there in peace with
his mate, who has an annual brood of two to four young, molests not
his neighbour, defends himself if compelled to it with unconquerable
resolution, and feeds on roots, nuts, insects and reptiles, but
chiefly the two former--on vegetables, not animals--a point of
information confirmed by the prevalent triturant character of the
teeth." The colouring of this animal is almost identical with the
English badger, only that his tail is longer and whiter.
NO. 173. MELES ALBOGULARIS.
_The White-throated Thibetan Badger_.
HABITAT.--Thibet.
DESCRIPTION.--Smaller and much less tufted ears than the last
species; a shorter and much less bushy tail; and the fur shorter and
coarser, though of finer texture than in the European badger, with
much woolly hair at its base. Both the English badger and _M.
leucurus_ are black throated; this one is white throated. The English
animal has a broad band of brownish-black, which begins between the
muzzle and the eye, and runs through the eye and ear till it fades
off on the neck; the space of white between these two bands on the
forehead runs back and contracts behind the ears. In the Thibetan
animal it contracts just behind the eyes, and is continued as a faint
narrow streak only as far as the ears. In the English one the cheeks
are broadly white between the eye-band and the black throat; in the
Thibetan there is a little white below the eye, and this is bordered
by a narrow black stripe, beneath which is the white throat.
There is another Thibetan badger mentioned by Professor
Milne-Edwards in his 'Recherches sur les Mammiferes,' a
white-throated one, _M. obscurus_, but it appears to be the same as
_M. albogularis_.
_GENUS MELLIVORA_.
Tubercular grinder transverse; flesh-tooth larger, with a small
internal lobe, and with a single tubercle; lower flesh-tooth
tricuspidate, sharp-edged; head depressed; nose blunt; ears not
visible externally; body stout, depressed; legs short, and strong;
feet plantigrade, five-toed; front claws elongated and strong; the
bald sole of the hind foot occupying the whole under surface, only
slightly divided across about one-third of its length from the front;
tail very short, with powerfully offensive glands; it has a thick
loose skin and a subcutaneous layer of fat, which doubtless protect
it from stings of bees, on which this genus is supposed to feed
whenever it can.
NO. 174. MELLIVORA INDICA.
_The Indian Ratel or Honey-Badger_ (_Jerdon's No. 94_).
NATIVE NAME.--_Biju_, Hind.; _Biyu-khawar_, Telegu; _Tavakaradi_,
Tamil; _Bajru-bhal_, at Bhagulpore (Santali?); _Bharsiah_,
Nepalese.
HABITAT.--Throughout India.
[Figure: _Mellivora Indica_.]
DESCRIPTION.--The upper half of its body is ashy-grey; the lower half,
muzzle, limbs, and tail black; the general appearance is that of a
black animal with a grey cloak on its back. The only difference
between the Indian and the Cape Ratel is, that the grey cloak of the
latter has a conspicuous white border which is wanting in the Indian
species; the tail also of the latter is shorter, otherwise they are
the same, and were for a long time considered the same.
SIZE.--Head and body, 26 to 32 inches; tail, 5 to 6 inches.
Jerdon says it is chiefly found in hilly districts, and that he has
not found it in Lower Bengal nor on the Malabar coast. In Central
India it is not uncommon. It has got a reputation for digging into
graves, and is called in some parts "the grave-digger;" but I do not
believe in its carnivorous propensities to this extent; it lives
principally on small fry, insects, and small animals, honey and
vegetable food. Jerdon says it is destructive to poultry, which is
probable, for it will eat small birds. Both it and the Cape species
will eagerly look out for bees, but it is not to be supposed, as some
books would make out, that bees and honey form the staple diet. Its
thick and loose skin, the stiffness of the hair above, and the layer
of fat below, effectually preserve it from the effects of the stings.
The tail glands contain a very strong and pungent secretion.
Some years ago, before I knew exactly what they were, the Ratels in
the London Zoological Gardens used to interest me greatly. They had
a low cage, on the ground I think, and their peculiar antics never
failed to draw a crowd. They used to run round in an idiotic sort
of way, and always at one point gravely turn head over heels and then
proceed as before and repeat. In Cassell's 'Natural History' this
is alluded to, only the writer says that now they are in fresh
quarters, and the flitting seems to have disturbed them. He adds:
"We have often watched one of them run round and round the cage in
the usual purposeless manner of captive animals, but with this
peculiarity: when he reached a particular corner of the den, he
quietly, and without effort, turned head over heels, and then went
on again. On one occasion, after he had been doing this with great
regularity for some rounds he seemed to become abstracted, and passed
the usual spot without the somersault; when, however, he had
proceeded a few paces he recollected himself, stopped for a moment,
returned to the exact place, turned over as usual, and proceeded
without further let or hindrance." The African species is said to
live largely on bees--I suppose ground bees, such as our English
humble bee, for these animals are not arboreal--and it is said to
exhibit great skill in tracking the flying insects to their nest.
"Sparrman states that it seats itself on a hillock to look for the
bees, and shades its eyes with one forepaw against the rays of the
setting sun." Here is something for our Indian naturalists to observe.
Some other animals are said to do the same; whether the Biju does
it or not I cannot say. McMaster says of it: "Two that I saw in
confinement appeared very good-tempered, and much more playful than
tame bears would have been. They were, I think, fed entirely upon
vegetables, rice and milk." This animal is the same as Hodgson's
_Ursitaxus inauritus_, the _Bharsiah_ which figures as a separate
genus in Cuvier. The skull is very like that of the wolverenes in
general form.
_GENUS GULO--THE GLUTTON OR WOLVERENE_.
This animal was placed by Linnaeus among the _Ursidae_, and is
classed by some with the _Melididae_, but its dentition is more that
of the Martens, which occupy the next group. The true Glutton (_Gulo
luscus_) is not known in India, but we have some so-called Wolverenes
(_Helictis_) to which I shall presently allude. Still a few remarks
about the typical animal, which is by no means an uninteresting
creature, may not be out of place. The Glutton inhabits a wide tract
of country in the Northern Hemisphere, the colder regions of Europe,
Asia, and America; it is abundant in Siberia and Kamschatka, and is
the pest of the trappers in North America. Fabulous stories were told
of this animal in olden days, some of which are still propagated at
the present time. It was supposed to be of insatiable appetite, and
to attack its prey (deer, &c.) by dropping down from the branch of
a tree on to the back of its victim, and to eat its way into a vital
part, whilst being carried along--a decided fallacy, for neither the
Glutton nor our Indian species of _Helictis_ are arboreal in their
habits. Then it was accused of eating to such a pitch of distention
that it had to squeeze itself between two close-growing trees for
relief ere it returned again to the repast. There is no doubt, however,
that it is to a great extent voracious and extremely cunning; and
what it cannot eat it will carry off and hide. The trappers complain
bitterly of it, and spare no pains to kill every one they can come
across; but it is not easily to be caught, and only a very
cunningly-devised bait will succeed.
Were I to relate some of the stories recorded of this animal I might
get accused, if not of being a romancer myself, at all events of being
a too credulous propagator of other people's romances. It is told
of it that it will discover hidden stores, and, digging them up out
of the snow, carefully smooth the surface over again; that it will
avoid every trap set for itself, and, going round to the back of
spring guns, gnaw through the string connected with the trigger
before it drags away the bait. It follows up the lines laid down by
the trappers, taking the martens out, and devouring them, or hiding
what it cannot eat, and by wearying out the patience of the hunters,
compel them to strike a new "marten-road."
It is said by Dr. Coues to possess a singular habit of sitting down
on its haunches, shading its eyes with a forepaw, and gazing
earnestly at the approaching enemy before it takes to flight. I have
already alluded to the Cape ratel doing this on the look-out for bees.
The Indian form of Wolverene is a slighter and much smaller animal,
with a still more weasel-like appearance. The Glutton is
comparatively a large beast, the body being about 2-1/2 feet, and
the tail 10 inches; the _Helictis_ is only half the size, and there
is a slight difference in the dentition.
_GENUS HELICTIS_.
"Head tapering; nose acute, conical; muzzle bald, obliquely
truncated; other side hairy, with a central groove; nostrils
inferior; ears ovate; body slender; legs short; toes 5.5; front claws
elongate, curved; hinder short and acute; sole of foot hairy behind,
bald in front, and rhombic for half the length of the foot, with three
large oblong pads on the front, and three small ones on the hinder
edge; toes elongate; thumb short; fur black, like _Herpestes_; tail
moderate, sub-cylindrical; teeth, 38; premolars, 4--4/4--4;
grinders, 5/6."--Gray.
There are four species of this genus, and of these two come within
the geographical limits of these papers, viz., _Helictis Nipalensis_
and _H. moschata_; the third, _H. orientalis_, belongs to Java; and
the fourth, _H. subaurantiaca_, to Formosa.
NO. 175. HELICTIS NIPALENSIS.
_The Nepal Wolverene_ (_Jerdon's No. 95_).
NATIVE NAME.--_Oker_, Nepalese; _Kyoung-pyan_, Arakanese.
HABITAT.--Nepal, Arakan, and Pegu.
DESCRIPTION.--Hodgson, who first described this animal in the
'Journal of the Asiatic Society of Beng.' (vol. v. pp. 237-38), says:
"Above earthy brown; below, with the edge of the upper lip, the
insides of the limbs, and terminal half of the tail, yellow; a white
mesial stroke from the nape to the hips, and a white band across the
forehead, spreading on the cheeks, and confluent with the pale colour
of the animal's lower surface; head and body vermi-formed; digits
and nails of the anterior extremities stronger; half way from the
os calcis to the fingers hairy; fur of two sorts and abundant, but
not lengthened, nor harsh, nor annulated; tail cylindrico-tapered,
pointed, half the length of the animal." He goes on to add: "The
anterior limbs are decidedly fossorial, and the hinder suited for
walking in a sub-plantigrade manner; both wholly unfitted for
rapatory or scansorial purposes."
SIZE.--Head and body 16 inches; tail 7-1/2 inches, 9 inches,
including hair.
The habits of this animal are nocturnal. Swinhoe mentions this in
his account of the Formosan species, and Dr. Anderson relates that
he is aware that the Nepal one is similar in its ways, and that it
not unfrequently enters Bhotia huts at night; and on one occasion
he killed one in a Bhotia hut, thinking it was a large rat, greatly
to the chagrin of his host, who informed him that the animal was in
the habit of visiting him nightly, and was most useful in destroying
cockroaches and other insects.
NO. 176. HELICTIS MOSCHATA.
_The Chinese Wolverene_.
HABITAT.--China, also Burmah (Pegu, Yunnan).
DESCRIPTION.--Similar to the last, but differing in dentition and
the formation of certain points in the skull. The teeth are smaller,
and the infra-orbital foramen much larger. Both the above species
are noted for long skulls and palate, whereas _H. orientalis_ has
a short skull and palate. The following are the chief characteristics:--
Short head and palate, large teeth, _small_ infra-orbital foramen
= _H. orientalis_.
Long head and palate, large teeth, _small_ infra-orbital foramen =
_H. Nipalensis_.
Long head and palate, _small_ teeth, _large_ infra-orbital foramen
= _H. moschata_.
Dr. Anderson obtained a specimen of this species at an elevation of
5000 feet, at Teng-yue-chow in Yunnan.
MUSTELIDAE--MARTENS AND WEASELS.
In India the members of this family are restricted to the Weasels
and Martens, but in other countries are included the Grisons,
Zorillas, Skunks, &c. They are small animals of elongated form, with
short legs, commonly expressed as vermiform; where the head of a
weasel will go his body will follow--at least that was my experience
in my boyish days, when I was particularly interested in vermin, and
the gamekeeper was my first instructor in natural history. The face
is rounded like a cat, but the skull behind the eye is very long and
pear-shaped when viewed from above; in proportion to a cat's skull
the brain case is a fourth longer. They are most sanguinary in their
habits, and their agility is great, so on the whole they are most
formidable to many animals, not only smaller, but in many cases four
times their own size. The ferocity of the common weasel (_Putorius
vulgaris_) ought to be as proverbial as its watchfulness. A case has
been known of a kite carrying off one of these animals, but falling
dead after a time with the large blood-vessels under the wing cut
through by the savage little prisoner, who, on reaching _terra firma_,
escaped apparently unhurt. I think in Wolff's admirable
'Illustrations of Natural History' this fact, related by Bell, is
made the subject of a picture called "Catching a Tartar."
[Figure: Skull of _Putorius_.]
Most of the animals of this group are eagerly sought for on account
of their fur. In Northern India the skin of one species, probably
a variety of _Martes abietum_, is sold in the bazaars at Peshawur
and Lahore. In 1868 I bought sufficient to line a large overcoat,
which proved most comfortable in travelling in the cold weather in
the Punjab, as well as in subsequent wanderings on the European
continent in winter.
Dr. E. Coues, in his monograph on the North American Mustelidae,
gives the following interesting information regarding the number of
skins of various species sold by the Hudson's Bay Company in London
during the century 1769-1868:--
Sables, 1,240,511; otters, 674,027; wolverenes, 68,694; minks,
1,507,240; skunks, 218,653; badgers, 275,302; sea otters, 5349. In
1868, which appears to have been a prosperous year, the Company sold:
Sables, 106,254; otters, 14,966; wolverenes, 1104; minks, 73,473;
skunks, 6298; badgers, 1551; sea otters, 123.[8]
[Footnote 8: In the same year were sold by other firms, 22,000 otter
skins and 4500 sables. See Appendix _C_ for further statistics.]
When one considers the number of those whose skins are damaged and
cast aside, the number that fall victims to larger predatory animals,
and the operations of disease, from which no animals, small or great,
are free, we may form some idea of the immense multitude of these
little creatures.
The ordinary divisions of the restricted Mustelidae are the Martens
(_Martes_), Pole-cats (_Putorius_), and Weasels (_Mustela_), but
Gray has further subdivided them chiefly on the characteristics of
the feet.
The Martens have four more teeth than the rest, which are
distinguished as follows:--
_Putorius_.--Short ovate head; feet very hairy, especially between
the pads; body stout; underside blackish.
_Mustela_.--Narrow, elongated head; feet very hairy between the
pads; slender body; under-side yellow or white.
_Vison_.--Head elongate, narrow; feet slightly hairy; pads exposed;
body rather slender; under-side same colour as upper.
_Gymnopus_.--Head elongate, narrow; feet rather naked, bald beneath,
between, and rather behind the pads; toes largely webbed; soles hairy
behind; body slender.
It is doubtful whether these distinctions are of sufficient
importance to warrant so much subdivision; and unnecessary
multiplication of genera is a thing to be avoided as much as possible.
_GENUS MARTES--THE MARTENS_.
A more or less arboreal group of larger size, and possibly less
sanguinary habits than the weasels, although in this respect I do
not think there is much difference. The tail is longer, though not
so long as the head and body, and it is bushy; the fur is fine and
in general highly prized; the dentition differs from the typical
_Mustela_ in having four more teeth and an additional false molar
on either side in each jaw; and the inner side of the carnassial or
flesh tooth has a tubercle which is not present in the weasels; head
elongate; feet very hairy; space between the pads hairy, often
covering them from sight, except in the case of _Martes flavigula_,
of which the soles are nude.
NO. 177. MARTES FLAVIGULA.
_The White-cheeked Marten_ (_Jerdon's No. 96_).
NATIVE NAMES.--_Mal-sampra_, Nepalese; _Tuturala_ in Kumaon;
_Kusiah_ in Sirmoor; _Huniah_ or _Aniar_, Bhotia; _Sakku_, Lepcha.
HABITAT.--Nepal, Thibet, Kumaon, Gurhwal, Sirmoor, Assam, Burmah,
Ceylon.
DESCRIPTION.--Glossy blackish brown, with the throat and breast
yellow; the chin and lower parts white, from which I have preferred
to call it after Pennant "the White-cheeked Marten" instead of the
"yellow-throated," this characteristic belonging also to some other
species. The fur seems to vary a good deal. Jerdon says of it: "The
body is at times dirty brownish or chestnut brown, or brown mixed
with grey, and the middle of the back is sometimes paler than the
rest, or the same tint as the sides of the body. In some the top of
the head is pale brown, but it is edged by a dark peripheral line,
and in some there are one or more irregular dark spots between the
fore-limbs."
Blyth writes of the Burmese specimens that they are "similar to the
Himalayan, but differing from the Malayan race--found also in
Formosa--by having much longer fur, and a wholly black cap instead
of a brown cap with a black periphery." The soles are nude.
SIZE.--Head and body about 20 inches; tail, including fur, 12
inches.
This Indian Marten, according to Jerdon, is also found in Ceylon;
it was, however, apparently unknown to Kellaart, nor does Sir Emerson
Tennent allude to it. It is to be had in the Neilgherries, the Khasia
hills, and the ranges in Arakan, as well as in the valleys of the
great Himalayan chain up to 7000 or 8000 feet of elevation. It is
found in pairs or in small families of five or six. If hunted it takes
to trees at once, being a good climber. According to Captain the Hon.
C. Shore, who observed its habits in Kumaon and Gurhwal, "its food
is chiefly birds, rats, mice, hares and even young fawns of the kakur
or barking-deer." He adds: "The specimen sent to the Zoological
Society was brought to me in September 1828, when it was about four
months old. It had been caught when not many days old, and was so
tame that it was always kept loose about a well, sporting about the
windlasses, posts, &c., and playing tricks with the people who came
to draw water." This is the one alluded to by Jerdon as having been
described by Mr. Bennett in the 'Gardens and Menageries of the
Zoological Society.' _Martes Gwatkinsi_ of Horsfield's Catalogue
(page 99), is evidently, as Jerdon says, the same as _M. flavigula_,
although the colouring is different, and is supposed to be the same
animal in its summer fur, some specimens being darker than others.
It is just one hundred years since this little animal was first
described, the earliest record of it being in Pennant's 'History of
Quadrupeds' (first edition), published in 1781. It must, however,
have been known before that, for Pennant first observed it in
Brooks's Menagerie in 1774, and named it the "White-cheeked Weasel,"
which Boddart afterwards in 1785 introduced into his 'Elenchus
Animalium' under the name of _Mustela flavigula_ (_Horsfield_).
NO. 178. MARTES ABIETUM.
_The Pine Marten_.
HABITAT.--Ladakh and the Upper Himalayas, Afghanistan (?)
[Illustration: _Martes abietum_.]
DESCRIPTION.--Brown; throat yellow or yellow spotted (_Gray_).
Light yellowish-grey, rather deeper in a line along the back; the
hair brown; extremities blackish; chin, threat and breast white
(according to Horsfield).
SIZE.--About 18 to 20 inches; tail 12 inches.
Horsfield remarks that the specimens received in the Indian Museum
combine the peculiarities of the Pine and Beech Martens respectively,
and lead to the conclusion that both are varieties of one species.
This idea was prevalent some time ago, and the Beech Marten (_M.
foina_) was supposed to be merely a variety of the Pine species, but
there are certain differences in the skulls of the two animals. It
is stated by the editor of my edition of Cuvier that, on examination
of the crania of the two, he found that those of _M. abietum_ are
constantly smaller, with the zygomatic arch fully twice as strong
as in the other. There is also a slight difference in the teeth, the
hinder upper tubercular grinder in _M. foina_ not being quite so
large as in the other.
The Pine Marten has a wide distribution; the finest specimens are
found in Sweden; in England it is becoming scarce, but in other parts
of Europe and Asia it is common. Professor Parker and his brother
write of it: "This animal is essentially arboreal in its habits,
inhabiting chiefly thick coniferous woods, whence its name of Pine
Marten is derived. In the branches the female makes a nest of leaves
or moss, and sometimes spares herself this trouble by ejecting
squirrels or woodpeckers, and occupying the vacant dwellings. For
its size it is, like all the Mustelidae, extremely ferocious and
strong. It attacks and kills fawns, notwithstanding their superior
size; from these down to mice nothing comes amiss to it, and nothing
is safe from its attacks." It seems almost incredible that such a
small animal should venture on such large game, but the same is
reported of _M. flavigula_; and a much smaller creature, the
Yellow-bellied Weasel, _M. kathiah_, is reported by Hodgson to
attack even goats and sheep.
NO. 179. MARTES TOUFOEUS.
NATIVE NAME.--_Toufee_.
HABITAT.--Thibet.
DESCRIPTION (from skins only).--General colour smoky brown, darker
along the spine and on the limbs, but without marks, and paler to
sordid yellowish hoary on the neck and head; head palest, except the
mystaceal region and chin, which are embrowned; moustache moderate
and dark brown.
SIZE.--Head and body about 20 to 22 inches.
The above description is taken from Hodgson, who had only received
imperfect skins. Jerdon just alludes to it by name, but I cannot find
it mentioned by any other author. As much stress cannot be laid on
colouring in these animals, I feel inclined to think that it is a
variety of _Martes abietum_, probably in its dark summer coat.
_GENUS MUSTELA--THE WEASELS_.
These are smaller animals of the true vermiform shape; the legs are
very short in comparison with the body, and the neck is very thick
and very long, and the head is small, so that head, neck, and body
are almost equally cylindrical, and the length of the neck gives a
far, set-back appearance to the forelegs, so much so that they seem
to start from behind the chest instead of in front of it. The teeth
are 34 in number, or four less than in the preceding genus; upper
tubercular grinder transverse or broader than long; the feet are
slightly webbed, covered with hair, and the space between the pads
is hairy; the tail is short; fur dark above, white or yellowish
beneath.
[Illustration: _Mustela_.]
Some authors contend that the weasel, though commonly referred to
the genus _Mustela_, should be _Putorius_, which is an instance of
the disagreement which exists among naturalists. I have however
followed Gray in his classification, although perhaps Cuvier, who
classes the weasels and pole-cats under the genus _Putorius_, has
the claim of priority. Ray applied the name of _Mustela_ to the
restricted weasels, and _Martes_ to the martens, but Cuvier gives
_Mustela_ to the martens, and brings the weasels and pole-cats
together under _Putorius_.
NO. 180. MUSTELA (VISON: _Gray_) SUB-HEMACHALANA.
_The Sub-Hemachal Weasel_ (_Jerdon's No. 97_).
NATIVE NAMES.--_Zimiong_, Bhotia; _Sang-king_, Lepcha; _Kran_ or
_Gran_, Kashmiri.
DESCRIPTION.--"Uniform bright brown, darker along the dorsal line;
nose, upper lip, and forehead, with two inches of the end of the tail
black-brown; mere edge of upper lip and whole of lower jaw hoary;
a short longitudinal white stripe occasionally on the front of the
neck, and some vague spots of the same laterally, the signs, I suspect,
of immaturity; feet frequently darker than the body or dusky brown;
whiskers dark; fur close, glossy and soft, of two sorts, or fine hair
and soft wool, the latter and the hair basally of dusky hue, but the
hair externally bright brown; head, ears, and limbs more closely clad
than the body, tail more laxly, tapering to the point."--_Hodgson_.
SIZE.--Head and body about 12 inches; tail, 6 inches.
Jerdon calls this the Himalayan Weasel, but I have preferred to
translate Hodgson's' name, which, I confess, puzzled me for some time
till I found out there was a Hemachal range in Thibet.
NO. 181. MUSTELA (GYMNOPUS: _Gray_) KATHIAH.
_The Yellow-bellied Weasel_ (_Jerdon's No. 98_).
NATIVE NAME.--_Kathia-nyal_, Nepalese.
HABITAT.--Nepal, Bhotan.
DESCRIPTION.--Dark brown; upper lip, chin, throat, chest, underside
of body and front of thighs, bright yellow; tail dark brown, shorter
than the body and head, tapering, and of the same colour to the tip;
the soles of the hind feet bald; pads well developed, exposed.
SIZE.--Head and body, 10 inches; tail, 5 inches.
Hodgson states that a horribly offensive yellowish-grey fluid exudes
from two subcaudal glands. He says that the Nepalese highly prize
this little animal for its services in ridding houses of rats. It
is easily tamed; and such is the dread of it common to all murine
animals that not one will approach a house wherein it is domiciled.
Rats and mice seem to have an instinctive sense of its hostility to
them, so much so that when it is introduced into a house they are
observed to hurry away in all directions, being apprised, no doubt,
of its presence by the peculiar odour it emits. Its ferocity and
courage are made subservient to the amusement of the rich, who train
it to attack large fowls, geese, and even goats and sheep. It seizes
these by the great artery of the neck, and does not quit its hold
till the victim sinks exhausted from the loss of blood--a cruel
pastime which one could only expect of a barbarous people.
NO. 182. MUSTELA (GYMNOPUS: _Gray_) STRIGIDORSA.
_The Striped Weasel_ (_Jerdon's No. 99_).
HABITAT.--Sikim.
DESCRIPTION.--Dark chestnut-brown, with a narrow streak of long
yellow hairs down the back; edge of upper lip, chin, throat, chest,
and a narrow stripe down the centre of the belly, yellow, or
yellowish-white.
SIZE.--Head and body, 12 inches; tail, 5-1/2 inches without the hair,
6-1/2 inches with it.
This is similar to the last, but is slightly larger, and
distinguishable by the dorsal stripe.
NO. 183. MUSTELA ERMINEA.
_The Ermine or Stoat_.
HABITAT.--Europe, America and Asia (the Himalayas, Nepal, Thibet,
Afghanistan).
DESCRIPTION.--Brown above; upper lip, chin, and lower surface of
body, inside of limbs and feet yellowish-white; tail brown, with a
black tip. In winter the whole body changes to a yellowish-white,
with the exception of the black tip of the tail.
SIZE.--Head and body, about 10 inches; tail, 4-1/2 inches.
This is about the best known in a general way from its fur being used
as part of the insignia of royalty. The fur however only becomes
valuable after it has completed its winter change. How this is done
was for a long time a subject of speculation and inquiry. It is,
however, now proved that it is according to season that the mode of
alteration is effected. In spring the new hairs are brown, replacing
the white ones of winter; in autumn the existing brown hairs turn
white. Mr. Bell, who gave the subject his careful consideration, says
that in Ross's first Polar expedition, a Hudson's Bay lemming
(_Myodes_) was exposed in its summer coat to a temperature of 30
degrees below zero. Next morning the fur on the cheeks and a patch
on each shoulder had become perfectly white; at the end of the week
the winter change was complete, with the exception of a dark band
across the shoulder and a dorsal stripe.
Hodgson remarks that the Ermine is common in Thibet, where the skins
enter largely into the peltry trade with China.
In one year 187,000 skins were imported into England.
NO. 184. MUSTELA (VISON: _Gray_) CANIGULA.
_The Hoary Red-necked Weasel_.
HABITAT.--Nepal hills, Thibet.
DESCRIPTION.--Pale reddish-brown, scarcely paler beneath; face,
chin, throat, sides of neck and chest white; tail half as long as
body and head, concolorous with the back; feet whitish. Sometimes
chest brown and white mottled, according to Gray. Hodgson, who
discovered the animal, writes: "Colour throughout cinnamon red
without black tip to the tail, but the chaffron and entire head and
neck below hoary."
SIZE.--15-1/2 inches; tail without hair 7-1/2 inches, with hair
9-1/2 inches.
NO. 185. MUSTELA STOLICZKANA.
HABITAT.--Yarkand.
DESCRIPTION.--Colour pale sandy brown above; hairs light at base,
white below; tail concolorous with back; small white spot close to
anterior angle of each eye; a sandy spot behind the gape; feet
whitish.
SIZE.--Head and body, 12.2; tail, 3 inches, including hair.
NO. 186. MUSTELA (VISON) SIBIRICA.
HABITAT.--Himalayas (Thibet?); Afghanistan (Candahar).
DESCRIPTION.--Pale brown; head blackish, varied; spot on each side
of nose, on upper and lower lips and front of chin, white; tail end
pale brown like back, varies; throat more or less white.
This Weasel, described first by Pallas ('Specil Zool.' xiv. t. 4,
f. 1.) was obtained in Candahar by Captain T. Hutton, who describes
it in the 'Bengal Asiatic Society's Journal,' vol. xiv. pp. 346 to
352.
NO. 187. MUSTELA ALPINA.
_The Alpine Weasel_.
HABITAT.--Said to be found in Thibet, otherwise an inhabitant of the
Altai mountains.
DESCRIPTION.--Pale yellow brown; upper lip, chin, and underneath
yellowish-white; head varied with black-tipped hairs; tail
cylindrical, unicolour, not so long as head and body.--_Gray_.
NO. 188. MUSTELA HODGSONI.
HABITAT.--Himalaya, Afghanistan.
DESCRIPTION.--Fur yellowish-brown, paler beneath; upper part and
side of head much darker; face, chin, and throat varied with white;
tail long, and bushy towards the end.
NO. 189. MUSTELA (VISON) HORSFIELDI.
HABITAT.--Bhotan.
DESCRIPTION.--Uniform dark blackish-brown, very little paler
beneath; middle of front of chin and lower lip white; whiskers black;
tail slender, blackish at tip, half the length of head and body.
NO. 190. MUSTELA (GYMNOPUS) NUDIPES.
_Gymnopus leucocephalus_ of Gray.
HABITAT.--Borneo, Sumatra, Java, but possibly Tenasserim.
DESCRIPTION.--Golden fulvous with white head.
As so many Malayan animals are found on the confines of Burmah, and
even extending into Assam, it is probable that this species may be
discovered in Tenasserim.
_GENUS PUTORIUS--THE POLE-CAT_.
This is a larger animal than the weasel, and in form more resembles
the marten, except in the shortness of its tail; the body is stouter
and the neck shorter than in _Mustela_; the head is short and ovate;
the feet generally hairy, and the space between the pads very much
so; the under side of the body is blackish; the fur is made up of
two kinds, the shorter is woolly and lighter coloured than the longer,
which is dark and shining.
The disgusting smell of the common Pole-cat (_Putorius foetidus_)
is well known, and has become proverbial. In my county, as well as
in many parts of England, the popular name is "foumart," which is
said to be derived from "foul marten." The foumart is the special
abhorrence of the game-keeper; it does more damage amongst game and
poultry than any of the other _Mustelidae_, and consequently greater
pains are taken to trap and shoot it, in fact, so much so that I wonder
that the animal is not now extinct in the British Isles. Professor
Parker writes: "It has been known to kill as many as sixteen turkeys
in a single night; and indeed it seems to be a point of honour with
this bloodthirsty little creature to kill everything it can
overpower, and to leave no survivors on its battle-fields."
According to Bell, a female Pole-cat, which was tracked to her nest,
was found to have laid up in a side hole a store of food consisting
of forty frogs and two toads, all bitten through the brain, so that,
though capable of living for some time, they were deprived of the
power of escape. Now, this is a most wonderful instance of instinct
bordering upon reason. Only the Reptilia can exist for any length
of time after injury to the brain; to any of the smaller mammalia
such a process as that adopted by the Pole-cat, would have resulted
in instant death and speedy decomposition.
The Ferret (_Putorius furo_) is a domesticated variety of the
Pole-cat, reputed to be of African origin. Certain it is that it
cannot stand extreme cold like its wild cousin, and an English winter
is fatal to it if not properly looked after. It inter-breeds with
the Pole-cat.
Ferrets are not safe pets in houses where there are young children.
Cases have been known of their attacking infants in the cradle, and
severely lacerating them.
They are chiefly used for killing rats and driving rabbits out of
burrows; in the latter case they are muzzled. As pets they are stupid,
and show but little attachment. Forbearance as regards making its
teeth meet in your fingers is, I think, the utmost you can expect
in return for kindness to a ferret, and that is something,
considering what a sanguinary little beast it is.
NO. 191. PUTORIUS LARVATUS _vel_ TIBETANUS.
_Black-faced Thibetan Pole-cat_.
HABITAT.--Utsang in Thibet, also Ladakh.
DESCRIPTION.--"Tail one-third of entire length; soles clad; fur
long; above and laterally sordid fulvous, deeply shaded on the back
with black; below from throat backwards, with the whole limbs and
tail, black; head pale, with a dark mask over the face."--_Hodgson_.
SIZE.--Head and body, 14 inches; tail, 6 inches, with hair 7 inches;
palma, 1-3/4; planta, 2-3/8.
This animal, according to Gray, is synonymous with the Siberian
_Putorius Eversmannii_, although the sudden contraction of the brain
case in front, behind the orbit, mentioned of this species, is not
perceptible in the illustration given by Hodgson of the skull of this
Thibetan specimen. Horsfield, in his catalogue, states that the
second specimen obtained by Captain R. Strachey in Ladakh, north of
Kumaon, agreed in external character.
In some respects it is similar to the European Pole-cat, but as yet
little is known of its habits.
NO. 192. PUTORIUS DAVIDIANUS.
HABITAT.--Moupin in Thibet.
DESCRIPTION.--Uniform fulvous brown, yellower under the throat;
upper lip and round nostrils to corner of the eye white, darker on
nose and forehead.
SIZE.--Head and body about 11-1/2 inches; tail, 6-1/2 inches.
This is one of the specimens collected by the Abbe David, after whom
it is named. A fuller description of it will be found in
Milne-Edwards's 'Recherches sur les Mammiferes,' page 343. There is
also a plate of the animal in the volume of illustrations.
NO. 193. PUTORIUS ASTUTUS.
HABITAT.--Thibet.
DESCRIPTION.--About the size of Ermine, but with a longer tail.
Colour brown, the white of the chest tinted with yellow; tail uniform
in colour, darker on head.
SIZE.--Head and body, 10 inches; tail, 4-1/5 inches.
This is also described and figured by Milne-Edwards.
NO. 194. PUTORIUS MOUPINENSIS.
HABITAT.--Thibet.
DESCRIPTION.--Reddish-brown, white under the chin, and then again
a patch on the chest.
_LUTRIDAE--THE OTTERS_.
We now come to the third group of the musteline animals, the most
aquatic of all the Fissipedia--the _Lutridae_ or Otters--of which
there are two great divisions, the common Otters (_Lutra_) and the
Sea-Otters, (_Enhydra_). With the latter, a most interesting animal
in all its ways, as well as most valuable on account of its fur, we
have nothing to do. I am not aware that it is found in the tropics,
but is a denizen of the North Pacific. Of _Lutra_ we have several
species in two genera. Dr. Gray has divided the Otters into no less
than nine genera on three characteristics, the tail, feet, and muzzle,
but these have been held open to objection. The classification most
to be depended upon is the division of the tribe into long-clawed
Otters (_Lutra_), and short or rudimentary-clawed Otters (_Aonyx_).
The characteristics of the skulls confirm this arrangement, as the
short-clawed Otters are distinguishable from the others by a shorter
and more globose cranium and larger molars, and, as Dr. Anderson says,
"the inner portion of the last molar being the largest part of the
tooth, while in _Lutra_ the outer exceeds the inner half; the almost
general absence of the first upper premolar; and the rudimentary
claws, which are associated with much more feebly-developed finger
and toe bones, which are much tapered to a point, while in _Lutra_
these bones are strong and well developed." Gray has separated a
genus, which he called _Pteronura_, on account of a flattened tail
arising from a longitudinal ridge on each side, but this flattening
of the tail is common to all the genera more or less.
All the Otters, though active on land, are still only thoroughly at
home in the water, and they are therefore specially constituted for
such a mode of life. They have an elongated flattened form; webbed
feet with short claws; compressed and tapering tail; dense fur of
two kinds, one of long brown shining hairs; the under fur short and
fine, impervious to wet, and well adapted for keeping an equality
of temperature; the skull is peculiar, the brain case being very long,
and compressed from above downwards; the facial portion forms only
about one-fourth of the extreme length; the teeth are strong and
sharp; the upper flesh tooth very large.
[Illustration: Otter's skull (side and under view).]
Dental formula: Inc., 3--3/3--3; can., 1--1/1--1; premolars,
4--4/3--3; molars, 1--1/2--2.
Jerdon states that the otter has a nictitating membrane or additional
semi-transparent eyelid, similar to that in the eyes of birds, which
he supposes is a defence to them under water; but I have not noticed
this myself, and have failed to discover it in the writings of others.
I should think that the vision of the animal under water would not
require obscuring by a semi-transparent membrane, which none of the
marine carnivora possess, though their eyes are somewhat formed for
seeing better under water than when exposed to the full light above.
Some idea of the rapidity of these animals in the water may be
conceived when we think that their food is almost exclusively fish,
of which they sometimes kill more than they can eat. They reside in
burrows, making the entrance under water, and working upwards,
making a small hole for the ventilation of their chamber. The female
has about four or five young ones at a time, after a period of
gestation of about nine weeks, and the mother very soon drives them
forth to shift for themselves in the water.
For a pretty picture of young otters at play in the water, nothing
could be better than the following description from Kingsley's
'Water Babies':--
"Suddenly Tom heard the strangest noise up the stream--cooing,
grunting, and whining, and squeaking, as if you had put into a bag
two stock-doves, nine mice, three guinea-pigs, and a blind puppy,
and left them there to settle themselves and make music. He looked
up the water, and there he saw a sight as strange as the noise: a
great ball rolling over and over down the stream, seeming one moment
of soft brown fur; and the next of shining glass, and yet it was not
a ball, for sometimes it broke up and streamed away in pieces, and
then it joined again; and all the while the noise came out of it louder
and louder. Tom asked the dragon-fly, what it could be: but of course
with his short sight he could not even see it, though it was not ten
yards away. So he took the neatest little header into the water, and
started off to see for himself; and when he came near, the ball turned
out to be four or five beautiful creatures, many times larger than
Tom, who were swimming about, and rolling, and diving, and twisting,
and wrestling, and cuddling, and kissing, and biting, and scratching,
in the most charming fashion that ever was seen. And if you don't
believe me you may go to the Zoological Gardens (for I am afraid you
won't see it nearer, unless, perhaps, you get up at five in the
morning, and go down to Cordery's Moor, and watch by the great withy
pollard which hangs over the back-water, where the otters breed
sometimes), and then say if otters at play in the water are not the
merriest, lithest, gracefullest creatures you ever saw."
Professor Parker, who also notices Kingsley's description,[9]
states that the Canadian otter has a peculiar habit in winter of
sliding down ridges of snow, apparently for amusement. It, with its
companions, scrambles up a high ridge, and then, lying down flat,
glides head-foremost down the declivity, sometimes for a distance
of twenty yards. "This sport they continue apparently with the
keenest enjoyment, until fatigue or hunger induces them to desist."
[Footnote 9: In fact it was his quotation that induced me to buy a
copy of that most charming little book, which I recommend every one
to read.--R. A. S.]
The following are the Indian species; _Lutra nair_, _L. simung vel
monticola_, _L. Ellioti_, and _L. aurobrunnea_ of the long-clawed
family, and _Aonyx leptonyx_ of the short-clawed.
_GENUS LUTRA_.
NO. 195. LUTRA NAIR.
_The Common Indian Otter_ (_Jerdon's No. 100_).
NATIVE NAMES.--_Ud_ or _Ood_, _Ood-bilao_, _Panikutta_, Hindi;
_Nir-nai_, Canarese; _Neeru-kuka_, Telegu; _Jal-manjer_, Mahratti.
HABITAT.--India generally, Burmah and Ceylon.
[Illustration: _Lutra nair_.]
DESCRIPTION.--Hair more or less brown above, sometimes with a
chestnut hue, sometimes grizzled, or with a tinge of dun;
yellowish-white, or with a fulvescent tinged white below; the throat,
upper lip, and sides of head are nearly white; the line of separation
of upper and lower parts not very distinctly marked. Some have
whitish paws.
SIZE.--Head and body, 29 to 30 inches; tail about 17 inches.
This otter, which is synonymous with _L. Indica_, _L. Chinensis_ and
Hodgson's _L. Tarayensis_, is well known throughout India, and
indeed far beyond Indian limits. They are generally found in secluded
spots, in parties of about half a dozen hunting in concert. The young
ones are easily tamed, and become greatly attached if kindly treated.
I had one for some time. Jerdon tells a curious story of one he had,
and which used to follow him in his walks. He says: "As it grew older
it took to going about by itself, and one day found its way to the
bazaar and seized a large fish from a moplah. When resisted, it showed
such fight that the rightful owner was fain to drop it. Afterwards
it took regularly to this highway style of living, and I had on
several occasions to pay for my pet's dinner rather more than was
necessary, so I resolved to get rid of it. I put it in a closed box,
and, having kept it without food for some time, I conveyed it myself
in a boat some seven or eight miles off, up some of the numerous
back-waters on this coast. I then liberated it, and, when it had
wandered out of sight in some inundated paddy-fields, I returned by
boat by a different route. That same evening, about nine whilst in
the town about one and a-half miles from my own house, witnessing
some of the ceremonials connected with the Mohurrum festival, the
otter entered the temporary shed, walked across the floor, and came
and lay down at my feet!" It is to be hoped Dr. Jerdon did not turn
him adrift again; such wonderful sagacity and attachment one could
only expect in a dog.
McMaster gives the following interesting account of otters hunting
on the Chilka Lake: "Late one morning I saw a party, at least six
in number, leave an island on the Chilka Lake and swim out, apparently
to fish their way to another island, or the mainland, either at least
two miles off. I followed them for more than half the distance in
a small canoe. They worked most systematically in a semicircle, with
intervals of about fifty yards between each, having, I suppose, a
large shoal of fish in the centre, for every now and then an otter
would disappear, and generally, when it was again seen, it was well
inside the semicircle with a fish in its jaws, caught more for
pleasure than for profit, as the fish, as far as I could see, were
always left behind untouched beyond a single bite. I picked up
several of these fish, which, as far as I can recollect, were all
mullet." Kingsley notices this. The old otter tells Tom: "We catch
them, but we disdain to eat them all; we just bite out their soft
throats and suck their sweet juice--oh, so good!" (and she licked
her wicked lips)--"and then throw them away, and go and catch
another."
General McMaster also quotes from a letter by "W. C. R." in the
_Field_ about the end of 1868, which gives a very curious incident
of a crocodile stealing up to a pack of otters fishing, and got within
thirty yards; "but no sooner was the water broken by the hideous head
of the reptile, than an otter, which evidently was stationed on the
opposite bank as a sentinel, sounded the alarm by a whistling sort
of sound. In an instant those in the water rushed to the bank and
disappeared among the jungle, no doubt much to the disgust of the
_mugger_."
I have not heard any one allude to the offensive glands of the Indian
otter, but I remember once dissecting one and incautiously cutting
into one of these glands, situated, I think, near the tail. It is
now over twenty years ago, so I cannot speak with authority, but I
remember the abominable smell, which quite put a stop to my
researches at the time.
This otter is trained in some parts of India, in the Jessore district
and Sunderbunds of Bengal, to drive fish into nets. In China a species
there is driven into the water with a cord round its waist, which
is hauled in when the animal has caught a fish.
NO. 196. LUTRA MONTICOLA _vel_ SIMUNG.
(_Jerdon's No. 101_).
HABITAT.--Nepal, Sumatra, and Borneo.
DESCRIPTION.--"The colour is more rufous umber-brown than _L. nair_,
and does not exhibit any tendency to grizzling, and the under surface
is only somewhat hoary, well washed with brownish; the chin and edge
of the lips are whitish; and the silvery hoary on the sides of the
head, on the throat, and on the under surface of the neck and of the
chest is marked; the tail above and below is concolorous with the
trunk. The length of the skeleton of an adult female, measured from
the tip of the premaxillaries to the end of the sacral vertebrae,
is 23.25, and the tail measures 17.75 inches" (_Anderson_). Of the
Sumatran specimen the first notice was published in 1785 in the first
edition of Marsden's 'History of Sumatra.' This otter is larger than
the common Indian one, the skull of a female, as given by Dr. Anderson,
exceeding in all points that of male of _Lutra nair_.
Jerdon has this as _Lutra vulgaris_, which is the common English
otter, but there is a difference in the skull.
NO. 197. LUTRA ELLIOTI.
HABITAT.--Southern Mahratta country.
DESCRIPTION.--The colouring is the same as the last, only a little
darker; the distribution of the silvery white is the same; the muzzle
is however more depressed than in the last species, and it differs
from _L. nair_ by a broader, more arched head, and shorter muzzle.
Dr. Anderson, who distinguishes it by the feature of its skull from
the two preceding species, says: "It may be that this otter has a
north-westerly distribution, and that it is the species which occurs
in the lake at Mount Abu in Rajputana, and also in Sindh and in the
Indus."
NO. 198. LUTRA AUROBRUNNEA.
HABITAT.--Nepal.
DESCRIPTION.--Fur of a rich ferruginous brown colour, the upper
surface of the head being a deeper brown than the back; the nose is
bare; the ears are small and pointed posteriorily. All the strong
bristles of the moustache, eyes, cheeks, and chin, are dark brown;
claws as in _Lutra_ (_Anderson_). Hodgson says it has a more
vermiform body than the rest of Indian otters; tail less than two
thirds of the body; nails and toes feebly developed (whence it is
classed by Gray in the next genus); fur long and rough, rich
chestnut-brown above, golden red below and on the extremities.
SIZE.--Head and body, 20 to 22 inches; tail, 12 to 13 inches.
_GENUS AONYX--CLAWLESS OTTERS_.
Muzzle bald, oblong; skull broad, depressed, shorter and more
globose than in _Lutra_; the molars larger than in the last genus;
flesh tooth larger, and with a large internal lobe; first upper
premolar generally absent; feet oblong, elongate; toes slender and
tapering; claws rudimentary.
NO. 199. AONYX LEPTONYX.
_The Clawless Otter_ (_Jerdon's No. 102_).
NATIVE NAMES.--_Chusam_, Bhotia; _Suriam_, Lepcha.
HABITAT.--Throughout the Himalayas, also in Lower Bengal and in
Burmah.
DESCRIPTION.--"Above earthy brown or chestnut brown; lips, sides of
head, chin, throat, and upper part of breast white, tinged with
yellowish-grey. In young individuals the white of the lower parts
is less distinct, sometimes very pale brownish."--_Jerdon_.
SIZE.--Head and body, 24 Inches; tail, 13.
Mason speaks of this species as common in Burmah, and McMaster
mentions his having seen in the Sitang River a colony of
white-throated otters smaller than _L. nair_, though larger than _L.
aurobrunnea_, but he did not secure specimens.
AELUROIDEA.
This section includes the Cat family (_Felidae_); the Hyaenas
(_Hyaenidae_); two families unknown in India, viz. the
_Cryptoproctidae_ and the _Protelidae_; and the Civet family
(_Viverridae_).
_FELIDAE--THE CAT FAMILY_.
This family contains the typical carnivores. There is in them
combined the greatest power of destruction, accompanied by the
simplest mechanism for producing it. All complications of dentition
and digestion disappear. Here are the few scissor-like teeth with
the enormous canines, the latter for holding and piercing the life
out of their prey, the former for chopping up the flesh into suitable
morsels for swallowing. Then the stomach is a simple sac, undivided
into compartments, and the intestine is short, not more than three
times the length of the body, instead of being some twenty times
longer, as in some herbivores. This family has the smallest number
of molars, a class of tooth which would indeed be useless, for the
construction of the feline jaw precludes the possibility of grinding,
and therefore a flat-crowned tuberculous tooth would be out of place.
As I have before described it, the jaw of a tiger is incapable of
lateral motion. The condyle of the lower jaw is so broad, and fits
so accurately into its socket, the glenoid cavity, that there can
be no departure from the up and down scissor-like action. The true
Cats have, therefore, only one molar on each side of each jaw; those
in the upper jaw being merely rudimentary, and placed almost at right
angles to the rest of the teeth, and seem apparently of little use;
those of the lower jaw are large and trenchant, cutting against the
edge of the third upper premolar.
[Illustration: Skull of Tiger (side view).]
It may interest my readers to know which are premolars and which are
molars. This can be decided only by dissection of the jaw of a young
animal. True molars only appear as the animal approaches the adult
stage. They are never shed, as are all the rest of the teeth, commonly
called milk teeth. The deciduous or milk teeth are the incisors,
canines, and premolars; they drop out and are replaced, and behind
the last premolar comes up the permanent molar.
Another peculiar feature of the Cat family is the power of sheathing
their talons. Claws to a cat are of as great importance to him in
the securing of his prey as are his teeth. The badger is a digger,
Hodge, who carries his mattock on his shoulder; but the feline is
the free-lance whose sword must be kept keen in its scabbard, so by
a peculiar arrangement of muscles the points of the claws are kept
off the ground, while the animal treads noiselessly on soft pads.
Otherwise by constant abrasion they would get so blunted as to fail
in their penetrating and seizing power. I give here an illustration
of the mechanism of the feline claw. In the upper sketch the claw
is retracted or sheathed; in the lower it is protruded as in the act
of striking.
[Illustration: Tendons of Tiger's toe.]
[Illustration: Tiger's auditory apparatus.]
The senses of hearing and smell are much developed, and the bulb of
the ear (_bulla tympani_) is here found of the largest dimensions.
I have once before alluded to this in writing of the bears, in whom
this arrangement is deficient. I give here a section of the auditory
apparatus. I do not know whether the engraver has effectually
rendered my attempt at conveying an idea, based as it is on
dissections by Professor Flower; but if he has failed I think the
fault lies in the shakiness of my hand in attempting the fine shading
after nearly breaking a saw and losing my temper over a very tough
old skull which I divided before commencing my illustration. The
great cavity is the _bulla tympani_ or bulb of the ear; _a m_ is the
_auditory meatus_ or external hole of the ear. On looking into a dry
skull the passage seems to be of no great depth, nor can an instrument
be passed directly from the outside into the great tympanic cavity,
the hindrance being a wall of bone, _s_, the _septum_ which divides
the _bulla_ into two distinct chambers, the reason for which is not
very clear, except that one may suppose it to be in some measure for
acoustic purposes, as all animals with this development are quick
of hearing. The communication between the two chambers lies in a
narrow slit over the _septum_, the Eustachian tube, _e_, being on
the outside of the _septum_ and between it and the tympanum or ear
drum, _t_.
The above are the chief characteristics of the family. For the rest
we may notice that they have but a rudimentary clavicle imbedded
among the muscles; the limbs are comparatively short, but immensely
muscular; the body lithe and active; the foot-fall noiseless; the
tongue armed with rough papillae, which enables them to rasp the
flesh off bones, and their vision is adapted for both night and day.
None of them are gregarious, as in the case of dogs and wolves. One
hears sometimes of a limited number of lions and tigers being seen
together, but in most cases they belong to one family, of which the
junior members have not been "turned off on their own hook" as yet.
_GENUS FELIS_.
NO. 200. FELIS LEO.
_The Lion_ (_Jerdon's No. 103_).
NATIVE NAMES.--_Sher-babbar_, _Singh_, _Unthia-bagh_.
HABITAT.--Guzerat and Central India.
[Illustration: _Felis leo_ (Indian variety).]
DESCRIPTION.--The lion is almost too well known to need description,
and there is little difference between the Asiatic and African animal.
It may, however, be generally described as being distinguished from
other Cats by its uniform tawny colour, flatter skull, which gives
it a more dog-like appearance, the shaggy mane of the male, and by
the tufted tail of both sexes.
SIZE.--From nose to insertion of tail, 6 to 6-1/2 feet; tail, 2-1/2
to 3 feet; height, 3-1/2 feet.
The weight of one measured by Captain Smee, 8 feet 9-1/2 inches, was
(excluding the entrails) thirty-five stone. This must be the one
alluded to by Jerdon, but he does not state the extraction of the
viscera, which would add somewhat to the weight.
Young lions when born are invariably spotted; and Professor Parker
states that there were in the Zoological Gardens in 1877 three lions
which were born in the menagerie about ten years previously, and
which showed "indistinct, though perfectly evident, spots of a
slightly darker tawny than the general ground-tint on the belly and
flanks." He adds: "This is also the case with the puma, and it looks
very much as if all the great Cats were descended from a spotted
ancestor." The more dog-like head of the lion is well known to all
who have studied the physiognomy of the Cats, and I have not only
noticed it in drawing the animal, but have seen it alluded to in the
writings of others. It was not, however, till lately that I had an
opportunity of comparing the skulls of the lion and tiger in the
Calcutta Museum, and I am indebted to Mr. Cockburn of the museum,
not only for the trouble he took in getting out the various skulls,
but for his assistance in pointing out certain peculiarities known
to him, but of which I was at the time ignorant. That the skull of
the lion is flatter than, and wants the bold curve of, those of the
tiger, leopard and jaguar, is a well-known fact, but what Mr.
Cockburn pointed out to me was the difference in the maxillary and
nasal sutures of the face. A glance at two skulls placed side by side
would show at once what I mean. It would be seen that the nasal bones
of the tiger run up higher than those of the lion, the apices of whose
nasal and maxillary sutures are on a level. On leaving the museum
I compared the tiger skulls in my possession with accurate anatomical
drawings which I have of the osteology of the lion, and the result
was the same. It is said that there is also a difference in the
infra-orbital foramen of the two animals, but this I have failed to
detect as yet, though asserted by De Blainville in his magnificent
work on osteology ('Osteographie').
From all that has been written of the African and Indian lions I
should say that the tiger was the more formidable of the two, as he
is, I believe, superior in size. About twenty-two years ago my
attention was drawn to this subject by the perusal of Mr. Blyth's
article on the _Felidae_ in the old _India Sporting Review_ of
1856-57. If I am not mistaken there was at that time (1861) a fine
skeleton of a lion in the museum, as well as those of several tigers,
which I measured. I had afterwards opportunities of observing and
comparing skeletons of the two animals in various museums in Europe,
though not in my own country, for my stay in England on each occasion
of furlough was brief, and in almost every instance I found the tiger
the larger of the two. The book in which I recorded my observations,
and which also contained a number of microscopic drawings of marine
infusoria, collected during a five months' voyage, was afterwards
lost, so I cannot now refer to my notes.
I believe there was once a case of a fair fight between a well-matched
lion and tiger in a menagerie (Edmonds's, I think). The two, by the
breaking of a partition, got together, and could not be separated.
The duel resulted in the victory of the tiger, who killed his
opponent.
The lion seems to be dying out in India, and it is now probably
confined only to Guzerat and Cutch. I have not been an attentive
reader of sporting magazines of late years, and therefore I cannot
call to mind any recent accounts of lion-killing in India, if any
such have been recorded. At the commencement of this century lions
were to be found in the North-West and in Central India, including
the tract of country now termed the Central Provinces. In 1847 or
1848 a lioness was killed by a native shikari in the Dumoh district.
Dr. Spry, in his 'Modern India,' states that, when at Saugor in the
Central Provinces in 1837, the skin of a full-grown male lion was
brought to him, which had been shot by natives in the neighbourhood.
He also mentions another lioness shot at Rhylee in the Dumoh district
in 1834, of which he saw the skin. Jerdon says that tolerably
authentic intelligence was received of the presence of lions near
Saugor in 1856; and whilst at Seonee, within the years 1857 to 1864,
I frequently heard the native shikaris speak of having seen a tiger
_without stripes_, which may have been of the present species. The
indistinct spots on the lion's skin (especially of young lions), to
which I have before alluded, were noticed in the skin of the lioness
shot at Dumoh in 1847. The writer says: "when you place it in the
sun and look sideways at it, some very faint spots (the size of a
shilling or so) are to be seen along the belly."
Lions pair off at each season, and for the time they are together
they show great attachment to each other, but the male has to fight
for his spouse, who bestows herself on the victor. They then live
together till the young are able to shift for themselves. The lioness
goes with young about fifteen or sixteen weeks, and produces from
two to six at a litter. But there is great mortality among young lions,
especially about the time when they are developing their canine teeth.
This has been noticed in menageries, confirming a common Arab
assertion. In the London Zoological Gardens, during the last twenty
years, there has been much mortality among the lion cubs by a
malformation of the palate. It is a curious fact that lions breed
more readily in travelling menageries than in stationary ones.
NO. 201. FELIS TIGRIS.
_The Tiger_ (_Jerdon's No. 104_).
NATIVE NAME.--_Bagh_, _Sher_, Hindi; _Sela-vagh_, _Go-vagh_,
Bengali; _Wuhag_, Mahrathi; _Nahar_ in Bundelkund and Central India;
_Tut_ of the hill people of Bhagulpore; _Nongya-chor_ in Gorukpore;
_Puli_ in Telegu and Tamil; also _Pedda-pulli_ in Telegu;
_Parain-pulli_ in Malabar; _Huli_ in Caranese; _Tagh_ in Tibet;
_Suhtong_ in Lepcha; _Tukh_ in Bhotia.
These names are according to Jerdon. _Bagh_ and _Sher_ all Indian
sportsmen are familiar with. The Gonds of the Central Provinces call
it _Pullial_, which has an affinity with the southern dialects.
HABITAT.--The tiger, as far as we are concerned, is known throughout
the Indian peninsula and away down the eastern countries to the
Malayan archipelago. In Ceylon it is not found, but it extends to
the Himalayas, and ranges up to heights of 6000 to 8000 feet.
Generally speaking it is confined to Asia, but in that continent it
has a wide distribution. It has been found as far north as the island
of Saghalien, which is bisected by N. L. 50 degrees. This is its
extreme north-eastern limit, the Caspian Sea being its westerly
boundary. From parallel 50 degrees downwards it is found in many
parts of the highlands of central Asia.
[Illustration: Head of Tiger.]
DESCRIPTION.--A large heavy bodied Cat, much developed in the
fore-quarters, with short, close hair of a bright rufous ground tint
from every shade of pale yellow ochre to burnt sienna, with black
stripes arranged irregularly and seldom in two individuals alike,
the stripes being also irregular in form, from single streaks to
loops and broad bands. In some the brows and cheeks are white, and
in all the chin, throat, breast, and belly are pure white. All parts,
however, whether white or rufous, are equally pervaded by the black
stripes. The males have prolonged hairs extending from the ears round
the cheeks, forming a ruff, or whiskers as they are sometimes called,
although the true whiskers are the labial bristles. The pupil of the
tiger's eye is round, and not vertical, as stated by Jerdon.
SIZE.--Here we come to a much-vexed question, on which there is much
divergence of opinion, and the controversy will never be decided
until sportsmen have adopted a more correct system of measurement.
At present the universal plan is to measure the animal as it lies
on the ground, taking the tape from the tip of the nose to the end
of the tail. I will undertake that no two men will measure the same
tiger with equal results if the body be at all disturbed between the
two operations. If care be not taken to raise the head so as to bring
the plane of the skull in a line with the vertebrae, the downward
deflection will cause increased measurement. Let any one try this
on the next opportunity, or on the dead body of a cat. Care should
be taken in measuring that the head be raised, so that the top of
the skull be as much as possible in a line with the vertebrae. A stake
should be then driven in at the nose and another close in at the root
of the tail, and the measurement taken between the two stakes, and
not round the curves. The tail, which is an unimportant matter, but
which in the present system of measurement is a considerable factor,
should be measured and noted separately. I am not a believer in tails
(or tales), and have always considered that they should be excluded
from measurements except as an addition. I spoke of this in 'Seonee'
in the following terms: "If all tigers were measured honestly, a
twelve-foot animal would never be heard of. All your big fellows are
measured from stretched skins, and are as exaggerated as are the
accounts of the dangers incurred in killing them--at least in many
cases. But even the true method of measuring the unskinned animal
is faulty; it is an apparent fact that a tail has very little to do
with the worthiness of a creature, otherwise our bull-dogs would have
their caudal appendages left in peace. Now every shikari knows that
there may be a heavy tiger with a short tail and a light bodied one
with a long tail. Yet the measurement of each would be equal, and
give no criterion as to the size of the brute. Here's this tiger of
yours; I call him a heavy one, twenty-eight inches round the fore-arm,
and big in every way, yet his measurement does not sound large (it
was 9 feet 10 inches), and had he six inches more tail he would gain
immensely by it in reputation. The biggest panther I ever shot had
a stump only six inches long; and according to the usual system of
measuring he would have read as being a very small creature indeed."
Tails do vary. Sir Walter Elliot was a very careful observer, and
in his comparison of the two largest males and two largest females,
killed between 1829 and 1833, out of 70 to 80 specimens, it will be
seen that the largest animal in each sex had the shortest tail:--
---------------------------------------------------------------
| Adult Male. | Adult Female.
------------------------+-------------------+------------------
| ft. in. | ft. in. | ft. in. | ft. in.
Length of head and body | 6 2 | 5 6 | 5 3-1/2 | 5 2
| | | |
Length of tail | 3 1-1/2 | 3 3 | 2 11 | 3 2
|---------+---------|---------|--------
| 9 3-1/2 | 8 9 | 8 2-1/2 | 8 4
---------------------------------------------------------------
Campbell, in his notes to 'The Old Forest-Ranger,' gives the
dimensions of a tiger of 9 ft. 5 in. of which the tail was only 2
ft. 10 in. From the other detailed measurements it must have been
an enormous tiger. The number of caudal vertebrae in the tiger and
lion should be twenty-six. I now regret that I did not carefully
examine the osteology of all short-tailed tigers which I have come
across, to see whether they had the full complement of vertebrae.
The big tiger in the museum is short by the six terminal joints =
three inches. This may have occurred during life, as in the case of
the above-quoted panther; anyhow the tail should, I think, be thrown
out of the calculation. Now as to the measurement of the head and
body, I quite acknowledge that there must be a different standard
for the sportsman and for the scientific naturalist. For the latter
the only reliable data are derived from the bones. Bones cannot err.
Except in very few abnormal conditions the whole skeleton is in
_accurate_ proportion, and it has lately struck me that from a
certain measurement of the skull a true estimate might be formed of
the length of the skeleton, and approximately the size of the animal
over the muscles. I at first thought of taking the length of the skull
by a craniometer, and seeing what portion of the total length to the
posterior edge of the sacrum it would be, but I soon discarded the
idea on account of the variation in the supra-occipital process.
[Illustration: Tiger's skull (under part).]
I then took the palatal measurement, from the outer edge of the border
in which the incisors are set to the anterior inside edge of the
brain-hole, or foramen magnum, and I find that this standard is
sufficiently accurate, and is 5.50 of the length taken from the tip
of the premaxillaries to the end of the sacrum. Therefore the length
of this portion of any tiger's skull multiplied by 5.50 will give
the measurement of the head and body of the skeleton.
For the purpose of working out these figures I applied to all my
sporting friends for measurements of their largest skulls, with a
view to settling the question about tigers exceeding eleven feet.
The museum possesses the skeleton of a tiger which was considered
one of the largest known, the cranial measurement of whose skull is
14.50 inches, but the Maharajah of Cooch Behar showed me one of his
skulls which exceeded it, being 15 inches. Amongst others I wrote
to Mr. J. Shillingford of Purneah, and he most kindly not only drew
up for me a tabular statement of the dimensions of the finest skulls
out of his magnificent collection, but sent down two for my
inspection. Now in the long-waged war of opinion regarding the size
of tigers I have always kept a reserved attitude, for if I have never
myself killed, or have seen killed by others, a tiger exceeding ten
feet, I felt that to be no reason for doubting the existence of tigers
of eleven feet in length vouched for by men of equal and in some cases
greater experience, although at the same time I did not approve of
a system of measurement which left so much to conjecture.
There is much to be said on both sides, and, as much yet remains to
be investigated, it is to be hoped that the search after the truth
will be carried on in a judicial spirit. I have hitherto been ranged
on the side of the moderate party; still I was bound to respect the
opinion of Sir Joseph Fayrer, who, as not only as a sportsman but
as an anatomist, was entitled to attention; and from my long personal
acquaintance I should implicitly accept any statement made by him.
Dr. Jerdon, whom I knew intimately, was not, I may safely assert,
a great tiger shikari, and he based his opinion on evidence and with
great caution. Mr. J. Shillingford, from whom I have received the
greatest assistance in my recent investigations, and who has
furnished me with much valuable information, is on the other hand
the strenuous assertor of the existence of the eleven-foot tiger,
and with the magnificent skulls before me, which he has sent down
from Purneah, I cannot any longer doubt the size of the Bengal tiger,
and that the animals to which they belonged were eleven feet,
_measured sportsman fashion_--that is round the curves. The larger
of the two skulls measures 15.25 inches taken between two squares,
placed one at each end; a tape taken from the edge of the
premaxillaries over the curve of the head gives 17.37 inches; the
width across the zygomatic arches, 10.50.[10] The palatal
measurement, which is the test I proposed for ascertaining the length
of the skeleton, is 12.25, which would give 5 feet 7.37 inches; about
3-3/4 inches larger than the big skeleton in the Museum. This may
seem very small for the body of an animal which is supposed to measure
eleven feet, but I must remind my readers that the bones of the
biggest tiger look very small when denuded of the muscles; and the
present difficulty I have to contend with is how to strike the average
rate for the allowance to be added to skeleton for muscles, the chief
stumbling block being the system which has hitherto included the tail
in the measurement. It all tigers had been measured as most other
animals (except felines) are--i.e. head and body together, and then
the tail separately--I might have had some more reliable data to go
upon; but I hope in time to get some from such sportsmen as are
interested in the subject. I have shown that the tail is not
trustworthy as a proportional part of the total length; but from such
calculations as I have been able to make from the very meagre
materials on which I have to base them, I should allow one 2.50th
part of the total length of skeleton for curves and muscles.
[Footnote 10: At Mr. Shillingford's request, I made over this skull
to the Calcutta Museum.]
In addition to a careful study of De Blainville's 'Osteographie,'
where the bones are figured in large size to scale, I have made many
careful measurements of skulls belonging to myself and friends, and
also of the skulls and skeletons in the Calcutta Museum (for most
willing and valuable assistance in which I am indebted to Mr. J.
Cockburn, who, in order to test my calculations, went twice over the
ground); and I have adopted the following formula as a tentative
measure. I quite expect to be criticised, but if the crude idea can
be improved on by others I shall be glad.
I now give a tabular statement of four out of many calculations made,
but I must state that in fixing an arbitrary standard of 36 inches
for tail, I have understated the mark, for the tails of most tigers
exceed that by an inch or two, though, on the other hand, some are
less.
_Formula_.--Measure from the tip of the premaxillaries or outer
insertion of the front teeth (incisors) along the palate to the
nearest inner edge of the foramen magnum. Multiply the result by 5.50.
This will give the length of the skeleton, excluding the tail. Divide
this result by 2.50, and add the quotient to the length for the
proportionate amount of muscles and gain in curves. Add 36 inches
for tail.
----------------------------------------------------------------
| Palatal | Add one | |
| measure- | 2.50th | |
| ment | part of | |
| multi- | last for | |
| plied | curves | |
| by | and | | Total.
| 5.50. | muscles. | Tail. | inches ft. in.
-------------------+----------+----------+-------+--------------
Mr. Shillingford's | 67.37 | 26.94 | 36.00 | 130.31 10 10
tiger | | | |
| | | |
Big tiger in | 63.52 | 25.40 | 36.00 | 124.92 10 4-3/4
museum | | | |
| | | |
Maharajah of Cooch | 66.00 | 26.40 | 36.00 | 128.40 10 8.4
Behar's tiger | | | |
| | | |
A medium-sized one | 55.75 | 23.10 | 36.00 | 116.85 9 8-3/4
of my own | | | |
----------------------------------------------------------------
Remarks: Mr. Shillingford's tiger's tail was over 3 ft. 2 in., which
would make it 11 ft. The Maharajah writes to me that his measured
on the ground 9 ft. 11 in. See further on.
----------------------------------------------------------------
It will be seen that my calculation is considerably out in the Cooch
Behar tiger, so I asked the Maharajah to tell me, from the appearance
of the skull, whether the animal was young or old. He sent it over
to me, and I have no hesitation in saying that it was that of a young
tiger, who, in another year, might have put on the extra nine inches;
the parietal sutures, which in the old tiger (as in Mr.
Shillingford's specimens) are completely obliterated, are in this
one almost open. It must be remembered that the bones of the skull
do not grow in the same ratio to the others, and that they attain
their full size before those of the rest of the body. Therefore it
is only in the case of the adult that accurate results can be
calculated upon. Probably I have not done wisely in selecting a
portion of the skull as a standard--a bone of the body, such as a
femur or humerus might be more reliable--but I was driven to it by
circumstances. Sportsmen, as a rule, do not keep anything but the
skull, and for general purposes it would have been of no use my giving
as a test what no one could get hold of except in a museum.
I have always understood that the tiger of the plains grew to a
greater size, that is in length, than the tiger of hilly country.
I have never shot a tiger in Lower Bengal, therefore I cannot judge
of the form of the beast, whether he be more lanky or not. If an
eleven-foot Bengal tiger be anything like as robust in proportion
as our Central Indian ones, I should say he was an enormous creature,
but I believe the Central and Southern tiger to be the heavier one,
and this is borne out by an illustration given by Mr. Shillingford
in one of his able letters, which have called forth so much hostile
criticism. He compares one of his largest with the measurement of
a Southern India tiger:--
--------------------------------------------------------
Locality of Tiger. | Purneah | Southern India
Length. | 11 ft. 0 in. | 10 ft. 2 in.
Girth of Chest. | 4 ft. 6 in. | 6 ft. 1 in.
Girth of Head. | 2 ft. 10 in. | 3 ft. 5 in.
Tail. | 3 ft. 4 in. | 3 ft. 1 in.
Round Fore-arm. | 2 ft. 2 in. | 2 ft. 10 in.
Height. | 3 ft. 7 in. | 3 ft. 9 in.
Total of ft. and in. | 27 ft. 5 in. | 29 ft. 4 in.
--------------------------------------------------------
The shorter tiger has an advantage of nearly two feet in all-round
measurement.
Sir Joseph Fayrer has also been called in question for his belief
in twelve feet tigers, but what he says is reasonable enough. "The
tiger should be measured from the nose along the spine to the tip
of the tail, as he lies dead on the spot where he fell, before the
skin is removed. _One that is ten feet by this measurement is large,
and the full-grown male does not often exceed this_, though no doubt
larger individuals (males) are occasionally seen, and I have been
informed by Indian sportsmen of reliability that they have seen and
killed tigers over twelve feet in length." ('Royal Tiger of Bengal,'
p. 29).
Sir Joseph Fayrer in a letter to _Nature_, June 27, 1878, brings
forward the following evidence of large tigers shot by sportsmen
whose names are well known in India.
Lieutenant-Colonel Boileau killed a tiger at Muteara in Oude, in 1861,
over 12 feet; the skin when removed measured 13 feet 5 inches.
Sir George Yule has heard once of a 12-foot tiger fairly measured,
but 11 feet odd inches is the largest he has killed, _and that twice
or thrice_.
Colonel Ramsay (Commissioner) killed in Kumaon a tiger measuring 12
feet.
Sir Joseph Fayrer has seen and killed tigers over 10 feet, and one
in Purneah 10 feet 8 inches, in 1869.
Colonel J. Sleeman does not remember having killed a tiger _over_
10 feet 6 inches in the skin.
Colonel J. MacDonald has killed one 10 feet 4 inches.
The Honourable R. Drummond, C.S., killed a tiger 11 feet 9 inches,
measured before being skinned.
Colonel Shakespeare killed one 11 feet 8 inches.
However, conceding that all this proves that tigers do reach
occasionally to eleven and even twelve feet, it does not take away
from the fact that the average length is between nine and ten feet,
and anything up to eleven feet is rare, and up to twelve feet still
more so.[11]
[Footnote 11: Since writing the above I have to thank "Meade Shell"
for the measurements of the skull of a tiger 11 ft. 6 in. The palatal
measurement is 12 inches, which, according to my formula, would give
only 10 ft. 8 in.; but it must be remembered that I have allowed only
3 ft. for the tail, whereas such a tiger would probably have been
from 3-1/2 to 4 ft., which would quite bring it up to the length
vouched for. The tail of a skeleton of a much smaller tiger in the
museum measures 3 ft. 3-1/2 in., which with skin and hair would
certainly have been 3-1/2 ft. Until sportsmen begin to measure bodies
and tails separately it will, I fear, be a difficult matter to fix
on any correct formula.--R. A. S. See Appendix _C_.]
VARIETIES OF THE TIGER.--It is universally acknowledged that there
is but one species of tiger. There are, however, several marked
varieties. The distinction between the Central Asian and the Indian
tiger is unmistakable. The coat of the Indian animal is of smooth,
short hair; that of the Northern one of a deep furry pelage, of a
much richer appearance.
There is an idea which is also to be found stated as a fact in some
works on natural history, that the Northern tiger is of a pale colour
with few stripes, which arises from Swinhoe having so described some
specimens from Northern China; but I have not found this to be
confirmed in those skins from Central Asia which I have seen. Shortly
before leaving London, in 1878, Mr. Charles Reuss, furrier, in Bond
Street, showed me a beautiful skin with deep soft hair, abundantly
striped on a rich burnt sienna ground, admirably relieved by the pure
white of the lower parts. That light-coloured specimens are found
is true, but I doubt whether they are more common than the others.
Of the varieties in India it is more difficult to speak. Most
sportsmen recognise two (some three)--the stout thick-set tiger of
hilly country, and the long-bodied lankier one of the grass jungles
in the plains. Such a division is in consonance with the ordinary
laws of nature, which we also see carried out in the thick-set
muscular forms of the human species in mountain tracts.
Some writers, however, go further, and attempt subdivisions more or
less doubtful. I knew the late Captain J. Forsyth most intimately
for years. We were in the same house for some time. I took an interest
in his writings, and helped to illustrate his last work, and I can
bear testimony to the general accuracy of his observations and the
value of his book on the Highlands of Central India; but in some
things he formed erroneous ideas, and his three divisions, based on
the habits of the tiger, is, I think, open to objection, as tending
to create an idea of at least two distinct varieties.
Native shikaris, he says, recognise two kinds--the _Lodhia Bagh_ and
the _Oontia Bagh_ (which last I may remind my readers is one of the
names of the lion). The former is the _game-killing_ tiger, retired
in his habits, living chiefly among the hills, retreating readily
from man. "He is a light-made beast, very active and enduring, and
from this, as well as his shyness, generally difficult to bring to
bag."
I grant his shyness and comparative harmlessness (I once met one
almost face to face)--and the nature of the ground he inhabits
increases the difficulty in securing him--but I do not think he
physically differs from his brother in the cattle districts. Mr.
Sanderson says one of the largest tigers he had killed was a pure
game-killer.
"The cattle-lifter again," says Forsyth, "is usually an older and
heavier animal (called _Oontia Bagh_, from his faintly striped coat,
resembling the colour of a camel), very fleshy and indisposed to
severe exertion."
His third division is the man-eater. However, this is merely a
classification on the habits of the same animal. I think most Central
India sportsmen will agree with me when I say that many a young tiger
is a cattle-eater, with a rich coloured hide, although it often
happens that an old tiger of the first division, when he finds his
powers for game failing by reason of age or increased bulk, transfers
himself from the borders of the forest to the vicinity of grazing
lands and villages, and he ultimately may come into the third
division by becoming a man-eater. So that the _Lodhia_ becomes the
_Oontia_ (for very old tigers become lighter in colour), and may end
by being an _Adam-khor_, or man-eater. Tigers roam a great deal at
times, and if in their wanderings they come to a suitable locality
with convenience of food and water, they abide there, provided there
be no occupant with a prior claim and sufficient power to dispute
the intrusion. We had ample proof of this at Seonee. Close to the
station, that is, within a short ride, were several groups of hills
which commanded the pasture lands of the town. Many a tiger has been
killed there, the place of the slain one being occupied ere long by
another. On the other hand, if a tiger be accommodated with lodgings
to his liking, he will stay there for years, roaming a certain radius,
but returning to his home; and it is the knowledge of this that so
often enables the hunter to compass his destruction. As long
therefore as there are human habitations, with their usual adjuncts
of herds and flocks, within a dozen miles of the jungle tiger's haunts,
so long there will always be the transition from the game-killer to
the cattle-lifter and the man-eater. Colour and striping must also
be thrown out of the question, for no two individuals of any variety
agree, and the characteristics of shade and marking are common to
all kinds. The only reliable data therefore are derived from
measurements, and from these it may be proved that the grass-jungle
tiger of Bengal, though the longer animal, is yet inferior in all
round measurement and probably in weight to the tiger of hilly
country--see Mr. Shillingford's comparison quoted by me above. Let
also any one compare the following measurements of one given by
Colonel Walter Campbell with a tiger of equal length shot in the
grassy plains of Bengal:--
ft. in.
Length from point of nose to end of tail . . . . . 9 5
Ditto of tail . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 10
Height from heel to shoulder . . . . . . . . . . . 3 2
Extreme length from shoulder to point of toe . . . 3 11
From elbow to point of toe . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 0
Girth of body just behind the shoulder . . . . . . 5 3
Ditto of forearm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 7
Ditto of neck . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 0
Circumference of head . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 3
This is a remarkably short-tailed tiger. If the concurrence of
evidence establishes the difference beyond doubt, then we may say
that there are two varieties in India--the hill tiger, _Felis tigris,
var. montanus_; and the other, inhabiting the alluvial plains of
great rivers, _Felis tigris, var. fluviatilis_. Dr. Anderson says
he has examined skulls and skins of those inhabiting the hill ranges
of Yunnan, and can detect no difference from the ordinary Indian
species.
The tigress goes with young for about fifteen weeks, and produces
from two to five at a birth. I remember once seeing four perfectly
formed cubs, which would have been born in a day or two, cut from
a tigress shot by my brother-in-law Col. W. B. Thomson in the hills
adjoining the station of Seonee. I had got off an elephant, and,
running up the glen on hearing the shots, came unpleasantly close
to her in her dying throes. When about to bring forth, the tigress
avoids the male, and hides her young from him. The native shikaris
say that the tiger kills the young ones if he finds them. The mother
is a most affectionate parent as a rule, and sometimes exhibits
strange fits of jealousy at interference with her young. I heard an
instance of this some years ago from my brother, Mr. H. B. Sterndale,
who, as one of the Municipal Commissioners of Delhi, took a great
interest in the collection of animals in the Queen's Gardens there.
Both tiger and leopard cubs had been born in the gardens, and the
mother of the latter shewed no uneasiness at her offspring being
handled by strangers as they crept through the bars and strayed
about; but one day, a tiger cub having done the same, the tigress
exhibited great restlessness, and, on the little one's return, in
a sudden accession of jealous fury she dashed her paw on it and killed
it. I am indebted to Mr. Shillingford for a long list of tigresses
with cubs killed during the years 1866 to 1880. Out of 53 cubs (18
mothers) 29 were males and 22 females, the sex of two cubs not being
given. This tends to prove that there are an equal number of each
sex born--in fact here the advantage is on the side of the males.
I have heard it asserted that tigresses are more common, and native
shikaris account for it by saying that the male tiger kills the cubs
of his own sex; but I have not seen anything to justify this assertion,
or the fact of there being a preponderance of females. Mr. Sanderson,
however, writes: "Male and female cubs appear to be in about equal
proportions. How it is that amongst mature animals tigresses
predominate so markedly I am unable to say."
Tigresses have young at all seasons of the year, and they breed
apparently only once in three years, which is about the time the cubs
remain with their mother.
For the following interesting memorandum I have to thank Mr.
Shillingford:--
Feet.
"Cubs one year old measure . . . . . . Males 4-1/2 to 5-1/2
Females 4 to 5
Ditto two years old . . . . . . . . . Males 5-1/2 to 7
Females 5 to 6-1/2
Ditto three years old . . . . . . . . Males 7 to 8-1/2
Females 6-1/2 to 7-1/2
"When they reach three years of age they lose their 'milk' canines,
which are replaced by the permanent fangs, and at this period the
mother leaves them to cater for themselves."
The cubs are interesting pets if taken from the mother very young.
I have reared several, but only kept one for any length of time. I
have given a full description of Zalim and his ways in 'Seonee.' He
was found by my camp followers with another in a nullah, and brought
to me. The other cub died, but Zalim lived to grow up into a very
fine tiger, and was sent to England. I never allowed him to taste
raw flesh. He had a little cooked meat every day, and as much milk
as he liked to drink, and he throve well on this diet. When he was
too large to be allowed to roam about unconfined I had a stout
buffalo-leather collar made for his neck, and he was chained to a
stump near the cook-room door. With grown-up people he was perfectly
tame, but I noticed he got restless when children approached him,
and so made up my mind to part with him before he did any mischief.
I know nothing of the habits of the tiger of the grass plains, but
those of the hill tiger are very interesting, the cattle lifter
especially, as he is better known to men. Each individual has his
special idiosyncrasy. I wrote of this once before as follows:
"Strange though it may seem to the English reader that a tiger should
have any special character beyond the general one for cruelty and
cunning, it is nevertheless a fact that each animal has certain
peculiarities of temperament which are well known to the villagers
in the neighbourhood. They will tell you that such a one is daring
and rash; another is cunning and not to be taken by any artifice;
that one is savage and morose; another is mild and harmless. There
are few villages in the wilder parts of the Seonee and Mandla
districts without an attendant tiger, which undoubtedly does great
damage in the way of destroying cattle, but which avoids the human
inhabitants of the place. So accustomed do the people get to their
unwelcome visitor that we have known the boys of a village turn a
tiger out of quarters which were reckoned too close, and pelt him
with stones. On one occasion two of the juvenile assailants were
killed by the animal they had approached too near. Herdsmen in the
same way get callous to the danger of meddling with so dreadful a
creature, and frequently rush to the rescue of their cattle when
seized. On a certain occasion one out of a herd of cattle was attacked
close to our camp, and rescued single-handed by it's owner, who laid
his heavy iron-bound staff across the tiger's back; and, on our
rushing out to see what was the matter, we found the man coolly
dressing the wounds of his cow, muttering to himself: 'The robber,
the robber! My last cow, and I had five of them!' He did not seem
to think he had done anything wonderful, and seemed rather surprised
that we should suppose that he was going to let his last heifer go
the way of all the others.
"It is fortunate for these dwellers in the backwoods that but a small
percentage of tigers are man-eaters, perhaps not five per cent.,
otherwise village after village would be depopulated; as it is the
yearly tale of lives lost is a heavy one."[12]
[Footnote 12: 'Seonee.']
Tigers are also eccentric in their ways, showing differences in
disposition under different circumstances. I believe that many a
shikari passes at times within a few yards of a tiger without knowing
it, the tendency of the animal being to crouch and hide until the
strange-looking two-legged beast has passed. The narrowest escape
I ever had is an instance. I had hunted a large tiger, well known
for the savageness of his disposition, on foot from ravine to ravine
on the banks of the Pench, one hot day in June, and, giving him no
rest, made sure of getting him about three o'clock in the afternoon.
He had been seen to slip into a large nullah, bordered on one side
by open country, a small water-course draining into it from the
fields; here was one large _beyr_ bush, behind which I wished to place
myself, but was persuaded by an old shikari of great local reputation
to move farther on. Hardly had we done so when our friend bounded
from under the bush and disappeared in a thicket, where we lost him.
Ten days after this he was killed by a friend and myself, and he
sustained his savage reputation by attacking the elephant without
provocation--a thing a tiger seldom does. I had hunted this animal
several times, and on one occasion saw him swim the Pench river at
one of its broadest reaches. It was the only time I had seen a tiger
swim, and it was interesting to watch him powerfully breasting the
stream with his head well up. Tigers swim readily, as is well known.
I believe it is not uncommon to see them take to the water in the
Sunderbunds; and a recent case may be remembered when two of them
escaped from the King of Oude's Menagerie, and one swam across the
Hooghly to the Botanical Gardens.
There has been some controversy about the way in which tigers kill
their prey. I am afraid I cannot speak definitely on the subject,
although I have on several occasions seen tigers kill oxen and ponies.
I do not think they have a uniform way of doing it, so much depends
upon circumstance--certain it is that they cannot smash in the head
of a buffalo with a stroke, as some writers make out, but yet I have
known them make strokes at the head, in a running fight, for instance,
between a buffalo and a tiger--in which the former got off--and in
the case of human beings. Of two men killed by the same tiger, one
had his skull fractured by a blow; the other, who was killed as we
were endeavouring to drive the tiger out of the village, was seized
by the loins. He died immediately; the man with the fractured skull
lingered some hours longer. Another case of a stroke at the head
happened once when I had tied out a pony for a tiger that would not
look at cows, over which I had sat for several successive nights.
A tiger and tigress came out, and the former made a rush at the _tattu_,
who met him with such a kick on the nose that he drew back much
astonished; the tigress then dashed at the pony, and I, wishing if
possible to save the plucky little animal's life, fired two barrels
into her, rolling her over just as she struck at his head. But it
was too late; the pony dropped at the blow and died--not from
concussion, however, but from loss of blood, for the jugular vein
had been cut open as though it had been done with a knife. So much
for the head stroke, which is, I may say, exceptional. As a general
rule I think the tiger bears down his victim by sheer weight, and
then, by some means which I should hesitate to define, although I
have seen it, the head is wrenched back, so as to dislocate the
vertebrae. One evening two cows were killed before me. I was going
to say the tiger sprang at one, but correct myself--it is not a spring,
but a rush on to the back of the animal; he seldom springs all fours
off the ground at once. I have never seen a tiger get off his hind
legs except in bounding over a fallen tree, or in and out of a ravine.
In this case he rushed on to the cow and bore it to the ground; there
was a violent struggle, and in the dusky light I could not tell
whether he used his mouth or paws in wrenching back the head, which
went with a crack. The thing was done in a minute, when he sprang
once more to his feet, and the second cow was hurled to the ground
in like manner. As his back was turned to me I fired somewhat hastily,
thinking to save the cow, but only wounded the tiger, which I lost.
Both the cows, however, had their necks completely broken. I cannot
now remember the position of the fang-marks in the throat. On another
occasion I came across five out of a herd that had been killed,
probably by young tigers; every one had the neck broken.
Mr. Sanderson says that herdsmen have described to him how they have
noticed the operation: "Clutching the bullock's fore-quarters with
his paws, one being generally over the shoulder, he seizes the throat
in his jaws from underneath and turns it upwards and over, sometimes
springing to the far side in doing so, to throw the bullock over and
give the wrench which dislocates its neck. This is frequently done
so quickly that the tiger, if timid, is in retreat again almost before
the herdsmen can turn round." This account seems reliable. A tiger
may seize by the nape in order to get a temporary purchase, but it
would be awkward for him to pull the head back far enough to snap
the vertebral column.
Now for a few remarks in conclusion. I have written more on the
subject than I intended. That tigers are carrion feeders is well
known, but that sometimes they prefer high meat to fresh I had only
proof of once. A tiger killed a mare and foal, on which he feasted
for three days; on the fourth nothing remaining but a very offensive
leg; we tied out a fine young buffalo calf for him within a yard or
two of the savoury joint. The tiger came during the night and took
away the leg, without touching the calf; and, devouring it, fell
asleep, in which condition we, having tracked him up the nullah,
found and killed him.
The tiger is not always monarch over all the beasts of the field.
He is positively afraid of the wild dog (_Cuon rutilans_), which
readily attacks him in packs. Then he often finds his match in the
wild boar. I have myself seen an instance of this, in which the tiger
was not only ripped to death, but had his chest-bone gnawed and
crushed, evidently after life was extinct.
Buffalos in herds hesitate not in attacking a tiger; and I saw one
instance of their saving their herdsman from a man-eater. My camp
was pitched on the banks of a stream under some tall trees. I had
made a _detour_ in order to try and kill this man-eater, and had sent
on a hill tent the night before. I was met in the morning by the
_khalasi_ in charge, with a wonderful story of the tiger having
rushed at him, but as the man was a romancer I disbelieved him. On
the other side of the stream was a gentle slope of turf and bushes,
rising gradually to a rocky hill. The slope was dotted with grazing
herds, and here and there a group of buffalos. Late in the afternoon
I heard some piercing cries from my people of "_Bagh! Bagh!_" The
cows stampeded, as they always do. A struggle was going on in the
bush, with loud cries of a human voice. The buffalos threw up their
heads, and, grunting loudly, charged down on the spot, and then in
a body went charging on through the brushwood. Other herdsmen and
villagers ran up, and a charpoy was sent for and the man brought into
the village. He was badly scratched, but had escaped any serious fang
wounds from his having, as he said, seen the tiger coming at him,
and stuffed his blanket into his open mouth, whilst he belaboured
him with his axe. Anyhow but for his buffalos he would have been a
dead man in three minutes more.
THE PARDS OR PANTHERS.
To these are commonly assigned the name of Leopard, which ought
properly to be restricted to the hunting leopard (_Felis jubata_),
to which we have also misappropriated the Indian name _Chita_, which
applies to all spotted cats, _Chita-bagh_ being spotted tiger. The
same term, derived from the adjective _chhita_, spotted or sprinkled,
applies in various forms to the other creatures, such as _Chital_,
the spotted deer (_Axis_), _Chita-bora_, a kind of speckled snake,
&c. _Leopardus_ or lion-panther was, without doubt, the name given
by the ancients to the hunting leopard, which was well known to them
from its extending into Africa and Arabia. Assuredly the prophet
Habakkuk spoke of the hunting chita when he said of the Chaldaeans:
"That bitter and hasty nation . . . their horses also are swifter
than the leopards," for the pard is not a swift animal, whereas the
speed of the other is well known.
The name was given to it by the ancients on the supposition that it
was a cross between the lion and the pard, from a fancied resemblance
to the former on account of the mane or ruff of hair possessed by
the hunting leopard. Apparently this animal must have been more
familiar to our remote ancestors than the pard, for the name has been
attached for centuries to the larger spotted Cats indiscriminately.
I have not time just now to attempt to trace the species of the leopard
which formerly graced the arms of the English kings, but I should
not be surprised if it were the guepard or chita. The old
representations were certainly attenuated enough; and the animal
must have been familiar to the crusaders, as we know it was before
them to the Romans.
Mr. Blyth, who speculated on the origin of the name, in one of his
able articles on the felines of India in the _India Sporting Review_
of April 1856, makes no allusion to the above nor to the probable
confusion that may have arisen in the middle ages over the spotted
Cats. Although the term leopard, as applied to panthers, has the
sanction of almost immemorable custom, I do not see why, in writing
on the subject, we should perpetuate the misnomer, especially as most
naturalists and sportsmen are now inclined to make the proper
distinction. I have always avoided the use of the term leopard,
except when speaking of the hunting chita, preferring to call the
others panthers.
Then again we come on disputed ground. Of panthers how many have we,
and how should they be designated? I am not going farther afield than
India in this discussion beyond alluding to the fact that the jaguar
of Brazil is almost identical with our pard as far as marking goes,
but is a stouter, shorter-tailed animal, which justifies his being
classed as a species; therefore we must not take superficial
colouring as a test, but class the black and common pards together;
the former, which some naturalists have endeavoured to made into a
separate species (_Felis melas_), being merely a variety of the
latter. They present the same characteristics, although Jerdon
states that the black is the smaller animal. They have been found
in Java to inhabit the same den, according to Professor Reinwardt
and M. Kuhl, and they inter-breed, as has been proved by the fact
that a female black pard has produced a black and a fulvous cub at
the same birth. This is noticed by Mr. Sanderson in his book, and
he got the information from the director of the Zoological Society's
Menagerie at Amsterdam. "Old Fogy," a constant contributor to the
old _India Sporting Review_, a good sportsman and naturalist, with
whom Blyth kept up a correspondence, wrote in October 1857 that, "in
a litter of four leopard cubs one was quite black; they all died,
but both the parents were of the ordinary colour and marking; they
were both watched at their cave, and at last shot, one with an arrow
through the heart. Near a hill village a black male leopard was often
seen and known to consort with an ordinary female. I have observed
them myself once, if not twice."
An observant sportsman, "Hawkeye," in one of his letters to the
_South of India Observer_, remarks that "on one occasion a gentleman
saw an old leopard accompanied by two of her offspring, one red, the
other black." He also says he has never known "of two black leopards
in company," but black pards have bred in zoological gardens. I am
told that cubs have been born in the Calcutta Garden, but they did
not live. General MacMaster, in his notes on Jerdon, makes the
pertinent remark: "If however black panthers are only accidental,
it is odd that no one has yet come on a black specimen of one of the
larger cats, _F. leo tigris_." I see no reason why such should not
yet be discovered; he was perhaps not aware that the jaguar of Brazil,
which comes next to the tiger, has been found black (_Felis nigra_
of Erxleben). A black tiger would be a prize. General MacMaster
relates that he once watched a fine black cat basking in the sun,
and noticed that in particular lights the animal exhibited most
plainly the regular brindled markings of the ordinary gray wild or
semi-wild cat. These markings were as black or blacker than the rest
of his hair. His mother was a half-wild gray brindle.
I think we have sufficient evidence that the black pard is merely
a variety of the common one, but now we come to the pards themselves,
and the question as to whether there are two distinct species or two
varieties; Blyth, Jerdon and other able naturalists, although fully
recognizing the differences, have yet hesitated to separate them,
and they still remain in the unsatisfactory relation to each other
of varieties. I feel convinced in my own mind that they are
sufficiently distinct to warrant their being classed, and
specifically named apart. It is not as I said before, that we should
go upon peculiarities of marking and colour, although these are
sufficiently obvious, but on their osteology and also the question
of interbreeding and production. Grant their relative sizes, one so
much bigger than the other, and the difference in colour and marking,
has it ever been known that out of a litter of several cubs by a female
of the larger kind, one of the smaller sort has been produced, or
_vice versa_? This is a question that yet remains for investigation.
My old district had both kinds in abundance, and I have had scores
of cubs, of both sorts, brought to me--cubs which could be
distinguished at a glance as to which kind they belonged to, but I
never remember any mixture of the two. As regards the difference in
appearance of the adults there can be no question. The one is a higher,
longer animal, with smooth shiny hair of a light golden fulvous, the
spots being clear and well defined, but, as is remarked by Sir Walter
Elliot, the strongest difference of character is in the skulls, those
of the larger pard being longer and more pointed, with a ridge running
along the occiput, much developed for the attachment of the muscles,
whereas the smaller pard has not only a rougher coat, the spots being
more blurred, but it is comparatively a more squat built animal, with
a rounder skull without the decided occipital ridge. There is a mass
of evidence on the point of distinctness--Sir Walter Elliot,
Horsfield, Hodgson, Sir Samuel Baker, Johnson (author of 'Field
Sports in India'), "Mountaineer," a writer in the _Bengal Sporting
Review_, even Blyth and Jerdon, all speak to the difference, and yet
no decided separation has been made. There is in fact too much
confusion and too many names. For the larger animal _Felis pardus_
is appropriate, and the _leopardus_ of Temminck, Schreber and others
is not. Therefore that remains; but what is the smaller one to be
called? I should say _Felis panthera_ which, being common to Asia
and Africa, was probably the panther of the Romans and Greeks. Jerdon
gives as a synonym _F. longicaudata_ (Valenciennes), but I find on
examination of the skulls of various species that _F. longicaudata_
has a complete bony orbit which places it in Gray's genus _Catolynx_,
and it is too small for our panther. We might then say that we have
the pard, the panther, and the leopard in India, and then we should
be strictly correct. Some sportsmen speak of a smaller panther which
Kinloch calls the third (second?) sort of panther, but this differs
in no respect from the ordinary one, save in size, and it is well
known that this species varies very much in this respect. I am not
singular in the views I now express. Years ago Colonel Sykes, who
was a well known naturalist, said of the pard: "It is a taller,
stronger, and slighter built animal than the next species, which I
consider the _panther_."
The skull of the pard in some degree resembles that of the jaguar,
which again is nearest the tiger, whereas that of the panther appears
to have some affinity to the restricted cats. In disposition all the
pards and panthers are alike sanguinary, fierce and incapable of
attachment. The tiger is tameable, the panther not so. I have had
some experience of the young of both, and have seen many others in
the possession of friends; and though they may, for a time, when young,
be amusing pets, their innate savageness sooner or later breaks out.
They are not even to be trusted with their own kind. I have known
one to turn on a comrade in a cage, kill and devour him, and some
of my readers may possibly remember an instance of this in the
Zoological Gardens at Lahore, when, in 1868, a pard one night killed
a panther which inhabited the same den, and ate a goodly portion of
him before dawn. They all show more ferocity than the tiger when
wounded, and a man-eating pard is far more to be dreaded than any
other man-eater, as will be seen farther on from the history of one
I knew.
NO. 202. FELIS PARDUS.
_The Pard_ (_Jerdon's No. 105_).
NATIVE NAMES.--_Tendua_, _Chita_ or _Chita-bagh_, _Adnara_; Hindi,
_Honiga_; Canarese, _Asnea_; Mahratti, _Chinna puli_; Telegu,
_Burkal_; Gondi, _Bay-heera_; and _Tahr-hay_ in the Himalayas.
HABITAT.--Throughout India, Burmah, and Ceylon, and extending to the
Malayan Archipelago.
DESCRIPTION.--A clean, long limbed, though compact body; hair close
and short; colour pale fulvous yellow, with clearly defined spots
in rosettes; the head more tiger-like than the next species; the
skull is longer and more pointed, with a much developed occipital
ridge.
SIZE.--Head and body from 4-1/2 to 5-1/2 feet; tail from 30 to 38
inches.
This is a powerful animal and very fierce as a rule, though in the
case of a noted man-eater I have known it exhibit a curious mixture
of ferocity and abject cowardice. It is stated to be of a more
retiring disposition than the next species, but this I doubt, for
I have frequently come across it in the neighbourhood of villages
to which it was probably attracted by cattle. It may not have the
fearlessness or impudence of the panther, which will walk through
the streets of a town and seize and devour its prey in a garden
surrounded by houses, as I once remember, in the case of a pony at
Seonee, but it is nevertheless sufficiently bold to hang about the
outskirts of villages. Those who have seen this animal once would
never afterwards confuse it with what I would call the panther. There
is a sleekness about it quite foreign to the other, and a brilliancy
of skin with a distinctness of spots which the longer, looser hair
does not admit of. But with all these external differences I am aware
that there will be objection to classifying it as a separate species,
unless the osteological divergences can be satisfactorily
determined, and for this purpose it would be necessary to examine
a large series of authenticated skulls of the two kinds.
The concurrence of evidence as to the habits of this species is that
it is chiefly found in hilly jungles preying on wild animals, wild
pigs, and monkeys, but not unfrequently, as I know, haunting the
outskirts of villages for the sake of stray ponies and cattle. The
largest pard I have ever seen was shot by one of my own shikaris in
the act of stalking a pony near a village. I was mahseer-fishing close
by at the time, and had sent on the man, a little before dusk, to
a village a few miles off, to arrange for beating up a tiger early
next day. Jerdon says this is the kind most common in Bengal, but
he does not say in what parts of Bengal, and on what authority. I
have no doubt it abounds in Sontalia and Assam, and many other hilly
parts. At Colgong, Mr. Barnes informed him that many cases of human
beings killed by pards were known in the Bhaugulpore district. At
Seonee we had one which devastated a tract of country extending to
about 18 miles in diameter. He began his work in 1857 by carrying
off a follower of the Thakur of Gurwarra, on whom we were keeping
a watch during the troublous times of the mutiny. My brother-in-law,
Colonel Thomson and I, went after him under the supposition that it
was a tiger that had killed the man, and it was not till we found
the body at the bottom of a rocky ravine that we discovered it was
a pard. During the beat he came out before us, went on, and was turned
back by an elephant and came out again a third time before us; but
we refrained from firing as we expected a man-eating tiger. I left
Seonee for two years to join the Irregular Corps to which I had been
posted, and after the end of the campaign, returned again to district
work, and found that the most dreaded man-eater in the district was
the pard whose life we had spared. There was a curious legend in
connection with him, like the superstitious stories of Wehr wolves
in Northern Europe. I have dealt fully with it in "Seonee," and
Forsyth has also given a version of it in the 'Highlands of Central
India,' as he came to the district soon after the animal was destroyed.
Some of the aborigines of the Satpura Range are reputed to have the
power of changing themselves into animals at will, and back again
into the human form. The story runs, that one day one of these men,
accompanied by his wife, came to a glade in the jungle where some
nilgai were feeding. The woman expressed a wish for some meat, on
which the husband gave her a root to hold, and to give him to smell
on his return. He changed himself into a pard, killed one of the
nilgai, and came bounding back for the root; but the terrified woman
lost her nerve, flung away the charm, and rushed from the place. The
husband hunted about wildly for the root, but in vain; and then
inflamed with rage he pursued her, and tore her to pieces and
continued to wreak his vengeance on the human race. Such was the
history of the man-eating panther of Kahani, as related in the
popular traditions of the country, and certainly everything in the
career of this extraordinary animal tended to foster the unearthly
reputation he had gained. Ranging over a circle, the radius of which
may be put at eighteen miles, no one knew when and where he might
be found. He seemed to kill for killing's sake, for often his
victims--at times three in a single night--would be found untouched,
save for the fatal wound in the throat. The watcher on the high
machaun, the sleeper on his cot in the midst of a populous village,
were alike his prey. The country was demoralized; the bravest hunters
refused to go after him; wild pigs and deer ravaged the fields; none
would dare to watch the growing crops. If it had been an ordinary
panther who would have cared? Had not each village its Shikari? men
who could boast of many an encounter with tiger and bear, and would
they shrink from following up a mere animal? Certainly not; but they
knew the tradition of Chinta Gond, and they believed it. What could
they do?
On the morning of the second day, after leaving Amodagurh, the two
sportsmen neared Sulema, a little village not far from Kahani, out
of which it was reported the panther had taken no less than forty
people within three years. There was not a house that had not mourned
the loss of father, or mother, or brother, or sister, or wife or child,
from within this little hamlet. Piteous indeed were the tales told
as our friends halted to gather news, and the scars of the few who
were fortunate enough to have escaped with life after a struggle with
the enemy, were looked at with interest; but the most touching of
all were the stories artlessly told by a couple of children, one of
whom witnessed the death of a sister, and the other of a brother,
both carried off in broad daylight, for the fell destroyer went
boldly to work, knowing that they were but weak opponents."[13] I
was out several times after this diabolical creature, but without
success; as I sat out night after night I could hear the villagers
calling from house to house hourly, "_Jagte ho bhiya! jagte ho!_"
"Are you awake, brothers? are you awake!" All day long I scoured the
country with my elephant, all night long I watched and waited. My
camp was guarded by great fires, my servants and followers were made
to sleep inside tents, whilst sentries with musket and bayonet were
placed at the doors; but all to no purpose. The heated imagination
of one sentry saw him glowering at him across the blazing fire. A
frantic camp-follower spoilt my breakfast next morning ere I had
taken a second mouthful, by declaring he saw him in an adjoining field.
Then would come in a tale of a victim five miles off during the night,
and then another, and sometimes a third. I have alluded before to
his cowardice; in many cases a single man or boy would frighten him
from his prey. On one occasion, in my rounds after him, I came upon
a poor woman bitterly crying in a field; beside her lay the dead body
of her husband. He had been seized by the throat and dragged across
the fire made at the entrance of their little wigwam in which they
had spent the night, watching their crops. The woman caught hold of
her husband's legs, and, exerting her strength against the
man-eater's, shrieked aloud. He dropped the body and fled, making
no attempt to molest her or her little child of about four years of
age. This man was the third he had attacked that night.
[Footnote 13: 'Seonee.']
He was at last killed, by accident, by a native shikari who, in the
dusk, took him for a pig or some such animal, and made a lucky shot;
but the tale of his victims had swelled over two hundred during the
three years of his reign of terror.
NO. 203. FELIS PANTHERA.
_The Panther_.
NATIVE NAMES.--_Chita_, _Gorbacha_, Hindi; _Beebeea-bagh_,
Mahrathi; _Bibla_, of the Chita-catchers; _Ghur-hay_ or _Dheer-hay_
of the hill tribes; _Kerkal_, Canarese.
HABITAT.--India generally, Burmah and Ceylon, extending also into
the Malayan countries.
[Illustration: _FELIS PANTHERA_ (_From a fine specimen in the
Regent's Park Gardens_.)]
DESCRIPTION.--Much smaller than the last, with comparatively
shorter legs and rounder head; the fur is less bright; the
ground-work often darker in colour, and the rosettes are more
indistinct which is caused by the longer hairs intermingling and
breaking into the edges of the spots; tail long and furry at the end.
According to Temminck the tail is longer than that of the last species,
having 28 caudal vertebrae against 22 of the other; if this be found
to be the normal state, there will be additional grounds for
separating the two.
SIZE.--Head and body, 3 to 3-1/2 feet; tail, 2-1/2 feet; height from
1-1/2 to 2 feet.
This animal is more common than the pard, and it is more impudent
in venturing into inhabited places. This is fortunate, for it is
seldom a man-eater, although perhaps children may occasionally be
carried off. I have before mentioned one which killed and partially
devoured a pony in the heart of a populous town, and many are the
instances of dogs being carried off out of the verandahs of
Europeans' houses. A friend of mine one night being awoke by a piteous
howl from a dog, chained to the centre pole of his tent, saw the head
and shoulders of one peering in at the door; it retreated but had
the audacity to return in a few minutes. Jerdon and other writers
have adduced similar instances. It is this bold and reckless
disposition which renders it easier to trap and shoot. The tiger is
suspicious to a degree, and always apprehensive of a snare, but the
panther never seems to trouble his head about the matter, but walks
into a trap or resumes his feast on a previously killed carcase,
though it may have been moved and handled. There is another thing,
too, which shows the different nature of the beast. There is little
difficulty in shooting a panther on a dark night. All that is
necessary is to suspend, some little distance off, a common earthen
_gharra_ or water pot, with an oil light inside, the mouth covered
lightly with a sod, and a small hole knocked in the side in such a
way as to allow a ray of light to fall on the carcase. No tiger would
come near such an arrangement, but the panther boldly sets to his
dinner without suspicion, probably from his familiarity with the
lights in the huts of villages.
I may here digress a little on the subject of night shooting. Every
one who has tried it knows the extreme difficulty in seeing the sights
of the rifle in a dark night. The common native method is to attach
a fluff of cotton wool. On a moonlight night a bit of wax, with
powdered mica scattered on it, will sometimes answer. I have seen
diamond sights suggested, but all are practically useless. My plan
was to carry a small phial of phosphorescent oil, about one grain
to a drachm of oil dissolved in a bath of warm water. A small dab
of this, applied to the fore and hind sights, will produce two
luminous spots which will glow for about 40 or 50 seconds or a minute.
Dr. Sal Muller says of this species that it is occasionally found
sleeping stretched across the forked branch of a tree, which is not
the case with either the tiger or the pard. According to Sir Stamford
Raffles, the _Rimau-dahan_ or clouded panther (miscalled tiger)
_Felis macrocelis_, has the same habit.
I would remark in conclusion that in the attempt to define clearly
the position of these two animals the following points should be
investigated by all who are interested in the subject and have the
opportunity.
First the characteristics of the skull:--
_viz_.--Length, and breadth as compared with length of each, with
presence or absence of the occipital ridge.
_2ndly_.--Number of caudal vertebrae in the tails of each.
_3rdly_.--Whether in a litter, from one female, cubs of each sort
have been found.
NO. 204. FELIS UNCIA.
_The Ounce or Snow Panther_ (_Jerdon's No. 106_).
NATIVE NAMES.--_Iker_, Tibetan; _Sah_, Bhotia; _Phale_, Lepcha;
_Burrel-hay_, Simla hillmen; _Thurwag_ in Kunawur. _The
Snow-Leopard_ of European sportsmen.
HABITAT.--Throughout the Himalayas, and the highland regions of
Central Asia.
[Illustration: _Felis uncia_.]
DESCRIPTION.--Pale yellowish or whitish isabelline, with small
spots on the head and neck, but large blotchy rings and crescents,
irregularly dispersed on the shoulders, sides and haunches; from
middle of back to root of tail a medium irregular dark band closely
bordered by a chain of oblong rings; lower parts dingy white, with
some few dark spots about middle of abdomen; limbs with small spots;
ears externally black; tail bushy with broad black rings.
SIZE.--Head and body about 4 feet 4 inches; tail, 3 feet; height,
about 2 feet.
I have only seen skins of this animal, which is said to frequent rocky
ground, and to kill _Barhel_, _Thar_, sheep, goats, and dogs, but
not to molest man. This species is distinguishable from all the
preceding felines by the shortness and breadth of the face and the
sudden elevation of the forehead--_Gray_. Pupil round--_Hodgson_.
NO. 205. FELIS DIARDII _vel_ MACROCELIS.
_The Clouded Panther_ (_Jerdon's No. 107_).
NATIVE NAMES.--_Tungmar_, Lepcha; _Zik_, Bhotia; _Lamchitta_, of
the Khas tribe (_Jerdon_). _Rimau dahan_ of Sumatra.
HABITAT.--Nepal, Sikim, Assam, Burmah, and down the Malayan
Peninsula to Sumatra, Java and Borneo.
[Illustration: _Felis Diardii_.]
DESCRIPTION.--A short-legged long-bodied animal, with a very
elongated skull; the upper canines are the longest in comparison of
all living felines, and in this respect it comes nearest to the
extinct species _Felis smilodon_. The ground-work of the colouring
is a pale buff, with large, irregular, cloud-like patches of black.
Blyth remarks that the markings are exceedingly beautiful, but most
difficult to describe, as they not only vary in different specimens,
but also in the two sides of one individual. Jerdon's description
is as follows: "Ground colour variable, usually pale greenish brown
or dull clay brown, changing to pale tawny on the lower parts, and
limbs internally, almost white however in some. In many specimens
the fulvous or tawny hue is the prevalent one; a double line of small
chain-like stripes from the ears, diverging on the nape to give room
to an inner and smaller series; large irregular clouded spots or
patches on the back and sides edged very dark and crowded together;
loins, sides of belly and belly marked with irregular small patches
and spots; some black lines on the cheeks and sides of neck, and a
black band across the throat; tail with dark rings, thickly furred,
long; limbs bulky, and body heavy and stout; claws very powerful."
Hodgson stated that the pupil of the eye is round, but Mr. Bartlett,
whose opportunities of observation have been much more frequent, is
positive that it is oval.
SIZE.--Head and body, 3-1/2 feet; tail, 3 feet, but Jerdon states
it grows to a larger size.
This is one of the most beautiful of all the cat family. It is not,
however, one of the most elegant in form and motion, but its colouring
is exquisite; it is quite an arboreal feline, and is found only in
forests, frequently sleeping or lying in wait across the forked
branches of trees, from which habit it acquires its Malayan name,
_dahan_, signifying the forked branch of a tree. The young seem to
be easily tamed, according to Sir Stamford Raffles, who describes
two which he had in confinement. Dr. Jerdon also states the same,
he having procured a young one in the neighbourhood of Darjeeling.
In the Zoological Gardens in London there was a very fine specimen
about four years ago. Professor Parker says of it: "It was not always
to be seen, as it was kept during the day fastened up in one of the
sleeping apartments at the back of a cage in the lion-house, and was
left out only for about half an hour before the gardens closed. It
was well worth stopping to see. As soon as the iron door of its cell
was raised, it would come out into the large cage with a peculiar
sailor-like slouch, for owing to the shortness of its legs, its gait
was quite different to that of an ordinary cat, and altogether less
elegant. The expression of the face, too, was neither savage nor
majestic nor intelligent, but rather dull and stupid. It was fond
of assuming all sorts of queer attitudes." Brehm describes one as
lying prone on a thick branch placed in its cage, with all four legs
hanging down straight, two on each side of the branch--certainly a
remarkable position for an animal to assume of its own free will.
The type of this animal constitutes the genus _Neofelis_ of Gray,
containing two species, this and the _Neofelis_ (_leopardus_)
_brachyurus_ of Formosa.
NO. 206. FELIS VIVERRINA.
_The Large Tiger-Cat_ (_Jerdon's No. 108_).
NATIVE NAMES.--_Mach-bagral_, _Bagh-dasha_, Bengali; _Bunbiral_,
_Khupya-bagh_, Hindi; _Handoon-deeva_, Singhalese.
HABITAT.--India generally, Burmah, the Malay countries, and Ceylon.
Jerdon says he has not heard of it in Central India nor in the Carnatic,
nor farther west of Nepal. I have been, however, informed that a wild
cat was killed lately at Jeypore in the act of carrying off an infant
of four months old. I know of no cat, save this species, capable of
such a proceeding. The child was rescued alive.
[Illustration: Skull of _Felis viverrina_.]
DESCRIPTION.--"Of a mouse gray colour, more or less deep and
sometimes tinged with tawny, with large dark spots, more or less
numerous, oblong on the back and neck and in lines, more or less
rounded elsewhere, and broken or coalescing" (but never ocellate:
_Blyth_); "cheeks white; a black face stripe; beneath dull white;
chest with five or six dark bands; belly spotted," (whence the name
_celidogaster_ applied by Temminck) "tail with six or seven dark
bands and a black tip" (sometimes spots only); "feet
unspotted."--_Jerdon_.
SIZE.--Head and body 30 to 34 inches; tail only 10 to 13; height about
15 or 16; weight according to Hodgson and Jerdon, about 17 lbs.
The frontal and jugal bones in old specimens of this species are
united by a bar which forms a complete bony orbit--a peculiarity
possessed, as I have before observed, by _F. longicaudata_, but by
few other felines. _Felis rubiginosa_, _F. planiceps_, and _F.
Ellioti_ are also cats of this type, which Gray has separated into
the genus _Viverriceps_.
This large cat is not uncommon near Calcutta, and is reputed to live
much on fish and fresh-water shells, but also I should say on larger
game. According to some authors (Buchanan-Hamilton, for instance),
it is fierce and untameable, but Blyth states that he had several
big toms, quite tame, and in the Surrey Zoological Gardens there was
many years ago a very fine male which he had frequently handled and
had even on his lap. He relates, however, in another part, that a
newly caught male of this species killed a tame young leopardess of
twice its own size, having broken through the partition of a cage,
but he did not eat any portion of her. The Prince of Wales took home
a very fine specimen of this cat among his collection of living
animals.
Mr. Rainey writes of the ferocity of this cat in the following terms:
"I can testify to the existence of the above qualities in this animal
(_Felis viverrina_, Bennett), which is rather abundant in these
parts, generally taking up its quarters in low, swampy jungle, where
it often carries off calves, for which the leopard (_F. leopardus_,
Linn.), undeservedly gets credit. Lately, a couple of months ago,
a pair of them at night broke into a matted house, and went off with
a brace of ewes, which had half-a-dozen lambs between them, born only
a short time before their mothers met with their bloody end. I have
caught this species in traps, and when let loose in an indigo vat
with a miscellaneous pack of dogs, they have invariably fought hard,
and at times proved too much for their canine adversaries, so that
I have had to go to their rescue, and put an end to the fight, by
a spear-thrust, or a heavy whack on the back of the head with a stout
club. Some years ago one got into my fowl-house at night, and just
as I opened the door to enter inside, it made a fierce jump at me
from a perch on the opposite side. I had just time to put the barrel
of my gun forward, on the muzzle of which it fell, and had its chest
blown to atoms, as I pulled the trigger instantly it alighted there."
NO. 207. FELIS MARMORATA.
_The Marbled Tiger-Cat_ (_Jerdon's No. 109_).
HABITAT.--The Sikim Himalayas, Assam, Burmah, and the Malayan
countries.
[Illustration: _Felis marmorata_.]
DESCRIPTION.--"Size of a domestic cat, but with stouter limbs and
a much longer and thicker tail, of uniform thickness throughout and
reaching back to the occiput when reflected; the upper canines are
not remarkably elongated as in _F. macroceloides_ (_macrocelis_);
ears rather small and obtusely angulated, with a conspicuous white
spot on their hinder surface" (_Blyth_). "Ground colour
dingy-fulvous, occasionally yellowish grey; the body with numerous
elongate wavy black spots, somewhat clouded or marbled; the head and
nape with some narrow blackish lines, coalescing into a dorsal
interrupted band; the thighs and part of the sides with black round
spots; the tail black, spotted, and with the tip black; belly
yellowish white."--_Jerdon_.
SIZE.--Head and body, 18 to 24 inches; tail, 14 to 16.
This beautiful little cat is almost a miniature of the clouded
panther, and Blyth confuses the Malayan name of the latter, and
applies it to this species, which probably arose from his quoting
as a synonym, _F. diardii_, which, however, in the same paper he
repudiates, as the description of the size of _F. diardii_ clearly
proved a much larger animal. This is the type of Grey's genus
_Catolynx_, the other species in India being _F. charltoni_. The
genus is peculiar from the resemblance of the nasal bones to those
of the lynx, and from the complete or nearly complete bony orbit;
the skull differs, however, greatly from the _viverriceps_ form,
being much more spherical with very short nasal bones. There is an
admirable illustration in De Blainville's 'Osteographie' of it under
the name of _F. longicaudata_. Very little is known as yet of the
habits of this cat.
NO. 208. FELIS BENGALENSIS.
_The Leopard-Cat_ (_Jerdon's No. 110_).
NATIVE NAMES.--_Bun Beral_, Bengali; _Jungli Bilao_, _Chhita Bilao_,
Hindi; _Theet-kyoung_ in Arakan; _Lhan-rahn-manjur_, Mahrathi;
_Wagati_, Mahratti of the Ghats.
HABITAT.--India generally, in hilly parts; Assam, Burmah, and the
Malay countries: also Ceylon.
DESCRIPTION.--About the size of the domestic cat, but with extremely
variable colouring and a short, thick, cylindrical tail reaching,
when turned back, above half way up the spine. Blyth says of it: "In
general the ground hue is pale fulvous, with under parts of the purest
white, richly marked with deep black; black lines on the crown and
nape; angular spots on the body wholly or partially black, or, _en
rosette_, with deeper fulvous within and round; black spots on the
limbs and tail; sometimes the body markings unite more or less into
longitudinal streaks and rarely a marbled appearance is assumed on
the upper parts."
SIZE.--Head and body, 24 to 26 inches; tail 11 to 12.
It is useless to lay down, as in Jerdon, a very accurate description
of the markings of this cat, for it varies to such an extent as to
have given rise to at least sixteen synonymous names, if not more.
You will find the same cat repeated over and over again in Gray's
catalogue, and a different name in almost every book of natural
history; it figures at large as _Felis Bengalensis_, _undata_,
_Javanensis_, _Sumatrana_, _minuta_, _torquata Nipalensis_,
_wagati_, _pardochrous_, _undulata_, _Ellioti_, _Horsfieldi_,
_inconspicua_, _Chinensis_, _Reevesii_, and _Diardii_. Blyth
pertinently remarks: "The varieties of this handsome little cat are
endless, and nominal species may be made of it, _ad libitum_, if not
rather _ad nauseam_."
This is a very savage animal, and not tameable. Jerdon and Blyth both
agree in this from specimens they kept alive. Hutton also writes:
"I have a beautiful specimen alive, so savage that I dare not touch
her." I should like to possess a young one, having been successful
with many so-called savage animals. I had a wild-cat once which was
very savage at first, but which ultimately got so tame as to lie in
my lap whilst I was at work in office or writing, but she would never
allow me to touch or stroke her; she would come and go of her own
sweet will, and used to come daily, but she would spit and snarl if
I attempted a caress. Blyth says that in confinement it never paces
its cage, but constantly remains crouched in a corner, though awake
and vigilant; but I have always found that the confinement of a cage
operates greatly against the chance of taming any wild animal. Sir
Walter Elliot says that the Shikaris attribute to it the same habit
as that which used erroneously to be ascribed to the glutton, viz.,
that of dropping from trees on to its prey and eating its way into
the neck. It preys chiefly on small game--poultry, hares, and is said
to destroy small deer. McMaster relates he "saw one carry off a fowl
nearly as large as itself, shaking it savagely meanwhile, and making
a successful retreat in spite of the abuse, uproar, and missiles
which the theft caused." Dr. Anderson says it is essentially arboreal,
and the natives assert it lives on birds and small mammals, such as
_Squirrels_ and _Tupaiae_. According to Hutton it breeds in May,
producing three or four young in caves or beneath masses of rock.
NO. 209. FELIS JERDONI.
_The Lesser Leopard-Cat_ (_Jerdon's No. 111_).
HABITAT.--Peninsula of India, probably also Assam and Burmah.
DESCRIPTION.--"Very like _F. Bengalensis_; but smaller, the ground
colour of the upper part grey, untinged with fulvous" (_Blyth_). A
few small distinct black spots; spots of sides of legs round, long
in the centre of the back; tail and feet dark greyish brown, but
slightly spotted, if at all; chin, throat, and under parts white,
with black spots.
NO. 210. FELIS AURATA.
_The Bay Cat_ (_Jerdon's No. 112_).
HABITAT.--The Nepal and Sikim Himalayas, probably also Assam; and
as it occurs in the Malayan islands, it should be found in Burmah.
It is likewise an African species, Gold Coast.
[Illustration: _Felis aurata_.]
DESCRIPTION.--Deep bay red above, paler below; a few indistinct dark
spots on the hind legs and sides; throat white; inside of ears black;
the head beautifully striped with black, white and orange; the cheeks
are yellowish, with two black streaks; a pale black edged line over
the eyes; whiskers black, with white tips; claws black; Jerdon says
that the lower surface in some is reddish white, with large and small
maroon spots.
SIZE.--Head and body, 31 inches and over; tail, 19. There is a fine
illustration of this cat in Cassell's 'Natural History,' edited by
Professor Martin Duncan, vol. ii., page 58.
Very little is known of the habits of this cat. Mr. Hodgson's first
specimen "was caught in a tree by some hunters in the midst of an
exceedingly dense forest. Though only just taken it bore confinement
very tranquilly, and gave evident signs of a tractable disposition,
but manifested high courage, for the approach of a huge Bhotea dog
to its cage excited in it symptoms of wrath only, none of fear." That
it is found in Burmah is extremely probable, as it inhabits the Malay
countries, and the Rev. J. Mason speaks of a tiger cat in Tenasserim,
"which the Karens call the _Fire Tiger_ from the colour of its skin,
which is of an uniform red."
NO. 211. FELIS RUBIGINOSA.
_The Rusty-spotted Cat_ (_Jerdon's No. 113_).
NATIVE NAME.--_Namali pelli_, Tamil.--_Jerdon_.
HABITAT.--Southern India and Ceylon. Jerdon says he never saw or
heard of it in Central India, or on the Malabar Coast, but I got it
at Seonee in the Central Provinces.
DESCRIPTION.--Size of a small domestic cat, with a tail half the
length of the body; colour greyish with a rufous tinge, or greenish
grey tinged with rufous; the under parts white, with large rufous
spots; ears small; four well defined dark brown or black lines along
the forehead and nape, and three along the back, the latter being
interrupted into longish spots; a series of rusty coloured spots on
the sides; fur very short; tail uniform in colour, more rufous than
the body, sometimes indistinctly spotted; insides of limbs with
large brown spots; feet reddish grey above with black soles, whiskers
long and white.
SIZE.--Head and body, 16 to 18 inches; tail, 9-1/2.
Jerdon says: "This very pretty little cat frequents grass in the dry
beds of tanks, brushwood, and occasionally drains in the open country
and near villages, and it is said not to be a denizen of the jungles.
I had a kitten brought to me when very young, in 1846, and it became
quite tame, and was the delight and admiration of all who saw it.
Its activity was quite marvellous, and it was very playful and
elegant in its motions. When it was about eight months old I
introduced it into a room where there was a small fawn of the gazelle,
and the little creature flew at it the moment it saw it, seized it
by the nape, and was with difficulty taken off. I lost it shortly
after this. It would occasionally find its way to the rafters of
bungalows and hunt for squirrels."
Jerdon doubted the existence of this cat in Central India, but, in
1859 or 1860, I had two kittens brought to me by a Gond in the Seonee
district, and I kept them for many months. They became perfectly tame,
so much so that, although for nine months of the year I was out in
camp, they never left the tents, although allowed to roam about
unconfined. The grace and agility of their motions was most striking.
I have seen one of them balance itself on the back of a chair, and
when one of the pair died it was ludicrous to see the attempts of
a little gray village cat, which I got to be a companion to the
survivor, to emulate the gymnastics of its wild comrade. At night
the little cats were put into a basket, and went on with the spare
tents to my next halting place; and on my arrival next morning I would
find them frisking about the tent roof between the two canvasses,
or scrambling up the trees under which we were pitched. Whilst I was
at work I usually had one in my lap and the other cuddled behind my
back on the chair. One day one of them, which had been exploring the
hollows of an old tree close by, rushed into my tent and fell down
in convulsions at my feet. I did everything in my power for the poor
little creature, but in vain, it died in two or three minutes, having
evidently been bitten by a snake. The survivor was inconsolable,
refused food, and went mewing all over the place and kept rolling
at my feet, rubbing itself against them as though to beg for the
restoration of its brother. At last I sent into a village and procured
a common kitten, which I put into the basket with the other. There
was a great deal of spitting and growling at first, but in time they
became great friends, but the villager was no match for the forester.
It was amusing to see the wild one dart like a squirrel up the walls
of the tent on to the roof; the other would try to follow, scramble
up a few feet, and then, hanging by its claws, look round piteously
before it dropped to the ground.
NO. 212. FELIS TORQUATA.
_The Spotted Wild-Cat_ (_Jerdon's No. 114_).
NATIVE NAME.--_Lhan-rahn-manjur_, Mahrathi.
HABITAT.--North-Western, Central, and Southern India.
DESCRIPTION.--Ground colour pale greyish fulvous or cat-grey, with
numerous round black spots, smaller on the head, nape, and shoulders;
longitudinal lines on the occiput; cheek striped; breast spotted,
but belly free from spots; on the limbs distinct cross bands; within
the arms one or two broad black streaks; tail tapering more or less,
and marked with a series of well-defined rings and a black tip;
smallish ears; as in the domestic cat, reddish outside with a small
dusky tuft at tip; paws black underneath.
SIZE.--Head and body, from 16 to 24 inches; tail, about half the
length.
Blyth first obtained this from Hansi, where it was stated to frequent
open sandy plains, living on field rats. Jerdon at Hissar and in the
Central Provinces. At Hissar he found it among low sand-hills, where
it appeared to feed on the jerboa-rat (_Gerbillus Indicus_), which
is common there. Sykes seems to have confused this species with a
domestic variety run wild, as the habits differ from the present
species.
NO. 213. FELIS MANUL.
_The Black-chested Wild-Cat_.
HABITAT.--Tibet, Central and Northern Asia.
DESCRIPTION.--Rufescent pale grey; chest and front of neck and part
of belly sooty black, "terminating forward near the ears horn-wise
or crescent-wise; on the crown of the head several series of black
dots are disposed more or less linearly and length-wise. On the
cheeks, from eyes to articulation of jaws, are two sub-parallel
zig-zag lines of jet black; five to seven straighter lines, less deep
in hue, cross the lower back and blend gradually with the caudal rings,
which, including the black tip, are about nine in number. These rings
of the tail are narrow, with large intervals, diminishing towards
its tip, as the interstices of the dorsal bars do towards the base
of the tail; the black caudal rings are perfect, save the two basal,
which are deficient below, whilst the two apical on the contrary are
rather wider below and nearly or quite connected there. Outside the
arms and sides are two or three transverse black bars, more or less
freckled with the grey hairs of the body; ears outside grey, like
the back, but paler, small and much rounded. The young show the marks
more clearly" (_Blyth_, abridged from _Hodgson_).
SIZE.--Head and body, 22 to 24 inches; tail, 10 to 11 inches.
This animal which is allied to the European wild-cat, was first
discovered by Pallas, who, however, has left little on record
concerning its habits beyond that it is found in woody rocky
countries preying on the smaller quadrupeds.
NO. 214. FELIS SCRIPTA.
HABITAT.--Thibet.[14]
[Footnote 14: Milne-Edwards describes this animal in his 'Recherches
sur les Mammiferes,' page 341.]
NO. 215. FELIS SHAWIANA.
_The Yarkand Spotted Wild-Cat_.
NATIVE NAME.--_Molun_, Turki.
HABITAT.--Turkistan, Yarkand.
DESCRIPTION.--"General colour pale greyish fulvous above, the back
rather darker than the sides; under parts white; the body marked
throughout with rather small black spots which are largest on the
abdomen, smaller and closer together on the shoulders and thighs,
tending to form cross lines on the latter, and indistinct on the
middle of the back; anterior portion of the face and muzzle whitish;
cheek stripes of rusty red and black; hairs mixed; ears rather more
rufous outside, especially towards the tip, which is blackish brown
and pointed; the hairs at the end scarcely lengthened; interior of
ears white; there are some faint rufous spots at the side of the neck;
breast very faintly rufous, with one narrow brownish band across;
inside of limbs mostly white; a black band inside the forearm, and
a very black spot behind the tarsus; tail dusky above near the base,
with five or six black bars above on the posterior half, none below,
the dark bars closer together towards the tip; fur soft, moderately
long, purplish grey towards the base."
SIZE.--Apparently exceeds that of the common cat, and equals _F.
chaus_; the tail about half the length of the body.
I have taken the above description from Mr. W. T. Blanford ('Report
on the Second Yarkand Mission: Mammalia') who has first described
and named this new species. There is also an excellent plate in the
same portion of the report, which unfortunately is published at an
almost prohibitive price, and to be obtained at the Government Press.
The black spots on the belly have been inadvertently left out;
otherwise the plate is excellent, as are all the others, especially
the osteological ones.
NO. 216. FELIS CHAUS.
_The Common Jungle-Cat_ (_Jerdon's No. 115_).
NATIVE NAMES.--_Kutas_ (according to Jerdon, but I have always found
this applied to the _Paradoxurus_), _Jangli-billi_, _Ban-bilao_,
Hindi; _Ban beral_, Bengali; _Birka_, Bhagalpor Hill Tribes;
_Maut-bek_, Canarese; _Kada-bek_ or _Bella-bek_ of Waddars; _Mota
lahn manjur_, Mahrathi; _Bhaoga_, Mahrathi of the Ghats;
_Jinki-pilli_, Telegu; _Cheru-pali_, Malabarese (_Jerdon_);
_Khyoung-Tsek-koon_ in Arakan.
HABITAT.--Common all over India from 7,000 or 8,000 feet of elevation
in the Himalayas, down to Cape Comorin and the Island of Ceylon. It
is also found in Assam and Burmah. This species appears to have a
wide range, as it has been found also in Persia, on the borders of
the Caspian and in Egypt.
DESCRIPTION.--Larger somewhat, and more lanky than the domestic cat.
The general appearance of the fur a rusty or grizzly grey; the hairs
being pale fulvous brown with dark tips; more rufous on the sides
of the abdomen and neck, the lower parts being white; faint
transverse stripes, occasionally broken into spots on the sides, but
these markings disappear with old age, and are more difficult to
trace in the deeper furred specimens from cold countries; the
markings are darker on the limbs, and there is a distinct black bar
on the forearm near the elbow; inside are two or three dark stripes;
the feet are blackish underneath; often a dark bar across the chest,
and sometimes faint spots on the belly; rufous stripes on the cheek;
a dark stripe ascends from the eye, especially in the young animal,
and it has sometimes faint stripes on the nape mingling on the
forehead; the ears are slightly tufted, dark externally, white
within; the tail, which is short, is more or less ringed from the
middle to the tip, which is black. Melanoid specimens have been
found.
SIZE.--Head and body, about 26 inches; tail, nine to ten; height at
shoulder, 14 to 15 inches.
This rather common cat is, in some degree, related to the lynxes,
sufficiently distinct, yet resembling the latter in its tufted ears,
short tail, long limbs, and some few peculiarities of the skull.
Jerdon says of it: "It frequents alike jungles and the open country,
and is very partial to long grass and reeds, sugar-cane fields, corn
fields, &c. It does much damage to game of all kinds--hares,
partridges, &c., and quite recently I shot a pea fowl at the edge
of a sugar-cane field when one of these cats sprang out, seized the
pea fowl, and after a short struggle (for the bird was not dead)
carried it off before my astonished eyes, and in spite of my running
up, made good his escape with his booty. It must have been stalking
these birds, so immediately did its spring follow my shot." Blyth
writes: "In India the _chaus_ does not shun, but even affects
populous neighbourhoods, and is a terrible depredator among the tame
ducks and poultry, killing as many as it can get at, but I have not
known him to attack geese, of which I long kept a flock out day and
night, about a tank where ducks could not be left out at night on
account of these animals. A pair of them bred underneath my house,
and I frequently observed them, and have been surprised at the most
extraordinary humming sound which they sometimes uttered of an
evening. Their other cries were distinguishable from those of the
domestic cat." This species will, however, interbreed with the
domestic cat. According to Hodgson it breeds twice a year in the woods,
producing three or four kittens at a birth. It is said to be
untameable, but in 1859, at Sasseram, one of the men of my Levy caught
a very young kitten, which was evidently of this species. I wrote
at the time to a friend about a young mongoose which I had just got,
and added, "It is great fun to see my last acquisition and a little
jungle cat (_Felis chaus_) playing together. They are just like two
children in their manner, romping and rolling over each other, till
one gets angry, when there is a quarrel and a fight, which, however,
is soon made up, the kitten generally making the first advances
towards a reconciliation, and then they go on as merrily as ever.
The cat is a very playful, good tempered little thing; the colour
is a reddish-yellow with darker red stripes like a tiger, and
slightly spotted; the ears and eyes are very large; the orbits of
the last bony and prominent. What is it? _Chaus_ or _Bengalensis_?[15]
I am not as yet learned in cats when very young. If it be a real
jungle cat--which my shikaris declare it to be--it strangely belies
the savage nature of its kind, as Thomson says:--
'The tiger darting fierce
Impetuous on the prey his glance has doom'd
The lively shining leopard speckled o'er
With many a spot the beauty of the waste
And scorning all the taming arts of man.'
"Poets are not always correct. Tigers have often been tamed, though
they are not to be depended on."
[Footnote 15: Both reputed to be untameable.]
Now we come to the true Lynxes, which are cats with very short tails,
long limbs, tufted ears, the cheeks whiskered almost as long as
Dundreary's, and feet the pads of which are overgrown with hair. Some
naturalists would separate them from the other cats, but the
connection is supplied by the last species which, though possessing
certain features of the lynx, yet interbreeds with the true cats.
The lynx was well known to the ancients, and was one of the animals
used in the arena from its savage disposition, and its sight was
considered so piercing as to be able to penetrate even stone walls!
There are no true lynxes in India proper; we must look to the colder
Trans-Himalayan countries for them. The following is from Thibet:--
NO. 217. FELIS ISABELLINA.
_The Thibetan Lynx_.
HABITAT.--Thibet.
DESCRIPTION.--"Pale isabella-brown, with scarcely a trace of
markings, but in some the spots come out even conspicuously in summer
_pelage_, especially on the limbs and belly, and the crown and middle
of the back are generally more or less infuscated, occasionally very
much so; in some the face is almost white, with traces of frontal
streaks, and there is always (the same as in the European lynx) a
short, narrow, dark streak on each side of the nose towards its
tip."--_Blyth_.
This species is similar in some respects to the European animal, but
the principal difference lies in the feet, the pads of which in the
Thibetan species are prominent and bare, with short, close fur
between them, whereas in the European lynx the long fur completely
conceals the pads, and the latter is the larger animal. There is a
very good photograph of _F. isabellina_ in Kinloch's 'Large Game
Shooting in Thibet and the North-West,' taken from a carefully
stuffed specimen. The author says: "On the 4th of July 1866, I was
hunting _Oves Ammon_ on the high ground between Hanle and Nyima, when
I suddenly came upon a female lynx with two young cubs. I shot the
mother, and as the cubs concealed themselves among some rocks, I
barricaded them in, and went on with my hunting. On arriving in camp
I sent men back to try and catch the cubs; in this they succeeded,
and brought them to me. They were about the size of half grown cats,
and more spiteful vicious little devils cannot be imagined; they were,
however, very handsome, with immense heads and paws. For two or three
days they refused all food; but at the end of that time they fed quite
ravenously from the hand. They soon became very tame and playful,
though always ready to set their backs up if at all teased, or if
a dog came near them."
The next species differs from the typical lynx in wanting the ruff
of hair round the face, and also in having the pads of the feet bald.
The skull is that of a lynx, but the processes of the frontals and
intermaxillae are not quite so much produced, and they do not
entirely separate the nasal from the maxillae. There is a good
illustration to be found in De Blainville's 'Osteographie.'
NO. 218. FELIS CARACAL.
_The Red Lynx_ (_Jerdon's No. 116_).
NATIVE NAME.--_Siagosh_, Persian, i.e., black ear.
HABITAT.--Scattered throughout India generally, Assam (Burmah and
Ceylon?), but it has also a much wider range, being found throughout
Africa, Syria, and Arabia, and also in Persia.
[Illustration: _Felis caracal_.]
DESCRIPTION.--Colour sandy fulvous, varying somewhat in
individuals; paler beneath, in some almost white; tail the same
colour as the body, with a black tip; the lower parts with some
obscure spots, more or less distinct on the belly, flanks and insides
of limbs; ears black externally, with a long dark ear tuft, white
inside; a small blackish spot on the upper lip, and another above
the eye, also a line down each side of the nose. In some individuals
faint bars and caudal rings are discernible, and the chest is
obscurely banded.
SIZE.--Head and body, 26 to 30 inches; tail, 9 or 10; height, 16 to
18 inches.
This handsome lynx is found, though not very common, in most parts
of the Indian Peninsula, although Jerdon states that it is unknown
in the Himalayas, Bengal, and the eastern countries. In those parts
where it abounds it is very destructive to small game, such as
gazelles, the smaller deer and hares. It also catches such birds as
pea-fowl, florican, cranes, &c., frequently springing at them from
the ground as they fly over. They are easily tamed. I had a young
one at Seonee, and the natives of some parts are said to train them
for sporting purposes in the manner in which the hunting leopard is
trained.
Blyth says a brace of siagosh are often pitted against each other
by the natives who keep them, a heavy wager pending as to which of
the two will disable the greater number out of a flock of tame pigeons
feeding, before the mass of them can rise out of reach, and ten or
a dozen birds are commonly struck down right and left.
"It is a most sanguinary creature, yet the keepers manage them with
facility, and slip the hood over their eyes with extreme dexterity,
while they are engaged with their prey. In general they become quite
tame to persons they know, and often sufficiently so to bear handling
by a stranger. Much as I have seen of them I never heard one utter
a sound, except hissing and growling."
With regard to this last assertion of Mr. Blyth's I may say that the
caracal differs very much from the European lynx, who, according to
Tschudi, betrays his presence by horrible howlings audible at a great
distance. Professor Kitchen Parker writes that the specimen now in
the Zoological Gardens is a most cantankerous beast.[16] "If the
American lynx, who is unfortunate enough to live in the same cage
with him, dares to come betwixt the wind and his nobility, or even
if he, in the course of his peregrinations, should, by chance, get
sufficiently near his companion to be annoyed with the sight of so
vulgar a beast, he immediately arches his back, lays back his ears,
uncovers his great canines, and swears in a most fearful manner until
the other unlucky animal is quite cowed, and looks as meek as its
feline nature will allow it, evidently deprecating the anger of my
lord; and although not conscious of having done wrong, quite ready
to promise faithfully never to do it again."
[Footnote 16: I can bear witness to this, having lately made his
acquaintance.]
* * * * *
We now take up the last member of the Cat family; one differing so
much in certain respects as to have been classed by some authors as
a separate genus, to which Wagner gave the name of _Cynaelurus_, or
dog-cat, which, however, is not appropriate, as the animal, though
having the slender form of the greyhound, and in having the claws
of its middle front toes but imperfectly retractile, is, in its
anatomy and all osteological features, a true cat. As I have before
remarked it is to this animal alone that the name leopard should be
applied, the peculiar ruff or shagginess of hair on the neck having
given rise to the ancient superstition that this animal was a cross
between the lion and the pard, whence its name Leo-Pardus. There are
three varieties found in Africa and India--one, the maneless leopard,
is confined to Africa, where also is found in the south a woolly
variety with light brown spots. The maned leopard is found all over
South-West Asia, including India.
NO. 219. FELIS JUBATA.
_The Hunting Leopard_ (_Jerdon's No. 117_).
NATIVE NAMES.--_Chita_, Hindi; _Yuz_ of the Chita-catchers;
_Kendua-bagh_, Bengali; _Laggar_ in some parts; _Chita Puli_,
Telegu; _Chircha_ and _Sivungi_, Canarese.
HABITAT.--Central or Southern India, and in the North-West from
Kandeish, through Scinde and Rajpootana, to the Punjab. It is also
found in all Africa, with Syria and Arabia, and throughout Asia Minor.
In India the places where it is most common are Jeypur in Upper India,
and Hyderabad in Southern India.
[Illustration: _Felis jubata_.]
DESCRIPTION.--A tall, slim animal, with body much drawn in at the
flanks like a greyhound; purely cat-like head with short round ears;
long tail, much compressed at the end; in colour a bright rufous fawn,
more or less deep, sometimes what Blyth calls a bright _nankeen_,
dotted with numerous small black spots which are single, and not in
rosettes, as in the pards; a black streak from the corner of the eye
down the face; ears black at base externally, the rest whitish; the
tail spotted, but having three or four black rings at the tip: the
extreme tip is always white; the hair of the belly is lengthened with
a shaggy fringe-like appearance; the fur generally is coarse; the
nozzle is black, whereas in the tiger it is pink, and in a pard dusky
pink; the pupils of the eye contract circularly.
[Illustration: Skull of _Felis jubata_.]
SIZE.--Head and body, about 4-1/2 feet; tail, 2-1/2; height, 2-1/2
to 2-3/4 feet.
This animal is one of the most interesting of all the felines, both
as regards its appearance, disposition, habits, and the uses to which
it can be put. Throughout India it is in much request as a necessary
appanage to regal state; and, therefore, a class of men devote
themselves to the trapping of this creature which, when trained,
finds a ready sale at the courts of Indian nobles. For this purpose
the adult animal is always caught, it being considered by the
chita-catchers that a young leopard would never turn out well for
the purposes of the chase. A similar idea prevails amongst the
falconers of Hindustan regarding nestlings, and it is surprising how
soon a large adult and apparently savage animal can be reduced to
a state of comparative slavery and obedient to the orders of his
keepers.
Dr. Jerdon describes one which he brought up from its earliest
infancy; his bungalow was next to the one I inhabited for a time at
Kampti, and consequently I saw a good deal of Billy, as the leopard
was named. At my first interview I found him in the stables amongst
the dogs and horses, and, as I sat down on his charpoy, he jumped
up alongside of me, and laid down to be scratched, playing and purring
and licking my hands with a very rough tongue. He sometimes used to
go out with his master, and was gradually getting into the way of
running down antelope, when Dr. Jerdon was ordered off on field
service.
The mode of hunting with the chita is so well known, and has been
so frequently described, that I think I need not attempt a
description. Its habits in a state of nature, and the mode of capture,
are more to the purport of this work. It is said by shikarees to feed
only once every third day, when, after gorging itself, it retires
to its den for the other two. On the morning of the third day he visits
some particular tree, which the animals of his species in the
neighbourhood are in the habit of frequenting. Such trees are easily
to be recognised by the scoring of the bark on which he whets his
claws. Here, after having relieved himself in various ways and played
about with such of his comrades as may be there, they go off on a
hunting expedition.
There is an interesting letter from "Deccanee Bear" in _The Asian_
of the 22nd of July, 1880, giving a description of the snaring of
some of these animals, and the remarks he makes about their
rendezvous at a particular tree, corroborates what has been asserted
by other writers. He says: "Arrived at the spot the bullocks were
soon relieved of their burden, and then work commenced. The nooses
were of the same kind as those used for snaring antelope, made from
the dried sinews of the antelope. These were pegged down in all
directions, and at all angles, to a distance of 25 to 30 feet from
the tree. The carts and bullocks were sent off into a road about a
mile away. An ambush was made of bushes and branches some fifty or
sixty yards away, and here, when the time came, I and three Vardis
ensconced ourselves. I have sat near some dirty fellows in my life,
but the stench of those three men baffles description; you could cut
it with a knife. I could not smoke, so had to put up with the several
smells until I was nearly sick. At last the sun commenced to sink,
and the men who were looking round in all directions, suddenly
pointed in the direction of the north. Sure enough there were four
cheetahs skying away and playing together about 400 yards off; they
came closer and closer, when they stopped about 100 yards off,
looking about as if they suspected danger. However, they became
reassured, and all raced away as hard as they could in the direction
of the tree. Two were large and the other two smaller; the larger
had the best of the race, and were entangled by all four feet before
they knew where they were. The Vardis made a rush. I did the same,
but in a second was flat on the ground, having caught my feet in the
nooses. One of the men came and released me from my undignified
position, and I could then see how the cheetahs were secured. A
country blanket was thrown over the heads of the animal, and the two
fore or hind legs tied together. The carts had come up by this time;
a leather hood was substituted for the blanket--a rather ticklish
operation, during which one man was badly bitten in the hand. The
cheetahs know how to use their teeth and claws. Having been securely
fastened on the carts, and the nooses collected, we started for camp,
which we reached about eight in the evening. I was much pleased with
what I had seen and learnt, but it took me a long time to get the
smell of the Vardis out of my head. The next morning I went to see
the cheetahs and found that they had been tied spread-eagle fashion
on the carts, and with their hoods firmly tied. They were a pair,
and in all probability the parents of the two smaller ones. Women
and children are told off to sit all day long close to the animals,
and keep up a conversation, so that they should get accustomed to
the human voice. The female was snarling a good deal, the male being
much quieter; they go through various gradations of education, and
I was told they would be ready to be unhooded and worked in about
six months' time. The man who had his hand bitten was suffering from
considerable inflammation. I had him attended to, and, after
rewarding them with 'baksheesh,' I let them proceed on their way
rejoicing."
Chita kittens are very pretty little things, quite grey, without any
spots whatever, but they can always be recognised by the black stripe
down the nose, and on cutting off a little bit of the soft hair I
noticed that the spots were quite distinct in the under fur. I have
not seen this fact alluded to by others. As a rule the young of all
cats, even the large one-coloured species, such as the lion and puma,
are spotted, but the hunting leopard is externally an exception,
although the spots are there lying hid. I had several of them at
Seonee.
HYAENIDAE--THE HYAENAS.
The second family of the AEluroidea contains only one genus, the
_Hyaena_, which, though somewhat resembling the dog in outward
appearance, connects the cat with the civet. The differences between
the _Felidae_ and the _Viverridae_, setting aside minor details, are
in the teeth, and the possession by the latter of a caudal pouch.
My readers are now familiar with the simple cutting form of the feline
teeth, which are thirty in number. The civets have no less than forty,
and the grinders, instead of having cutting scissor-like edges, are
cuspidate, or crowned with tubercles. Now the hyaena comes in as an
intermediate form. He has four more premolars than the typical cat,
and the large grinding teeth are conical, blunt and very powerful,
the base of the cone being belted by a strong ridge, and the general
structure is one adapted for crushing rather than cutting. Professor
Owen relates that an eminent engineer, to whom he showed a hyaena's
jaw, remarked that the strong conical tooth, with its basal ridge,
was a perfect model of a hammer for breaking stones.
Of course, such a formation would be useless without a commensurate
motive power, and we may, therefore, look to the skull for certain
signs of the enormous development of muscles, which this animal
possesses. In shape it somewhat resembles the cat's skull, though
not so short, nor yet so long as that of the civet or dog. The
zygomatic arches are greatly developed, also the bony ridges for the
attachment of the muscles, especially the sagittal or great
longitudinal crest on the top of the head, which is in comparison
far larger than that of even the tiger, and to which are attached
the enormous muscles of the cheek working the powerful jaws, which
are capable of crushing the thigh-bone of a bullock. Captain Baldwin,
in his book, says he remembers once, when watching over a kill, seeing
a hyaena, only some twelve feet below where he sat, snap with a single
effort through the rib of a buffalo.
[Illustration: Skull of Hyaena.]
The hyaena also possesses the sub-caudal pouch of the civets, which
gave rise amongst the ancients to various conjectures as to the dual
character of its sex.
The _bulla tympani_ or bulb of the ear is large as in the cats, but
it is not divided into two compartments by a bony partition (which
in the dogs is reduced to a low wall), but the paroccipital process
or bony clamp on the external posterior surface is closely applied
to the bulb as in the cats, and not separated by a groove as in the
dogs.
The cervical vertebrae sometimes become anchylosed, from whence, in
former times, arose the superstition that this animal had but one
bone in the neck.
In its internal anatomy, digestive as well as generative, the hyaena
is nearer to the cat than the dog, but it possesses the _caecum_,
or blind gut, which is so large in the canidae, small in the felines,
and totally absent in the bears.
The tongue is rough, with a circular collection of retroflected
spines. The hind legs are much shorter than the front, and the feet
have only four toes with blunt worn claws, not retractile, but like
those of the dog.
The hair is coarse and bristly, and usually prolonged into a sort
of crest or mane along the neck and shoulders, and to a slighter
degree down the back; the tail is bushy.
Dental formula: Inc., 3--3/3--3; can., 1--1/1--1; premolars,
4--4/3--3; molars, 1--1/1--1.
There are only three known species of hyaena, of which one, our common
Indian animal, belongs to Asia, and two, _H. crocuta_ and _H.
brunnea_, to Africa.
_GENUS HYAENA_
NO. 220. HYAENA STRIATA.
_The Striped Hyaena_ (_Jerdon's No. 118_).
NATIVE NAMES.--_Taras_, _Hundar_, _Jhirak_ (in Hurriana);
_Lakhar-baghar_, _Lokra-bagh_, Hindi; _Naukra-bagh_, Bengali;
_Rerha_ in Central India; _Kirba_ and _Kat-Kirba_, Canarese;
_Korna-gandu_, Telegu.
HABITAT.--All over India; but as far as I can gather not in Burmah
nor in Ceylon; it is not mentioned in Blyth's and Kellaart's
catalogues. It is also found in Northern Africa and throughout Asia
Minor and Persia; it is common in Palestine.
[Illustration: _Hyaena striata_.]
DESCRIPTION.--Pale yellowish-grey, with transverse tawny or
blackish bands which encircle the body, and extend downwards on to
the legs. The neck and back are maned.
SIZE.--Head and body, 3-1/2 feet; tail, about 1-1/2 feet.
This repulsive and cowardly creature is yet a useful beast in its
way. Living almost exclusively on carrion, it is an excellent
scavenger. Most wild animals are too active for it, but it feeds on
the remains left by the larger felines, and such creatures as die
of disease, and can, on a pinch, starve for a considerable time. The
African spotted hyaena is said to commit great havoc in the
sheep-fold. The Indian one is very destructive to dogs, and
constantly carries off pariahs from the outskirts of villages. The
natives declare that the hyaena tempts the dogs out by its unearthly
cries, and then falls upon them. Dr. Jerdon relates a story of a small
dog belonging to an officer of the 33rd M. N. I. (the regiment he
was with when I first knew him) being carried off by a hyaena whose
den was known. Some of the sepoys went after it, entered the cave,
killed the hyaena, and recovered the dog alive, and with but little
damage done to it.
The hyaena is of a timorous nature, seldom, if ever, showing fight.
Two of them nearly ran over me once as I was squatting on a deer run
waiting for sambar, which were being beaten out of a hill. I flung
my hat in the face of the leading one, on which both turned tail and
fled. The Arabs have a proverb, "As cowardly as a hyaena."
The _Cryptoprocta ferox_ is not an inhabitant of India, being found
only in the interior of Madagascar. The genus contains only one
species, a most savage little animal; it is the most perfect link
between the cats and the civets, having retractile claws, one more
premolar in each jaw; five toes, and semi-plantigrade feet. It should
properly come before the hyaenas, to which the next in order is the
South African Aard-wolf (_Proteles Lalandii_), which forms the
connection between the hyaena and the civet, though more resembling
the former. It is placed in a family by itself, which contains but
one genus and species. It has the sloping back of the hyaena, the
hind legs being lower than the fore, and it might almost, from its
shape and colouring, be taken for that animal when young. The skull
however is prolonged, and the teeth are civet-like. It is nocturnal
and gregarious, several living in the same burrow. Like the hyaena
it lives on carrion. It has a fifth toe on the fore feet.
VIVERRIDAE--THE CIVET FAMILY.
The Civets are confined to the Old World; they are mostly animals
with long bodies, sharp muzzle, short legs, long tapering tail and
coarse fur; they are semi-plantigrade, walking on their toes, but
keeping the wrist and ankle nearer to the ground than do the cats;
the claws are only partially retractile; the skull is longer in the
snout than that of felines, and, altogether narrower, the zygomatic
arches not being so broad, the base of the skull is much the same,
and the _bulla tympani_ shews little difference; the teeth, however,
are decidedly different. There are four premolars and two molars on
each side of each jaw, which, with the normal number of canines and
incisors, give forty teeth in all; the canines are moderate in size,
and sharp; the premolars conical, and the molars cuspidate, which
gives them a grinding surface instead of the trenchant character of
the cats; the tongue is rough, the papillae being directed backwards;
the pupils are circular. The most striking characteristics of the
family is, however, the sub-caudal pouch, which in most produces an
odorous substance, and in the typical civet the perfume of that name.
[Illustration: Dentition of Civet.]
Dental formula: inc., 3--3/3--3; can., 1--1/1--1; premolars,
4--4/3--3; molars, 2--2/3--3.
The family contains the Civet, Genette, Linsang, Suricate, Binturong
and Mongoose, though this last is separated by Jerdon, who follows
Blyth.
_GENUS VIVERRA_.
Anal pouch large, and divided into two sacs secreting the _civet_
perfume of commerce; pupil vertical and oblong; fur spotted and
coarse, lengthened into an erectile mane on the back; diet mixed
carnivorous and vegetivorous.
NO. 221. VIVERRA ZIBETHA.
_The Large Civet Cat_ (_Jerdon's No. 119_).
NATIVE NAMES.--_Katas_, Hindi; _Mach-bhondar_, Bengali, also
_Bagdos_ and _Pudo-gaula_ in some parts; _Bhran_ in the Nepal Terai;
_Nit-biralu_, Nepalese; _Kung_, Bhotia; _Saphiong_, Lepcha,
(_Jerdon_); _Khyoung-myen_, Aracanese.
HABITAT.--According to Jerdon this species inhabits Bengal,
extending northwards in Nepal and Sikhim, and into Cuttack, Orissa,
and Central India on the south, but is replaced in Malabar by the
next species; it is also found in Assam and Burmah, but apparently
not in Ceylon, where _V. Malaccensis_ represents the family.
[Illustration: _Viverra zibetha_.]
DESCRIPTION.--Hoary or yellowish grey, generally spotted and
striped with black; some specimens are marked with wavy bands, others
are almost free from marks; throat white, with a transverse black
band, another on each side of the neck; under-parts white; tail with
six black rings; limbs dark.
SIZE.--Head and body, 33 to 36 inches; tail 13 to 20.
"This animal frequents brushwood and grass, and the thorny scrub that
usually covers the bunds of tanks. It is very carnivorous and
destructive to poultry, game, &c., but will also, it is said, eat
fish, crabs and insects. It breeds in May and June, and has usually
four or five young. Hounds, and indeed all dogs, are greatly excited
by the scent of this civet, and will leave any other scent for it.
It will readily take to water if hard pressed."--_Jerdon_.
The drug civet is usually collected from the glands of this and other
species, which are confined for the purpose in cages in which they
can hardly turn round, and it is scraped from the pouch with a spoon.
Sometimes the animal rubs off the secretion on the walls and bars
of its cage, which are then scraped; but the highest price is given
for the pouch cut from the civet when killed. In the London Zoological
Gardens the collection of the perfume, which is rubbed off against
the walls of the cage, is a valued perquisite of the keeper. Cuvier
says of a civet which was kept in captivity in Paris: "Its musky odour
was always perceptible, but stronger than usual when the animal was
irritated; at such times little lumps of odoriferous matter fell from
its pouch. These masses were also produced when the animal was left
to itself, but only at intervals of fifteen to twenty days."
NO. 222. VIVERRA CIVETTINA.
_The Malabar Civet-Cat_ (_Jerdon's No. 120_).
HABITAT.--Throughout the Malabar coast, abundant in Travancore, and
found occasionally in the uplands of Wynaad and Coorg.
DESCRIPTION.--Hair long, coarse, and of a dusky or brownish-grey,
and marked with interrupted transverse bands or spots in rows, two
obliquely transverse black lines on the neck; the snout, throat, and
neck are white; the tail tinged with black. From the shoulders along
the back a mane or crest of lengthened hair.
SIZE.--Same as last species.
This species closely resembles the African civet--only that in the
latter the mane begins on the occiput. Jerdon supposes that it may
be found in Ceylon, but it is not mentioned by Kellaart. It is found
chiefly in forests and richly-wooded lowlands, and is stated to be
very destructive to poultry. The young may, however, be reared on
farinaceous food, with the addition of a little fish and raw meat;
when older on flesh alone.
NO. 223. VIVERRA MEGASPILA.
NATIVE NAME.--_Khyoung-myen_.
HABITAT.--Burmah, also Malayan peninsula and archipelago (?)
[Illustration: _VIVERRA MEGASPILA_.]
DESCRIPTION.--The body markings larger, blacker and fewer in number
than in last species.
SIZE.--Same as last.
Blyth states that this is nearly allied to the last species, but
differs from _V. tangalunga_ of Sumatra (with which some consider
it synonymous) as the latter is smaller, with a more cat-like tail,
and more numerous spots. Gray says that _V. tangalunga_ has the tail
black above and ringed on the lower side.
* * * * *
The next species is smaller and more vermiform, with acute compressed
claws, a shorter tail, and no crest, and of more scansorial habits.
It forms the sub-genus _Viverricula_ of Hodgson, but it is not
desirable to perpetuate the sub-division.
NO. 224. VIVERRA MALACCENSIS.
_The Lesser Civet-Cat_ (_Jerdon's No. 121_).
NATIVE NAMES.--_Mushak-billi_, _Katas_, _Kasturi_, Hindi;
_Gando-gaula_, _Gandha-gokul_, Bengali; _Jowadi-manjur_, Mahrathi;
_Punagin-bek_, Canarese; _Punagu-pilli_, Telegu; _Sayer_,
_Bug-nyul_, Nepalese; _Wa-young-kyoung-bank_, Aracanese;
_Kyoung-ka-do_, Burmese; _Ooralawa_, Singhalese.
HABITAT.--India generally, with Assam, Burmah, and Ceylon. It
extends also to the Malayan countries, Java and China.
[Illustration: _Viverra Malaccensis_.]
DESCRIPTION.--General colour greyish-brown, spotted black; the
dorsal spots elongated, and forming longitudinal interrupted
streaks or stripes on the back and croup; the sides and limbs have
also spots in lines; a long black streak from ear to shoulder, and
some transverse lines on the sides of the neck. Abdomen nearly
spotless; feet and part of legs dusky-brown; tail long and tapering,
marked with eight or nine black rings.
SIZE.--Head and body, 22 to 24 inches; tail, 16 to 17 inches.
According to Jerdon, "it lives in holes in the ground or in banks,
occasionally under rocks or in dense thickets, now and then taking
shelter in drains and out-houses." Hodgson says: "These animals
dwell in forests or detached woods and copses, whence they wander
freely into the open country by day (occasionally at least) as well
as by night. They are solitary and single wanderers, even the pair
seldom being seen together, and they feed promiscuously upon small
animals, birds' eggs, snakes, frogs, insects, besides some fruits
or roots. In the Terai a low caste of woodmen, called Mushahirs, eat
the flesh." Mr. Swinhoe affirms that the Chinese also eat its flesh,
and adds: "but a portion that I had cooked was so affected with the
civet odour that I could not palate it." The fur is valued in China
as a lining for coats, and is bought by those who cannot afford the
more expensive skins. Jerdon had one which was perfectly tame; it
caught rats and squirrels at times, as also sparrows and other birds.
It is kept alive by the natives in India and Ceylon for the sake of
the secretion. Kellaart says it is a great destroyer of poultry, and
that it will enter a yard in daylight and carry off a fowl or a duck.
It is much dreaded by the Chinese for the havoc it commits in the
hen-roost.
_GENUS PRIONODON_.
Between the last genus and this should come the _Genets_, which are
not found in India, but chiefly in Africa, and one species is common
in the south of Europe, where in some parts it is domesticated for
the purpose of catching mice. It has rudimentary pouches only, which
do not yield the musky secretion of the civets. The Linsang or
_Prionodon_ is a very cat-like animal, which was once classed with
the Felidae; the body is long and slender; the limbs very short; fur
soft, close and erect, very richly coloured and spotted with black;
the grinders are tubercular; claws retractile; soles furred; tail
long, cylindrical, and ringed with black; no sub-caudal pouch. The
female has two pectoral and two inguinal mammae. Teeth, 38; molars,
5--5/6--6.
NO. 225. PRIONODON PARDICOLOR.
_The Tiger Civet or Linsang_ (_Jerdon's No. 122_).
NATIVE NAME.--_Zik-chum_, Bhotia; _Suliyu_, Lepcha.
HABITAT.--Nepal, Sikim.
DESCRIPTION.--"Rich orange buff or fulvous, spotted with black; the
neck above with four irregular lines; the body above and on the sides
with large, entire elliptic or squarish marks, eight in transverse,
and seven in longitudinal series, diminishing in size on the dorsal
ridge, which has an interrupted dark line, and extending outside the
limbs to the digits; below entirely unspotted; tail with eight or
nine nearly perfect and equal rings" (_Jerdon_). "Skull elongate;
nose rather short, compressed; brain-case narrow in front, swollen
over the ears, and contracted and produced behind; orbits, not
defined behind, confluent with the temporal cavity; zygomatic arch
slender; palate contracted behind" (_Gray_). Jerdon's description
is a very good one, but it must not be taken as an accurate one, spot
for spot, for the animal varies somewhat in colour. Take, for
instance, a description from Gray: "Pale _whitish grey_; back of neck
and shoulders with _three_ streaks diverging from the vertebral
line; back with two series of large square spots; the shoulders,
sides, and legs with round black spots; an elongated spot on the
middle of the front part of the back, between the square spots on
the sides of the body."
SIZE.--Head and body, 16 inches; tail, 14 inches; height, 6 inches.
Our Indian animal is closely allied to the Malayan species, which
was first described as _Felis_ and afterwards _Prionodon gracilis_.
It is mentioned in the English translation of Cuvier as the delundung,
"a rare Javanese animal, of which there is only one species," but
another was subsequently found by Mr. Hodgson in Nepal, and now a
third has been discovered in Tenasserim. They are beautiful little
creatures, with all the agility of cats, climbing and springing from
branch to branch in pursuit of small mammals and birds, and I have
no doubt it is a great enemy of the _Tupaiae_ and squirrels. It breeds
in the hollows of trees. It is capable of being tamed, and according
to several authors becomes very gentle and fond of being noticed.
Hodgson says it never utters any kind of sound. He fed his on raw
meat.
NO. 226. PRIONODON MACULOSUS.
_The Spotted Linsang_.
HABITAT.--Tenasserim.
[Illustration: _Prionodon maculosus_.]
DESCRIPTION.--"Upper part brownish-black, broken up by
greyish-white bands, lower parts white; tail brownish-black, with
seven white rings; tips whitish; two broad black bands run down each
side of the upper part of the neck, between them is a narrow
greyish-white band with a faint mesial dark streak somewhat
interrupted, and passing into two bands of elongate spots between
the shoulders. The two broad dark bands pass into the dark patches
on the back; on each side of these bands is a white rather wavy stripe,
commencing at the ear, and continued along the neck above the
shoulder and down the side to the thighs, becoming more irregular
behind; below this again is a dark band somewhat broken up into spots
in front, passing over the shoulder and continued as a line of large
spots along the side. The back is chiefly brownish-black, crossed
by six narrow transverse whitish bands, the first five equidistant,
the foremost communicating with the mesial neck band, and the hinder
all uniting with the white band on the side, so as to break up the
dark colour into large spots. There are small spots on the fore neck,
lower portion of the sides, and outside of the limbs, the spots in
the neck forming an imperfect gorget. The white rings on the tail
are not much more than half the breadth of the dark rings; the last
ring near the tip and the first white ring are narrower than the
others; nose dark brown mixed with grey; a dark ring round each orbit,
with a streak running back to below the ear, and another passing up
to the crown; forehead between and behind the eyes and in front of
the ears and cheeks pale grey; ears rounded and clad with blackish
hairs outside and near the margin inside, a few long pale hairs on
the inner surface of the ear conch; whiskers long, extending to
behind the ears, the upper brown, the lower entirely white; soles,
except the pads, which are naked, covered with fine hair." The above
careful description is by Mr. W. T. Blanford on specimens collected
by Mr. Davison in Burmah. Mr. Davison lately showed me a beautiful
specimen, which I should describe by a reverse process to Mr.
Blanford's, taking the light colour as the ground work, and stating
it to be of a yellowish-white or pale buff, with broad black bands
and blotches as above described, or in general terms broad black
patches over the back, two longitudinal interrupted black bands
along the neck and sides, with two lines of elongated spots above
and below the lower band, and numerous small spots on the throat,
chest and limbs.
SIZE.--Head and body, 18-1/4 inches; tail, 16 inches without the hair,
16-3/4 with it.
This is a larger animal than _P. pardicolor_, and is distinguished
from it by its larger marking. The fur is beautifully soft and close.
From the richness of its colouring, the elegance of its shape, and
the agility of its movements, it is one of the most beautiful and
interesting of our smaller mammals.
NO. 227. PRIONODON GRACILIS.
_The Malayan Linsang_.
HABITAT.--Malacca, Siam, Sumatra, and Tenasserim.
DESCRIPTION.--Fur white, back with broad black cross-bands, sides
of neck with a broad black streak continued along the sides of the
body, confluent with the bands of the neck; back of neck with five
parallel black streaks; tail with seven black and white streaks; a
second streak, broken into spots, from the side of the neck to the
haunches; legs with small black spots.
Very similar to the last, only somewhat smaller.
* * * * *
Between _Prionodon_ and the next comes a genus _Hemigalea_, which
contains one species, _H. Hardwickii_, inhabiting the Malay
countries. It is a perfect link between _Prionodon_ and
_Paradoxurus_.
_GENUS PARADOXURUS--THE MUSANGS_.
_Paradoxurus_ is a misnomer, signifying _queer-tailed_, which
originated in an abnormal twist in the tail of the specimen first
described and named by M. F. Cuvier. I do not think that it is even
occasional, as stated by some naturalists, but is of comparatively
rare occurrence; and such deformities are by no means confined to
this genus only.
The tail can be rolled up towards the end, and the hair is
occasionally worn off, and some have a habit of curling it sideways;
but I have never seen one as described by Kellaart when speaking of
the genus: "The extreme or more distant half being, when extended,
turned over so that the lower side is uppermost, and the animal can
roll it up spirally from above downwards, and from the extremity to
the base."
In general appearance the musang resembles the civet, and it has in
some species a sub-caudal glandular fold which contains a secretion,
but without the musky odour of civet.
The dentition is singularly like that of the dog, save that the flesh
tooth is proportionally much stouter.
The feet are five-toed, webbed; pads bald; claws semi-retractile;
tail very long, with from thirty-six to thirty-eight vertebrae; the
pupil of the eye is linear and erect.
NO. 228. PARADOXURUS MUSANGA.
_The Common Musang_ (_Jerdon's No. 123_).
NATIVE NAMES.--_Khatas_, _Menuri_ (in Southern India), Lakati;
_Jharka-kutta_, Hindi; _Bhonar_, Bengali; _Ud_, Mahrathi;
_Kera-bek_, Canarese; _Manupilli_, Telegu; _Marra-pilli_, Malayan
(toddy-cat and tree-cat of Europeans); _Sakrala_, _Khoonla_.
HABITAT.--Throughout India, Burmah and Ceylon, extending to the
Malay countries.
DESCRIPTION.--It is difficult to lay down any precise rule for the
colour of this animal, for it varies much. In general it is a fulvous
grey, marked or clouded with black, or with black longitudinal
stripes. No two naturalists describe it exactly alike. The limbs are,
however, always dark, and there is usually a dark stripe down from
the top of head to the centre of the nose. I will quote a few
descriptions by various authors: "General colour brownish-black,
with some dingy yellowish stripes on each side, more or less distinct,
and sometimes not noticeable. A white spot above and below each eye,
and the forehead with a whitish band in some; a black line from the
top of the head down the centre of the nose is generally observable.
In many individuals the ground colour appears to be fulvous, with
black pencilling or mixed fulvous and black; the longitudinal
stripes then show dark; limbs always dark brown; some appear almost
black throughout, and the young are said to be nearly all black"
(_Jerdon_). "General colour fulvous grey, washed with black; face
darker coloured, with four white spots, one above and one below each
eye, the latter more conspicuous; from three to five--more or less
interrupted--black lines run from shoulder to root of tail, the
central one broader and more distinct than the lateral lines; some
indistinct black spots on the sides and upper parts of limbs; tail
nearly all black; feet black, soles bald to the heel, flesh-coloured"
(_Kellaart_). "Nose brown in the centre, with the brown colour
extending under the eyes; the spot under the eye is small and
indistinct" (_Gray_). The last remark is reverse of what Kellaart
says. The muzzle of the young animal is flesh coloured; they are said
to lose their black hairs when kept long in confinement, and become
generally lighter coloured.
SIZE.--Head and body about 20 to 25 inches; tail from 19 to 21 inches.
This is a very common animal in India, frequently to be found in the
neighbourhood of houses, attracted no doubt by poultry, rats, mice,
&c. It abounds in the suburbs of Calcutta, taking up its abode
sometimes in out-houses or in secluded parts of the main building.
During the years 1865-66 a pair inhabited a wooden staircase in the
Lieutenant-Governor's house at Alipore (Belvedere). We used to hear
them daily, and once or twice I saw them in the dusk, but failed in
all my attempts to trap them. That part of the building has since
been altered, so I have no doubt the confiding pair have betaken
themselves to other quarters. In a large banyan-tree in my brother's
garden at Alipore there is a family at the present time, the junior
members of which have lately fallen victims to a greyhound, who is
often on the look-out for them. As yet the old ones have had the wisdom
to keep out of his way.
They are very easily tamed. I had one for a time at Seonee which had
been shot at and wounded, and I was astonished to find how soon it
got accustomed to my surgical operations. Whilst under treatment I
fed it on eggs. In confinement it is better to accustom it to live
partly on vegetable food, rice, and milk, &c., with raw meat
occasionally. Its habits are nocturnal. I cannot affirm from my own
experience that it is partial to the juice of the palm tree, for
_toddy_ (or _tari_) is unknown in the Central Provinces, and I have
had no specimens alive since I have been in Bengal, but it has the
character of being a toddy-drinker in those parts of India where the
toddy-palms grow; and Kellaart confirms the report. It is arboreal
in its habits, and climbs with great agility.
NO. 229. PARADOXURUS (PAGUMA _of Gray_) GRAYII.
_The Hill Musang_ (_Jerdon's No. 124_).
HABITAT.--South-east Himalayas and Burmah, from Nepal to Arakan.
DESCRIPTION.--"Colour above light unspotted fulvous brown, showing
in certain lights a strong cinereous tinge, owing to the black tips
of many of the hairs; beneath lighter and more cinereous; limbs
ash-coloured, deeper in intensity towards the feet, which are black;
tail of the same colour as the body, the end dark, white-tipped; ears
rounded, hairy, black; face black, except the forehead; a
longitudinal streak down the middle of the nose, and a short oblique
band under each of the eyes, which are gray or whitish."--_Jerdon_.
SIZE.--Head and body, 30 inches; tail, 20 inches.
According to Hodgson, this species keeps to the forests and mountains,
feeding on small animals and birds, and also vegetable food. "One
shot had only seeds, leaves, and unhusked rice in its stomach. A caged
animal was fed on boiled rice and fruits, which it preferred to animal
food. When set at liberty it would lie waiting in the grass for mynas
and sparrows, springing upon them from the cover like a cat, and when
sparrows, as it frequently happened, ventured into its cage to steal
the boiled rice, it would feign sleep, retire into a corner, and dart
on them with unerring aim. It preferred birds, thus taken by itself,
to all other food.
"This animal was very cleanly, nor did its body usually emit any
unpleasant odour, though when it was irritated it exhaled a most
foetid stench, caused by the discharge of a thin yellow fluid from
four pores, two of which are placed on each side of the intestinal
aperture."
NO. 230. PARADOXURUS BONDAR.
_The Terai Musang_ (_Jerdon's No. 125_).
NATIVE NAMES.--_Chinghar_, Hindi; _Bondar_, _Baum_, Bengali;
_Mach-abba_ and _Malwa_ in the Nepal Terai.
HABITAT.--Nepal, North Behar and Terai.
DESCRIPTION.--Clear yellow, tipped with black, the fur coarse and
harsh; under fur soft and woolly; legs blackish-brown outside; body
without marks, but the bridge of the nose, upper lip, whiskers, broad
cheek-band, ears, chin, lower jaw, and the terminal third of the tail
blackish-brown; pale yellow round the eyes; snout and feet
flesh-grey; nails sharp and curved. The female smaller and paler.
SIZE.--Head and body, about 22 inches; tail, 20 to 22; skull of one
4-1/5 inches, less ventricose than that of _P. Grayii_.
This species is found, like _P. Musanga_, in the vicinity of houses;
it lives in hollow trees, where it also breeds. Its habits are in
great measure those of the common musang, though it is probably more
carnivorous; it will, however, eat fruit. Jerdon says: "It sleeps
rolled up like a ball, and when angered spits like a cat. It is
naturally very ferocious and unruly, but capable of domestication,
if taken young. It has a keen sense of smell, but less acute hearing
and vision by day than the mungooses."
NO. 231. PARADOXURUS TRIVIRGATUS.
_The Three-striped Musang_.
NATIVE NAME.--_Kyoung-na-ga_, in Arakan.
HABITAT.--Tenasserim and the Malay countries; also Assam.
[Illustration: _Paradoxurus trivirgatus_.]
DESCRIPTION.--Fur blackish-brown, slightly silvered with pale tips;
three narrow black streaks down the back; under parts dirty white;
head, feet, and tail black or blackish-brown. This animal forms a
separate genus of Gray, following Professor Peters' _Arctogale_, on
account of the smallness of the teeth and the protraction of the
palate.
I had a specimen of this Paradoxurus given to me early in the cold
season of 1881 by Dr. W. Forsyth. I brought it home to England with
me, and it is now in the Zoological Society's Gardens in Regent's
Park. It was very tame when Dr. Forsyth brought it, but it became
more so afterwards, and we made a great pet of it.
It used to sleep nearly all day on a bookshelf in my study, and would,
if called, lazily look up, yawn, and then come down to be petted,
after which it would spring up again into its retreat. At night it
was very active, especially in bounding from branch to branch of a
tree which I had cut down and placed in the room in which it was locked
up every evening. Its wonderful agility on ropes was greatly noticed
on board ship. Its favourite food was plantains, and it was also very
fond of milk. At night I used to give it a little meat, but not much;
but most kinds of fruit it seemed to like.
Its temper was a little uncertain, and it seemed to dislike natives,
who at times got bitten; but it never bit any of my family, although
one of my little girls used to catch hold of it by the forepaws and
dance it about like a kitten. Its carnivorous nature showed itself
one day by its pouncing upon a tame pigeon. The bird was rescued,
and is alive still, but it was severely mauled before I could rescue
it, having been seized by the neck.
NO. 232. PARADOXURUS LEUCOTIS.
_The White-eared Musang_.
NATIVE NAME.--_Na-zwet-phyoo_, Arakanese.
HABITAT.--Burmah and Assam.
DESCRIPTION.--Fur longish, soft, and silky; upper parts tawny;
reddish-brown on back and sides; thighs, legs, throat, and belly
lighter; tail long, deep chestnut brown; nose with a central white
line; ears yellowish.
NO. 233. PARADOXURUS ZEYLANICUS.
_The Golden Musang_.
NATIVE NAME.--_Coolla-weddah_, Singhalese.
HABITAT.--Ceylon.
DESCRIPTION.--A golden-brown colour arising from the longer hairs
having a bright golden tint; the shorter hairs brown, paler beneath;
head and legs dark brown; muzzle and lips blackish; whiskers white
or yellowish; ears small, dark brown externally, almost naked
internally; tail sub-cylindrical, long; sometimes with a single pale
sub-terminal band; tip rounded, paler than the body. According to
Kellaart, three inconspicuous brown dorsal streaks diverging and
terminating on the crupper, and some very indistinct spots seen only
in some lights. Gray says these animals differ in the intensity of
the colour of the fur--some are bright golden and others much more
brown. The latter is _P. fuscus_ of Kellaart.
SIZE.--Head and body, 19 inches; tail, 15 to 16 inches.
Kellaart writes of this species: "The golden paradoxure appears to
be a more frugivorous animal than the palm-cat (_Paradoxurus
typus_[17]). Their habits are alike nocturnal and arboreal. In all
the individuals of the former species examined at Newera-Ellia the
stomach contained Cape gooseberries (_Physalis Peruviana_[18]),
which grow there now in great abundance; and only one had the remains
of animal matter in the stomach. When young they are tolerably docile,
but as they grow up their natural ferocity returns." This seems
strange, as they appear to be less carnivorous than the others.
[Footnote 17: Cuvier's name for _P. musanga_.--R. A. S.]
[Footnote 18: The _Tipari_ of Bengal.--R. A. S.]
NO. 234. PARADOXURUS (PAGUMA) LANIGER.
HABITAT.--Thibet.
This requires further investigation. Gray says: "This species is
only known from a skin without any skull, and in a very bad state."
_P. strictus_, _quadriscriptus_ and _prehensilis_ are three species
alluded to by Gray as requiring further examination, but probably
Jerdon is right in considering them as varieties of _P. musanga_.
A specimen with very large canines has been reported from the Andaman
Islands (_P. Tytleri_?) in addition to these. Gray enumerates as an
Indian species _P. nigrifrons_, which is likely to be a variety of
_P. musanga_; it was described from a single specimen. The dorsal
streaks and spots were absent, but then he says the animal had been
in confinement, and, as I have said before, this tends to make the
dark parts disappear.
GENUS ARCTICTIS.
This is a very curious animal, which, like the panda and the linsang,
at first misled naturalists in assigning it a place. It was formerly
classed with the racoons, which it superficially resembles; and, as
Jerdon remarks, it may be considered as a sort of link between the
plantigrade and digitigrade carnivora. The skeleton however is
similar to that of the musangs as regards the great number
(thirty-four) of the caudal vertebrae, but the bones of the feet have
a more plantigrade character; the skull resembles that of a badger;
the head is conical, with a large brain-case and acute turned-up
nose; the orbit of the skull is imperfect, only defined by a
prominence above; the ears are pencilled or tufted; the tail is very
long, muscular and prehensile--although this was doubted by F.
Cuvier, but it is now a well-known fact--and in climbing trees it
is much assisted by the tail; the teeth are thirty-six in all; canines
stout, upper ones long; grinders small and far apart; of the false
grinders, the first and second are conical, the third compressed;
the flesh-tooth is triangular, and as broad as long; the tubercular
grinders are smaller than the flesh-tooth, the first triangular, the
hinder cylindrical and smaller still; toes five in each foot, with
powerful semi-retractile claws.
NO. 235. ARCTICTIS BINTURONG.
_The Binturong_ (_Jerdon's No. 126_).
HABITAT.--Assam, Nepal, Simla hills, also Tenasserim, Arakan, and
the Malayan countries.
[Illustration: _Arctictis binturong_.]
DESCRIPTION.--Long body, short legs, long prehensile tail, very
thick at the base, and gradually tapering to a point, clad with very
long bristling hair; the hair of the body very coarse; general colour,
deep black, with a white border to the ears, a few brown hairs on
the head and anterior surface of fore-legs. Some of the Malayan
specimens are slightly sprinkled with brown, and have the head, face,
and throat grizzled. It has a large sub-caudal gland, secreting an
oily fluid.
SIZE.--Head and body 28 to 30 inches; tail about the same. Jerdon
gives 28 to 33 inches; tail 26 to 27 inches.
According to Jerdon it is nocturnal, arboreal, and omnivorous,
eating small animals, birds, insects, fruit and plants; more wild
than viverrine animals in general, but easily tamed. Its howl is loud.
In an illustration I have of one of these animals, it is drawn with
white patches over the eyes. Cantor says the young are marked with
eye spots. I have added the Simla hills to the list of places it
inhabits, as Mr. Hume possesses the skin of one which I have lately
examined, and which was procured in this neighbourhood.
HERPESTIDAE--THE ICHNEUMON OR MUNGOOSE FAMILY.
A well-defined genus of animals, with long vermiform bodies, clad
with long, harsh grizzled hair, long muscular tails, thick at the
base, and tapering to a fine point; semi-plantigrade feet with five
toes, and partially retractile claws; the eyes are small, but
glittering and snakelike; the tongue rough like a cat's. Dr. Gray
has divided this family into two groups, _Herpestina_ and
_Cynictidina_, the former containing thirteen genera, the latter one,
which is separated on account of its having four toes only. Of the
thirteen genera in Herpestina, we have only to do with _Herpestes_,
_Calogale_, _Calictis_, _Urva_, _Taeniogale_, and _Onychogale_,
which six are by most naturalists treated under _Herpestes_, and I
will continue to do so, as the differences are hardly sufficient to
warrant so much subdivision.
_GENUS HERPESTES_.
Long vermiform body; short legs with five semi-palmated toes with
short compressed claws; eyes small, with linear erect pupils; long
skull with forty teeth; the orbit complete in many cases, or only
slightly imperfect; the hairs are long, rigid, and ringed like the
quill of a porcupine, which gives the grizzled appearance peculiar
to these animals. The female has only four mammae. They are very
active and sanguinary, chiefly hunting along the ground, but can
climb with facility. There are several species found within the
limits of British India, and many more in Africa.
NO. 236. HERPESTES PALLIDUS _vel_ GRISEUS.
_The Common Grey Mungoose_ (_Jerdon's Nos. 127 and 128_).
NATIVE NAMES.--_Mungus_, _Newul_, _Newra_, _Nyul_, Hindi; _Mungli_,
Canarese; _Yentawa_, Telegu; _Koral_, Gondi; _Moogatea_,
Singhalese.
HABITAT.--India generally and Ceylon, but apparently not in Burmah.
DESCRIPTION.--Light iron grey with a yellowish tint, some more
rufous, the hairs being ringed with brown and grey or yellowish-white;
muzzle and feet brown; irides light brown.
SIZE.--Head and body, 16 to 20 inches; tail, 14 to 16-1/2 inches.
Jerdon calls this the Madras mungoose, and separates it from the next
species, but they are apparently the same. Dr. Anderson prefers the
specific name _pallidus_ to either _griseus_ or _Malaccensis_, as
_griseus_ originally included an African species, and the latter
name is geographically misleading. Hodgson's name _H. nyula_ is
objectionable, as _nyul_ or _newul_ is applied by natives to all
mungooses generally. Jerdon's Nos. 127 and 128 differ only in colour
and size; according to him the lighter and larger, _griseus_, being
the Southern India mungoose, and the browner and smaller,
_Malaccensis_, the Bengal and the Northern India one. But at Sasseram
in Behar, I some years ago obtained a very large specimen of the
lighter species, and have lately seen a skin from the North-west
Provinces. This animal is familiar to most English residents in the
Mofussil; it is, if unmolested, fearless of man, and will, even in
its wild state, enter the verandahs and rooms of houses. In one house
I know a pair of old ones would not only boldly lift the bamboo chicks
and walk in, but in time were accompanied by a young family. When
domesticated they are capable of showing as much attachment as a dog.
One that I had constantly with me for three years died of grief during
a temporary separation, having refused food from the time I left.
I got it whilst on active service during the Indian Mutiny, when it
was a wee thing, smaller than a rat. It travelled with me on horseback
in an empty holster, or in a pocket, or up my sleeve; and afterwards,
when my duties as a settlement officer took me out into camp, "Pips"
was my constant companion. He knew perfectly well when I was going
to shoot a bird for him. He would stand up on his hind legs when he
saw me present the gun, and rush for the bird when it fell; he had,
however, no notion of retrieving, but would scamper off with his prey
to devour it at leisure. He was a most fearless little fellow, and
once attacked a big greyhound, who beat a retreat. In a rage his body
would swell to nearly twice its size from the erection of the hair,
yet I had him under such perfect subjection that I had only to hold
up my finger to him when he was about to attack anything, and he would
desist. I heard a great noise one day outside my room and found Master
"Pips," attacking a fine male specimen I had of the great bustard,
_Eupodotis Edwardsii_, and had just seized it by the throat. I
rescued the bird, but it died of its injuries. Through the
carelessness of one of my servants he was lost one day in a heavy
brushwood jungle some miles from my camp, and I quite gave up all
hopes of recovering my pet. Next day, however, in tracking some
antelope, we happened to cross the route taken by my servants, when
we heard a familiar little yelp, and down from a tree we were under
rushed "Pips." He went to England with me after that, and was the
delight of all the sailors on board, for his accomplishments were
varied; he could sit on a chair with a cap on his head, shoulder arms;
ready, present, fire!--turn somersaults, jump, and do various other
little tricks.
From watching him I observed many little habits belonging to these
animals. He was excessively clean, and after eating would pick his
teeth with his claws in a most absurd manner. I do not know whether
a mungoose in a wild state will eat carrion, but he would not touch
anything tainted, and, though very fond of freshly-cooked game,
would turn up his nose at high partridge or grouse. He was very fond
of eggs, and, holding them in his fore-paws, would crack a little
hole at the small end, out of which he would suck the contents. He
was a very good ratter, and also killed many snakes against which
I pitted him. His way seemed to be to tease the snake into darting
at him, when, with inconceivable rapidity, he would pounce on the
reptile's head. He seemed to know instinctively which were the
poisonous ones, and acted with corresponding caution. I tried him
once with some sea-snakes (_Hydrophis palamoides_), which are
poisonous, but he could get no fight out of them, and crunched their
heads off one after the other. I do not believe in the mungoose being
proof against snake poison, or in the antidote theory. Their extreme
agility prevents their being bitten, and the stiff rigid hair, which
is excited at such times, and a thick loose skin, are an additional
protection. I think it has been proved that if the poison of a snake
is injected into the veins of a mungoose it proves fatal. The female
produces from three to four young at a time.
The cry of the mungoose is a grating mew, varied occasionally by a
little querulous yelp, which seems to be given in an interrogative
sort of way when searching for anything. When angry it growls most
audibly for such a small beast, and this is generally accompanied
by a bristling of the hair, especially of the tail.
NO. 237. HERPESTES JERDONI _vel_ MONTICOLUS.
_The Long-tailed Mungoose_ (_Jerdon's No. 129_).
HABITAT.--Indian peninsula, it having been found in the extreme
south as well as Kashmir in the north and Singbhoom in the centre.
DESCRIPTION.--Colour like the last, but more yellow in general tone;
tail long, tipped with maroon and black, very hairy; feet dark
reddish-brown; muzzle slightly tinged with red; under fur pale
yellowish, the long hairs being broadly tipped with brown, darkest
at the tip, paler at the base, then a white band; then three brown
bands separated by white, the base of the hair being broadly white;
the skull is distinguishable by the breadth of the frontal region
across the post-orbital processes, and between the anterior margins
of the orbit. Dr. Anderson considers this as identical with the
Kashmir _H. thysanurus_, which has also been found by Mr. Ball in
Singbhoom. Dr. Gray says it is very like the African _H. ichneumon_,
only paler. Dr. Jerdon had only obtained it from the Eastern Ghats
inland from Nellore, where it inhabits forests among the hills.
SIZE.--Head and body, 20 inches; tail, 19 inches.
NO. 238. HERPESTES SMITHII.
_The Ruddy Mungoose_ (_Jerdon's No. 130_).
NATIVE NAME.--_Deeto_, Singhalese.
HABITAT.--Southern India and Ceylon.
DESCRIPTION.--Reddish ferruginous brown, long hair, well grizzled,
more red on the head and outer part Of limbs; hairs annulated dark
and white, with reddish tips; muzzle long and flesh-coloured; feet
black; tip of tail black.
SIZE.--Head and body, 15 inches; tail, 12 to 13 inches.
This is the same as _H. Ellioti_ of Blyth, and _H. rubiginosus_ of
Kellaart, and _Calictis Smithii_ of Gray.
NO. 239. HERPESTES AUROPUNCTATUS.
_The Gold-speckled Mungoose_ (_Jerdon's No. 131_).
HABITAT.--The plains near the hills from Afghanistan to Bengal, also
Assam and Burmah, and on into the Malayan peninsula.
DESCRIPTION.--General colour olive brown with a golden hue, or
finely speckled with golden yellow, due to the fine annulation of
the hair; the sides of the body slightly paler, and not so yellow;
under parts dirty yellowish-white; limbs the same colour as the body;
the under fur is purplish-brown in its lower two-thirds, and pale
yellow in its terminal third; the long hair is smooth, fine, short,
and adpressed; the tips are dark brown, then yellow, then brown,
twice repeated; occasionally a yellow band at the base; in the tail
there are generally eight bands, with the terminal dark brown; the
skull is remarkable for the narrow and elongated character of its
facial portion; the orbit is perfect in the adult. Length of skull
about 1-5/12 inches; width at the zygoma, 1-1/4.
SIZE.--Head and body, 12 to 13 inches; tail, 9 to 10 inches.
This and _H. persicus_ are the smallest of the genus; it is included
in Gray's genus _Calogale_, and he gives the specific name followed
by Jerdon, _Nipalensis_, which is geographically misleading. I have
therefore followed Dr. Anderson in retaining the more appropriate
title. _H. persicus_ is closely allied, but the nasal portion of the
palate is narrower.
NO. 240. HERPESTES FUSCUS.
_The Nilgherry Brown Mungoose_ (_Jerdon's No. 132_).
HABITAT.--Madras Presidency, Neilgherries.
DESCRIPTION.--General colour, brown; hair ringed black and yellow,
tawny at the base; throat dusky yellowish.--_Jerdon_.
SIZE.--Head and body, 18 inches; tail, with hair, 17 inches.
NO. 241. HERPESTES (ONYCHOGALE _of Gray_) MACCARTHIAE.
HABITAT.--Ceylon.
DESCRIPTION.--Reddish-brown; elongate, flaccid, pale brown, with a
broad thick sub-terminal band and a long whitish-brown tip; fur of
hands and face shorter; feet blackish brown; hair white-tipped; tail
redder; hair elongate, one coloured red; ears rounded,
hairy.--_Gray_.
NO. 242. HERPESTES FERRUGINEUS.
HABITAT.--Sind.
DESCRIPTION.--Resembles rufous specimens of _H. pallidus_, but the
skull shows differences in the greater breadth of the post-orbital
contraction of the frontals, and a shorter, broader muzzle, more
particularly with posterior or nasal part of the palate.
* * * * *
The next species, which is included in Gray's genus _Taeniogale_,
has the bony orbit always perfect, and the molars are 6--6/7--7.
NO. 243. HERPESTES VITTICOLLIS.
_The Stripe-necked Mungoose_ (_Jerdon's No. 133_).
NATIVE NAME.--_Loco-moogatea_, Singhalese.
HABITAT.--Southern India, Ceylon, Burmah?
DESCRIPTION.--Grizzled grey, more or less ferruginous, especially
on the rump and tail; a dark stripe from the ear to the shoulder;
tail rufous black at the tip; skull characteristics: large, with
flattened and expanded frontal region, projected narrow muzzle and
powerful teeth, larger than other Asiatic _Herpestes_, the last
molar being proportionately greater.
SIZE.--Head and body 21 inches; tail 15 inches.
I have put Burmah in the list of places where this mungoose is found,
having lately been shown by Mr. Davison the skin of a stripe-necked
mungoose obtained by him in Burmah, which seemed to be of this
species.
* * * * *
The next has been formed into a separate genus, _Urva_; the teeth
are blunter than in _Herpestes_.
NO. 244. URVA CANCRIVORA.
_The Crab-eating Mungoose_ (_Jerdon's No. 134_).
HABITAT.--South-east Himalayas, Assam, and Burmah.
[Illustration: _Urva cancrivora_.]
DESCRIPTION.--"General colour fulvous iron-grey, inner fur woolly,
outer of long straggling lax hairs, generally ringed with black,
white, and fulvous; in some the coat has a variegated aspect; in
others a uniform tawny tint prevails, and in a few dark rusty brown
mixed with grey is the prevalent hue; abdomen brown; limbs
blackish-brown; a white stripe on either side of the neck from the
ear to the shoulder; tail rufous or brown, with the terminal half
rufous" (_Jerdon_). Gray's account is: "black grizzled hairs with
a very broad white sub-terminal ring; a white streak on the side of
the neck; legs and feet black; tail ashy red at the end."
SIZE.--Head and body, 18 inches; tail, 11 inches.
Somewhat aquatic in its habits, living on frogs and crabs. It has
two anal glands, from which it can squirt a foetid secretion. It is
the only mungoose mentioned in Blyth's 'Catalogue of the Mammals of
Burmah,' but there are at least two more, and probably some of the
Malayan species are yet to be found in Tenasserim.
CYNOIDEA.
This is the next and last section in the order I have adopted, of
the land Carnivora, and contains the typical family _Canis_. All the
animals that we shall have to deal with might and would be by some
authors brought into this one genus, the only others recognised by
them being the two African genera, _Megalotis_ and _Lycaon_, the
long-eared fox and the hyaena-dog, and the _Nyctereutes_ or
racoon-dog of Northern China and Amoorland. But although all our
Indian species might be treated of under the one genus _Canis_, it
will be better to keep to the separation adopted by Jerdon, and
classify the wolves and jackals under _Canis_, and the foxes under
_Vulpes_. As regards the wild dog of India, its dentition might
warrant its being placed in a separate genus, but after all the name
chosen for it is but merely a difference in sound, the two being the
same thing in Latin and Greek.
But although this group contains the smallest number of forms, the
varieties of the domestic dog are endless, and no part of the world
is without a species of the genus, except certain islands, such as
the West Indies, Madagascar, the Polynesian isles, New Zealand and
the Malayan archipelago; in these territories there is no indigenous
dog. I speak of dogs in its broad sense of _Canis_, including wolves
and foxes.
The proper position of the _Cynoidea_ should be between the bears
and the cats, as in their dentition they approximate to the former,
and in their digitigrade character to the latter; but, with a view
to make this work concurrent with that of Jerdon's, I have accepted
the position assigned by him, though it be a little out of place.
The general form of the skeleton of a dog resembles that of a feline,
though the limbs may be to a certain extent longer; they also walk
on the tips of their toes, but their claws are not retractile,
although the ligament by which the process of retraction in the cat
is effected is present in a rudimentary form, but is permanently
overpowered by the greater flexor muscles. A dog's paw is therefore
by no means such a wonderful piece of mechanism and example of power
as that of the cat, but is feeble in comparison, and is never used
as a weapon of offence, as in the case of felines, the prey being
always seized by the teeth.
The skull partakes of the characteristics of both cat and bear. It
departs from the simple cutting dentition of the former by the
addition of two tuberculated molars in each upper jaw, or one more
than the rudimentary molar in the cat, whilst the lower jaw has two
extra molars on each side; the premolars are also in excess, being
four in number on each side of the upper and lower jaws, whereas in
the feline there are three above and two below.
There is also a difference in the lower carnassial or first molar,
which impinges on the upper carnassial or fourth premolar; it has
a protuberance behind, termed the heel, which is prominently marked,
but it is in the molars in which the greatest deviation from the
specially carnivorous dentition occurs. The incisors are somewhat
larger than, but the canines and premolars approximate to, those of
the felines; the crown of the incisors is cuspidate, and the
premolars increase gradually in size, with the exception of the
fourth in the upper jaw, the carnassial, which is treble the size
of the one next to it.
But it is in the molars that we find the similarity to the
semi-herbivorous bears. The last two molars on each side of the upper
and lower jaws are true grinders, divided into four cusps, which
suits the dog to a mixed diet.
Of course the increased number of teeth (the dog has forty-two
against thirty of the cat) necessitates a prolonged muzzle, and
therefore the skull has more of the bear than the cat shape. The nasal
bones are long, the zygomatic arch smaller, but it has the ear-bulb
or _bulla tympani_, so conspicuous in the cat and wanting in the bear,
yet the character of the aperture of the ear or _auditory meatus_
approaches that of the latter, as the margins of its outer aperture
are somewhat prolonged into a short tube or spout, instead of being
flush, as in the felines. Then the bony clamp or par-occipital
process, which in the cats is fixed against the hinder end of the
bulla, is in the dogs separated by a decided groove.
The intestinal peculiarities of this section consist of a very large
caecum or blind gut, which is small in the cats and wholly absent
in the bears, and in the very long intestines. Some have a sub-caudal
gland secreting a pungent whey-like matter.
_GENUS CANIS--THE DOG_.
Muzzle obtuse; tail short; no caudal gland.
Dental formula: inc., 6/6; can., 1--1/1--1; premolar, 4--4/4--4;
molar, 2--2/3--3.
[Illustration: Dentition of Wolf.]
This genus contains the wolf and the jackal, as well as the dog
proper.
The origin of the domestic dog (_Canis familiaris_) is involved in
obscurity; it is mentioned in its domestic state and in an infinity
of varieties in records of remote ages. Job talks of "the dogs of
my flock," and in the Assyrian monuments, as far back as 3400 years
before Christ, various forms are represented; and in Egypt not only
representations of known varieties, easy to be recognised, are found,
but numerous mummies have been exhumed, the animal having been held
in special veneration. There is a preponderance of opinion strongly
in favour of the theory that the domestic dog sprang from the wolf,
and much argument has been advanced in support of this idea. The
principal objection made to this by those who hold opposite views
is the fact that no dog in a wild state barks, but only howls.
Now for the evidence adduced in support of the former assertion; some
domesticated species of dog closely resembling the wild wolf.
Sir John Richardson says of the Eskimo dog that it is not only
extremely like the North American wolf (_Canis lupus_), both in form,
colour, and nearly in size, but that the howl of both animals "is
prolonged so exactly in the same key that even the practised ear of
an Indian fails at times to discriminate them." He adds of the dog
of the Hare Indians, a distinct breed, that it is almost the same
as the prairie wolf (_Canis latrans_), the skull of the dog appeared
to him a little smaller, otherwise he could detect no difference in
form, nor fineness of fur, nor the arrangement of spots of colour.
Professor Kitchen Parker writes: "Another observer remarks that,
except in the matter of barking, there is no difference whatever
between the black wolf-dog of the Indians of Florida and the wolves
of the same country. The dogs also breed readily with the wild animals
they so closely resemble. The Indians often cross their dogs with
wolves to improve the breed, and in South America the same process
is resorted to between the domesticated and the wild dogs." He then
goes on to allude to many varieties of dogs closely resembling
wolves--the shepherd dog of Hungary, which is so like that a
Hungarian has been known to mistake a wolf for one of his own dogs.
Some Indian pariahs, and some dogs of Egypt, both now and in the
condition of mummies, closely resemble the wolf of their country.
The domestic dogs of Nubia and certain mummified forms are closely
related to jackals. The Bosjesman's dog is very like the black-backed
jackal (_Canis mesomelas_). Domestic dogs which have run wild do in
some measure, though not entirely, revert to the wolf type. The dingo
of Australia is thought to be derived from some imported variety of
dog. The wolf is easily tamed, and even in its wild state has some
of the peculiarities of the dog; for instance, a young wolf, when
surprised and threatened by the hunter, will crouch and fawn like
a spaniel. Mr. Bell tells of a she-wolf in the Regent's Park
Zoological Gardens which would bring her cubs to the bars of the cage,
that they might be caressed by the visitors; and there is a most
interesting account, too long for insertion here, in the third volume
of the old _India Sporting Review_ (new series) chiefly taken from
Major Lloyd's 'Scandinavian Adventures,' of the tameability of
wolves, giving an instance of two cubs out of a litter of three
becoming as faithfully attached as any dog. The period of gestation
(sixty-three days) is the same in both animals, and they will
interbreed freely, the progeny being also fertile. There only now
remains the question of the bark, which, singularly enough, is
peculiar to the domesticated dog only, and may have arisen in
imitation of the gruffer tones of the human voice. The domestic dog
run wild will in a few generations lose the power of barking. This
happened on the island of Juan Fernandez; the dogs left there quite
lost their bark in thirty-three years, and it is said that a few
caught and removed after that period reacquired it very slowly. We
may then, I think, accept Darwin's opinion that "it is highly
probable that the domestic dogs of the world have descended from two
good species of wolf (_C. lupus_ and _C. latrans_), and from two or
three other doubtful species of wolves (namely, the European, Indian,
and North African forms), from at least one or two South American
canine species, and from several races or species of the jackal."
NO. 245. CANIS PALLIPES.
_The Indian Wolf_ (_Jerdon's No. 135_).
NATIVE NAMES.--_Bheria_, _Bhera_, North and Central India;
_Landagh_, South India; _Nekra_, in some parts; _Bighana_, _Hunder_,
or _Hurar_, in Bundelkund; _Tola_, Canarese; _Toralu_, Telegu.
HABITAT.--Throughout the whole of India, though Hodgson says he has
not found it in the Himalayas, nor can I find any notice of it in
Burmah, and it is likewise absent in Ceylon.
[Illustration: _Canis pallipes_.]
DESCRIPTION.--"Hoary fulvous or dirty reddish-white, some of the
hairs tipped with black, which gives it a grizzled appearance;
somewhat reddish on the face and limbs, the latter paler than the
body; lower parts dingy white; tail thinly bushy, slightly
black-tipped; ears rather small" (_Jerdon_). But, as a matter of fact,
wolves vary greatly in colour. Every one who has seen much of them
will bear testimony to this. Sir Walter Elliot says: "Several adults
that I shot differed in their colours and general character." The
late Brigadier-General McMaster, in his notes on Jerdon, wrote:
"Wolves vary a good deal in colour and length of hair, probably with
season and climate. I have seen some of light reddish-grey, and
others much darker than any jackal;" and he speaks of another "nearly
as red as an Irish setter."
SIZE.--Head and body, about 3 feet; tail, 16 to 18 inches; height
at shoulder, 26 inches.
The Indian wolf is somewhat inferior in size to the European one,
and is probably less ferocious, or at all events its ferocity is not
called out by the severity of the climate, as in the case of _C. lupus_.
We never hear of them attacking bodies of men and overwhelming them
by numbers. In 1812 twenty-four French soldiers were surrounded by
an immense troop of wolves; and though, it is said, the men killed
two or three hundred of their assailants, they had to succumb at last
to numbers, and were all devoured. This was doubtless an extreme case,
but in the severe winters of the north, when these animals band
together and roam abroad in search of food, they will attack anything
that comes in their way, although a single wolf will hardly ever dare
to meddle with a man.
In India one seldom hears of their attacking grown-up men. I remember
an instance in which an old woman was a victim; but hundreds of
children are carried off annually, especially in Central India and
the North-west provinces.
Stories have been related of wolves sparing and suckling young
infants so carried off, which, if properly authenticated, will bring
the history of Romulus and Remus within the bounds of probability.
I have not by me just now the details of the case of the "Boy-Wolf"
of Lucknow, which was, I believe, a case vouched for by credible
witnesses. It was that of a boy found in a wolf's lair, who had no
power of speech, crawled about on his hands and knees, ate raw flesh,
and who showed great wildness in captivity. I think he died soon after
being caught. The story of the nursing is not improbable, for
well-known instances have been recorded of the _ferae_, when
deprived of their young, adopting young animals, even of those on
whom they usually prey. Cats have been known to suckle young leverets.
The wolf in its wild state is particularly partial to dog as an
article of diet, yet in confinement it will attach itself to its
domesticated canine companions, and interbreed with them. A writer
in the _India Sporting Review_, vol. vi. of 1847, page 252, quoted
by McMaster, says he received from Dr. Jameson, Superintendent of
the Botanical Gardens at Saharunpore, a hybrid, the produce of a tame
female wolf and a pointer dog. This hybrid died when twenty months
old, and is said to have been mild and gentle; its howl seems to have
had more of the bark in it than the cry of the hybrid jackal, and
to have been more dog-like. "It exactly resembled the coarse black
pariah to be seen about Loodhiana and Ferozepore," the black colour
doubtless coming from the pointer sire. As General McMaster remarks,
it would be interesting to know what the colours of the rest of the
litter were. Wolves do, I think, get light-coloured with great age.
I remember once having one brought into my camp for the usual reward
by a couple of small boys, the elder not more than ten or twelve years
of age, I should think. The beast was old and emaciated, and very
light coloured, and, doubtless impelled by hunger, attacked the
children, as they were herding cattle, with a view to dining off them;
but the elder boy had a small axe, such as is commonly carried by
the Gonds, and, manfully standing his ground, split the wolf's skull
with a blow--a feat of which he was justly proud.
Sir Walter Elliot's description of the manner in which wolves hunt
has been quoted by Jerdon and others, but, as it is interesting, I
reproduce it here:--
"The wolves of the southern Mahratta country generally hunt in packs,
and I have seen them in full chase after the goat antelope _Gazella
Arabica_ (_Bennettii_ ?). They likewise steal round the herd of
_Antilope cervicapra_ and conceal themselves on different sides till
an opportunity offers of seizing one of them unawares as they
approach, while grazing, to one or other of their hidden assailants.
On one occasion three wolves were seen to chase a herd of gazelle
across a ravine in which two others were lying in wait. They succeeded
in seizing a female gazelle, which was taken from them. They have
frequently been seen to course, and run down hares and foxes; and
it is a common belief of the ryots that in the open plains, where
there is no cover or concealment, they scrape a hole in the earth,
in which one of the pack lies down and remains hid, while the others
drive the herd of antelope over him. Their chief prey, however, is
sheep; and the shepherds say that part of the pack attack, and keep
the dogs in play, while others carry off their prey, and that, if
pursued, they follow the same plan, part turning and checking the
dogs, while the rest drag away the carcase, till they evade pursuit.
Instances are not uncommon of their attacking man. In 1824 upwards
of thirty children were devoured by wolves in one pergunnah alone.
Sometimes a large wolf is seen to seek his prey singly; these are
called _Won-tola_, and are reckoned particularly fierce."
McMaster corroborates the account of wolves hiding themselves by
scratching holes in the ground whilst antelope were quietly walking
up to the ambush; and there is a most amusing account given by Major
Lloyd, in his 'Scandinavian Adventures,' of the wiles of a tame wolf
in her efforts to get young pigs within her reach. He says: "When
she saw a pig in the vicinity of her kennel, she evidently, with the
purpose of putting him off his guard, would throw herself on her side
or back, wag her tail most lovingly, and look innocence personified;
and this amicable demeanour would continue until the grunter was
beguiled within reach of her tether, when, in the twinkling of an
eye, 'Richard was himself again!'" Major Lloyd asserts that but for
this _penchant_ for his neighbours' pigs he would have trained this
wolf as a pointer.
Jerdon states that he has known wolves turn on dogs that were running
at their heels, and pursue them smartly till close up to his horse.
He adds: "A wolf once joined with my greyhounds in pursuit of a fox,
which was luckily killed almost immediately afterwards, or the wolf
might have seized one of the dogs instead of the fox. He sat down
on his haunches, about sixty yards off, whilst the dogs were worrying
the fox, looking on with great apparent interest, and was with
difficulty driven away."
NO. 246. CANIS LANIGER (LUPUS CHANCO _of Gray_).
_The Thibetan Wolf_.
NATIVE NAMES.--_Chanko_, _Changu_.
HABITAT.--Thibet.
DESCRIPTION.--Yellowish-grey, with long soft hairs (_Kinloch_).
Long sharp face, elevated brows, broad head, large pointed ears,
thick woolly pelage, and very full brush of medial length; above dull
earth-brown; below, with the entire face and limbs, yellowish-white;
no marks on limbs; tail concolourous with the body, that is brown
above and yellowish below, and no dark tip (_Hodgson_).
SIZE.--Length, 4 feet; tail, 20 inches; height, 30 inches.
Hodgson says this animal is common all over Thibet, and is a terrible
depredator among the flocks, or, as Kinloch writes: "apparently
preferring the slaughter of tame animals to the harder task of
circumventing wild ones." The great Bhotea mastiff is chiefly
employed to guard against it. According to Hodgson the chanko has
a long, sharp face, with the muzzle or nude space round the nostrils
produced considerably beyond the teeth, and furnished with an
unusually large lateral process, by which the nostrils are much
overshadowed sideways and nearly closed. The eye is small and placed
nearer to the ear than to the nose; the brows are considerably
elevated by the large size of the frontal sinuses; the ears are large
and gradually tapered to a point from their broad bases, and they
have the ordinary fissure towards their posteal base; the head is
broad; the teeth large and strong; the body long and lank, the limbs
elevated and very powerful; the brush extends to half-way between
the mid-flexure (_os calcis_) of the hind limbs and their pads, and
is as full as that of a fox.
The fur or pelage is remarkable for its extreme woolliness, the hairy
piles being few and sparely scattered amongst the woolliness, which
is most abundant; the head as far as the ears, the ears, and the limbs
are clad in close ordinary hair; the belly is thinly covered with
longer hairs; but all the rest of the animal is clothed in a thick
sheep-like coat, which is most abundant on the neck above and below.
Gray ('P. Z. S.,' 1863, p. 94) says: "The skull is very much like,
and has the same teeth as the European wolf (_C. lupus_)," but in
this I think he is mistaken, as the upper carnassial in _C. lupus_
is much larger than in any of the Asiatic wolves, and in this
particular _C. laniger_ is affined to _C. pallipes_. There is a black
variety of the chanko, as there is of the European wolf, and by some
he is considered a distinct species, but is really a melanoid variety,
though Kinloch writes: "The black chanko is rather larger than the
grey one; he is of a beautiful glossy black, with a small white star
on the chest and a few grey hairs about the muzzle." He was fortunate
enough to secure two cubs of this variety. "They fed ravenously on
raw meat, and before long became pretty tame." After accompanying
him for two months he left them at the hill station of Kussowlie,
fearing that the heat at Meerut might prove too great for them; at
the end of 2-1/2 months they were sent down. "By this time they had
immensely increased in size, but, although they had not seen me for
so long, they recognised me, and also my greyhound, of which they
had previously been very fond. They soon became much attached to me,
and would fawn on me like dogs, licking my face and hands; they were
always, however, ready to growl and snap at a stranger. I took them
to Agra at the time of the great Durbar there, and used to let them
loose in camp with my dogs, so tame had they become."
He eventually presented them to the Zoological Gardens in Regent's
Park, and their portraits appeared in the _Illustrated London News_
of November 21st, 1868. Whether the skins purchased at Kashgar by
the Yarkand Mission were of _C. laniger_ or _lupus_ is doubtful, as
no skulls were procured. In some particulars they seem to agree with
the chanko in being rather larger (i.e., larger than _pallipes_);
the hair long, and the under fur ash-grey and _woolly_, but the black
line down the forelegs is like _C. lupus_. It is not stated whether
the tail was dark-tipped or not, the absence of this dark tip, common
to most other wolves, is a point noticed by Hodgson in speaking of
_C. laniger_. Mr. Blanford describes another skin which was
purchased at Kashgar, and which he supposes may belong to a new
species, but there was no skull with it--it is that of a smaller
canine, midway between a wolf and a jackal, the prevailing tint being
black, mixed with pale rufous, and white along the back and upper
surface of the tail; pale rufous on the flanks, limbs, anterior
portion of the abdomen and under the tail; a distinct black line down
the front of each foreleg; upper part of head rufous, mixed with
whitish and black, the forehead being greyer, owing to the white tips
to the hairs; the tip of the tail is quite black, and the tail itself
is short, as in the jackal, but more bushy, the feet larger than the
common jackal--a short, bushy tail agrees with _Cuon_, so also does
the large foot.
NO. 247. CANIS LUPUS.
_The European Wolf_.
HABITAT.--All over Europe and Northern Asia, in Turkestan and
Yarkand(?)
DESCRIPTION.--Fur long and coarse, dark yellowish-grey, sometimes
almost black, but there is a good deal of variation in both colour
and texture of the hair according to the country, whether cold or
warm, from which the animal comes; a dark streak on the forelegs;
the carnassial tooth is however the chief point of distinction
between this and the Indian and Thibetan species; it is very much
larger in the European animal, approximating to, and sometimes
exceeding in size, the two molars together, which is not the case
with the others. Mr. Blanford, in his report on the Mammalia of
Yarkand published by Government in the 'Scientific Results of the
Second Yarkand Mission,' quotes from Professor Jeitteles, of Vienna,
the opinion that none of the larger domestic dogs could have
descended from the European wolf, because of the relative
proportions of their teeth, but that all must have been derived from
the Indian wolf or from allied forms.
SIZE.--Head and body, 3-1/2 to 4 feet; tail, 20 inches; height, about
30 to 32 inches.
Mr. Blanford supposes, and with some degree of reason, that the flat
skins purchased at Kashgar were those of this species; but
unfortunately the absence of the skulls must for the present leave
this in doubt, as variations in colour and texture of fur are frequent
and dependent on climatic conditions.
NO. 248. CANIS AUREUS.
_The Jackal_ (_Jerdon's No. 136_).
NATIVE NAMES.--_Srigala_, Sanscrit; _Geedhur_, Hindi; _Shial_,
_Sial_, _Siar_ and _Shialu_, Bengali; _Kola_, Mahrathi; _Nari_,
Canarese; _Nakka_, Telegu; _Nerka_, Gondi; _Shingal_ or _Sjekal_,
Persia; _Amu_, Bhotia; _Myae-khawae_, Burmese; _Nareeah_,
Singhalese.
HABITAT.--Throughout India, Burmah, and Ceylon; it is found over a
great part of Asia, Southern Europe, and Northern Africa.
DESCRIPTION.--"Fur dusky yellowish or rufous grey, the hairs being
mottled black, grey, and brown, with the under fur brownish yellow;
lower parts yellowish-grey; the tail reddish-brown, ending in a
darkish tuft; more or less rufous on the muzzle and limbs; tail
moderately hairy."--_Jerdon_.
SIZE.--Head and body, 28 to 30 inches; tail, 10 or 11 inches; height,
16 to 18 inches.
The jackal is one of our best-known animals, both as a prowler and
scavenger, in which capacity he is useful, and as a disturber of our
midnight rest by his diabolical yells, in which peculiarity he is
to be looked upon as an unmitigated nuisance.
He is mischievous too occasionally, and will commit havoc amongst
poultry and young kids and lambs, but, as a general rule, he is a
harmless, timid creature, and when animal food fails he will take
readily to vegetables. Indian corn seems to be one of the things
chiefly affected by him; the fruit of the wild behr-tree (_Zizyphus
jujuba_) is another, as I have personally witnessed. In Ceylon he
is said to devour large quantities of ripe coffee-berries, the seeds,
which pass through entire, are carefully gathered by the coolies,
who get an extra fee for the labour, and are found to be the best
for germination, as the animal picks the finest fruit. According to
Sykes he devastates the vineyards in the west of India, and is said
to be partial to sugar-cane. The jackal is credited with digging
corpses out of the shallow graves, and devouring bodies. I once came
across the body of a child in the vicinity of a jungle village which
had been unearthed by one. At Seonee we had, at one time, a plague
of mad jackals, which did much damage. Sir Emerson Tennent writes
of a curious horn or excrescence which grows on the head of the jackal
occasionally, which is regarded by the Singhalese as a potent charm,
by the instrumentality of which every wish can be realised, and
stolen property will return of its own accord! This horn, which is
called _Nari-comboo_, is said to grow only on the head of the leader
of the pack.
The domestic dog is supposed to owe its origin to this species, as
well as to the wolf, but all conjecture on this point can be but pure
speculation. Certain it is that the pariahs about villages are
strikingly like jackals, at least in many cases, and they will freely
interbreed.
The writer in the _India Sporting Review_ alluded to by me in writing
of the wolf, mentions some experiments made in crossing dogs with
jackals. "First cross, hybrid between a female jackal and Scotch
terrier dog, or half jackal and half dog; second cross, between the
hybrid jackal and terrier, or quarter jackal and three-quarters dog;
third cross between the quarter jackal and terrier, or seven-eighths
dog and one-eighth jackal. Of the five pups comprising the litter,
of which the last was one, two were fawn-coloured and very like
pariahs, while three had the precise livery of the jackal; noses
sharp and pointed; ears large and erect; head and muzzle like the
jackal. This cross, he remarks, appears to have gone back a
generation, and to have resembled the jackal much more than their
mother, whose appearance, with the exception of the very sharp muzzle,
although she had so much jackal blood, was that of a sleek, well-fed
pariah dog, colour yellow fawn, but her gait and gallop were
precisely that of the jackal."--_McMaster_.
_GENUS CUON_.
Dentition as in restricted _Canis_, but wanting the second grinder
behind the flesh-tooth in the lower jaw; the nose is short; skull
arched; the forehead broad, convex, and gradually shelving from the
nose line; nasals long, produced behind the hinder upper edge of the
maxillaries.
NO. 249. CANIS (CUON) RUTILANS.
_The Indian Wild Dog_ (_Jerdon's No. 137_).
NATIVE NAMES.--_Jungli-kutta_; _Son-kutta_; _Ban-kutta_,
_Ram-kutta_, Hindi; _Kolsun_, _Kolusna_, _Kolsa_ and _Kolasra_,
Mahrathi; _Reza-kutta_, _Adavi-kutta_, Telegu; _Shen-nai_,
Malabarese; _Eram-naiko_, Gondi; _Sakki-sarai_, at Hyderabad;
_Ram-hun_ in Kashmir; _Siddaki_, Thibetan, in Ladakh; _Suhu-tum_,
Lepcha; _Paoho_, Bhotea; _Bhaosa_, _Bhoonsa_, _Buansu_ in the
Himalayas, generally from Simla to Nepal (_Jerdon_); _Tao-khwae_,
Burmese; _Assoo-adjakh_, _Assoo-kikkee_, Javanese; _Oesoeng-esang_,
Sundese; _An-jing Utan_, Malay; _Hazzee_, Thibetan.
HABITAT.--The whole of India and down the Burmese country to the
Malayan archipelago, but not in Ceylon, although Jerdon asserts that
it is common there. I however cannot find any authority for this,
and both Kellaart and Sir Emerson Tennent affirm that there are no
wild dogs in Ceylon.
[Illustration: _Cuon rutilans_.]
DESCRIPTION.--General colour bright rusty or red, somewhat paler
beneath; ears large and erect, round at the tips; large, hairy-soled
feet; very bushy, straight tail, reaching half-way from the hough
to the sole, with a dark tip. It stands lower in front than behind;
and, though somewhat resembling a jackal, has an unmistakable canine
physiognomy; the eye is fuller and better placed, and forehead
broader, and the muzzle less pointed.
SIZE.--Head and body, 32 to 36 inches; tail, 16 inches; height 17
to 20 inches.
It has been supposed that there were two or three species of wild
dog to be found within the limits of British India, but it is now,
I think, conclusively settled that the Malayan and Indian species
are one, and that those from Darjeeling and other hills, which showed
variation, are the same, with slight differences caused by climate.
They are certainly not canine in disposition; the wolf and jackal
are much more so, for in confinement they are as ill-conditioned
brutes as it is possible to conceive. Those in the Regent's Park
Gardens are active, snappy, snarly, wild-looking creatures. Hodgson
writes of them: "Those I kept in confinement, when their den was
approached, rushed into the remotest corner of it; huddled one upon
another, with their heads concealed as much as possible. I never
dared to lay hands on them, but if poked with a stick they would
retreat from it as long as they could, and then crush themselves into
a corner, growling low, and sometimes, but rarely, seizing the stick
and biting it with vehemence. After ten months' confinement they were
as wild and shy as the first hour I got them. Their eyes emitted a
strong light in the dark, and their bodies had the peculiar foetid
odour of the fox and jackal in all its rankness." McMaster sent one
to the People's Park, at Madras, which he obtained in Burmah, and
says of her: "'Evangeline,' as she is named, is certainly though an
interesting and rare creature to have in a museum or wild-beast show,
the most snarling, ill-mannered, and detestable beast I have ever
owned." "Hawkeye," whose most interesting paper on the wild dog
appeared in the _South of India Observer_, of January 7th, 1869,
alludes to "Evangeline" in the following terms:--"I saw the beast
at the People's Park, and a more untameable wretch I never met with;
and why so fair a name for such a savage de'il, I know not." It is
strange that the most dog-like of the wild canines should refuse
domestication when even the savage European wolf has become so
attached as to pine during the absence of his master. Jesse, in his
'History of the British Dog,' relates that a lady near Geneva had
a tame wolf, which was so attached that when, on one occasion, she
left home for a while he refused food and pined. On her return, when
he heard her voice, he flew to meet her in an ecstasy of delight;
springing up, he placed a paw on each of her shoulders, and the next
moment fell backwards and expired. The wild dog, however, refuses
all endearments, and keeps his savage nature to the last. I have never
heard of their attacking men, but few four-footed beasts, even of
large size, escape them. Fortunately they are not as common as
jackals, otherwise little game would be left in the country. During
my residence in the Seonee district from 1857 to 1864, I only came
across them two or three times. Their mode of hunting has been
described by various writers--Hodgson, Elliot, Jerdon, and others
of less reliability--but one of the best descriptions, which I regret
I have not space for _in extenso_, is that to which I have already
alluded as written by "Hawkeye," and which may be found in the paper
above mentioned, and also in McMaster's notes on Jerdon; but I give
a few extracts:--
"Generally speaking, however, the wild dog has not been known to be
the aggressor against mankind; and, though not displaying much dread
of man, has hitherto refrained from actual attack, for I have never
heard of any case proving it otherwise; at the same time it is well
known and an established fact that the tiger and leopard are often
driven away by these dogs. It is uncertain whether they really attack
with intent to kill either the one or the other, but that they have
been repeatedly seen following both there is no question. The wild
dog in appearance bears much similitude to the English fox; he is
however larger, and stands some inches higher, and has no white tip
to his tail, which, with his muzzle, is perfectly black. The muscular
development all over the body is extraordinary. One that I shot, when
skinned, was a most perfect specimen of thews and sinews I ever
beheld." He describes various hunts by packs of these dogs, in one
of which, witnessed by a brother sportsman, the dogs, five in number,
in pressing a Sambar stag, spread themselves out like a fan, which
he considers a matter of instinct, so that in case of a flank movement
the outer dogs would have a chance; in this case however the stag
kept straight on, and, the ground being precipitous, he managed to
escape. The evidence produced tends to confirm the opinion that the
wild dog endeavours to seize the quarry by the flanks and tear out
the entrails. According to Hodgson the _buansu_, as it is called in
Nepal, runs in a long, lobbing canter, unapt at the double, and
considers it inferior in speed to the jackal and fox. It hunts chiefly
by day. Six or eight, or more, unite to hunt down their victim,
maintaining the chase more by power of smell than by the eye, and
usually overcome by force and perseverance, though occasionally
mixing stratagem with direct violence. He asserts that in hunting
they bark like hounds, but their barking is in such a voice as no
language can express. "Hawkeye," however, states that the wild dog
does not throw his tongue when in chase; he has heard them make a
kind of tremulous whimper.
The stories of their attacking and killing tigers must be received
with caution, though it is certain they will harass both tigers and
leopards. I wrote some time back, in 'Seonee': "The natives in all
parts of India declare that even tigers are attacked by them; and
we once heard a very circumstantial account given of a fight, which
took place near the station of Seonee, between a tiger and a pack
of these dogs, in which the latter were victors. They followed him
about cautiously, avoiding too close a contact, and worried him for
three successive days--a statement which should be received with
caution. We have, however, heard of them annoying a tiger to such
an extent as to make him surrender to them the prey which he had killed
for himself."
I agree with Jerdon in disbelieving the native superstition that the
wild dog sheds a pungent secretion on his tail, and whisks it in the
eyes of the animals it attacks, or covers the leaves of the bushes
through which the victim graze, and then takes advantage of the
temporary blindness thus caused; but it is a curious fact that the
idea is prevalent in all parts of India, north and south, and has
been accepted by many writers on Indian sports.
The wild dog dwells and breeds in holes and caves in rocks. The
breeding season is from January to March, and about six whelps are
born at a time. The mammae are more numerous than in any other
canine--from twelve to fourteen. Jerdon notices that Mr. Wilson at
Simla discovered a breeding-place in holes under some rocks, where
evidently several females were breeding together. At such times they
endeavour to hunt their game towards their den, and kill it as near
to it as possible.
_GENUS VULPES_.
The foxes form a distinct group of the Canidae; their bodies are long,
with short legs, the muzzle more lengthened in comparison and much
sharper, and the pupil of the eye contracts vertically instead of
circularly; the tail is very bushy, with a gland at the base secreting
a strong odorous substance. The female has six mammae. There are two
types in India--the desert fox or fox of the plains, _Cynalopex_ of
Hamilton Smith; and the hill fox, which approximates to the European
species. The former has longer ears and longer and more slender
limbs.
NO. 250. VULPES BENGALENSIS.
_The Indian Fox_ (_Jerdon's No. 138_).
NATIVE NAMES.--_Lomri_, _Lokri_, _Lokeria_, Hindi; _Kokri_,
Mahrathi; _Khekar_ and _Khikir_ in Behar; _Khek-sial_, Bengali;
_Konk_, _Kemp-nari_, _Chanaak-nari_, Canarese; _Konka-nakka_ or
_Gunta-nakka_, _Poti-nara_, Telegu.--_Jerdon_.
HABITAT.--Throughout India; probably Ceylon, as Kellaart mentions
having heard of a fox there, but I cannot trace it, or any other,
in Burmah.
DESCRIPTION.--"Reddish-grey; rufous on the legs and muzzle; reddish
white beneath; ears long dark brown externally; tail long bushy, with
a broad black tip; muzzle very acute; chin and throat
whitish."--_Jerdon_.
Here is Colonel Sykes's description of it in Southern India:--
"It is a very pretty animal, but smaller than the European fox; head
short; muzzle very sharp; eyes oblique; irides nut-brown; legs very
slender; tail trailing on the ground, very bushy; along the back and
on the forehead fawn colour, with hair having a white ring to its
tip; back, neck, between the eyes, along the sides, and half way down
the tail reddish-grey; each hair banded black and reddish-white; all
the legs reddish outside, reddish-white inside; chin and throat
dirty white; along the belly reddish-white; ears externally dark
brown, and with the fur so short as to be scarcely discoverable; edges
of eyelids black; muzzle red brown."
The colour however varies a good deal, according to season and
locality. It becomes more grey in the cold season. McMaster writes
that he once killed one silvery grey, almost white.
SIZE.--Head and body, 20 to 21 inches; tail, 12 to 14 inches; weight,
5-1/2 lbs.
This fox is common, not only in open country, but even in cantonments
and suburbs of cities. Hardly a night passes without its familiar
little chattering bark in the Dalhousie Square gardens, or on the
Maidan, being heard; and few passengers running up and down our
railway lines, who are on the look-out for birds and animals as the
train whirls along, fail to see in the early morning our little grey
friend sneaking home with his brush trailing behind him.
Jerdon says of the manner in which he carries this that he trails
it when going slowly or hunting for food; holds it out horizontal
when running; and raises it almost erect when making a sudden turn.
It also, like the jackal; will eat fruit, such as melons, ber, &c.,
and herbs. It breeds in the spring, from February to April, and has
four cubs. Jerdon says the cubs are seldom to be seen outside their
earth till nearly full grown. It is much coursed with greyhounds,
and gives most amusing sport, doubling constantly till it gets near
an earth; but it has little or no smell, so its scent does not lie.
Sir Walter Elliot wrote of it in the Madras _Journal of Literature
and Science_ (vol. x. p. 102): "Its principal food is rats,
land-crabs, grasshoppers, beetles, &c. On one occasion a
half-devoured mango was found in the stomach. It always burrows in
open plains, runs with great speed, doubling like a hare; but instead
of stretching out at first like that animal, and trusting to its turns
as a last resource, the fox turns more at first; and, if it can fatigue
the dogs, it then goes straight away."
It is easily tamed if taken young, and is very playful, but Jerdon,
in repeating the assertion that tame foxes sooner or later go mad,
says he has known one or two instances where they have done so; but
McMaster throws doubt on this, and puts the supposed madness down
to excitement at the amorous season. He gives an interesting account
of a pair kept by a friend, which lived on amicable terms with his
greyhounds. The owner writes: "I sometimes took them on to the parade
ground, and slipped a couple of greyhounds after them. They never
ran far, as when tired they lay down on their backs, and were at once
recognised by the dogs. On one occasion one fox was tired before the
other, and after he had made friends with the dogs he joined them
in the chase after the other."
NO. 251. VULPES LEUCOPUS.
_The Desert Fox_ (_Jerdon's No. 139_).
HABITAT.--Northern India, and also on the Western Coast about Cutch.
DESCRIPTION.--"Light fulvous on the face, middle of back and upper
part of tail; cheeks, sides of neck and body, inner side, and most
of the fore parts of the limbs, white; shoulder and haunch, and
outside of the limbs nearly to the middle joint, mixed black and
white; tail darker at the base above, largely tipped with white;
lower parts nigrescent; ears black posteriorly; fur soft and fine
as in _V. montanus_, altogether dissimilar from that of _V.
Bengalensis_. The skull with the muzzle distinctly narrower, and the
lower jaw weaker. One I killed at Hissar had the upper parts fulvous,
the hair black-tipped; sides paler; whole lower parts from the chin,
including the inside of the arm and thigh, blackish; feet white on
the inner side anteriorly, with a blackish border on the anterior
limbs; legs fulvous externally; all feet white; tail always with a
white tip."--_Jerdon_.
SIZE.--Head and body, 20 inches; tail, 14 inches; weight, 5-1/2 lbs.
According to Mountstuart Elphinstone the backs of the foxes in
Hurriana are of the same colour as the common fox, but in one part
of the desert their legs and belly, up to a certain height, are black,
and in another white--the one seems to have been wading up to the
belly in ink, and the other in whitewash.
This fox lives chiefly on the jerboa-rat (_Gerbillus Indicus_)
common on sandy plains. Jerdon thinks it more speedy than the common
Indian fox.
NO. 252. VULPES FERRILATUS.
_The Thibetan Grey Fox_.
NATIVE NAME.--_Iger_, Thibetan.
HABITAT.--Thibet.
DESCRIPTION.--Pale fulvous, with grizzled white or iron-grey sides;
shorter ears than in the Indian fox.
* * * * *
We now come to the true foxes, with shorter legs and moderate ears.
NO. 253. VULPES MONTANUS.
_The Hill Fox_ (_Jerdon's No. 140_).
NATIVE NAMES.--_Loh_, Kashmiri; _Lomri_, Hindi, at Simla; _Wamu_,
Nepalese.
HABITAT.--Throughout the Himalayas.
DESCRIPTION.--Pale fulvous, with a dark brownish or deep chestnut
streak down the back; sides deeper fulvous; the haunches a steely
grey, mixed with yellowish hairs; tail grey and very bushy, largely
tipped with white; ears deep black on outside; cheeks and jowl
greyish-white; moustaches black; legs chestnut in front, paling off
behind.
SIZE.--Head and body, 30 inches; tail, 19 inches; weight, 14 lbs.
Not at all unlike an English fox, only more variegated. The foregoing
description is taken chiefly from a very fine specimen shot in the
garden of the house in which I stayed at Simla; but it is subject
to great variation, and is in its chief beauty in its winter dress.
Several specimens which I have seen are all more or less different
in colour. I have never seen a handsomer fox; the fur is extremely
rich, the longer hairs exceeding two inches, and the inner fur is
fine and dense. It is said to breed in April and May, the female
usually having three to four cubs.
NO. 254. VULPES PUSILLUS.
_The Punjab Fox_ (_Jerdon's No. 141_).
HABITAT.--Punjab Salt Range.
DESCRIPTION.--Similar to the last, but much smaller, being about the
size of the Indian fox. Jerdon suggests that it may be a variety of
the last species, dwarfed by a warmer climate, but Blyth and others
keep it apart.
NO. 255. VULPES FLAVESCENS.
_The Persian Fox_.
NATIVE NAMES.--_Tulke_, at Yarkand; _Wamu_, Nepalese.
HABITAT.--Eastern Turkestan, Ladakh, Persia, and, according to Gray,
Indian Salt Range; Thibet.
DESCRIPTION.--Fulvous, darker on back, very similar to _V. montanus_,
only more generally rufous and paler, with longer hair and larger
teeth; face, outer side of fore-legs and base of tail pale fulvous;
spot on side of face, chin, front of fore-legs, and a round spot on
upper part of hind foot blackish; hairs of tail tipped black; ears
externally black; tail tipped largely with white. The skull of one
mentioned by Mr. Blanford had larger auditory bullae than either the
European fox or _V. montanus_.
NO. 256. VULPES GRIFFITHII.
_The Afghanistan Fox_.
This was at first reckoned by Blyth as synonymous with the last, but
was afterwards separated and renamed. It is stated by Hutton to be
common about Candahar, where the skins are made into _reemchas_ and
_poshteens_, the price in 1845 being about six annas a skin.
MARINE CARNIVORA.
We disposed of the land Carnivora in the last article, and now, before
proceeding to the Cetacea, I will give a slight sketch of the marine
Carnivora, of which, however, no examples are to be found on the
Indian coasts. The Pinnipedia or Pinnigrada are amphibious in their
habits, living chiefly in the water, but resorting occasionally to
the land. There are some examples of the land Carnivora which do the
same--the polar bear and otter, and more especially the sea-otter,
_Enhydra lutris_, which is almost exclusively aquatic, but these are
all decidedly of the quadrupedal type, whereas in the amphibia we
see the approach to the fish form necessary for their mode of life.
The skeleton reveals the ordinary characteristics of the quadruped
with somewhat distorted limbs. The bones of the forelimbs are very
powerful and short, a broad scapula, short humerus and the ulna and
radius are stout, parallel to each other, and the latter much broader
at the base; often in old animals the two are ankylosed at the joint,
which is also the case with the tibia and fibula. The hip-bones are
narrow and much compressed, the femur remarkably short, the
shank-bones and the bones of the feet very long. In walking on land
the feet are, in the case of the _Otaria_ or eared seals placed flat
on the full sole; the common seals never use their hind limbs on the
shore. The dentition is essentially carnivorous, but varies
considerably in the different families, and even in the _Phocidae_
themselves. The stomach is simple, but the intestines are
considerably longer than in the _Felidae_, averaging about fifteen
times the length of the body; the digestion is rapid. The bones are
light and spongy, and the spine particularly flexible, from the
amount of cartilage between the bones. They have a large venous
cavity in the liver, and the lungs are capacious, the two combining
to assist them in keeping under water; the blood is dark and abundant.
The brain is large, and in quantity and amount of convolution exceeds
that of the land Carnivores. Their hearing is acute, but their sight
out of water is defective.
Their external features are an elongated pisciform body, the toes
joined by a membrane converting the feet into broad flippers or fins,
the two hind ones being so close as to act like the caudal fin of
a fish. The head is flattish and elongated, or more or less rounded,
but in comparison with the body it is small. Except in the _Otaridae_
there are no perceptible ears, and in them the ear is very small.
The fur is of two kinds, one long and coarse, but the other, or under
fur, is beautifully soft and close, and is the ordinary sealskin of
commerce. The roots of the coarse hair go deeper into the skin than
those of the under fur, so the furrier takes advantage of this by
thinning the skin down to the coarse roots, cutting them free, and
then the hairs are easily removed, leaving the soft fur attached to
the skin.
The Pinnigrada are divided into three families--the _Trichechidae_,
or walruses; the _Otaridae_, or sea-lions or eared seals; and the
_Phocidae_, or ordinary seals.
As none of these animals have been as yet observed in the Indian seas,
being chiefly denizens of cold zones, I will not attempt any further
description of species, having merely alluded to them _en passant_
as forming an important link in the chain of animal creation.
We must now pass on to the next order, a still more aquatic one.
ORDER CETACEA--THE WHALES.
These curious creatures have nothing of the fish about them, save
the form, and frequently the name. In other respects they are
warm-blooded, viviparous mammals, destitute of hinder limbs, and
with very short fore-limbs completely enclosed in skin, but having
the usual number of bones, though very much shortened, forming a kind
of fin. The fin on the back is horizontal, and not rayed and upright
like that of a fish; the tail resembles that of a fish in form, the
caudal vertebrae running through the middle of it. The immense
muscular power of this tail, with its broad flanges, arises from the
flesh of the body, terminating in long cords of tendon, running to
the tip. The vertebral column is often ankylosed in the fore-part,
but is extremely elastic, owing to the cartilaginous cushion between
each bone in the latter half. Thus, whilst the fore-part is rigid,
the hinder is flexible in the extreme. The brain is large and much
convoluted; the heart is very large, and the blood-vessels extremely
full and numerous, with extensive ramifications, which, being filled
with oxygenated blood, assist in supporting life whilst submerged.
The lungs are also very large. The laryngeal and nasal passages are
peculiar. The following description is by Dr. Murie: "In front of
the larynx of man we all know that there is an elastic lid, the
epiglottis, which folds over and protects the air passage as food
is swallowed. The side cartilages constitute the walls of the organ
of voice and protect the vocal chords. Now, in the comparatively
voiceless whale, the cartilages, including the epiglottis, form a
long rigid cylindrical tube, which is thrust up the passage at the
back of the palate in continuity with the blow-hole. It is there held
in place by a muscular ring. With the larynx thus retained bolt
upright, and the blow-hole being meanwhile compressed or closed, the
cetacean is enabled to swallow food under water without the latter
entering the lungs." The stomach is peculiar, being composed of
several sacs or chambers with narrow passages between; the
intestines are long, glandular and, according to Dr. Murie, full of
little pouches. There is no gall bladder; the gullet is very narrow
in some and wider in others. Some have teeth, others are without.
The eyes are small; the ears deficient externally, though the
interior small ear-bones of ordinary mammals are in these massive
and exceedingly dense, so much so, as Murie observes, as to be
frequently preserved fossil when other osseous structures are
destroyed.
The cetacea have been divided into the _Denticete_, or Toothed Whales,
and the _Mysticete_, or Whalebone Whales. The former contains the
river dolphins, the ziphoid whales, the gigantic sperm whale, the
sea dolphins, and the narwhal or sea unicorn. The latter contains
the baleen whales.
_DENTICETE--THE TOOTHED WHALES_.
None of the larger species are found on these coasts, or in the Indian
Ocean, the two most interesting of which are the gigantic sperm
whales (_Physeter macrocephalus_), and the curious narwhal or sea
unicorn (_Monodon monoceros_). The latter is an inhabitant of the
northern seas only, but the sperm abounds in warmer waters, being
frequently found in the sub-tropical oceans. I have occasionally
seen them in the South Atlantic, though they are said to have
diminished there of late years. It is a wonder that the species does
not get scarce in many localities, so great is the chase after them.
During the last forty years the Americans alone have taken at the
rate of 10,000 barrels of sperm oil per annum, or upwards of four
million barrels since 1835. The sperm whale, though of such enormous
bulk and courage, yet has enemies besides man. The thrasher and the
killer whale both attack it, and sailors assert that the sword-fish
and thrasher combine against it, the latter stabbing from below,
whilst the former leaps on it with stunning blows. I think by
sword-fish (_Xiphias_), which is also a large but not so very
sanguinary a fish, they mean the saw-fish (_Pristis_), which is
allied to the sharks, and which attacks the largest whales. The
sword-fish has however the character of being pugnacious. The old
sperms, especially males, will show fight at times, but the younger
ones are easily alarmed, and on being molested rush off in various
directions, each looking out for himself. The sperm whale is known
from the others by the way in which it spouts, the jet being thrown
up obliquely forwards, and it blows at regular intervals. Although
the old "bulls" show a certain amount of ferocity at times, their
savageness is considerably exaggerated by the whalers, who love to
spin yarns about them. Having watched the habits of these and the
baleen whales with curiosity, I tried to get as much information
about them as I could, from the whalers, but, with the exception of
the officers of whaling ships, there was much that was unreliable
in Jack's notions about the sperm. On one occasion I was just too
late to see one killed. The boats, under full sail, were towing the
carcase towards the ship. I would have given a good deal to have seen
the encounter. The food of the sperm consists greatly of the huge
rock squid or cuttle-fish, which they swallow in large lumps. I have
heard whalers assert that a wounded sperm in the death agony will
vomit immense pieces of squid. In this respect it differs much from
the baleen whales, which have a narrow gullet. According to Professor
Flower there is no sufficient evidence of the existence of more than
one species of sperm whales, but an allied species, _Physeter_
(_Euphysetes_) _simus_, is found on the Madras coast, and to this
I will allude further on.
FAMILY DELPHINIDAE--THE DOLPHINS OR PORPOISES.
_GENUS PLATANISTA--THE RIVER DOLPHINS_.
A globular head with a long, compressed and, towards the end,
spoon-shaped rostrum or snout; flippers short, broad and triangular;
a long body of moderate girth; no back fin, but a slight elevation
which takes its place. There is a decided depression between the head
and body on the region of the neck; the eye is remarkably small, so
much so as to be hardly perceptible; in an adult of eight feet long
the whole eye-ball is no bigger than a pea, and the orifice of the
ear is like a pin-hole.
The skull has peculiar features. "The apparently rounded skull
behind the snout has broad, thick zygomatic arches, and above and
in front of these the cheek-bones (_maxillae_) each send forwards
and inwards a great roughened sheet of bone or crest, which forms
a kind of open helmet. In the large hollow between these bony plates,
and somewhat behind, are situated the nasal orifices, which are
slightly awry" (_Murie_).[19] Professor Flower's notice of the skull
('Osteology of the Mammalia') is thus worded: "The orbit is extremely
small, the temporal fossa large, and the zygomatic processes of the
squamosal are greatly developed. From the outer edge of the ascending
plates of the maxillae, which lie over the frontals, great crests
of bone, smooth externally, but reticulated and laminated on their
inner surface, rise upwards, and, curving inwards, nearly meet in
the middle line above the upper part of the face."
[Footnote 19: See Appendix B for illustration.]
The dentition is also curious, the upper and lower jaws being
provided with a number of teeth, pointed and conical in front, and
smaller and more flattened behind. They vary in number. In an example
quoted by Dr. Murie the total was 117, viz., 27--28/30--32, but in
a specimen examined by Dr. Anderson, who has most exhaustively
described these animals, the total number of teeth amounted to 128,
i.e. 33--32/32--31. (See Appendix B, p. 525.)
The cervical vertebrae are movable, and not ankylosed, as in many
of the cetacea; the caecum is small; the blow-hole is a narrow slit,
not transverse as in other whales, but longitudinal. I have somewhat
gone out of order in Jerdon's numbering in bringing in this genus
here instead of letting it follow Delphinus, as he has done. These
river Dolphins naturally come after the extinct Phocodontia or
seal-toothed whales, and bear considerable resemblance in the
dentition to the extinct genus Squalodon.
NO. 257. PLATANISTA GANGETICA.
_The Gangetic Porpoise_ (_Jerdon's Nos. 144 and 145_).
NATIVE NAMES.--_Soonse_, _Soosoo_, _Soosa_, Hindi; _Susak_,
_Shishuk_, Bengali; _Sisumar_, Sanscrit; _Bulhan_ or _Sunsar_, on
the Indus; _Hihoo_, _Siho_; Assamese; _Huhh_ in Cachar and Sylhet.
HABITAT.--In the larger rivers connected with the Ganges nearly up
to the hills; also in the Brahmaputra and in the Indus, but in fresh
water; only it does not go out to sea.
[Illustration: _Platanista Gangetica_.]
DESCRIPTION.--"A long compressed snout with a formidable array of
teeth; a vaulted compressed forehead; longitudinal blow-hole;
scarcely perceptible eye; distinct neck; broad and abruptly
truncated pectoral fins, and small dorsal fin; and the male, a
smaller but heavier-built animal than the female, with a shorter
snout" (_Anderson_). The colour is from a dark lead to a sooty black;
according to Jerdon "when old with some lighter spots here and there;
shining pearl-grey when dry."
SIZE.--From six to eight feet.
This animal, though not often captured, at all events in the vicinity
of Calcutta, is familiar to most people who have travelled on the
larger Indian rivers. It is common enough in the Hooghly. I have
frequently observed it in the river abreast of the Fort whilst we
were slowly driving down the Course.
I am largely indebted to Dr. Anderson for information concerning it,
for he has not only most carefully watched the habits of this curious
animal, but has most exhaustively described its anatomy in his
'Anatomical and Zoological Researches.' It is found in the Hooghly,
chiefly in the cold weather, migrating during the hot and rainy
season; at least so it was supposed, and Dr. Cantor conjectured that
at such times it visited the sea, but this has been proved to be not
the case. The _soosoo_ never leaves fresh water; and it is in the
river during the rains, for fishermen catch it in their nets, but
it is hardly ever seen at that time. It rises so as to expose the
blow-hole only, and the rush of the swollen waters prevents the
peculiar sound of respiration being heard. But in the cold weather,
when the river is calm, the ear is attracted at once by the hissing
puff of expiration, and the animal may be seen to bound almost out
of the water. Dr. Anderson had one alive in captivity for ten days,
and carefully watched its respirations. "The blow-hole opened
whenever it reached the surface of the water. The characteristic
expiratory sound was produced, and so rapid was the inspiration that
the blow-hole seemed to close immediately after the expiratory act."
He states that "the respirations were tolerably frequent, occurring
at intervals of about one-half or three-quarters of a minute, and
the whole act did not take more than a few seconds for its
fulfilment." But it is probable that in a free state and in perfect
health the animal remains longer under water. It has certainly been
longer on several occasions when I have watched for the reappearance
of one in the river. The food of the Gangetic dolphin consists chiefly
of fish and crustacea; occasionally grains of rice and remains of
insects are found in the stomach, but these are doubtless, as Dr.
Anderson conjectures, in the fish swallowed by the dolphin. The
period of gestation is said to be eight to nine months, and usually
only one at a time is born, between April and July. The young are
sometimes caught with their mothers, and are said to cling by holding
on by the mouth to the base of the parent's pectoral fins. "The flesh
and blubber are occasionally eaten by many of the low caste Hindus
of India, such as the Gurhwals, the Domes of Jessore and Dacca
districts, the Harrees, Bourees, Bunos, Bunpurs, Tekas, Tollahas,
the Domes of Burdwan and Bhagulpore, who compare it to venison; also
by the Teewars and Machooas of Patna, the Mussahars of Shahabad, the
Gourhs and Teers of Tirhoot, and the Mullahs of Sarun. In the
North-west Provinces about Allahabad, the Chumars, Passees, Kooras,
Khewuts or Mullahs, have rather a high estimate of the flesh, which
they assert resembles turtle. The Koonths of Benares, Phunkeahs,
Natehmurrahs, and Buahoas of Moradabad, and also such gipsy tribes
as the Sainsees, Kunjars and Hubbossahs, in the neighbourhood of
Meerut, do not despise it. In the Punjab we find the Choorahs, Dhapels,
Sainsees, Budous, and Burars eating the flesh; and in Sind the Kehuls.
The Moras, a tribe of Mahomedan boatmen who lead a wandering life
on the streams in the Punjab and in Sind, subsist on the dolphin when
by good chance they catch one; this is also the case with the
Cacharies and the Nagas of Assam. The Sansee women on the Indus eat
the flesh under the idea that it makes them prolific. All along the
Ganges, Brahmahputra, and Indus, the oil is universally considered
as of great value as an embrocation in rheumatism and for giving much
strength when rubbed on the back and loins. But many other animal
oils, such as those of various species of turtle, the crocodile, and
the pelican, have a similar reputation. It is said to be of a very
penetrating nature, and, owing to this property, it is highly prized
for preserving leather, such as harness, &c. The illuminating powers
of this oil are said to be very high." (Anderson's 'Anatomical and
Zoological Researches.')
Jerdon gives, on the authority of Blyth, another species,
_Platanista Indi_, or the Indus porpoise, but Dr. Anderson has
conclusively proved that this is identical with the Gangetic dolphin.
The dentition of the _soosoo_ is most curious. The perfect tooth in
the young animal is sharp and pointed, but as the creature advances
in age the fangs get broader, and the point wears down, till in old
age the crown is so worn as to leave but a bony lump in its place.
_GENUS ORCELLA--THE ROUND-HEADED RIVER DOLPHINS_.
The generic characteristics of these dolphins are, according to Dr.
Anderson, as follows: "Head globular; dorsal fin low, situated
behind the middle of the body; pectoral fins oval, about one-sixth
the length of the animal; teeth conical, large, and fewer in the lower
than in the upper jaw, thirteen to seventeen teeth in the upper and
twelve to fourteen teeth in the lower jaw; skull beaked; beak broad
at the base, anteriorly pointed; premaxillary not much laterally
dilated, bearing one tooth; vertebrae sixty-two to sixty-three;
first two cervical vertebrae ankylosed; lumbar transverse process
moderately long; vertebrae ribs twelve to thirteen, with one or two
free ribs; pelvic bones opposite thirty-fifth and thirty-sixth
vertebrae."
These are the dolphins which were procured by Mr. Blyth in the Hooghly,
and were supposed by him to be the young of the ca'ing whale
(_Globicephalus_), which idea has also been adopted by Jerdon; but
it has been since proved that the skeletons prepared from these
supposed young whales are those of adults fully matured, and not of
young animals, which have certain resemblances to _Globicephalus_
as well as to the killer whales, _Orca_, from which the generic name
has been derived, but yet was undoubtedly distinct. The killer whales
have a very high dorsal fin in the middle of the back, with very large
pectoral flippers as broad as long; in _Orcella_ the back fin is low
and behind the middle of the body, and the pectoral fin is only half
as broad as long. In the ca'ing whale the back fin is more towards
the shoulders, and the flippers are long and narrow; the genus
_Orcella_ in fact seems to be intermediate between the dolphin and
the ca'ing whale, combining the head of _Globicephalus_ with the body
of _Delphinus_. Dr. Anderson, however, points out further
differences than the external ones I have above alluded to. _Orca_,
he says, is distinguished by a "more powerfully built skeleton, with
considerably fewer vertebrae, there being only a maximum of
fifty-three in it to a maximum of sixty-three in _Orcella_." In
_Orca_ generally four or five cervical vertebrae are ankylosed as
in the cachelots, but in the two species of _Orcella_ only the atlas
and axis are joined. "In the killers and ca'ing whales the ribs are
transferred to the transverse processes at the seventh dorsal,
whilst in _Orcella_ the transference does not take place until the
eighth." The skull resembles that of _Orca_ in the breadth of the
upper jaw being produced by the maxillaries, whereas in
_Globicephalus_ this effect is caused by the premaxillaries. The
teeth resemble the killer's.
As I have said so much about the killer whale, I may digress a little
to explain what it is, though it is not a denizen of the Indian seas.
It is to the Cetacea what the shark is to fishes--a voracious tyrant
with a capacious mouth, armed with formidable teeth. It hesitates
not to attack the largest sperm and Greenland whales, and the smaller
whales, porpoises and seals will spring out of water and strand
themselves on shore in terror at its approach. It ranges from twenty
to thirty feet in length, and is of so gluttonous a character that
in one recorded case a killer had been found choked in the attempt
to swallow a _fifteenth_ seal, the other fourteen, with thirteen
porpoises, being found in its stomach!
According to Scammon three or four of them do not hesitate to grapple
with the largest baleen whale; and, as described by Dr. Murie, "the
latter often, paralysed through fear, lie helpless and at their mercy.
The killers, like a pack of hounds, cluster about the animal's head,
breach over it, seize it by the lips, and haul the bleeding monster
underwater; and, should the victim open its mouth, they eat its
tongue." In one instance he relates that a Californian grey whale
and the young one were assaulted; the _Orcas_ killed the latter, and
sprang on the mother, tearing away large pieces of flesh, which they
greedily devoured.
"These brutes have been known to attack a white-painted herring boat,
mistaking it for a beluga; and it is stated that occasionally they
will boldly lay siege to whales killed by the whalers, almost
dragging them perforce under water. Near some of the Pacific sealing
grounds they continually swim about, and swoop off the unwary young;
even the large male sea-lions hastily retreat ashore and give these
monsters a wide berth. The walrus also, with his powerful tusks,
cannot keep the killers at bay, especially if young morses are in
the herd. The cubs on such occasions will mount upon the mother's
back for refuge, clinging for dear life, but the _Orca_, diving,
comes suddenly up with a spiteful thud, and the cub, losing its
balance, falls into the water, when in an instant it is seized by
the remorseless whales." The speed of the killer whale is immense,
as may be supposed when it can overtake the swift dolphins, which
it catches and swallows alive. It has also been seen chasing salmon
up the mouths of rivers.
The genus _Orcella_ seems to come in between the sea and river
dolphins, although _Orcella fluminalis_ of Dr. Anderson is a purely
fluviatile animal, which apparently never goes out to sea.
NO. 258. ORCELLA BREVIROSTRIS.
_The Short-nosed Round-headed River Dolphin_.
HABITAT.--The estuaries of the Ganges and Brahmaputra rivers.
DESCRIPTION.--"The head is convex from the blow-hole to the upper
lip, but its sides immediately below the angle of the mouth are
somewhat anteriorly convergent, but rounded; the gape posteriorly
has a long upward curve; the eye, which is well developed, is near
the angle at the gape, and in the adult is placed about one inch above
it, with a slightly downward slope; the ear is nearly on the same
level as the angle of the mouth, but is extremely small, crescentic,
and not measuring more than 0.12 inch in diameter. The posterior
margin of the blow-hole is immediately behind the anterior angle of
the eye; the blow-hole is crescentic and unsymmetrical, being more
to the left than to the right side; there are two slight eminences
about one inch behind the blow-hole; the construction of the neck
occurs below the ear and slightly behind it" (Anderson's 'Anatomical
and Zoological Researches,' p. 370). The other characteristics are
triangular flippers half as broad as long. The back fin rises behind
the centre of the back; it is comparatively small, falcate, curved
over the top to a blunt point, and concave behind. The line of the
back is sharp from this fin down to the tail. The ventral line is
the same for some inches behind the anus. The colour is dark
slaty-blue above, almost black, a little paler below, without any
streaks or marks, such as in _O. fluminalis_ and Risso's grampus.
SIZE.--From snout to caudal notch, about 7 feet.
I cannot find much on record concerning the habits of this dolphin,
and my own acquaintance with it is too limited for me to afford much
original information.
NO. 259. ORCELLA FLUMINALIS (_Anderson_).
_The Fresh-water Round-headed Dolphin_.
HABITAT.--The Irrawaddy river; Burmah.
DESCRIPTION.--This differs from the last in a "rather smaller, lower,
and more falcate dorsal fin, its more pointed and less anteriorly
bulging head, and rather shorter and broader pectoral fins"
(_Anderson_). The colour is a pale bluish above, and white underneath,
with numerous streaks, as in Risso's grampus.
SIZE.--From 7 to 7-1/2 feet from snout to fork of tail.
Dr. Anderson, who has fully described this species, says that he has
"never observed it in tidal waters, so that it is even more strictly
fluviatile than the Gangetic dolphin. From a little below Prome to
as far up as Bhamo, which is about 550 miles, as the crow flies, from
the sea, these animals abound. It is asserted by the Shans of Upper
Burmah that these dolphins are not to be found beyond a point thirty
miles above Bhamo, where the course of the river is interrupted by
rocks, and which they style _Labine_ or Dolphin Point, from the
circumstance that, according to them, it is the residence of certain
_Nats_, who there impose so heavy a toll on dolphins as to deter them
from proceeding upwards."
This dolphin is somewhat like its marine cousins, being fond of
gambolling round the river steamers. Solitary ones are seldom met
with, usually two or three being together. When they rise to breathe
the blow-hole is first seen; then, after respiration, the head goes
down, and the back as far as the dorsal fin is seen, but rarely the
tail flippers. They rise to breathe every 70 to 150 seconds, and the
respiratory act is so rapid that it requires a very expert marksman
to take aim and fire before the animal disappears.
Dr. Anderson says: "I have observed some of them disporting
themselves in a way that has never yet been recorded of _Cetacea_,
as far as I am aware. They swam with a rolling motion near the surface,
with their heads half out of the water, and every now and then nearly
fully exposed, when they ejected great volumes of water out of their
mouths--generally straight before them; but sometimes nearly
vertically. The sight of this curious habit at once recalled to me
an incident in my voyage up the river, when I had been quite baffled
to explain an exactly similar appearance seen at a distance, so that
this remarkable habit would appear to be not uncommonly manifested.
On one occasion I noticed an individual standing upright in the water,
so much so that one-half of its pectoral fins was exposed, producing
the appearance against the background as if the animal was supported
on its flippers. It suddenly disappeared, and again, a little in
advance of its former position, it bobbed up in the same attitude,
and this it frequently repeated. The Shan boatmen who were with me
seemed to connect these curious movements with the season--spring--in
which the dolphins breed."
A similar thing has been noticed in the case of marine dolphins off
the coast of Ceylon by Mr. E. W. H. Holdsworth, whose observations
confirm the opinion of the Shan boatmen. (See 'P. Z. S.' 1872, p.
586.)
"The food of the Irrawady dolphin is apparently exclusively fish.
The fishermen believe that the dolphin purposely draws fish to their
nets, and each fishing village has its particular guardian dolphin,
which receives a name common to all the fellows of his school, and
it is this supposition that makes it so difficult to obtain specimens
of this cetacean. Colonel Sladen has told me that suits are not
unfrequently brought into the native courts to recover a share in
the capture of fish in which a plaintiff's dolphin has been held to
have filled the nets of a rival fisherman" (_Anderson_). This reminds
me that in the surveying voyage of the _Herald_, as related by Mr.
H. Lee, the natives of Moreton Bay entreated the seamen not to shoot
their tame porpoises, which helped them in their fishing.
_GENUS DELPHINUS--THE MARINE DOLPHINS_.
These are characterised by a convex forehead, with a protruding
muzzle which forms a sort of beak; they have teeth in both jaws,
numerous and conical, broad and high cranium, nasal passages
vertical, no caecum. They are gregarious in habit, carnivorous and
extremely swift, but they must not be confounded with the dolphin
of sailors, which is a true fish (_Coryphaena hipparis_) of great
velocity and brilliant colours, which change like rainbow tints when
the fish is dying. I have several times in vain tried to catch the
fleeting shades with both oil and water-colours, but without
success; for within a few minutes they change from the most vivid
of greens and blues to a pale silvery grey. The true dolphin, of which
we are treating, is the dolphin of the ancients, represented in all
the old pictures and sculptures. They have a medium dorsal fin, and
the pectoral flippers are about two-thirds longer than the breadth.
[Illustration: 1. Gangetic Dolphin--_Platanista Gangetica_. 2.
Round-headed River Dolphin--_Orcella brevirostris_. 3. Gadamu
Dolphin--_Delphinus Gadamu_. 4. Freckled Dolphin--_Delphinus
lentiginosus_. 5. Black Dolphin--_Delphinus pomeegra_.]
NO. 260. DELPHINUS PERNIGER.
_The Black Dolphin_ (_Jerdon's No. 142_).
HABITAT.--Bay of Bengal.
DESCRIPTION.--"Twenty-six teeth on each side above and below, obtuse,
slightly curved inwards; of a uniform shining black above, beneath
blackish."--_Jerdon_.
SIZE.--Total length, 5 feet 4 inches.
This species was taken in the Bay of Bengal and sent to the Asiatic
Society's Museum by Sir Walter Elliot, but it does not appear to be
mentioned by Professor Owen in his notice of the Indian Cetacea
collected by Sir Walter Elliot.
NO. 261. DELPHINUS PLUMBEUS.
_The Lead-coloured Dolphin_ (_Jerdon's No. 143_).
HABITAT.--Malabar coast.
DESCRIPTION.--Thirty-six teeth in each side in the upper jaw and
thirty-two in the lower jaw; of a uniform leaden colour, with the
lower jaw white.
SIZE.--About 8 feet.
Whether this be the same as or a different species to the next I am
unable to say, as the description is meagre, and the number of teeth
vary so much in the same species that no definite rule can be laid
down on them.
* * * * *
The following are the species named by Professor Owen and collected
by Sir Walter Elliot.
NO. 262. DELPHINUS GADAMU.
NATIVE NAME.--_Gadamu_.
HABITAT.--Madras coast.
DESCRIPTION.-Body fusiform, gaining its greatest diameter at the
fore-part of the dorsal fin, decreasing forward to the head by
straight converging lines, and with a gentle convex curve to the eyes
and blow-hole; the forehead descends with a bold convex curve; the
sides of the head converge from the eyes to the base of the snout,
which is divided from the forehead by a transverse groove extending
almost horizontally to the angles of the mouth, and it equals in
length the distance from the base to the eyes, which is five inches
and a-half; the lower jaw projects a little beyond the upper; the
blow-hole is crescentic, in a line with the eyes, exactly in the
middle of the head, with the horns of the crescent pointing towards
the snout; the pectoral and dorsal fins are falcate and about equal
in size; the colour is a dark plumbeous grey, almost black upon the
fins, especially at their fore-part; the body below being of a
pinkish ashy-grey, with a few small irregular patches of light
plumbeous grey.
The dentition varies from 24--24/24--24 = 96, to 23--23/27--28 = 101,
and 27--27/27--27 = 108.
SIZE.--About seven feet from snout to fork of tail; girth about 3
feet 9 inches.
NO. 263. DELPHINUS LENTIGINOSUS.
_The Freckled Dolphin_.
NATIVE NAME.--_Bolla Gadimi_, Telegu.
HABITAT.--Madras coast.
DESCRIPTION.--Body fusiform, as in the last, but with smaller
pectoral and dorsal but larger caudal fin; the back is straighter
and not so much rounded on the shoulders, and the colour is
bluish-cinerous or slaty, freckled with small irregular spots of
brown or plumbeous, and longitudinal streaks of the same flecked with
white; the under parts a shade lighter than rest of the body. The
snout is six inches in length.
Dentition: 32--32/32--33 = 129.
SIZE.--Seven to eight feet; girth four feet.
NO. 264. DELPHINUS MACULIVENTER.
_Spot-bellied Dolphin_.
NATIVE NAME.--_Suvva_.
HABITAT.--Madras coast.
DESCRIPTION.--Forehead more convex than even _D. gadamu_, and head
proportionately larger and body deeper. A deep shining plumbeous
black on the upper part, becoming paler near the belly, which from
the underpart of the jaw to the perineum is ashy-grey, with irregular
spots and blotches.
Dentition: 27--27/30--30 = 114.
SIZE.--About seven feet.
NO. 265. DELPHINUS FUSIFORMIS.
_The Spindle-shaped Dolphin_.
HABITAT.--Madras coast.
DESCRIPTION.--More slender in proportion to its length; a less
elevated and less convex forehead than the last species; a
proportionally thicker, broader, and more obtusely terminated
snout; a deeper mandible or under jaw especially posteriorly, and
smaller dorsal and pectoral fins, especially the latter. The
greatest girth is in middle or fore-part of the dorsal fin, from which
the body tapers to both ends, presenting the true spindle form.
Colour plumbeous, lighter below, darkest on the fins and snout.
Dentition: 22--22/21--21 = 86 teeth.
SIZE.--About six feet.
NO. 266. DELPHINUS POMEEGRA.
_The Black or Pomeegra Dolphin_.
NATIVE NAME.--_Pomeegra_.
HABITAT.--Madras coast.
DESCRIPTION.--More slender than any of the foregoing species;
longish snout, with 173 teeth, viz. 41--41/45--46. It is well to note
the irregularity here, not only an odd number, but the lower jaw has
the greater number, whereas it is generally the other way. Colour
almost black, lighter beneath. Professor Owen's description is not
so full as in other cases, but from the illustration it seems that
the flukes of the caudal fin are longer, and the posterior edge of
the dorsal straighter than in the others.
NO. 267. DELPHINUS LONGIROSTRIS.
_The Long-snouted Dolphin_.
HABITAT.--Indian Ocean; coast of Ceylon.
DESCRIPTION.--Similar to the last, but with a longer and more slender
snout.
NO. 268. DELPHINUS VELOX.
This is also given by Dr. Kellaart as a species found on the coast
of Ceylon.
Sir Walter Elliot mentions another species of dolphin, of which he
had lost the drawing, about thirty-two inches long, of a uniform
black colour, small mouth, and no dorsal fin, called by the Tamil
fishermen _Molagan_.
_GENUS PHOCAENA--THE PORPOISES_.
No beak or rostrum; snout short and convex; numerous teeth in both
jaws. Kellaart testifies to the existence of a true porpoise on the
coasts of Ceylon--which he identifies with _Phocaena communis_--of
a blackish colour above and whitish beneath.
_GENUS GLOBICEPHALUS--THE CA'ING OR PILOT WHALE_.
Head globular in front; teeth few in number; the dorsal fin is high,
situated nearer to the head than to the tail; the flippers very long
and narrow; the fingers possessing an unusually large number of
bones.
NO. 269. GLOBICEPHALUS INDICUS.
_The Indian Ca'ing Whale_ (_Jerdon's No. 146_).
HABITAT.--Bay of Bengal.
DESCRIPTION.--Body cylindrical, tapering to the tail; dorsal fin
high, falcate, and placed about the middle of the body proper,
excluding the tail portion; the forehead with a prominent boss over
the snout, which is short; pectoral fins long and narrow; colour
uniform leaden black, paler beneath.
SIZE.--Fourteen feet, flippers 2 feet; dorsal fin, 2-1/4 feet long,
11 inches high; tail flukes, 3 feet broad.
Blyth's specimens were procured in the Salt Lakes near Calcutta. It
was for the young of this that he mistook _Orcella brevirostris_.
PHYSETERIDAE--THE CACHELOTS OR SPERM WHALES.
_GENUS EUPHYSETES_.
NO. 270. PHYSETER _or_ EUPHYSETES SIMUS.
_The Snub-nosed Cachelot_.
NATIVE NAME.--_Wonga_, Telugu.
HABITAT.--Bay of Bengal.
DESCRIPTION.--The general form of this animal resembles the porpoise,
but the position of the mouth at once distinguishes it. It is small
and situated, like that of the shark, considerably under the blunt
rostrum, so much so as to lead one to conjecture whether or not it
turns on its back in seizing its prey, as do the sharks. The blow
hole is crescentic, but eccentrically placed to the left of the
middle line of the head, and the horns of the crescent are turned
diagonally backwards--that is to say, the lower limb points to the
back whilst the upper one touches the middle line and points across;
the eye is small; the pectoral fins are triangular, about one foot
in length and four and a-half inches broad in the male, and four
inches in the female; the dorsal fin is sub-falcate, standing about
a foot high, and is nine to ten inches broad at the base, the male
being the broader; the colour is a shining black above, paler and
pinkish below.
Dentition: 1--1/9--9 = 20.
SIZE.--Six to seven feet.
The peculiarity of this cetacean is the preponderance of the cranial
over the rostral part, more so, as Professor Owen remarks, than in
any other species. The asymmetry of the bones too is remarkable,
although this is characteristic of all the catodon whales,
especially as regards the bones of the anterior narial passages, the
left of which is very much larger than the right. This is also the
case in the large sperm whale, but in _Euphysetes_ the disproportion
is still greater. In a notice on a New Zealand species (_E. Pottsii_),
by Dr. Julius Haast, he gives the difference as fifteen times the
size of the right aperture; the mouth is also peculiar from its
position and small size, being very much overshot by the snout. It
may, as Dr. Haast supposes, be a ground feeder, existing on the
smaller hydroid zoophytes, otherwise it must, I think, turn on its
side in seizing its prey.
MYSTICETE--WHALEBONE OR BALEEN WHALES.
_GENUS BALAENA--THE RIGHT WHALES_.
They are distinguished from the last group by their enormous heads,
with more symmetrical skulls, the facial portion of which is greatly
in excess of the cranial. The bones of the lower jaw are not united
at the symphysis, but are held together by strong fibrous bands; the
two rami are very much rounded and arched outwards; there are no teeth.
The maxillary and premaxillary bones are much produced, forming a
rostrum tapering, narrow, compressed and much arched in the right
whales. From this depends the mass of whalebone, which grows from
a fleshy substance "similar," as is aptly described by Dr. Murie,
"to the roots of our finger-nails. It grows continuously from the
roots like the latter, and in many respects corresponds, save that
the free end is always fringed. Baleen, therefore, though varying
from a few inches to a number of feet long, in fact approximates to
a series of, so to say, mouth nail-plates, which laminae have a
somewhat transverse position to the cavity of the mouth, and thus
their inner split edges and lower free ends cause the mouth to appear
as a great hairy archway, shallower in front and deeper behind"
(Cassell's Natural History).
The object of this vast amount of whalebone is to strain from the
huge gulps of water the mollusca, &c., on which this animal feeds.
The tongue of these whales is very large, filling up the space between
the lower jaws. The gullet is small in comparison. The nasal aperture
differs from the _Denticete_ in being symmetrical, that is, having
the double aperture, and in being directed forwards as in most
mammals, instead of upwards and backwards as in the dolphins. The
whale produces generally one at a birth, which it suckles for some
length of time. The mammae are pudendal. The right whales have no
fin on the back; those that have form a separate genus, Balaenoptera,
i.e. fin-whales.
They are the most valuable of the cetacea, except perhaps the
cachelot or sperm whale, as producing the greatest amount of oil and
whalebone. Of the various species the most sought after is the
Greenland or right whale (_Balaena mysticetus_), which ordinarily
attains a length of fifty to sixty feet. An average whale between
forty and fifty feet in length will yield from sixty to eighty barrels
of oil and a thousand pounds of baleen.
[Illustration: Skull of Baleen Whale. Br, brain cavity; J J*, upper
and lower jawbones; the arrows indicate narial passages; S,
spout-hole; W, whalebone; _t_, tongue in dotted line; _n_, nerve
aperture in lower jaw; _bo_, bone sawed through.]
Formerly all whaling vessels were sailers, but now powerful
steamships are used, and the harpoon often gives way to the harpoon
gun. A whale, when struck, will sometimes run out a mile of line
before it comes up again, which is generally in about half an hour.
The whalers judge as best they can, from the position of the line,
in which direction he will rise, and get as near as possible so as
to use the lance or drive in another harpoon. When killed, the animal
is towed to the vessel and fastened on the port side, belly uppermost,
and head towards the stern; it is then stripped of its blubber, the
body being canted by tackles till all parts are cleared. The baleen
is then cut out, and the carcase abandoned to the sharks, killer
whales, and sea birds.
The baleen whales are not found in the intertropical seas. Of the
known species there are the Greenland whale (_B. mysticetus_), the
Biscay whale (_B. Biscayensis_), the Japan whale (_B. Japonica_),
the Cape whale (_B. australis_), and the South Pacific whale (_B.
antipodarum_).
_GENUS BALAENOPTERA--FINBACK WHALES OR RORQUALS_.
Are distinguished by their longer and narrower bodies, smaller heads,
being one-fourth instead of one-third the length of the body, smaller
mouths, shorter baleen, plaited throats, and smaller flippers; they
have a dorsal fin behind the middle of the back, and the root of the
tail is compressed laterally. They also present certain osteological
differences from the right whales; the latter have the whole of the
seven cervical vertebrae anchylosed, that is to say generally, for
sometimes the seventh is free. In the finbacks the cervical vertebrae
are, as a rule, all distinct and free, although occasionally
anchylosis may take place between two or more of them. The sternum
of the _Balaena_ consists of a broad, flattened, heart-shaped or oval
presternum. "In the fin whales (_Balaenoptera_) it is transversely
oval or trilobate, with a projecting backward xiphoid process"
(_Professor Flower_). The ulna and radius in the rorquals are also
comparatively longer than in the baleen whales. In the skull, the
supraorbital processes of the frontals are broader in the rorquals
than in others, and the olfactory fossa is less elongated.
They are more muscular and active animals than the right whales, and
have a less amount of blubber and much shorter whalebone,
consequently are not so much sought after by whalers, as the risk
in attacking them is not compensated for by the commercial results.
Many of them grow to enormous size, far exceeding any of the baleen
whales. The common rorqual, razorback, or pike-whale of the English
coasts (_B. musculus_) attains a length of seventy feet; it is black
above and pure white below. The sulphur-bottom whale (_B.
sulfureus_) is known by its yellowish belly, and with Sibbald's whale
(_B. Sibbaldii_) grows to a length of one hundred feet, to which size
our Indian species also approaches.
NO. 271. BALAENOPTERA INDICA.
_The Indian Rorqual_ (_Jerdon's No. 147_).
HABITAT.--The Indian Ocean.
[Illustration: Rorqual.]
DESCRIPTION.--External characteristics those of the genus, but from
Mr. Blyth's observations the lower jaw of this species is more
slender in proportion to its size than that of any other rorqual or
even right whale.
SIZE.--Up to 90 and possibly 100 feet.
There is a most interesting article on the great rorqual of the Indian
Ocean by Mr. Blyth in the 'Journal of the Asiatic Society' for 1859,
p. 481. He notices that the existence of great whales was known to
and recorded by the ancients. Nearchus, the commander of Alexander's
fleet, which sailed from the Indus to the Persian Gulf in B.C. 327,
mentions having met with them, and that on the coast of Mekran the
people constructed houses of the bones of stranded whales. In modern
times an occasional one gets on shore, as was the case with one at
Chittagong in 1842, another on the Arakan coast in 1851. In 1858 one
of 90 feet was stranded at Quilon on the west coast, as reported by
the Rev. H. Baker of Aleppi, who also mentions that one, said to be
100 feet long, was cast ashore some years previously. He writes to
Mr. Blyth: "Whales are very common on the coast. American ships, and
occasionally a Swedish one, call at Cochin for stores during their
cruises for them; but no English whalers ever come here that I have
heard of."
I wonder at any whaling vessel coming out of their way after this
species, for I have always heard from whalers that the finback is
not worth hunting. It is possible that in cruising after sperms they
may go a little out of their way to take a finback or two. However,
to return to Blyth's remarks. Of the whale stranded on the Arakan
coast a few bones were sent to the Society's Museum in Calcutta; they
consisted of the two rami of the lower jaw, measuring 20 feet 10
inches, a right rib, the left radius, and five vertebrae, which are
now to be seen at the Indian Museum. He writes as follows on them:
"The proportional length of the radius indicates the animal to have
been a Balaenoptera or rorqual, while the remarkable slenderness of
the lower jaw suffices to prove it a distinct species from any
hitherto-described rorqual."
The finback does not confine itself entirely, or even chiefly, as
stated by Blyth, to a diet of _Cephalapoda_, but is a fish-eater to
boot, doing great damage to shoals of such fish as cod, herrings,
&c., as many as six to eight hundred fish having been found in the
stomach of one.
They are not particularly shy, and will sometimes follow a vessel
closely for days. I read not very long ago an account in one of the
Indian newspapers of a steamer running over one of these animals,
and nearly cutting it in two; the agony of the poor brute as he
struggled in the water, vainly trying to sound, was graphically
described. A similar adventure occurred some years ago to the B.I.S.N.
Company's steamer _Euphrates_, on a voyage from Kurrachee to Bombay,
when about sixty miles from the latter place. The captain writes:
"It appears that the animal had for about half an hour amused itself
by crossing and recrossing the bow, and then at last suddenly turned
and came straight for the vessel, striking us about ten feet from
the stem. It struck with such force as to send a considerable quantity
of spray on deck. The only other instance that has occurred here
lately was in the case of the S.S. _Dalhousie_, when about twelve
miles from Kurrachee; it was in September of last year, and the Bombay
papers had a full account of it at the time." I am indebted to my
friend Mr. M. C. Turner for this and some other interesting letters
on this subject. Captain A. Stiffe, of the late Indian Navy, writes
regarding the drowning of a whale by entanglement with a submarine
cable, off the coast of Mekran: "The telegraph cable was broken, and
a dead whale hove up to the surface, with three turns of cable round
the neck of his tail, by which he was drowned. I had the three turns
in my office at Kurrachee, and there they are now I dare say. I don't
remember any more details. There are always shoals of whales about
that part, and it is supposed a 'bight' of the cable lying off the
ground got wound up like a rope round a screw." I myself was in a
sailing vessel going about five or six knots, when a whale played
about for a time, and then rose and spouted just under the bow,
covering the forecastle with spray. The captain, who was standing
by me, quite expected a shock, and exclaimed--"Look out! hold on!"
SIRENIA--THE MANATEES.
This group contains the _phytophagous_ or _herbivorous_ cetacea.
Their teeth have flat crowns, and they live on aquatic vegetation,
though, according to Cuvier, they sometimes leave the water for
pasture on shore, but this has not been authenticated, and is
probably a mistake. The other characteristics of the group are
pectoral mammae and hairy moustaches. The anterior narial aperture
in the skull opens upwards, but the orifices of the nostrils are
placed at the end of the muzzle. The stomach is complex, being divided
into four sacs, and they have a large caecum. The flippers are broad,
and the animal uses them with some dexterity in supporting its young
in the act of suckling. As at such times they frequently raise the
upper part of the body out of water, they have given rise to the
ancient fables regarding mermaids and sirens. There is something
human-like, although repulsive, in the aspect of these creatures,
especially in the erect attitude just alluded to. No wonder the
ancient mariners, with their restricted knowledge and inclination
to the marvellous, should have created the fabulous mermaid,
half-fish and half-woman, and have peopled the rocks and seas of
Ceylon with seductive sirens with imaginary flowing tresses and
sweet ensnaring voices. As regards the latter it may be that the
strange phenomena related by Sir Emerson Tennent, of musical sounds
ascending from the bottom of the sea, and ascribed by him to certain
shell-fish, gave rise to the mermaid's song. Sir Emerson's account
has in itself a touch of the romantic and marvellous. He says: "On
coming to the point mentioned I distinctly heard the sounds in
question. They came up from the water like the gentle thrills of a
musical chord, or the faint vibrations of a wineglass when its rim
is rubbed by a moistened finger. It was not one sustained note, but
a multitude of tiny sounds, each clear and distinct in itself, the
sweetest treble mingling with the lowest bass. On applying the ear
to the wood-work of the boat the vibration was greatly increased in
volume." Similar sounds have been heard elsewhere in the Indian seas,
and doubtless the ancients connected this mysterious music of the
ocean with the animals round which they had thrown such a halo of
romance. But to return to the prose of the subject. The Sirenia
consists of the Manatees (_Manatus_), the Dugongs (_Halicore_), and
the Stellerines (_Rhytina_); the latter is almost extinct; it used
to be found in numbers in Behring Straits, but was exterminated by
sailors and others, who found it very good eating. The Manatee
inhabits the African and American coasts, along the west coast of
the former continent, and in the bays, inlets, and rivers of tropical
America, but the one with which we have to do is the dugong or halicore,
of which the distribution is rather widespread, from the Red Sea and
East African coasts to the west coast of Australia. The latter
country possesses an organised dugong fishery, which bids fair to
exterminate this harmless animal. They are prized for the excellent
quality of the oil they yield, which is clear and free from
objectionable smell.
_GENUS HALICORE--THE DUGONG_.
Have grinders of two cones laterally united. The premaxillary region
is elongated and bent downwards, overlapping the very deep lower jaw,
which is similarly bent down. They have ordinarily two incisors in
the upper jaw, none in the lower. No canines, and molars 3--3/3--3,
total fourteen teeth. The incisor tusks in the bent-down upper jaw
are longer in the male, and sometimes project beyond the thick fleshy
lips, but in the female they are small. The head is round, the lips
thick and bristled with moustaches, the body is elongated, and the
tail terminated by a crescent-shaped flapper.
NO. 272. HALICORE DUGONG.
_The Dugong_. (_Jerdon's No. 240_).
NATIVE NAME.--_Mooda Oora_, Singhalese.
HABITAT.--Indian Ocean off Ceylon.
[Illustration: _Halicore dugong_.]
DESCRIPTION.--Body pisciform, terminated by a horizontal fin with
two lobes; colour slaty brown above, sometimes bluish black, whitish
below.
SIZE.--From 5 to 7 feet long usually, but said to reach 10.
Dr. Kellaart says that at an early age this animal has as many as
32 teeth, viz. inc. 4/8, and molars 5--5/5--5, but when adult there
are only 14, as mentioned above. The molars, according to Dr. Murie,
succeed each other, the fore ones dropping out, and others from
behind taking their places. It feeds on fucus and other seaweeds,
and the flesh is considered good eating, and not unlike veal or, some
say, pork. They are lethargic in disposition, and in those countries
where they have been unmolested they are so fearless of man as to
allow themselves to be handled--a confidence somewhat betrayed by
the natives, who on such occasions manage to abstract the fattest
calves, which are considered a delicacy.
ORDER RODENTIA.
THE GNAWERS.
This order, GLIRES of Linnaeus and his followers, is composed of
animals, chiefly of small size, which differ from all others by the
peculiarity of their teeth. No one, even though he be most ignorant
of comparative anatomy, could mistake the rat or rabbit-like skull
of a rodent for that of any other creature. The peculiar pincer-like
form of the jaws, with their curved chisel-shaped teeth in front,
mark the order at a glance. There is no complexity in their dentition.
There are the cutters or incisors, and the grinders; and of the
cutters there are never more than two in each jaw, that is to say
efficient and visible teeth, for there are in some species
rudimentary incisors, especially in the young, but these either
disappear or take no part in work. Between the grinders and incisors
are toothless gaps. The formation and growth of the teeth are
peculiar; and it is strange that the gigantic elephant should be the
nearest approach to these small creatures in this respect. The
teeth--in most cases the grinders, but always the incisors--grow
continuously from a persistent pulp, and therefore loss from
attrition is kept constantly supplied by growth from behind. The
incisors are planted in a socket which is the segment of a circle.
These segments are not equal in both jaws. The lower one is a small
segment of a large circle, the upper one is the reverse, being a
larger segment of a smaller circle. The angle at which they meet is
always the same. Some curious malformations are occasionally found
which illustrate the growth of these teeth. Should by any chance,
accident or design, one of these incisors get diverted from its
proper angle and not meet with the friction which is necessary to
keep it in its normal condition, it goes on growing and growing,
following its natural curve till it forms a ring, or by penetrating
the mouth interferes with the animal's feeding. A case is recorded
by Blyth of a rat which had an eye destroyed by a tooth growing into
it. Here again occurs a similarity to the elephant, whose tusks grow
in the same manner, and if abnormally deflected will occasion, as
in the case of one lately described to me, serious hindrance to the
movement of the trunk. The incisors of rodents are composed of
dentine coated in front with a layer of hard enamel, the other
surfaces being without this protection, except in the case of some,
amongst which are the hares and rabbits, which have a thin coating
as well all over. These forms are those with rudimentary incisors,
and constitute the links connecting the other mammalia with the
Gnawers.
The molars are much alike in structure, and can hardly be divided,
as they are by some naturalists, into molars and premolars. They take
the three hindmost as molars, regarding the others as premolars.
Sometimes these grinders have roots, but are more commonly open at
the end and grow from a permanent pulp. They are composed of tubular
and convoluted portions of enamel filed up with dentine, and their
worn surfaces show a variety of patterns, as in the case of the
Proboscidea. These enamelled eminences are always transverse, and
according to Cuvier those genera in which these eminences are simple
lines, and the crown is very flat, are more exclusively frugivorous;
others, in which the teeth are divided into blunt tubercles, are
omnivorous; whilst some few, which have no points, more readily
attack either animals, and approximate somewhat to the Carnivora.
The head is small in proportion to the body, the skull being long
and flat above; the nasal bones are elongated; the premaxillaries
very large on account of the size of the incisor teeth, and the
maxillaries are, therefore, pushed back; the zygomatic arch is well
developed in most, but is in general weak; the orbit of the eye is
never closed behind; the tympanic bulla is very large; the jaw is
articulated in a singular manner; instead of the lateral and
semi-rotary action of the Herbivora, or the vertical cutting one of
the flesh-eating mammals, the rodent has a longitudinal motion given
by the arrangement of the lower jaw, the condyle of which is not
transverse, but parallel with the median line of the skull, and the
glenoid fossa, or cavity into which it fits, and which is situated
on the under side of the posterior root of the zygoma, is so open
in front as to allow of a backwards and forwards sliding action. The
vertebral column is remarkable for the great transverse processes
directed downwards, forwards, and widening at the ends. In the hare
these processes are largely developed; the metapophyses or larger
projections on each side of the central spinous process are very long,
projecting upwards and forwards; the anapophyses or smaller
projection in rear of the above are small; and the hypapophyses or
downward processes are remarkably long, single and compressed;
according to Professor Flower these latter are not found in the
Rodentia generally. The tail varies greatly, being in some very small
indeed, whilst in others it exceeds the length of the body; the
sternum or breast-bone is narrow and long, and collar-bones are to
be found in most of the genera; the pelvis is long and narrow. In
most cases the hind limbs are longer and more powerful than the
fore-limbs; in some, as in the jerboas (_Dipus_) and the Cape jumping
hare (_Pedetes caffer_), attaining as disproportionate a length as
in the kangaroos, their mode of progression being the same; the tibia
and fibula are anchylosed; the forelimbs in the majority of this
order are short, and are used as hands in holding the food to the
mouth, the radius and ulna being distinct, and capable of rotatory
motion. The feet have usually five toes, but in some the hind feet
have only four, and even three. In point of intelligence, the rodents
do not come up to other mammals, being as a rule timid and stupid;
the brain is small and remarkably free from convolution. The
cerebellum is distinctly separated from and not overlapped by the
hemispheres of the cerebrum; the organs of smell, sight and hearing
are usually well developed; the stomach is simple or in two sacs;
the intestinal canal and caecum long. The latter is wanting in one
family.
Rodents have been divided in various ways by different authors.
Jerdon separates his into four groups, viz. "_Sciuridae_, squirrels;
_Muridae_, rats; _Hystricidae_, porcupines; and _Leporidae_, hares;
which indeed are considered by some to embrace the whole of the order;
to which has recently been added the _Saccomyidae_, or pouched rats,
whilst many systematists make separate families of the dormice,
_Myoxidae_; jerboas, Dipodidae; voles, _Arvidolidae_; mole-rats,
_Aspalacidae_ and _Bathyergidae_; all included in the MURIDAE; and
the _Caviadae_, _Octodontidae_, and _Hydrochoeridae_, belonging to
the HYSTRICIDAE" ('Mammals of India,' p. 164).
However, the system that most commends itself is that of Mr.
E. R. Alston, proposed in the 'Proceedings' of the Zoological Society,
and founded on the original scheme of Professor Gervais, by which
the order is subdivided into two on the character of the incisor teeth.
Those which have never more than two incisors, coated only in front
with enamel are termed SIMPLICIDENTATA, or _Simple-toothed Rodents_.
The other sub-order, the genera of which have rudimentary incisors,
as in the case of hares, rabbits, &c., and in which the enamel is
spread more or less over all the surface, is termed DUPLICIDENTATA
or _Double-toothed Rodents_, and this is the system I propose to
follow.
SUB-ORDER SIMPLICIDENTATA.
SIMPLE-TOOTHED RODENTS.
These, as I before observed, are those of the order which never have
more than two incisors in the upper jaw, and the enamel on these is
restricted to the front of the tooth. They have also a well-developed
bony palate, which in the Duplicidentata is imperfect, forming in
fact but a narrow bridge from one jaw to the other. In the latter
also the fibula, which is anchylosed to the end of the tibia,
articulates with the calcaneum or heel-bone, which is not the case
with the simple-toothed rodents.
We now come to the subdivisions of the Simplicidentata. The order
GLIRES has always been a puzzling one to naturalists, from the
immense variety of forms, with their intricate affinities, and there
is not much help to be gained from extinct forms, for such as have
been found are mostly referable to existing families. The
classification which I have adopted is, as I said before, that
elaborated by Mr. E. R. Alston, F.G.S., F.Z.S., and reported in the
'Proceedings' of the Zoological Society for 1876. I said that he had
founded it on Professor Gervais' scheme, but I see that the
groundwork of the system was laid down in 1839 by Mr. G. R. Waterhouse,
then curator of the Zoological Society, and it was afterwards, in
1848, taken up by Professor Gervais, and subsequently added to by
Professor Brandt in 1855, and Lilljeborg in 1866. About ten years
later Mr. Alston, working on the data supplied by the above, and also
by Milne-Edwards, Gray, Gunther, Leidy, Coues, and Dr. Peters,
produced a complete system of classification, which seems to be all
that is to be desired.
We have already divided the rodents into two sub-orders, to which,
however, Mr. Alston adds a third, viz., _Hebetidentati_, or
Blunt-toothed Rodents, which contains only the _Mesotherium_, a
fossil form. We have now to subdivide the two. The Double-toothed
Rodents are easily disposed of in two families--_Leporidae_ and
_Lagomyidae_. The Simple-toothed Rodents are more numerous, and
consist of about eighteen families arranged under three sections,
which are _Sciuromorpha_, or Squirrel-like Rodents, _Myomorpha_ or
Rat-like Rodents, and _Hystricomorpha_, or Porcupine-like Rodents.
It would perhaps render it clear to the reader were I to tabulate
the differences chiefly noticeable in these three sections:--
SECTION I.--SCIUROMORPHA, OR SQUIRREL-LIKE RODENTS.
Molar dentition 4--4/4--4 or 5--5/4--4. In the latter case the
foremost upper molar is small; the fibula is distinct, and never
united, except in some cases where it is attached to the extremity
of the tibia; the zygomatic arch is formed chiefly by the malar, which
is not supported beneath by a continuation of the zygomatic process
of the maxillary; collar-bones perfect; upper lip cleft; the muffle
small and naked; tail cylindrical and hairy (except in _Castoridae_).
Five families.
SECTION II.--MYOMORPHA, OR RAT-LIKE RODENTS.
Molar dentition from 3--3/3--3 to 6--6/6--6, the former being the
usual number; the tibia and fibula are united for at least a third
of their length. The zygomatic arch is slender, and the malar process
rarely extends so far forward as in the preceding section, and is
generally supported below by a continuation of the maxillary
zygomatic process; collar bones are perfect (except in
_Lophiomyidae_); upper lip and muffle as in the last; tail
cylindrical, sometimes hairy, but commonly covered with scales
arranged in rings. Seven families.
SECTION III.--HYSTRICOMORPHA, OR PORCUPINE-LIKE RODENTS.
With one exception (_Ctenodactylus_) have four molars in each upper
and lower jaw; the tibia and fibula are distinct in young and old;
the zygomatic arch is stout, and the malar does not advance far
forward, nor is it supported by the maxillary zygomatic process;
collar-bones perfect in some; the upper lip is rarely cleft; the
muffle clad with fine hair; tail hairy, sub-naked or scaly.
SECTION I.--SCIUROMORPHA.
Contains the following families, those that are not Indian being in
italics;--
(1) _Anomaluridae_; (2) Sciuridae; (3) _Ischyromyidae_, a fossil
genus; (4) _Haplodontidae_; (5) _Castoridae_.
The Anomalures are African animals resembling our flying squirrels,
to which they were at first thought to belong, but were separated
and named by Mr. Waterhouse, the chief peculiarity being the tail,
which is long and well covered with hair, though not bushy as in the
squirrels, and which has, at its basal portion, a double series of
projecting horny scales, which probably help it in climbing trees.
There are several other peculiarities, which I need not dwell on here,
which have justified its separation from the true squirrels. The
flying membrane, which is quite as large as that of the flying
squirrels, extends from the elbow to the heel instead of from the
wrist, and it is held out by a strong cartilaginous spur starting
from the elbow.
Of the Sciuridae we have many examples in India, which will be
noticed further on.
The _Ischyromyidae_ is founded on a single North American fossil
genus (_Ischyromys typus_), which is nearly allied to the Sciuridae,
but also shows some affinity to the beavers.
The _Haplodontidae_ is also an American family, founded on one genus,
but an existing and not a fossil animal. The _Haplodon rufus_ is a
small burrowing rodent, valued by the Indians both for its flesh and
its skin, of which from twenty to thirty are sewn together to form
a robe; the teeth are rootless, simple, and prismatic, the surface
of each being surrounded by a mere border of enamel.
The _Castoridae_ is the beaver family, which is also unknown in India.
Unlike as this animal is externally to the squirrels, its anatomy
warrants its position in the Sciuromorpha, otherwise one would feel
inclined to include it in the next section.
We see that of the five families, of which this section is composed,
only the second has its representatives in India.
SCIURIDAE--THE SQUIRRELS.
This family contains the true squirrels, including the flying ones,
and the marmots. The distinctive characteristics of the former are
as follows: The gnawing teeth are smooth, compressed. The grinding
teeth are 5--5/4--4 or 4--4/4--4; in the former case the first upper
premolar is small, and sometimes deciduous; they are tubercular, at
least in youth, and rooted. Skull with distinct post-orbital
processes; infra-orbital opening small, usually placed in front of
the maxillary zygomatic process; palate broad and flat; twelve or
thirteen pairs of ribs; tail cylindrical and bushy; feet either
pentadactylous or with a tubercle in place of a thumb on the fore-feet.
Mostly quite arboreal.
_GENUS SCIURUS_.
Premolars, 2--2/1--1; molars, 3--3/3--3; gnawing teeth smooth,
orange-coloured, or brown; no cheek pouches; mammae three or four
pairs; first upper premolar soon lost in many cases; limbs free; form
agile; tail long and very bushy.
Jerdon states that "there are three well marked groups in India
distinguished by size, coloration and habits," by which he means the
large forest squirrels, the medium size grizzled ones, and the little
striped squirrels, to which however I must add one more form, which
is found out of the geographical limits assigned to his work--the
_Rhinosciurus_, or long-snouted squirrel, an animal singularly like
a Tupaia. The squirrels, as a whole, form a natural and well-defined
group, with a remarkable uniformity of dentition and skull, but of
infinite variation in colour. In fact, it is most puzzling and
misleading to find so great a diversity of pelage as is exhibited
by a single species. I was shown by a friend a few months ago a fine
range of colours in skins of a single species from Burmah--_S.
caniceps_. I cannot attempt to describe them from memory, but the
diversity was so marked that I believe they would have been taken
by unscientific observers for so many different species. Now in
domesticated animals there is great variation in colouring, but not
in the majority of wild species. What the causes are that operate
in the painting of the skin of an animal no one can say, any more
than one can say how particular spots are arranged on the petal of
a flower or the wing of a butterfly. That specific liveries have been
designed by an all-wise Creator for purposes of recognition I have
no doubt, as well as for purposes of deception and protection--in
the former case to keep certain breeds pure, and in the latter to
protect animals from attack by enabling them better to hide
themselves, as we see in the case of those birds and quadrupeds which
inhabit exposed cold countries turning white in winter, and in the
mottled skin of the Galeopithicus, which is hardly discernible from
the rough bark of the tree to which it clings. I have hardly ever
noticed such varied hues in any wild animals, although the
_Viverridae_ are somewhat erratic in colouring, as in the Indian
squirrels, and it is doubtful whether several recorded species are
not so nearly allied as to be in fact properly but one and the same.
There is much in common in at least five species of Burmese squirrels,
and it is open to question whether _S. caniceps_ and _S. Blanfordii_
are not the same. Dr. Anderson writes: "I have examined a very
extensive series of squirrels belonging to the various forms above
described, viz., _S. pygerythrus_, _S. caniceps_, _S. Phayrei_ and
_S. Blanfordii_, and of others which appears to indicate at least,
if not to prove, that all of them are in some way related to each
other." In another place he says: "The skull of an adult male, _S.
caniceps_, which had the bright red golden colour of the back well
developed, presents so strong a resemblance to the skull of _S.
Blanfordii_, that it is extremely difficult to seize on any point
wherein they differ." After comparison of the above with skulls of
_S. griseimanus_ and _S. Phayrei_, he adds: "such facts taken in
conjunction with those mentioned under _S. Blanfordii_, suggest that
there is a very intimate connection between all of these forms, if
they do not ultimately prove to be identical" ('Anat. and Zool.
Researches,' pp. 229, 231).
[Illustration: Skull of _Pteromys_ (Flying Squirrel).]
Blyth also, speaking of the larger squirrels, says: "It is difficult
to conceive of the whole series as other than permanent varieties
of one species; and the same remark applies to the races of _Pteromys_,
and at least to some of those of _Sciuropterus_, as also to various
named _Sciuri_" ('Cat. Mam.,' p. 98).
The large forest squirrels come first on our list. They inhabit lofty
tree jungle, making their nests on the tops of the tallest trees.
They are most active in their habits, and are strictly arboreal,
being awkward on the ground. When kept as pets they become very tame,
though some are crotchety tempered, and bite severely.
NO. 273. SCIURUS INDICUS.
_The Bombay Squirrel of Pennant_
(_Sciurus Malabaricus and S. Elphinstonei in Jerdon, Nos. 148 and
150_).
NATIVE NAMES.--_Jangli-gilheri_, Hindi; _Shekra_, Mahrathi;
_Kesannalu_, Canarese of the Halapyks.
HABITAT.--The dense forests of the Western Ghats, but extending
easterly as far as Midnapore and Cuttack.
DESCRIPTION.--Upper surface of body dark maroon red, lower part of
back and rump and upper portions of limbs and the whole of the tail
black, the latter ending in a broad brownish-yellow tip; the outside
of the hind-legs and half-way down the outside of the fore-legs a
uniform rich maroon red; the under parts from chin to vent, inside
of limbs, lower part of fore-legs, the inter-aural region and the
cheeks bright orange yellow; forehead and nose reddish-brown, with
white hairs interspersed; ears small and tufted; a narrow maroon line
from the anterior angle of the ear extends downwards to the side of
the neck, with a yellow line behind it; whiskers and bristles black.
Dr. Anderson also remarks on the skull of this species that it is
considerably smaller than that of _S. maximus_, and has a narrower
and less concave inter-orbital space; the nasals are also broader
posteriorly, and less dilated anteriorly, the upper dental line
being also shorter.
SIZE.--Head and body, 20 inches; tail, 15-1/4 inches.
Jerdon's description of this animal is taken _verbatim_ from Sykes,
who named it after the Honourable Mountstuart Elphinstone, under the
impression that it was a new species, but it is apparently the same
as _S. Indicus_ of Erxleben and _S. Malabaricus_ of Schinz.
NO. 274. SCIURUS MAXIMUS.
_The Central Indian Red Squirrel_ (_Jerdon's No. 149_).
NATIVE NAMES.--_Kat-berral_, Bengali; _Karat_, Hindi; _Rasu_ and
_Ratuphar_ at Monghyr, according to Hamilton; _Kondeng_ of the
Coles; _Per-warsti_, Gondi; _Bet-udata_, Telegu; _Shekra_,
Mahrathi.
HABITAT.--Malabar coast, Central India, and, according to Dr.
F. B. Hamilton, the hills about Monghyr, whence doubtless the
Calcutta market is supplied. Hodgson records it from the Himalayan
Terai.
[Illustration: _Sciurus maximus_.]
DESCRIPTION.--"The upper surface and the sides of the neck, the
shoulders, and the outside of the fore-limbs, the lumbar and sacral
regions, the outside of the thighs and the tail are black, the black
of the hind-quarters being prolonged forwards along the mesial line
towards the black of the shoulders; a large dark maroon spot on the
vertex, separated from the maroon of the nape by yellowish
inter-aural area, which extends downwards and forwards to the
cheeks; a maroon-coloured line passes downward from the front of the
ear, with a yellow area behind it. The sides of the face and muzzle
are pale yellowish, the latter being flesh-coloured; the other
portions of the trunk and the lower half of the tibial portion of
the hind limbs are maroon. The tail is either black or maroon black,
sometimes tipped with yellowish brown. The whole of the under-parts
and inside of the limbs and the hands and feet are rich yellowish;
the ears strongly maroon and tufted" (_Dr. Anderson_). Jerdon's
description of this animal is very meagre and doubtful.
SIZE.--About the same as the last.
This squirrel was tolerably common in the forests of Seonee, and we
had one or two in confinement. One belonging to my brother-in-law
was so tame as to allow of any amount of bullying by his children,
who used to pull it about as though it were a puppy or kitten, but
I have known others to bite severely and resent any freedom.
NO. 275. SCIURUS MACROURUS.
_The Long-tailed Forest Squirrel_ (_Jerdon's No. 152_).
NATIVE NAMES.--_Rookeeah_ or _Dandoleyna_, Singhalese.
HABITAT.--Ceylon, Southern India, i.e. Malabar, Travancore, Mysore,
Neilgherries.
DESCRIPTION.--"Fur of the upper parts coarse and slightly waved;
above, the colour varies from maroon-black to rufous brown; hairs
sometimes grizzled and tipped white or pale yellow, particularly on
the croup, sides, and upper parts of limbs; crown of the head darker
in most specimens than other parts; cheeks, under-parts, and lower
two-thirds of limbs of a fulvous white; occiput of a deeper fulvous,
sometimes yellow or ferruginous brown; an indistinct dark spot on
the cheek, which is sometimes absent; two-thirds or more of the basal
portion of the tail black or brown; the rest grizzled grey or fulvous.
In some the hairs of the whole tail are tipped white, and in others
grizzled white throughout. In the young there is very little of brown
or black; the whole tail is more or less formed of grey hairs, and
the terminal third is nearly white. Grey is also the prevailing
colour on the posterior half of the body; toes in all black or
blackish brown; ears hairy, only slightly tufted in adults."--_Kellaart_.
SIZE.--Head and body, 13-1/2 inches; tail, 11 inches.
This squirrel also varies greatly in colouring, and has led several
naturalists astray. Kellaart, in his 'Prodromus Faunae Zeylanicae,'
says he has seen them in a transition state from dark brown to
grizzled grey.
NO. 276. SCIURUS GIGANTEUS.
_The Black Hill Squirrel_ (_Sciurus macrouroides in Jerdon, No.
151_).
NATIVE NAMES.--_Shingsham_, Bhotia; _Le-hyuk_, Lepcha; _Jelarang_,
Javanese; _Chingkrawah-etam_, Malay; _Leng-thet_, in Arakan; _Sheu_,
in Tenasserim.
HABITAT.--North-west Himalayas to Assam, the Garo hills, Sylhet, and
Cachar, spreading from Northern Assam across to Yunnan, and through
Arakan and Tenasserim on to the Malayan peninsula and Borneo.
DESCRIPTION.--"This species has well-tufted ears; the upper surface
is either wholly black or reddish-brown, without any trace of white;
the tail is generally jet black, also the outside of the fore and
hind limbs, and the upper surface of the feet; an elongated black
spot is almost invariably found below the eye from beyond the
moustache, and the eye is encircled with black. There are generally
two black spots on the under surface of the chin; the under parts
and the inside of the limbs vary from pale yellowish-white to a rich
rufous orange; the basal portion of the hairs of the under-parts is
dark brown or black, and the ventral area has frequently a dull hue
where the yellow tips are sparse; the coats of these squirrels are
generally sleek, glossy and deep black, and while in this condition
the under surface is most brilliant, especially at its line of
junction with the black, along the sides of the body and limbs,
tending to form a kind of bright band.
"In some the upper parts have a brownish hue, but this is not
characteristic of any particular locality, as two individuals, one
from Nepal and the other from Borneo, are equally brown. While the
fur is of this colour it is long and coarse, and the under-parts are
less brilliant. These phases are probably seasonal, and connected
with the breeding period."--_Anderson_.
SIZE.--Head and body, about 15 inches; tail, about 16 inches.
* * * * *
The next group consists of squirrels of medium size with grizzled
fur, as Jerdon remarks of the two species he mentions; but with the
rich fields of Burmah and Assam we can swell our list to over a dozen.
It is doubtful whether one or two of the named species are not
varieties of one and the same, so nearly are they allied, but this
remains to be proved.
NO. 277. SCIURUS LOKRIAH.
_The Orange-bellied Grey Squirrel_ (_Jerdon's No. 153_).
NATIVE NAMES.--_Lokriah_, Nepalese; _Zhamo_, Bhotia, _Killi_, or
_Kalli-tingdong_, Lepcha (_Jerdon_).
HABITAT.--Nepal, Sikim, Assam (Khasia Hills), and Burmah (Arakan).
DESCRIPTION.--A deep ferruginous olive-brown, the hairs tipped with
orange, soft and silky; the under-parts from chin to vent and the
outside of the thighs a rich orange; the tail is shorter than that
of the next species, concolorous with the body above, but the banding
of the hair is coarser, the apical black band being very broad, tipped
with orange or white, generally the latter, the general hue being
blackish washed with orange or white. In some the general hue is
orange brown with obscure annuli; the arrangement of the hair is
distichous or in two rows.
SIZE.--Head and body, about 8 inches; tail, 6-1/2 to 8 inches,
including hair.
There is some confusion between this and the next species, _S.
lokroides_, and the distinctive characteristics quoted by Jerdon and
others, founded on colouring alone, are not to be depended upon, for
colouring varies, but there is considerable difference in the skulls
of the two, _S. lokriah_ having a smaller skull, with distinct
peculiarities. The inter-orbital portion of the skull is narrower
anteriorly and posteriorly, and the muzzle is narrow at the base,
and of nearly equal breadth throughout. The nasals are long and
narrow, and reach further back than in _S. lokroides_. These points,
which are brought forward by Dr. Anderson, are sufficient to indicate
that they are quite distinct species. As regards colouring _S.
lokriah_ has normally red thighs, but even this is absent at times.
Dr. Anderson says: "It is much more richly coloured than _S.
lokroides_, with no rufous even on the thighs, and with generally
a tuft of pure white hair behind the ear, by which it can be recognised,
as it occurs in twenty instances out of twenty-five, and even when
absent the hairs in that locality have a paler colour. As this whitish
tuft lies backwards, it is only seen when the ear is carefully
examined."
NO. 278. SCIURUS LOKROIDES.
_The Hoary-bellied Grey Squirrel_ (_Jerdon's No. 154_).
HABITAT.--In the lower ranges of the South-eastern Himalayas, Nepal,
Sikim, Assam, Tipperah and Arakan.
DESCRIPTION.--This is a most difficult species to describe. Dr.
Anderson writes: "I have before me sixty-two examples of various
squirrels which have been referred to _S. lokroides_, _S.
Assamensis_ and _S. Blythii_ by Hodgson, M'Clelland and Tytler, also
the types of _S. similis_ (Gray), which were forwarded to the British
Museum as _S. lokroides_ by Hodgson. After a careful consideration
of these materials, they appear to me to be referable to one species.
Hodgson, who first described it, referred to it all those Himalayan
squirrels slightly larger than _S. lokriah_, and which had the
ventral surface either pale whitish or slightly washed with rufous,
the sides also being sometimes suffused with this tinge especially
on the anterior half of the thigh, which in many is bright orange
red; but this colour is variable, and many squirrels have this
portion of the body white, of which _S. Blythii_ is an example; and
others similar to it are before me from Bhutan and Assam which do
not differ from _S. lokroides_ except in the presence of this white
area, which is evidently only a variation on the red area, and
probably a seasonal change, as many show merely a faint rufous tinge
in the inguinal region, that colour being entirely absent on the
outside of the thigh.
"It is, however, worthy of note that those squirrels which have a
rufous tinge in the inguinal region rarely, if ever, have the outside
of the thigh bright red, and that the squirrels distinguished by
white on their thighs are from Bhutan, Assam, and the Garo hills.
But I do not see that these latter differ in any other respect from
the squirrels sent by Hodgson as specimens of _S. lokroides_, with
and without red thighs. Moreover, one of Hodgson's specimens of _S.
lokroides_ shows a tendency in the thigh to become white" ('Anat.
and Zool. Researches,' pp. 247, 248).
The difficulty in laying down precise rules for colouring is here
evident, but in general I may say that the upper parts are rufescent
olive brown, the hair being grizzled or banded black and yellow,
commencing with greyish-black at the base, then yellow, black,
yellow with a dark brown or black tip; the lower parts are rufous
hoary or grey, tinged with rufous, or the latter shade may be
restricted to the groin or inguinal parts. The fur is coarser and
more broadly ringed than in _S. lokriah_, and the ventral surface
is never tinged with orange, as in that species; the tail is
concolorous with the back; the hair more coarsely annulated; there
is no white tuft behind the ears, as in the last species.
SIZE.--About the same as the last, or Dr. Anderson says: "In the form
referable to _S. Blythii_, a white spot occurs on the inguinal region
of the thigh in the position in which the rufous of the so-called
red-legged squirrels is developed. The groin in some of these
squirrels shows also a decided rufous tinge, while the remainder of
the belly is sullied grey white. If these forms were without the white
thigh-spot, they would exactly conform to the type of _S. Assamensis_.
A squirrel in the British Museum, labelled _S. Tytleri_ (Verreau,
'Indes Orientales'), agrees with _S. Blythii_" ('A. and Z. Res.',
p. 249).
Blyth has seen a squirrel of this species renewing its coat, and
assuming a variegated appearance during its transition to the
breeding dress.
A jet-black squirrel of the same proportion occurs in Sylhet and
Cachar, which Dr. Anderson is inclined to think belongs also to this
species.
We may, therefore, regard the following as being the same as _S.
lokroides_, viz., _S. Assamensis_, _S. Blythii_, _S. similis_, and
the black one, which has apparently not been named.
Jerdon states that these squirrels are mostly seen in the autumn when
the chestnuts, of which they are very fond, ripen.
NO. 279. SCIURUS PYGERYTHRUS.
HABITAT.--Burmah (Lower Pegu, and common in the neighbourhood of
Rangoon).
DESCRIPTION.--Upper parts dark olive grey; basal third of the tail
concolorous with the back, its latter two-thirds ringed olive-yellow
and black; the tip black; feet olive grey, sometimes washed with
yellowish; under surface and inside of limbs orange yellow, which
extends also along the middle of the under part of the tail. Paler
varieties occur. The skull of this species is smaller than those of
_S. caniceps_, _S. Phayrei_ and _S. Blanfordii_.
NO. 280. SCIURUS CANICEPS.
_The Golden-backed Squirrel_.
HABITAT.--Burmah (Upper Tenasserim and Tavoy).
DESCRIPTION.--General colour grey or fulvous above; limbs outside
grizzled grey; feet yellowish-grey; in some cases the nape,
shoulders, and upper parts of back are vivid light ferruginous or
golden fulvous, sometimes extending downwards on to the base of the
tail. Some have only a trace of this colouring, others none at all.
There is infinite variety of colouring in this species, as I observed
in my remarks on the genus, and it is closely allied to the next three,
if they do not ultimately prove to be the same.
"Out of a large series of specimens referable to _S. caniceps_, the
males illustrate three phases of colouring, associated with a
difference in the character of the fur. The first is a grey, the
second a yellowish, and the third a phase in which the back becomes
brilliant yellowish-red."--_Anderson_.
NO. 281. SCIURUS PHAYREI.
_The Laterally-banded or Phayre's Squirrel_.
HABITAT.--Burmah. Common in Martaban; has also been obtained at
Tounghu.
DESCRIPTION.--Upper parts dark olive grey; lower parts rich orange
red; the same colour being more or less continued along the under
surface of the tail; the orange colour extends over the inside of
the limbs, the front of the thigh and on the feet; the fore-limbs
are dusky outside, with pale rufous yellow feet. Its chief
distinguishing mark is a brown well-defined dark band on the flanks
between the colour of the upper and lower parts.
NO. 282. SCIURUS BLANFORDII.
_Blanford's Squirrel_.
HABITAT.--Upper Burmah.
DESCRIPTION.--Pale grey above, finely punctulated with black and
grey; tail concolorous, with a black tip; under parts pale orange
yellow; hands and feet yellow. Dr. Anderson shot a female at Pudeepyo,
in the beginning of January, which had a distinct tendency to the
formation of a dusky lateral stripe, as in the last species; the
under-parts also were much more rich orange than in the type of this
species. In the grey phase of _S. caniceps_ that species is so like
_S. Blanfordii_ in the colouring of the upper parts and feet that
it is almost impossible to distinguish them, but, according to Dr.
Anderson, "on examining the under parts it is found that in these
phases of _S. caniceps_ they are grey, whereas in _S. Blanfordii_
they are a beautiful rich orange, and the feet are yellow."
Before proceeding to the next species, which is a better marked one,
I will quote one more passage from Dr. Anderson's careful comparison
of the four preceding squirrels. "_S. Phayrei_ corresponds in the
colour of the upper fur to the yellow phase of _S. caniceps_, and
the tail is the same as in it, having a black tip, which is the
character also that that appendage has in _S. pygerythrus_. In some
examples of _S. Phayrei_ the dusky or blackish is not confined to
the lateral line, but extends over the outside of the fore-limbs,
the feet being always yellow in squirrels presenting these
characters. Some specimens of _S. pygerythrus_ show a distinct
tendency to have yellow feet, and further research will probably
prove _S. Phayrei_ to be only a variety of _S. pygerythrus_. When
Blyth first encountered this form, he simply regarded it as a variety
of _S. pygerythrus_, and I believe his first opinion will be
ultimately found to be more in accordance with the real
interpretation of the facts than the conclusion he afterwards
adopted. In the Paris Museum there is an example of _S. Blanfordii_
from Upper Burmah which distinctly shows a dark lateral streak, so
that, taking into consideration the other examples to which I have
already referred, there seems to be a presumption that it and _S.
Phayrei_ are one and the same species, and that they are probably
identical with _S. pygerythrus_; moreover, my impression is that a
more extensive series will establish their identity with _S.
caniceps_. This view of the question is also supported by a small
series of these squirrels in the Leyden Museum from Tounghu in Upper
Burmah, presented by the Marquis of Tweeddale. From the characters
manifested by these squirrels, and the circumstances that they were
all shot in one locality, they are of great interest. One is an adult,
and in its upper parts it exactly resembles _S. Blanfordii_, also
in its yellow feet and black tip to its tail, but, like _S. Phayrei_,
it has a broad blackish-brown lateral stripe. The others are smaller,
and resemble the foregoing specimens in all their characters, except
that they have no dark lateral streak, and that the feet of two are
concolorous with the upper parts, while in the remaining squirrel
the feet appear to be changing to yellow, as in the adult. The two
former of these, therefore, conform to the type of _S. pygerythrus_,
but the fur of the upper parts is greyer and not so richly coloured
as in it, but the annulation of the fur has the same character in
both. The remaining specimen in its features is distinctly referable
to _S. Blanfordii_" ('Anat. and Zool. Researches,' p. 232).
NO. 283. SCIURUS ATRODORSALIS.
_The Black-backed Squirrel_.
HABITAT.--Burmah and the Malayan countries. Common in Martaban.
DESCRIPTION.--There are two phases of colouring, in which both old
and young of this species are found: with the black on the back, and
again without it. In the latter case the upper parts and feet are
a yellowish-rufous. The upper surface of the head, as far back as
to include the ears, orange red; under parts and inside of limbs more
or less chestnut; under surface of neck orange yellow, with a centre
line of the same on the chest; tail variable--in the young it has
seven alternate orange and black bands, the orange being terminal;
but the adults have sometimes only five bands, the apical one so broad
as to make a rich orange tail with yellowish-white tipped hair. In
those with black backs the colour of the upper fur is less fulvous,
and the chestnut of the lower parts is darker; in some the tail has
broad orange tipped hairs, whilst in others it is, with the exception
of the base, wholly black, and not annulated. These differences in
colouring are not sexual, nor due to age. The skull of _S.
atrodorsalis_ resembles that of _S. caniceps_, but is broader, with
a somewhat shorter muzzle, has smaller teeth, and would appear to
be, from comparisons made by Dr. Anderson, smaller.
NO. 284. SCIURUS ERYTHRAEUS.
_The Assam Red-bellied Squirrel_.
HABITAT.--Assam, Garo hills, Munipur.
DESCRIPTION.--The upper parts glistening deep reddish-black,
minutely grizzled with light fulvous or yellowish-brown, each hair
having two annulations; under parts and inside of limbs dark reddish
maroon; feet black; tail concolorous with the back from the basal
third, then gradually less grizzled; the terminal half black;
whiskers black. Pallas describes the black of the tail as passing
upwards in a mesial line.
SIZE.--Head and body, about 9 to 10 inches; tail with hair, from 11
to 12 inches.
NO. 285. SCIURUS GORDONI.
_Gordon's Squirrel_.
HABITAT.--Upper Burmah.
DESCRIPTION.--Dr. Anderson, who first named this species, describes
it as follows: "_S. Gordoni_ has the upper surface and a narrow line
from between the fore-limbs along the middle of the body grizzled
olive-brown or greyish, with a variable rufous tint; the annulations
are not so fine as in _S. erythraeus_. The chin and sides of the throat
are paler grizzled than on the back and the lower part of the throat;
the chest, belly, and inside of the limbs are either pale yellow or
rich orange-yellow, or passing into pale chestnut in the Assam
variety, in which the belly is rarely lineated. The ears are feebly
pencilled; the tail has the same proportion as in _S. erythraeus_
and _S. castaneoventris_[20] but it is more persistently and
uniformly concolorous with the body than in these species, and is
finely ringed with black and yellow, the rings being most distinct
on the latter fourth; the tip is generally washed with orange yellow"
('Anat. and Zool. Res.').
[Footnote 20: A Chinese species: Western China, Formosa and
Hainau.--R. A. S.]
SIZE.--Head and body, 9 inches; tail, 7 inches.
NO. 286. SCIURUS HIPPURUS.
_The Chestnut-bellied Assam Squirrel_.
HABITAT.--Assam; also in the Malayan peninsula.
DESCRIPTION.--Upper parts of the body, with base of tail
yellowish-rufous, punctulated with yellow and black; the lower parts
deep ruddy ferruginous or chestnut; feet, tail (which is bushy) and
whiskers black.
Dr. Anderson, however, mentions several varieties. He writes: "The
specimen in the British Museum referred by Dr. Gray to _S.
rufogaster_, var. _Borneoensis_ differs from Malayan specimens in
having portions of the upper parts unannulated and of a deep rich
chestnut, which embraces the upper surface of the base of the tail,
and is concolorous with the chestnut of the under parts. This,
however, is evidently not a persistent form, because I have seen a
specimen from the same island in which the red portion of the upper
parts is grizzled and much of the same tint as Malayan individuals,
except in the mesial line of the neck and back, where the colour is
rich red-brown extending along the dorsum of the tail for about three
inches.
"Muller and Schlegel mention a variety that I have not seen, and of
which they state that the red colour of the under parts extends to
the heel, the forefoot and the toes, while the colour of the upper
parts passes into a uniform lustrous black. They also remark, however,
that the back not unfrequently assumes a pale yellowish brown tint"
('Anat. and Zool. Res.' p. 242).
Horsfield remarks:--"This species is nearly allied to the _S.
erythraeus_ of Pallas, but it varies in the depth of the colours both
above and underneath."
"In the skull the orbit is rather large, and the muzzle is so
contracted at its base that the extremity is but little
narrower."--_Anderson_.
NO. 287. SCIURUS SLADENI.
_Sladen's Squirrel_.
HABITAT.--Upper Burmah.
DESCRIPTION.--After Dr. Anderson ('Proc. Zool. Soc.' 1871, p. 139)
who first obtained and named this species: "grizzled, rufous olive
above, the annulations fine, and the fur of moderate length; the
forehead, face, chin, throat, belly, inside of limbs, front of thighs,
lower half of fore-limbs, and the hind-feet rich chestnut red; tail
rather bushy, as long as the body without the neck and head,
concolorous with the upper surface of the body, but slightly more
rufous; with a bright chestnut red tip."
SIZE.--Head and body, 10-1/4 inches; tail, including rufous tip, 8
inches.
This handsome squirrel is figured in the volume of plates belonging
to Dr. Anderson's work on the Zoology of the Yunnan Expedition.
Speaking of the skull he says: "The skull of _S. Sladeni_ has a rather
short muzzle, with considerable breadth across its base superiorly,
and it is a shorter and broader skull than the skulls of squirrels
referred to _S. Blanfordii_. Compared with the skull of the
red-headed specimen of _S. erythraeus_ from Bhutan, there is a
decided resemblance between the two, the chief distinction being the
less breadth of the base of the muzzle of the latter, but the teeth
of this specimen show it to be young, while the teeth of _S. Sladeni_
are much worn by use."--'A. and Z. Res.' p. 243.
NO. 288. SCIURUS FERRUGINEUS.
_The Rusty-coloured Squirrel_.
HABITAT.--From Assam to Burmah and Siam, and the adjacent islands
of Pulo Condor and Sichang.
DESCRIPTION.--Colouring most diverse, no less than ten named species
being referable to this one, viz., _S. Finlaysoni_, _S. ferrugineus_,
_S. Keraudrenii_, _S. splendidus_, _S. cinnamomeus_, _S. Siamensis_,
_S. splendens_, _S. Germani_, _S. Bocourtii_, _S. leucogaster_; some
are rich red, one jet black, and another is white, but apparently
most of the varieties come from Siam; the Assam and Burmah specimens
being reddish, of which the following description is by Blyth,
according to Horsfield's Catalogue, where it is entered as _S.
Keraudrenii_: "Entirely of a deep rufo-ferruginous colour, rather
darker above than below; the fur of the upper parts somewhat
glistening; toes of all the feet blackish, as in the three preceding,
and the extreme tip of the tail yellowish-white."
* * * * *
The following group consists of the striped squirrels, a smaller and
more terrestrial species, allied to the ground squirrels (_Tamias_).
NO. 289. SCIURUS PALMARUM.
_The Common Indian Ground Squirrel_ (_Jerdon's No. 155_).
NATIVE NAMES.--_Gilehri_, Hindi; _Beral_, _Lakki_, Bengali;
_Kharri_, Mahrathi; _Alalu_, Canarese; _Vodata_, Telegu; _Urta_ of
Waddurs (_Jerdon_).
HABITAT.--India generally, except in some parts of Malabar and
North-eastern Bengal.
DESCRIPTION.--The upper parts are dusky greenish-grey, with five
yellowish-white dorsal lines, the two outer ones being faint and
indistinct; under parts whitish; the hairs of the tail are annulated
with red and black; ears round. But the colouring varies; some are
much darker than others; one I have is a deep ferruginous brown
between the dorsal stripes.
SIZE.--Head and body, 6-1/2 to 7 inches; tail, 5-1/2 to 6 inches.
This beautiful little animal is well known to almost all who have
lived in India, and it is one of the most engaging and cheerful of
all the frequenters of our Mofussil bungalows, although I have heard
the poor little creature abused by some in unmeasured terms, as a
nuisance on account of its piercing voice. I confess to liking even
its shrill chatter; but then I am not easily put out by noise, and
am rather like the deaf old King of Oude, who sits and reads in his
cockatoo house, and looks up smilingly, as half a dozen of them give
vent to extra diabolical shrieks, and pleasantly remarks: "Ah: the
birds are singing a little this morning!" I am not quite so bad as
that; but as I now sit writing, I have a hill myna on one side of
me imitating an ungreased cart-wheel and the agonies of an asthmatic
_derzie_, and on the other side a small female of the rose-headed
parrakeet, which has a most piercing selection of whistles and small
talk, to say nothing of two small bipeds of five and seven, who cap
all the rest for noise, till I sometimes wish I had the aural
afflictions of the old king. I can, however, quite imagine the
irritation the sharp chirrup-chirrup of this little squirrel would
cause to an invalid, for there is something particularly
ear-piercing about it; but their prettiness and familiarity make up
in great measure for their noisiness. They are certainly a nuisance
in a garden, and I rather doubt whether they are of any use, as
McMaster says, "in destroying many insects, especially white ants,
beetles, both in their perfect and larval state," &c. He adds: "They
are said to destroy the eggs of small birds, but I have never observed
this myself." I should also doubt this, were it not that the European
squirrel is accused of the same thing. General McMaster, I think,
got his idea from a quaint old book, which he quotes at times, Dr.
John Fryer's 'Voyage to East India and Bombain,' who, writing on the
nests of the weaver bird (_Ploceus baya_), says: "It ties it by so
slender a Thread to the Bough of the Tree, that the Squirrel dare
not venture his body, though his Mouth water at the eggs and Prey
within." McMaster himself writes: "This familiar little pest is
accused, but I believe unjustly, of robbing nests; were he guilty
of this, it would in the breeding season cause much excitement among
the small birds, in whose society he lives on terms of almost perfect
friendship." There is much truth in this. Wood and others, however,
state that the European squirrel has been detected in the act of
carrying off a small bird out of a nest, and that it will devour eggs,
insects, &c.
Jerdon relates the Indian legend that, when Hanuman was crossing the
Ganges, it was bridged over by all the animals; one small gap remained,
which was filled by this squirrel, and as Hanuman passed over
he put his hand on the squirrel's back, on which the marks of his
five fingers have since remained. It is not unlike the chipmunk of
America (_Tamias striatus_), but these true ground squirrels have
cheeks pouches and live in burrows. Our so-called palm squirrel
(though it does not affect palms any more than other trees) builds
a ragged sort of nest of any fibrous matter, without much attempt
at concealment; and I have known it carry off bits of lace and strips
of muslin and skeins of wool from a lady's work-box for its
house-building purposes. The skins of this species nicely cured make
very pretty slippers. They are very easily tamed, and often fall
victims to their temerity, in venturing unknown into their owner's
pockets, boxes, boots, &c. One I have now is very fond of a mess of
parched rice and milk. It sleeps rolled up in a ball, not on its side,
but with its head bent down between its legs.
NO. 290. SCIURUS TRISTRIATUS.
_The Three-striped Ground-Squirrel_ (_Jerdon's No. 156_).
NATIVE NAMES.--As in the last. _Leyna_ in Singhalese.
HABITAT.--Ceylon and Southern India; on the Neilgherries. Has been
found in Midnapur, and it is stated to range northward to the
Himalayas.
DESCRIPTION.--Somewhat larger and darker than the last species,
manifesting considerable variation in the colour of the dark lines
of the back. In some the lines are rufous; in others dark brown or
blackish throughout, or black only from the shoulder to the lumbar
region. The general tints are rusty red on the head, greyish on the
shoulders, blackish in the middle of the back, rusty on the haunches.
Three well-defined yellow dorsal lines, not extending the whole
length of the back; the tail rusty beneath, darker than _S. palmarum_
on the sides.
SIZE.--Head and body, 7-1/2 inches; tail, 7-1/2 inches.
This squirrel is more shy than the last, and keeps to the woods,
although occasionally it will approach houses. Dr. Jerdon says a pair
frequented his house at Tellicherry, but they were less familiar than
_S. palmarum_, and endeavoured to shun observation. Kellaart gives
a careful description of it, but does not say anything about its
habits, at which I wonder, for it is common there, and takes the place
of our little Indian friend, though probably its more retiring
disposition has prevented so much notice being taken of it. Were it
in the habit of frequenting houses in the manner of its Indian cousin,
I am sure Sir Emerson Tennent would have devoted a page to it, whereas
he does not mention it at all. It had also escaped McMaster's notice,
careful observer though he was. Waterhouse, in his description
('Proc. Zool. Soc.' 1839, p. 118), describes some differences in the
skull of this and _S. palmarum_, but Dr. Anderson finds no difference
whatever.
NO. 291. SCIURUS LAYARDI.
_Layard's Striped Ground-Squirrel_ (_Jerdon's No. 157_).
HABITAT.--Ceylon; in the highlands and the mountains of Travancore
in Southern India.
DESCRIPTION.--Dark dingy olive, inclining more to ashy than fulvous,
except on the head and flanks. Lower parts ferruginous, paler on the
breast; middle of back very dark, with a narrow bright fulvous streak
in the middle, reaching from between the shoulders to near the tail,
and an obscure shorter stripe on either side, barely reaching to the
croup; tail ferruginous along the centre, the hairs margined with
black, with white tips; a narrower black band near the base of each
hair; tip of tail black, forming a pencil tuft three inches long.
In some specimens the centre dorsal streak is bright orange, the two
intervening bands being jet black. In those in which the streaks are
pale, the intervening bands differ only from the surrounding fur in
being darker, but are grizzled like it. There is a narrow rufous area
round the eye; the whiskers are black; the under-parts and inside
of limbs are bright reddish-chestnut, and this colour extends along
the under-part of the tail. Jerdon calls this squirrel _the
Travancore striped squirrel_, but I see no reason to retain this name,
as it is not peculiar to Travancore, but was first found in Ceylon
by Mr. E. Layard, after whom Blyth named it.
NO. 292. SCIURUS SUBLINEATUS.
_The Dusky-striped Ground-Squirrel_ (_Jerdon's No. 158_).
HABITAT.--The mountains of Ceylon and Southern India.
DESCRIPTION.--Smaller than the palm squirrel; fur soft, dense,
grizzled olive brown; base of hairs dusky black; three pale and four
dark lines on the back and croup, the lineation being obscure, and
reaching only from the shoulder to the sacral region. Under-parts
variable, but always dusky, never bright, from grey to dusky brown
washed with rufous; tail concolorous with the upper part of the body
and obscurely annulated.
SIZE.--Head and body, 5 to 6 inches; tail, 4-1/2 to 6 inches.
Kellaart calls this _the Newara Elia ground-squirrel_, and Jerdon
_the Neilgherry striped squirrel_, but, as it is not peculiar to
either one or the other place, I think it better to adopt another
popular name. It is common about Newara Elia and Dimboola, but it
does not seem to descend lower than 3000 feet. In Southern India it
is found in the Neilgherries, Wynaad and Coorg, but only at
considerable elevations.
NO. 293. SCIURUS MCCLELLANDI.
_McClelland's Ground-Squirrel_ (_Jerdon's No. 159_).
NATIVE NAME.--_Kalli-gangdin_, Lepcha.
HABITAT.--"This species has a wide distribution, ranging from Nepal
and Thibet to the east of China and Formosa, and through Assam and
Cachar south-eastward to Tenasserim and Siam."--_Anderson_.
DESCRIPTION.--General hue olive brown, each hair having a blackish
tip, a sub-apical yellow band, and a slaty black base. A pale
yellowish band on the side of the nose, passing underneath the eye
and ear along the side of the neck, and continued along the side of
the back to the base of the tail; its upper margin has a dusky line;
a narrow black line from between the shoulders over the vertebrae
to the root of the tail; tail grizzled dark above, fulvous beneath;
whiskers black; limbs concolorous with the body: ears small, black
edged, fulvous white within, and with white pencil tufts.
SIZE.--Head and body, 5 inches; tail, 4 inches.
Dr. Anderson obtained this species at Ponsee in Burmah, at an
elevation of 3500 feet, and Dr. Jerdon, at Darjeeling, at from 4000
to 6000 feet. This species is synonymous with Blyth's _S. Barbei_.
NO. 294. SCIURUS BERDMOREI.
_Berdmore's Ground-Squirrel_.
HABITAT.--Tenasserim and Martaban.
DESCRIPTION.--General colour brownish, with a distinct rufous tinge
on the middle of the back. It is punctulated with yellowish on the
head, sides of face and body and outside of limbs, and with rich
rufous on the middle of the back. An obscure narrow black line along
the middle of the back from between the shoulders, but only extending
half way down the trunk. On the sides of the back a yellow line from
shoulder to articulation of femur; this is margined below with a
broad black band, and above by an obscure dusky line. There is a broad
pale yellow linear area below the former of these two dark bands,
the portion of the side below it being concolorous with the thighs
and fore-limbs. The rufous area of the back is confined between the
two uppermost yellow lines; ears are large; all under-parts white,
slightly washed here and there with yellowish; the tail moderately
bushy, all the hairs annulated with four alternative orange and black
bands, the terminal black band being occasionally tipped with white,
and being as broad as the three remaining bands, so that the tail
has a decidedly black tint washed with whitish, the orange bands,
however, appearing through the black.
SIZE.--Head and body, about 7-3/4 inches; tail without hair, 5
inches.
NO. 295. SCIURUS QUINQUESTRIATUS.
_The Stripe-bellied Squirrel_.
HABITAT.--Kakhyen hills, on the Burmo-Chinese frontier.
DESCRIPTION.--"Above grizzled olive, brownish-grey, with a distinct
rufous tint, deepest on the dorsal surface; annulation fine, as in
the grizzled squirrels generally; chin and throat obscurely grizzled
greyish, washed with reddish; a rufous grizzled blackish-brown band
from the chest along the middle line of the belly to the vent;
external of this, on either side, a broad pure white well-defined
band from the side to the chest along the belly and prolonged along
the inguinal region to the vent; a broad black band from the hollow
of the axilla along the side of the belly, expanding on the inside
of the thighs, where it is faintly washed with greyish; inside of
the fore-limbs blackish, washed with greyish; toes black, with
rufous annulations. Tail nearly as long as the body and head,
concolorous with body, but the black and rufous annulations much
broader and more marked, assuming the form of indistinct rufous and
black rings on the posterior third; tip of tail jet black, narrowly
terminated with greyish."--_Dr. J. Anderson_ in 'Proc. Zool. Soc.'
1871, p. 142.
SIZE.--Head and body, about 9-1/2 inches; tail, 7-1/4 inches.
This curious squirrel was first discovered and named by Dr. Anderson,
who states that it was common at Ponsee on the Kakhyen range of hills
east of Bhamo, at an elevation of from 2000 to 3000 feet, and as yet
it has only been found on those hills. There is a coloured plate of
it in the 'Proceedings of the Zoological Society' for 1871.
* * * * *
The next animal forms a curious link in resemblance between the
Tupaiidae and the squirrels. I mentioned some time back that the
first Tupaia was taken for a squirrel; and certainly, to look at this
long-snouted squirrel, one might easily be misled into supposing it
to be a Tupaia, till an examination of its dentition proved it to
be a rodent. It is supposed to be a Malayan species, but I was shown
not long ago a specimen in Mr. Hume's collection which I understood
Mr. Davison to say he had procured in Burmah. It has been classed
by Dr. Gray in a separate genus, _Rhinosciurus_.
NO. 296. SCIURUS (RHINOSCIURUS) TUPAOIDES.
_The Long-nosed Squirrel_.
HABITAT.--The Malayan peninsula and Borneo, and I believe the
Tenasserim provinces.
DESCRIPTION.--This animal differs from all other squirrels by the
extreme length of its pointed muzzle, with which is associated a long
and narrow skull. The coloration varies from light to dark, and
almost blackish-brown; the tail is shorter than the body, moderately
bushy, narrow at the base, but expanding towards the tip; the hairs
are broadly banded with four alternate pale and dark brown bands,
the last being the darkest and broadest, with a pale tip; the
under-parts are white in some, rich orange yellow in others.
SIZE.--Head and body, 7-1/2 inches; tail reaches to the eye.
* * * * *
The Flying Squirrels next engage our attention. In several groups
of animals of strictly arboreal habits, nature has gone beyond the
ordinary limits of agility afforded by muscular limbs alone, and has
supplemented those limbs with elastic membranes which act like a
parachute when the animal takes a leap into space, and gives it a
gradual and easy descent. Amongst the lemurs the _Galeopithecus_,
the _Pteromys_ in the squirrels, and the _Anomalurus_ in another
family of rodents, are all thus provided with the apparatus necessary
to enable them to float awhile in the air, for flying is scarcely
the proper term for the letting-down easy principle of the mechanism
in question.
The flying squirrels, with which we have now to deal, are in general
details the same as ordinary squirrels, but the skin of the flanks
is extended between the fore and hind limbs, which, when spread out,
stretches it into a wide parachute, increased in front by means of
a bony spur which projects from the wrist. These animals have been
subdivided into the large round-tailed flying squirrels, _Pteromys_,
and the small flat-tailed flying squirrels, _Sciuropterus_. The
distinction was primarily made by F. Cuvier on the character of the
teeth, as he considered _Sciuropterus_ to have a less complex system
of folds in the enamel of the molars, more like the ordinary squirrels
than _Pteromys_; but modern research has proved that this is not a
good ground for distinction. Dr. Anderson has lately examined the
dentition in eleven species of _Pteromys_ and _Sciuropterus_, and
he says: "According to my observations the form of the enamel folds
in youth are essentially similar, consisting of a series of
tubercular folds which are marked with wavy lines in some, and are
smooth in others, but in all there is a marked conformity to a common
type. The seemingly more complex character of the folds appears to
depend on the extent to which the tubercular ridges are worn by use."
He also questions the propriety of the separation according to the
distichous arrangement of the hairs of the tail. After a careful
examination of the organ in nearly all the members of the series,
he writes: "I have failed to detect that it is essentially
distinctive of them--that is, that the distichous arrangement of the
hairs is always associated with a diminutive species; but at the same
time there can be no doubt that it is more prevalent among such."
He then goes on to show that the tail is bushy in seventeen species,
partially distichous in one, and wholly so in ten, and concludes by
saying: "I am therefore disposed to regard the flying squirrels
generally as constituting a well-defined generic group, the parallel
of the genus _Sciurus_, which consists of an extensive series of
specific forms distinguished by a remarkable uniformity of structure,
both in their skulls and skeletons, and in the formations of their
soft parts." There is a laudable tendency nowadays amongst
mammalogists to reduce as far as possible the number of genera and
species, and, acting on this principle, I will follow Dr. Anderson,
and treat all the Indian flying squirrels under _Pteromys_.
_GENUS PTEROMYS_.
General anatomy that of the squirrel, except that the skin of the
flanks is extended between the limbs in such a manner as to form a
parachute when the fore and hind legs are stretched out in the act
of springing from tree to tree.
NO. 297. PTEROMYS ORAL.
_The Brown Flying Squirrel_
(_Pteromys petaurista in Jerdon, No. 160_).
NATIVE NAMES.--_Oral_ of the Coles; _Pakya_, Mahrathi; _Parachatea_,
Malabarese; _Egala dandoleyna_, Singhalese.
HABITAT.--India, wherever there are large forests; Ceylon.
[Illustration: _Pteromys oral_.]
DESCRIPTION.--Upper parts dusky maroon black grizzled with white;
this effect being due to the ends of the hairs being white, tipped
with a small black point.
The muzzle and around the eyes, and the feet are black; the limbs
and side membrane a lighter rufous maroon; the male has an irregular
rufous patch on the sides of the neck, according to Elliot, which
in the female is a pale fawn colour; the tail is rather longer than
the body, and very bushy; its terminal two-thirds or three-fourths
are black or blackish--sometimes (rarely) a little white at the
extreme tip; the under-parts are dingy brownish-grey or nearly white.
The female has six mammae--two pectoral and four ventral.
SIZE.--Head and body, 20 inches; tail, 21 inches; breadth of expanse,
21 to 24.
This species is nocturnal in its habits as noticed by Mr. Baker
('Journ. As. Soc. Beng.' 1859, vol. xxviii. p. 287), Jerdon and
others.
Mr. Baker says it makes a noise at night in the depths of the jungle
which is alarming to strangers. On the other hand Tickell, who was
one of the first to bring it to notice, says its voice is seldom heard,
and it is a weak, low, soft monotone quickly repeated, so low that
in the same room you require to listen attentively to distinguish
it. "It is to the Coles a sound ominous of domestic affliction. When
angry the oral seldom bites, but scratches with its fore-claws,
grunting at the same time like a guinea-pig." "When taken young it
becomes a most engaging pet. It can be reared on goat's or cow's
milk,[21] and in about three weeks will begin to nibble fruit of any
kind. During the day it sleeps much, either sitting with its back
bent into a circle, and its head thrust down to its belly, or lying
on its back with the legs and parachute extended--a position it is
fond of in sultry weather. During the night time it is incessantly
on the move."
[Footnote 21: I advise half water in the case of cow's milk, or one
quarter water with buffalo milk.--R. A. S.]
Jerdon says of it: "It frequents the loftiest trees in the thickest
parts of the forest, and is quite nocturnal in its habits, usually
making its appearance when quite dusk. The natives discover its
whereabouts by noting the droppings beneath the trees it frequents.
It is said to keep in holes of trees during the day, and breeds in
the same places. In the Wynaad many are killed, and a few captured
alive by the Coorumbars, a jungle race of aborigines, who are usually
employed to fell the forest trees in clearing for coffee; and I have
had several sent to me alive, caught in this way, but could not keep
them for any time. It lives chiefly on fruits of various kinds; also
on bark, shoots, &c., and, Tickell says, occasionally on beetles and
the larvae of insects."
Jerdon says he had several times witnessed the flight of this species
from tree to tree, and on one occasion he noted a flight of over sixty
yards.
"Of course it was very close to the ground when it neared the tree,
and the last few feet of its flight were slightly upwards, which I
have also noticed at other times." I think Wallace has observed the
same of the _Galeopithecus_. How this upward motion is accomplished
more careful investigation will show; in all probability the
depression or elevation of the tail may cause a deviation from a fixed
course. According to Elliot it is very gentle, timid, and may be tamed,
but from its delicacy is difficult to preserve. The fur is soft,
beautiful and much valued. Jerdon gives the localities in which he
has found it to be most common: Malabar, Travancore (the Marquis of
Tweeddale, according to Dr. Anderson, got a specimen from this
locality of a much lighter colour than usual), the Bustar forests
in Central India, Vindhian mountains near Mhow, the Northern Circars,
and the Midnapore jungles.
NO. 298. PTEROMYS CINERACEUS.
_The Ashy Flying Squirrel_.
NATIVE NAME.--_Shau-byau_ in Arakan.
HABITAT.--Assam, Burmah, viz. Arakan, Pegu and Tenasserim
provinces.
DESCRIPTION.--Very like the last, but with a greyish fur, and almost
white tail, with a black tip.
The fur generally is a mixture of pale grey and brownish, the hairs
of the head and back having a whitish sub-terminal band; the tail
consists almost entirely of the greyish hairs; the parachute is
reddish brown; the under-parts white. Blyth, however, mentions a
specimen from Tenasserim which is unusually rufous, with the tail
concolorous with the upper parts.
SIZE.--Same as the last.
It is open to question whether this is not identical with _Pteromys
oral_, merely a local variety. Blyth so termed it; and from what Dr.
Anderson has written on the subject, I gather that he, too, inclines
to the same opinion, as he says: "The dimensions are the same as those
of _P. oral_, Tickell, of which it will probably prove to be a local
race."
NO. 299. PTEROMYS YUNNANENSIS.
_The Yunnan Flying Squirrel_.
HABITAT.--Kananzan mountains; Burmo-Chinese frontier.
DESCRIPTION.--Dr. Anderson, who discovered and named this species,
describes it as follows: "The general colour is a rich dark maroon
chestnut on all the upper parts, the head and back in some being
finely speckled with white, which is most marked in the young, but
is always most profuse on the posterior half of the back, which in
some individuals has almost a hoary tinge, from the extent to which
the annulation of the hairs is carried.
"In the adult, the upper surface of the parachute is of the same
colour as the back, and the hairs are not annulated, except along
its margin; but in younger specimens they are partially so on the
upper surface, as are also the hairs on the first three or six inches
of the tail, which are concolorous with the back, but broadly tipped
with black, while the remaining portion of the tail is rich glossy
black; the sides of the face, below the eye and ear, are
yellowish-grey, mixed with chestnut, and the chin is dusky; the paws
are rich black, also the margins of the limbs; the under surface is
clad with a yellowish-white, rather woolly fur, which in some tends
to a chestnut tint in the middle line, and to a darker tint of the
same colour at the margin of the parachute.
"The basal portion of the fur of the upper parts is a dark
greyish-brown, the hairs at their base being wavy; then follows a
palish chestnut band, succeeded by a dark maroon chestnut, which
either may or may not have a pure white sub-apical band, the tips
of the hairs being glossy deep maroon chestnut, in some verging on
black.
"The ears are large and rounded, and very sparsely covered with black
hairs externally, with chestnut-coloured hairs on the anterior, and
black on the posterior half of the dorsal surface.
"The hairs on the outer side of the tarsus form a rather long and
dense brush; the tail is moderately bushy."--'Anat. and Zool. Res.,'
p. 282.
SIZE.--Dr. Anderson only got skins of this beautiful squirrel, so
accurate dimensions cannot be given, but the largest skin measured
from muzzle to root of tail 24 inches, the tail being the same.
NO. 300. PTEROMYS MELANOPTERUS.
_The Black-flanked Flying Squirrel_.
HABITAT.--Thibet.
DESCRIPTION.--The back and top of the head are greyish-yellowish,
the hairs being leaden grey at the base, passing into yellow, the
sub-terminal part being brown, with a minute dark point; the upper
surface of the parachute is almost wholly black, with a greyish-white
border; under surface yellow; the belly greyish-ashy; feet black;
limbs and tail concolorous with the body, the latter very bushy.
SIZE.--Head and body, about 19-1/4 inches; tail, 17-1/4 inches.
I have included this species, although it does not belong to India
proper; still it would be well if travellers and sportsmen exploring
our Thibetan frontiers would keep a look-out for this animal. At
present all we know of it is from Professor Milne-Edwards's
description of animals collected by the Abbe David, to whom we are
also indebted for the next species.
NO. 301. PTEROMYS ALBORUFUS.
_The Red and White Flying Squirrel_.
HABITAT.--Thibet; district of Moupin.
DESCRIPTION.--I have but a bare note of this species taken long ago
from Milne-Edwards's work on the Mammals of Thibet, so I will quote
Dr. Anderson's description from the types he examined: "The head,
the sides of the neck, the throat and upper part of the chest,
variegated with white, through which the rich maroon of the ground
colour is partially seen, and it forms a ring around the eye; the
hinder part of the back is yellow, and the tail, immediately beyond
its base, is also yellowish for a short way, fading into the deep
maroon of its latter two-thirds. It has no black tip. The feet are
concolorous with the body; the under parts are pale rich orange
yellow; the ears are large and moderately pointed."--'Anat. and Zool.
Res.,' p. 284.
SIZE.--Head and body, about 23 inches; tail, 16 inches.
NO. 302. PTEROMYS MAGNIFICUS.
_The Red-bellied Flying Squirrel_ (_Jerdon's No. 162_).
NATIVE NAME.--_Biyom_, Lepcha.
HABITAT.--South-eastern Himalayas, Nepal, Sikim, Bhotan; also in
the hill ranges of Assam.
DESCRIPTION.--Upper parts dark chestnut or a rich lustrous dark
maroon chestnut, with a golden yellow mesial line in some; the hairs
are black tipped, the dark portions of the back being finely but
obscurely punctulated with dark orange; the shoulders and thighs are
golden yellow, and the under-parts are orange fawn or orange red;
so is also the margin of the parachute; the ears are large, semi-nude,
sparsely clad with pale red hair externally, and bright red
posteriorly, the base of the upper surface being clad with long hair;
the sides of the face below the eyes are yellowish; there is a black
zone round the eyes; the chin and the feet are blackish; the tail
is orange red, tipped more or less broadly with black.
SIZE.--Head and body, about 16 inches; tail, 22 inches.
The young of this species have not the dorsal line, the head and neck
are concolorous with the body, as is also the tail at its base; the
under parts are pale yellowish-red. According to Dr. Anderson the
skulls of _Pteromys magnificus_ and _P. oral_ differ in the shorter
muzzle and the more elevated character of the inter-orbital
depression of the latter. This animal is occasionally found at
Darjeeling, and according to Jerdon it used to be more common there
before the station was so denuded of its fine trees. It frequents
the zone from 6000 to 9000 feet, and feeds on acorns, chestnuts and
other hard fruit; also on young leaves and shoots. There is a coloured
plate of this species in the 'Journal of the Asiatic Society of
Bengal,' vol. xiii. part i. p. 67.
NO. 303. PTEROMYS ALBIVENTER.
_The White-bellied Flying Squirrel_
(_Pteromys inornatus of Jerdon, No. 161_).
NATIVE NAME.--_Rusigugar_, i.e., flying rat, Kashmiri.
HABITAT.--From Nepal, along the North-western Himalayas to Kashmir.
DESCRIPTION.--Upper parts grizzled reddish-brown or dark grey with
a rufous tinge, or a reddish-bay, darker on the upper surface of the
parachute, and outside of limbs; head, neck, and breast
greyish-rufous; cheeks grey; chin, throat and lower part of breast
white, faintly tinged with rufous in the belly; under part of
parachute rufous, tinged white, with a greyish posterior margin.
Occasionally a dark brown band over the nose and round the eyes; the
whiskers and feet blackish.
SIZE.--Head and body, 14 inches; tail, 16 inches.
This is a common squirrel at Simla. One was killed close to the house
in which I was staying in 1880 at the Chota Simla end of the station
by a native servant, who threw a stick at it, and knocked it off a
bough, and I heard of two living ones being hawked about for sale
about the same time--which, to my regret, I failed to secure, some
one having bought them. They are common also in Kashmir, where they
live in holes made in the bark of dead fir-trees. They are said to
hybernate during the season there. A melanoid variety of this species
is mentioned by Dr. Anderson as being in the Leyden Museum. It was
obtained by Dr. Jerdon in Kashmir, and presented to the Museum by
the late Marquis of Tweeddale.
NO. 304. PTEROMYS CANICEPS.
_The Grey-headed Flying Squirrel_
(_Sciuropterus caniceps of Jerdon, No. 163_).
NATIVE NAME.--_Biyom-chimbo_, Lepcha.
HABITAT.--Sikim and Nepal.
DESCRIPTION.--At first sight this seems to be a grey-headed form of
the last species, but with larger ears; the head is iron grey; round
the eyes and a patch above and below orange fulvous or chestnut; the
base of the ears the same. Regarding this Dr. Anderson, on comparing
it with the last, writes: "On a more critical examination of _P.
caniceps_ it appears to me, judging from Hodgson's types of the
species, that it has larger ears, and if this should prove to be a
persistent character, then the grey head and the chestnut speck above
and below the eye, and the bright chestnut tuft behind the ears,
assume a specific importance which they would not otherwise have."
But he adds that his observations are merely from preserved specimens,
and that the question of the magnitude of the ears is one yet to be
settled by further investigation of the living animal. Jerdon's
description is "entire head iron-grey; orbits and base of ears deep
orange fulvous; whole body above, with parachute and tail, a mixture
of blackish and golden yellow; limbs deep orange ochreous; margin
of parachute albescent; beneath the neck whitish; rest of the lower
parts pale orange-red; tip of tail black; ears nearly nude; tail
sub-distichous." The fur is softer, denser, and longer than in the
last two species.
SIZE.--Head and body, about 14 inches; tail, 15 to 16 inches.
NO. 305. PTEROMYS PEARSONII.
_The Hairy-footed Flying Squirrel_
(_Sciuropterus villosus of Jerdon, No. 166_).
HABITAT.--Sikim and Upper Assam.
DESCRIPTION.--Upper part of head and back rich glossy reddish-brown,
grizzled with black; the parachute blackish-brown, sparsely washed
with faint reddish brown.
"Fur very fine, soft, and rather long, but adpressed, and the hidden
portion is almost black, narrowly tipped with the reddish-brown, the
sides of the hair being blackish-brown. On the parachute only a few
hairs have the reddish band, and these are most numerous towards the
margin; the tail is rather bushy and but slightly distichous, and
the hidden portion of its fur is pale fawn at the base, passing into
pale chestnut brown, washed with dusky brown on the sides and upper
surface; the margins of the eyelids are dark brown, and the sides
of the face are pale rufous; the ears are moderately large and rounded,
rather dark brown towards the tips, and pencilled at the base,
anteriorly and posteriorly, with long delicate hairs. There are no
true cheek bristles, but the moustachial hairs are very long; the
under surface is pale ferruginous, palest on the mesial line, and
most rufescent on the outer half of the membrane, the margin of which
inferiorly is pale yellowish; the hairs on the membrane have dark
slaty--almost black--bases, the ferruginous being confined to the
tips; the fur of the under-parts is very soft and dense; the feet
are well clad, more especially so those of the hind limbs."--_Anderson_.
SIZE.--Head and body, 8 inches; tail, 8 inches.
Jerdon says it is found at elevations of 3000 to nearly 6000 feet.
NO. 306. PTEROMYS FUSCOCAPILLUS.
_The Small Travancore Flying Squirrel_
(_Sciuropterus of Jerdon, No. 167_).
HABITAT.--Southern India and Ceylon.
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 coarser
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, passing 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 assertions 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, Assam, 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
hoary 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 dentition 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 sexes 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 grass,
&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 _Himalayanus_ 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 Pass, 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 coarse 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 sparsely 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. Hemachalanus_ 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. Hemachalanus_: "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 HEMACHALANUS.
_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.
SIZE.--Head and body, 13 inches; tail, 5-1/2 inches. Hodgson kept
some of this species in his garden for some time. They were somnolent
by day, active by night, and did not hybernate in Nepal. They were
fed on grain and fruit, and would chatter a good deal over their meals,
but in general were silent. They slept rolled up into a ball, were
tame and gentle usually, but sometimes bit and scratched like rabbits,
uttering a similar cry.
NO. 313. ARCTOMYS AUREUS.
_The Golden Marmot_.
HABITAT.--Yarkand, Kaskasee pass, 13,000 feet, on the road from
Kashgar to Sarikol and the Pamir.
DESCRIPTION.--after Blanford, who described and named this species
('Jour. As. Soc. Beng.' 1875): "General colour tawny to rich
brownish-yellow, the dorsal portion conspicuously tinged with black
from all the hairs having 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, 1-1/4 to 1-1/2 inches long, much mixed with woolly fibres,
dark slaty at the extreme base for about a quarter 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, from a length varying
from an inch to about 2-1/2 inches (in three specimens out of four
it does not exceed an inch); hairs of the tail about two 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 under fur, which is very thick on the
back. Feet above yellowish-tawny, like the sides" ('Scientific
Results of the Second Yarkand Mission': Mammalia).
SIZE.--Head and body, 16 to 18 inches; tail, 5 to 6 inches. Though
this agrees in size with _A. Hemachalanus_ it differs considerably
in colour, and, according to Mr. Blanford, also in the skull. There
is a beautifully drawn and coloured plate of this marmot in the work
from which I have just quoted; also of _A. Himalayanus_ and _A.
caudatus_.
NO. 314. ARCTOMYS DICHROUS.
HABITAT.--Afghanistan; mountainous country north of Cabul.
DESCRIPTION.--Less yellow than the last, without any black on the
back, and having the upper parts pale dull tawny, and the lower rufous
brown. The tail concolorous with the belly, tinged here and there
with rich rufous brown, the tip paling to nearly yellowish-brown.
SIZE.--Head and body, 17 inches; tail, 6-1/2 inches.--_Anderson_,
'Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist.,' vol. xvi. 1875.
NO. 315. ARCTOMYS ROBUSTUS.
Is a Thibetan species, described by Prof. Milne-Edwards, 'Recherches
sur les Mammiferes,' p. 309. I have not the work by me just now.