L HISTORY OF CE
VOLUME XI
MALS OF CHINA A
PART I
FOR THEEEOPLE
FOR EDVCATION
FOR SCIENCE
LIBRARY
OF
THE AMERICAN MUSEUM
OF
NATURAL HISTORY
RAT Y
i R) Ave an
) heh poles
4 i Lak
CENTRAL ASIATIC EXPEDITIONS
ROY CHAPMAN ANDREWS, Leader
THE MAMMALS OF CHINA
AND MONGOLIA
BY
GLOVER M. ALLEN, PrD.
CURATOR OF MAMMALS
MUSEUM OF COMPARATIVE ZOOLOGY
HARVARD UNIVERSITY
CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS
With 22 Distribution Maps and I other I Illustration in the Text
and with 9 Plates
NATURAL HISTORY OF CENTRAL ASIA
VOL. XI, PART 1
WALTER GRANGER, DSc., Editor
THE AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY
F. TRUBEE DAVISON, President
NEW YORK
1938
THE MAMMALS OF CHINA
AND MONGOLIA
~~
Copyright, 1938
by
The American Museum of Natural History
Published September 2, 1938
First Edition
All rights reserved. This book, or parts thereof, must
not be reproduced in any form without permission.
25RAL
Pry 9s S1
-
Made in the United States of America.
PUBLICATION NOTE
BECAUSE of the size of this report,
treating as it does more than 500 forms
of mammals, it has been found neces-
sary to issue the volume in two parts,
of which this is the first. Part 2, begin-
ning with the typical rodents, will be
brought out as soon as possible.
The Bibliography of the entire work
appears at the end of Part 1; the Index
will be at the end of Part 2.
[aa
TRU Tab eae
PAOUELE TARUT ATS
PREFACE
THE collections of Chinese and Mongolian mammals brought together
through the field work of the Asiatic Expeditions of The American Museum
of Natural History exceed any previously made, not only in the number of
specimens secured, but also in the excellence of their preservation and the
diversity of the localities which they represent. They form, therefore, a fairly
adequate basis for a review of the mammalian fauna of these countries. In
short preliminary papers, brief reports on this material have been published,
group by group, during the past few years, with descriptions of species or
races believed to be new. The present volume is intended to summarize our
knowledge of the mammalian fauna of China and Mongolia and to serve as a
handbook for the use of those interested. To this end, in addition to brief
summary chapters, keys are given for the various orders, families, genera, and
species, to facilitate the identification of specimens, while under each species
or race in the systematic portion are given: the accepted Latin name, important
synonymy, description of external and cranial characters, measurements, notes
on nomenclature where necessary, the known facts of occurrence and habits
within the area treated, and a list of localities from which specimens have
been examined by the writer. While political boundaries usually form un-
satisfactory units for the study of zodgeography, the general limits of China
and Mongolia as set down in maps of the past decade have been taken, chiefly
as a matter of convenience and partly because no significantly large collections
have been available from without these limits. For these reasons, Korea and
parts of Manchuria are excluded from consideration as well as the island of
Formosa, the fauna of which, however, is essentially derived from that of the
neighboring mainland.
It should be added that all specimens referred to as obtained by the
American Museum Asiatic Expeditions include those collected by Dr. Andrews
and his associates in the course of their explorations in Fukien and Yunnan
in 1916-17, and again in northern Mongolia in 1919. These two expeditions
were officially designated as the First and Second Asiatic Expeditions. All
specimens collected in China and in Mongolia during the work of 1921 to 1930
are credited to the Central Asiatic Expeditions, known in the early years of
the organization as the Third Asiatic Expedition.
Vv
vi PREFACE
In the preparation of this volume, a critical study has been made, to
determine, so far as possible, the closer relationships of many eastern forms.
Until recent years, it has frequently been the custom, at least among European
naturalists, to give specific rank to mammals described as new, notwithstanding
that the differences in comparison with other forms may be merely quantitative
and the true relationships therefore much closer than between those forms
differing qualitatively. An exaggerated conception of the number of distinct
types or “‘species’’ is thus produced where relationships are really but sub-
specific and better expressed by a trinomial. To demonstrate this relationship
satisfactorily, however, is often not easy and must necessitate in most cases a
“revision” of several related forms. New names have frequently been be-
stowed on the basis of inadequate material; specimens of a single species
prepared by different collectors at first sight often present slightly differing
appearances; or differences of sex, age, season, or condition may mislead the
investigator into regarding individuals of the same species as representing
different races. Again, single specimens sometimes show individual peculiari-
ties not duplicated in large series. A comparison with authentic material,
types or topotypes, is often the only means of rectifying such mistakes, which
are inevitable in the earlier stages of knowledge. Such steps are reflected in
the synonymy of a species. It is too much to expect that all questions of
relationship and nomenclature in the forms treated here are satisfactorily
solved. Future workers will be able to correct many errors and extend the
number of species or races known to occur within the limits of China and
Mongolia. Nevertheless, in a general way it may fairly be said that the mam-
mals of this area are now tolerably well known from a systematic point of
view; many, however, remain rare in collections, while as to the more intimate
points of life history we are still largely ignorant.
Throughout the preparation of this volume, I have had the hearty and
unfailing coéperation of Dr. H. E. Anthony, Curator of Mammals, and of Dr.
Roy C. Andrews, leader of the Asiatic Expeditions of The American Museum
of Natural History, as well as that of other members of the staff. The collec-
tions of Chinese mammals in the Museum of Comparative Zodlogy, the
Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, the University of Michigan, and
at request, in the United States National Museum, have also been consulted.
Through the aid of a grant from the Milton and Clark Fund of Harvard
University, I was enabled in 1933 to spend several weeks at the British
Museum, in the study of its unrivaled collection of historic specimens, types,
and other material, without which it would have been impossible to correct
many previous errors and misconceptions of my own and of other workers less
fortunate. To all these institutions and their officers in charge, grateful
thanks are due.
PREFACE Vii
In listing specimens examined, it is understood that where no abbreviation
follows, the numbers if given, are those of the American Museum of Natural
History. Abbreviations are: A. N.S. P., for Academy of Natural Sciences of
Philadelphia; B. M., for British Museum (Natural History), London; M. C. Z.,
for Museum of Comparative Zodlogy, Cambridge, Massachusetts; U.S. N. M.,
for United States National Museum, at Washington, D. C.; Univ. Mich., for
Museum of Zoédlogy, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan.
The Bibliography at the end of Part 1 of this Volume includes all literature
on Chinese and Mongolian mammals that I have come upon, except incidental
references, through 1937.
Three new names are here proposed: Aéretes, a new genus for the flying
squirrel Pteromys melanopterus; Eospalax, a new subgenus for the mole-rats
typified by Myospalax fontanierti; and a new subspecies of Flying Squirrel.
The photographic illustrations are selected chiefly from the large series
made in the course of their work by Dr. Roy Chapman Andrews and Dr.
Walter Granger, to whom I would express my sincere thanks for the use of
them as well as for much other help. The cut illustrating the nose-leaves of
the horseshoe bats, Hipposideros armiger and H. pratti, has been generously
lent by the Field Museum of Chicago, through the kind offices of Dr. Wilfred
H. Osgood, in whose paper of 1932 it first appeared.
I am further indebted to Mr. Clifford H. Pope and Dr. Walter Granger
of the American Museum of Natural History for many valuable notes, and
particularly for their efforts to standardize the spelling of the place-names
mentioned in the text. These so far as possible conform to the most modern
usage as found in the List of Post Offices, thirteenth issue, Shanghai, 1932,
and the Postal Map of China (Shanghai, 1920), as well as in other authentic
sources.
For many species, outline maps of distribution have been prepared as
text-figures, but it should be well understood that these indicate the range of
each in only the most general way, for there are still vast areas in China and
Mongolia in which little or no collecting has been done, so that often large
sections of the supposed range are included on inference only, while on small-
scale maps details of local distribution, although often sharply marked, cannot
well be plotted. Nevertheless, such maps are valuable as enabling a better
visualization of the known or supposed areas of distribution, while at the same
time indicating something of the extent of our ignorance of them. No doubt
many of these maps will be found subject to considerable later correction or
elaboration as the mammalian fauna of the region becomes known in more
detail.
Since the present report was written, many and great changes have taken
place in the political organization of China and Mongolia, involving the re-
viii PREFACE
definition of certain of the former and more familiar provinces, so that in some
cases their boundaries no longer coincide with those in use only a few years
ago. Thus the western border of Szechwan is now drawn considerably to the
eastward of its former course, so that specimens recorded from the well-known
locality Tatsienlu are now to be regarded as from the new province, Hsikang,
which stretches westward toward Tibet beyond the area covered in this book.
The old province of Chihli, in North China, is now Hopei, and there are in
addition the new provinces of Chinghai, Ningsia, Suiyuan and Chahar. All
these changes are confusing, but have been taken account of in the distribu-
tional maps in the text.
I cannot too warmly express my indebtedness to Dr. Walter Granger, and
his assistants, Miss Clara M. Beale and Miss Ruth Tyler, for the great care
with which they have edited, checked and coérdinated the manuscript, thereby
correcting many minor errors that might otherwise have escaped me.
GLOVER M. ALLEN.
Museum or ComPaARATIVE ZoOLocy,
HARVARD UNIVERSITY, CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS.
SEPTEMBER I, 1937.
CONTENTS OF PART 1
PREFACE. : F ; ‘ : : 2 : : 5 : ; 4 v
List oF TExT FIGURES : : : : , : : é : : bol
List oF PLATES . : é : ; : : ; : ‘ : 2 By 2.2.5i/
SECTION I—GENERAL INTRODUCTION ; . : S ; 3 : I
CHAPTER
I—COLLECTORS OF CHINESE AND MONGOLIAN MAMMALS : : : é 3
II.—FAUNAL AREAS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA : é ; ¢ é 5 9
III—FAUNAL RELATIONS OF ASIA WITH NORTH AMERICA F : 5 20
SECTION II—SYSTEMATIC ACCOUNT OF THE MAMMALS OF CHINA
AND MONGOLIA . F ; ‘ ‘ , 2 : ; : : Seay)
IV.—ORDER INSECTIVORA. INSECTIVORES ; : ‘ ; 3 : : 29
Key to the Families of Chinese and Mongolian Insectivora ~ . ‘ 30)
Family Tupaiide. Tree Shrews : é : : d : 2 830
Genus Tupaia Raffles : ‘ : ‘ £930
Key to Chinese Races of iin nen : 3 : net OE
1. Tupaia belangert chinensis J. Anderson . : ; Eee ah
2. Tupaia belangeri yunalis Thomas . ; : ; a Tiga
3. Tupaia belangeri modesta J. A. Allen . F : casa.
Family Erinaceidez. Hedgehogs and their Allies : : 530
Key to the Genera of Chinese and Mongolian Hieneetdes : a ete
Genus Hylomys S. Muller : ‘ : : 2 2) 037
4. Hylomys suillus peguensis Blyth : : : ; ee 37,
Genus Neotetracus Trouessart . : , ‘ ‘ 3 yee)
5. Neotetracus sinensis ieopesaer : . : 3 =, 140
Genus Hemiechinus Fitzinger . : : : 2 42
6. Hemiechinus dauuricus dauuricus (Sundevall) : : wea
7. Hemuechinus dauuricus alaschanicus Satunin . : Biss
Genus Erinaceus Linnzus j : : : ne 47,
8. Erinaceus europeus dealbatus Sraitine , 4 : Sy PA7
9. Erinaceus europeus miodon Thomas : : y a fh '52
Family Talpide. Moles : , ; : : : aT) 54
Key to the Genera of Chinese iaieidee : i : ; 5 yt
Genus Uropsilus Milne-Edwards : d 4 5 ; 6 55
10. Uropsilus soricipes Milne-Edwards : : ; ae 7,
Genus Rhynchonax Thomas A : : : 5 : Ree (9)
ix
CHAPTER
CONTENTS
11. Rhynchonax andersoni andersonit Thomas
12. Rhynchonax andersoni atronates G. M. Allen
13. Rhynchonax andersoni nivatus G. M. Allen
Genus Nasillus Thomas : : : ;
14. Nasillus gracilis Thomas
15. Nasillus investigator Thomas
Genus Scaptonyx Milne-Edwards ?
16. Scaptonyx fusicaudatus Milne-Edwands . y
17. Scaptonyx fusicaudatus affinis Thomas
Genus Talpa Linnzus ,
18. Talpa longirostris Mileo-Edwanis.
Genus Parascaptor Gill.
19. Parascaptor leucurus (Blyth)
Genus Scaptochirus Milne-Edwards
20. Scaptochirus moschatus moschatus Milne-Edwards
Scaptochirus moschatus gilliesi Thomas .
Gene M ogera Pomel
22. Mogera latouchei Thomas
23. Mogera hainana Thomas
Genus Scapanulus Thomas
24. Scapanulus oweni Thomas
Family Soricide. Shrews :
Key to the Genera of Chinese and ‘Mongolian Soricid:
Genus Sorex Linnzeus ;
Key to the Chinese and Mongolian Goeaten of Sores ;
25. Sorex araneus borealis Kastschenko
26. Sorex excelsus G. M. Allen
27. Sorex sinalis Thomas . ‘
28. Sorex buxtoni buxtoni J. A. Allen .
29. Sorex buxtont cansulus Thomas
30. Sorex minutus thibetanus Kastschenko .
31. Sorex cylindricauda cylindricauda Milne-Bdwards
32. Sorex cylindricauda wardi Thomas :
33. Sorex cylindricauda gomphus G. M. Allen
Genus Soriculus Blyth ‘ : :
Key to Chinese Species of ad
34. Soriculus macrurus Blanford
35. Soriculus caudatus sacratus Thomas
36. Soriculus caudatus umbrinus G. M. Allen
Genus Chodsigoa Kastschenko ;
Key to Chinese Species of Chodsigoa ‘
37. Chodsigoa hypsibia hypsibia (De ee and Styan)
38. Chodsigoa hypsibia larvarum Thomas
39. Chodsigoa hypsibia lamula Thomas
40. Chodsigoa parva G. M. Allen ;
41. Chodsigoa salenskii (Kastschenko)
42. Chodsigoa smithii smithit Thomas
CONTENTS
CHAPTER
43. Chodsigoa smith parca G. M. Allen
Genus Blarinella Thomas :
Key to Chinese Races of Blanelia é
44. Blarinella quadraticauda quadraticauda " (Milne- Bdwacis)
45. Blarinella quadraticauda griselda Thomas
46. Blarinella quadraticauda wardi Thomas .
Genus Suncus Hemprich and Ehrenberg
47. Suncus murinus (Linnzus)
Genus Crocidura Wagler ;
Key to Chinese and Mongolian Bpenies oe Greciduea
48. Crocidura attenuata Milne-Edwards
49. Crocidura dracula dracula Thomas
50. Crocidura dracula grisescens A. B. Howell
51. Crocidura tlensis tlensis Miller
52. Crocidura ilensis lar G. M. Allen
53- Crocidura ilensis shantungensis Miller
54. Crocidura ilensis pheopus G. M. Allen
55. Crocidura vorax G. M. Allen
56. Crocidura rapax G. M. Allen
Genus Anourosorex Milne-Edwards : :
57. Anourosorex squamipes Milne-Edwards .
Genus Chimarrogale Anderson
Key to Chinese Species and Gaheneeies oF Chameareeate
58. Chimarrogale himalayica himalayica (Gray)
59. Chimarrogale himalayica leander Thomas
60. Chimarrogale styani De Winton and Styan
Genus Nectogale Milne-Edwards : j
61. Nectogale elegans Milne-Edwards
V.—ORDER CHIROPTERA. BATS
Key to the Families of Chinese and Mecr poten Giisgnten
Family Pteropide. Fruit Bats or Flying Foxes
Key to the Genera of Chinese Pteropidez
[Pteropus chinensis Gray]
[Pteropus formosus P. L. Sclater]
Genus Cynopterus F. Cuvier.
62. Cynopterus sphinx sphinx (Vahl)
63. Cynopterus brachyotis angulatus Miller
Genus Rousettus Gray
64. Rousettus leschenaulti ips
Family Emballonuride. Sheath-tailed Bats
Genus Taphozous Geoftroy
65. Taphozous melanopogon Cee Se
Family Megadermide. Big-eared Bats
Genus Lyroderma Peters
66. Lyroderma lyra sinensis ikem a Wroughton)
Family Rhinolophide. Leaf-nosed Bats .
xii
CHAPTER
CONTENTS
Genus Rhinolophus Lacépéde =
Key to Chinese Species of Rhinolophus
. Rhinolophus rouxi sinicus Andersen
. Rhinolophus affinis himalayanus Andersen
Rhinolophus affinis macrurus Andersen .
. Rhinolophus affinis hainanus J. A. Allen
. Rhinolophus ferrum-equinum nippon Temminck
. Rhinolophus ferrum-equinum tragatus Hodgson
Rhinolophus lepidus shortridgei Andersen
Rhinolophus cornutus pumilus Andersen
. Rhinolophus blythi szechwanus Andersen
Rhinolophus blythi calidus G. M. Allen .
. Rhinolophus blythi parcus G. M. Allen
. Rhinolophus pearsonii pearsonit Horsfield
Rhinolophus pearsonii chinensis Andersen
. Rhinolophus episcopus episcopus G. M. Allen
. Rhinolophus episcopus caldwelli G. M. Allen
. Rhinolophus lanosus lanosus Andersen
Rhinolophus lanosus spurcus G. M. Allen
Rhinolophus rex G. M. Allen :
Family Pipacadenda! Horseshoe Bats .
Key to the Genera of Chinese Hipposideridz
Genus Hipposideros Gray :
Key to the Chinese Species of Hipposideros
85.
86.
87.
88.
- 89.
Hipposideros armiger armiger (Hodgson)
Hipposideros armiger swinhoii (Peters) .
Hipposideros prattt Thomas .
Hipposideros poutensis J. A. Allen
Hipposideros gentilis sinensis Andersen .
Genus Trienops Dobson
go.
Trienops wheeleri Osgood
Genus Celops Blyth
gl.
92.
Celops inflata Miller
Calops sinicus G. M. Allen .
Family Vespertilionide. Vespertilionine Bats .
Key to the Genera of Chinese and Mongolian Metereilicniiie ;
Genus Myotis Kaup
Key to the Chinese and Marsnasiess Boece: of M ne
93- : A
94.
95-
96.
97.
98.
99.
100.
IOI.
Myotis myotis ancilla Thomas
Myotis altarium Thomas
Myotis chinensis chinensis (eines)
Myotis chinensis luctuosus G. M. Allen .
Myotis formosus rufo-niger (Tomes)
Myotis pequinius Thomas
Myotis daubentonit (Kuhl)
Myotis fimbriatus (Peters)
Myotis mystacinus mystacinus (Kuhl)
CHAPTER
CONTENTS
102. Myotis mystacinus przewalskii Bobrinski
103. Myotis laniger (Peters)
104. Myotis frater G. M. Allen
105. Myotis muricola moupinensis (Milne-Edwards)
106. Myotis davidii (Peters)
Genus Rickettia Bianchi
107. Rickettia pilosa (Peters)
Genus Pipistrellus Kaup
Key to Chinese Species of Pipisiealius
108. Pipistrellus pulveratus (Peters)
109. Pipistrellus abramus (Temminck)
110. Pipistrellus tralatitius tramatus Thomas
Genus [a Thomas
111. Jato Thomas
Genus Nyctalus Bowdich . :
Key to the Chinese Forms of NV’ Worl
112. Nyctalus aviator Thomas ;
113. Nyctalus noctula plancyi (Gerbe) .
114. Nyctalus velutinus G. M. Allen
Genus Eptesicus Rafinesque
Key to Chinese and Mongolian Species of pee
115. Eptesicus nilssonii gobiensis Bobrinski .
116. Eptesicus serotinus pallens Miller
117. Eptesicus alashamicus Bobrinski .
118. Eptesicus andersoni Pe.
Genus Vespertilio Linnzus
119. Vespertilio murinus murinus Ppneceis
120. Vespertilio murinus superans Thomas .
Genus Tylonycteris Peters .
121. Tylonycteris pachypus pails (Blyth) .
122. Tylonycteris robustula Thomas. : =
Genus Scotomanes Dobson.
123. Scotomanes ornatus sinensis Thomas
Genus Scotophilus Leach
Key to Chinese Species of Stoinsisilis
124. Scotophilus kuhlii Leach
125. Scotophilus heathii insularis J. A. ‘Allen
126. Scotophilus temminckwi consobrinus J. A. Allen
Genus Barbastella Gray
127. Barbastella Wakeclincenses (Gisdeeen)
Genus Plecotus Geoffroy
Key to Chinese and Manette Busine of Pleeoius
128. Plecotus auritus auritus (Linnzus)
129. Plecotus auritus kozlovi Bobrinski
130. Plecotus auritus ariel Thomas
Genus Miniopterus Bonaparte
Key to Chinese Species of Miniopterus
xiii
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xiv CONTENTS
CHAPTER
131. Muiniopterus schreibersit chinensis Thomas
132. Miniopterus schreibersit parvipes G. M. Allen
133. Miniopterus pusillus Dobson
Genus Kerivoula Gray , ‘
Key to the Chinese Species of Ketone
134. Kerivoula picta bellissima Thomas
135. Kerivoula harduickit eigen Miller
Genus Murina Gray i
Key to Chinese Species of Mu urina .
136. Murina aurata Milne-Edwards
137. Murina cyclotis Dobson
138. Murina leucogaster Milne Bawards
139. Murina huttont rubella Thomas
Family Molosside. Mastiff Bats
Key to Genera of Chinese Molossidz
Genus Cherephon Dobson
140. Cherephon plicatus (Bachssissidetacitiein)
Genus Nyctinomus E. Geoffroy ;
141. Nyctinomus tentotis insignis Blyth
142. Nyctinomus teniotis cecata (Thomas)
VI.—ORDER PRIMATES. LEMURS AND MONKEYS
Key to the Genera of Chinese Primates
Family Loriside. Slow Lemurs and Galagos
Genus Nycticebus E. Geoffroy .
143. Nycticebus coucang cinereus Milue-Rawarils :
Family Cercopithecidze. Baboons and Guenons
Key to Genera of Chinese es a eae
Genus Macaca Lacépéde
Key to the Chinese Species of Macaca
144. Macaca assamensis (McClelland) .
145. Macaca mulatta (Zimmermann)
Genus Lyssodes Gistel
146. Lyssodes speciosus ee (Milne-Edwards)
147. Lyssodes speciosus melli (Matschie) :
Family Colobide. Langur Monkeys .
Key to Genera of Chinese Colobidz
Genus Pithecus Geoffroy and Cuvier .
Key to Chinese Species of Pithecus :
148. Pithecus obscurus barbei (Blyth) .
149. Pithecus frangoist (Pousargues)
150. Pithecus nemeus (Linnzus)
Genus Rhinopithecus Milne-Edwards .
Key to the Chinese Species of Rhinopithecus .
151. Khinopithecus roxellane (Milne-Edwards)
152. Rhinopithecus bieti Milne-Edwards
153. Rhinopithecus brelichi Thomas
CONTENTS
CHAPTER
Family Hylobatidz. Gibbons
Genus Hylobates Iliger ;
Key to the Chinese Species bf H ibatas :
154. Hylobates hoolock (Harlan) .
155. Hylobates concolor concolor (Harlan)
VII—ORDER CARNIVORA. CARNIVORES
Key to the Families of Chinese and Meuaotan eS
Family Procyonide. Raccoons and their Kin .
Genus Ailurus F. Cuvier .
156. Ailurus fulgens styani Theses
Family Ailuropodide. The Giant Panda .
Genus Ailuropoda Milne-Edwards
157. Azluropoda melanoleucus (David)
Family Urside. Bears
Key to Genera of Chinese fed icneokae Unsisie
Genus Ursus Linnzeus :
Key to the Chinese and Menaoltan Species of U rsus
158. Ursus pruinosus Blyth é
159. Ursus arctos lasiotus Gray .
Genus Euarctos Gray
160. Euarctos thibetanus Sibeands (G. ee
161. Euarctos thibetanus melli (Matschie)
Genus Helarctos Horsfield
162. Helarctos malayanus wardi Gydeeese
Family Canide. Wolves, Dogs, and Foxes
Key to the Genera of Chinese and Mongolian Gade
Genus Canis Linnzeus : ; :
163. Canis lupus chanco rey
Genus Nyctereutes Temminck :
164. Nyctereutes procyonoides roc jonoiaee (Gray)
165. Nyctereutes procyonoides orestes Thomas
Genus Vulpes Oken :
166. Vulpes vulpes hoole ewichoe ;
167. Vulpes vulpes tschiliensis Matschie
168. Vulpes vulpes ?karagan (Erxleben)
Genus Cynalopex Hamilton Smith :
169. Cynalopex corsac (Linnzus)
Genus Cuon Hodgson
170. Cuon javanicus lepine Heude
Family Mustelide. Martens, Weasels, Badgers, Otters
Key to the Genera of Chinese and Mongolian Mustelidz
Genus Charronia Gray
171. Charronia flavigula alkali (Boddaert)
Genus Martes Pinel .
Key to the Chinese and NMioneeiian Bpectes of M ares
172. Marites zibellina sajanensis Ognev
XV
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Xvi CONTENTS
CHAPTER
173. Martes foina foina (Erxleben)
Genus Mustela Linnzus
Key to Chinese and Mivhigetinn Gpeniad a M astela
174. Mustela sibirica fontanierti (Milne-Edwards)
175. Mustela sibirica davidiana (Milne-Edwards) .
176. Mustela sibirica moupinensis (Milne-Edwards)
177. Mustela altaica altaica Pallas : :
178. Mustela altaica kathiah Hodgson .
179. Mustela rixosa pygmea (J. A. Allen)
180. Mustela russelliana Thomas
181. Mustela erminea mongolica Ognev
182. Mustela eversmanni tiarata Hollister
Genus Vormela W. Blasius F
183. Vormela peregusna negans Miller
Genus Helictis Gray :
Key to the Chinese Species = val satis
184. Helictis moschata moschata Gray .
185. Helictis moschata ferreo-grisea Hilzheimer
186. Helictis taxilla sorella G. M. Allen
Genus Meles Brisson :
187. Meles meles ecaiion Milne-Edwards
Genus Arctonyx F. Cuvier :
188. Arctonyx collaris collaris F. Gavier :
189. Arctonyx collaris leucolemus (Milne-Bawards)
Genus Lutra Brinnich
Key to the Chinese Species of iien
190. Lutra lutra chinensis Gray .
191. Lutra lutra nair F. Cuvier .
192. Lutra tarayensis Hodgson
Genus Micraonyx J. A. Allen
193. Micraonyx cinerea (iitivery
Family Viverride. Civets and Mungooses
Key to the Genera of Chinese Viverridze
Genus Viverra Linnzeus
194. Viverra zibetha serial Svinhice
Genus Viverricula Hodgson
195. Vuiverricula malaccensis Walnrats (Gann).
196. Viverricula malaccensis pallida (Gray) .
Genus Paradoxurus F. Cuvier ‘
Key to Chinese Species of Paradoxurus
197. Paradoxurus hermaphroditus laotum Gyldenstoipe ?
198. Paradoxurus minor exitus Schwarz
Genus Paguma Gray
199. Paguma larvata arcs (Eiamilton, Smith)
200. Paguma larvata intrudens Wroughton
201. Paguma larvata hainana Thomas
Genus Herpestes Illiger
CONTENTS
CHAPTER
Key to the Chinese Species of Herpestes .
202. Herpestes rubrifrons (J. A. sang
203. Herpestes urva (Hodgson)
Family Felide. Cats
Key to the Chinese and Mongotian F lids
Genus Felis Linnzeus
Subgenus Felis Linnzus
204. Felis chaus affinis Gray
Subgenus Poliailurus Lonnberg
205. Felis bieti Milne-Edwards . °.
Subgenus Trichelurus Satunin
206. Felis manul manul Pallas
Subgenus Prionailurus Severtzov
207. Felis bengalensis bengalensis Kerr
208. Felis bengalensis chinensis Gray .
Subgenus Profelis Severtzov . :
209. Felis temminckit tristis Waines ec weer
Subgenus Neofelis Gray
210. Felis nebulosa Griffith
Subgenus Panihera Oken :
211. Felis pardus fusca F. A. A. Meyer
212. Felis pardus fontanierit Milne-Edwards
213. Felis tigris amoyensis Hilzheimer
214. Felis tigris amurensis Dode
Genus Lynx Kerr
215. Lynx lynx rliena (Blyth)
VIII—ORDER PINNIPEDIA. SEALS, SEA-LIONS
Family Otariide. Fur-seals and Sea-lions
Genus Callorhinus Gray
216. Callorhinus curilensis Tastee and (once
Family Phocide. Hair-seals
Genus Phoca Linnzus 5
217. Phoca ?richardit (fea
TX.—ORDER CETACEA. WHALES, DOLPHINS, PORPOISES
Key to Families of Chinese Cetacea
Suborder Odontoceti. Toothed Whales
Family Iniide. River Dolphins
Genus Lipotes Miller
218. Lipotes vexillifer Miller
Family Delphinide. Dolphins and Porpoises
Key to Genera of Chinese Delphinidze
Genus Sotalia Gray . :
219. Sotalia chinensis (Osbeck)
Genus Delphinus Linnzus
Genus Tursiops Gervais
Genus Neomeris Gray
XVili CONTENTS
220. Neomeris phocenoides (G. Cuvier)
Genus Grampus Gray
221. Grampus griseus (Cuvier)
Genus Globicephala Lesson
222. Globicephala scammonit (Cope)
Genus Orcinus Fitzinger .
223. Orcinus orca (Linnzus)
Family Physeteride. Sperm Whales
Genus Physeter Linnzeus ‘
224. Physeter catodon Linnzus
Suborder Mystacoceti. Whalebone Whales .
Key to Whalebone Whales to be Expected in Chinese Seas
X.—ORDER NOMARTHRA. SCALY ANTEATERS OR PANGOLINS
Family Manide. Pangolins .
Key to the Genera and Species of Ciiness Mamertiere
Genus Manis Linnzus
225. Manis pentadactyla alae Sandievall
226. Manis pentadactyla pusilla J. A. Allen
Genus Phatages Sundevall :
227. Phatages crassicaudata (Cay
XI—ORDER RODENTIA. GNAWING MAMMALS ;
Suborder Duplicidentata. Rabbits, Hares, and Migare shares
Key to Families of Chinese and Mongolian Duplicidentata
Family Ochotonide. Mouse-hares .
Genus Ochotona Link ‘
Key to the Chinese and Mienecean Guess of Oona
228. Ochotona pallasti pallasii (Gray)
229. Ochotona pallasit pricei Thomas .
230. Ochotona hyperborea mantchurica Thomas
231. Ochotona alpina alpina (Pallas)
232. Ochotona alpina argentata A. B. Howell
233. Ochotona gloveri Thomas
234. Ochotona erythrotis (Buechner) .
235. Ochotona thibetana thibetana (Milne-Edwards)
236. Ochotona thibetana cansus Lyon 4
237. Ochotona thibetana huangensis (Matschie)
238. Ochotona thibetana sorella Thomas
239. Ochotona thibetana stevensi Osgood
240. Ochotona forresti Thomas
241. Ochotona roylei chinensis Thomas
242. Ochotona dauurica dauurica (Pallas)
243. Ochotona dauurica altaina Thomas
244. Ochotona dauurica bedfordi Thomas
245. Ochotona dauurica annectens Miller
246. Ochotona dauurica melanostoma (Buechner)
Family Leporide. Hares and Rabbits
CONTENTS
CHAPTER
Key to the Genera of Chinese and Mongolian Leporide .
Genus Caprolagus Blyth
247. Caprolagus sinensis sinensis (Gray)
248. Caprolagus sinensis flaviventris G. M. Allen .
249. ?%Oryctolagus cuniculus (Linnzus)
Genus Lepus Linnzeus
Key to the Chinese and Mougoliati ismecies of Beas
250. Lepus europeus tolai Pallas
251. Lepus europeus swinhoet Thomas
252. Lepus europeus filchneri Matschie
253. Lepus europeus aurigineus Hollister
254. Lepus centrasiaticus Satunin
255. Lepus hainanus Swinhoe
256. Lepus otostolus otostolus Hodgson
257. Lepus oiostolus comus G. M. Allen
258. Lepus oiostolus grahami A. B. Howell
SECTION III
XII.—_BIBLIOGRAPHY, COMPLETE
579
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TEXT FIGURES
IGURE
1.—Distribution Map .
Tupaia
1. T. belangert chinensis
2. T. belangert yunalis
3. T. belangeri modesta
2.—Distribution Map .
Erinaceus
1. E. europeus dealbatus
2. E. europeus miodon
Hemiechinus
3. H. dauuricus dauuricus
4. H. dauuricus alaschanicus
3.—Distribution Map .
Uropsilus
1. U. soricipes
Rhynchonax
2. R. andersoni andersoni
3. R. andersont nivatus
4. R. andersoni atronates
Nasillus
5. N. gracilis
6. N. investigator
4.—Distribution Map . :
Scaptochirus
1. S. moschatus moschatus
2. S. moschatus gilliesi
Scapanulus
3. S. owenr
5.—Distribution Map .
Mogera
1. M. latouchei
2. M. hainana
6.—Distribution Map .
Sorex
I. S. cylindricauda cylindricauda
2. S. cylindricauda wardi
3. S. cylindricauda gomphus
PAGE
31
56
74
77
xxii TEXT FIGURES
FIGURE PAGE
7.—Distribution Map . : : : : : : : : : : ~ 10g
Chodsigoa
1. C. hypsibia hypsibia
2. C. hypsibia larvarum
3. C. hypsibia lamula
8.—Distribution Map . ; : : : : 3 : 3 : : - arg
Blarinella
1. B. quadraticauda quadraticauda
2. B. quadraticauda griselda
3. B. quadraticauda wardi
9.—Distribution Map . : F é ; , : , : ; ‘ » 226
Crocidura
1. C. dracula dracula
2. C. dracula grisescens
10.—Distribution Map . : : , ; : : 3 ‘ , ; . \130
Crocidura
1. C. tlensis lar
2. C. ilensis shantungensis
3. C. ilensis pheopus
11.—Distribution Map . : : ‘ d , : é ; ; : 2 186
Anourosorex
1. A. squamipes
12.—Nose-leaves of Hipposideros armiger, male (left), and Hipposideros pratti, male
(right) and female (center), natural size. After Dr. Wilfred H. Osgood (courtesy
of Field Museum of Natural History) 194
13.—Distribution Map . ; ‘ : : : . : P : ‘ . 295
Pithecus
1. P. obscurus barber
2. P. frangoisi
3. P. nemeus
14.—Distribution Map . : : é : ; : : ; : ; 3 5209
Rhinopithecus
1. R. roxellane
2. R. bieti
3. R. brelichi
15.—Distribution Map . j ; : : ; ¢ j : : : aegis
Ailurus
1. A. fulgens styani
16.—Distribution Map . é ‘ ; ‘ ; : : : : ; sot
Ailuropoda
1. A. melanoleucus
TEXT FIGURES
FIGURE
17.—Distribution Map .
Mustela
1. M. sibirica fontanierit
2. M. sibirica davidiana
3. M. sibirica moupinensis
18.—Distribution Map .
Viverra
1. V. zibetha ashtont
19.—Distribution Map .
Paguma
1. P. larvata larvata
2. P. larvata intrudens
3. P. larvata hainana
20.—Distribution Map .
Manis
1. M. pentadactyla dalmanni
2. M. pentadactyla pusilla
21.—Distribution Map .
Ochotona
1. O. thibetana thibetana
O. thibetana cansus
O. thibetana huangensts
4. O. thibetana sorella
O. thibetana stevenst
22.—Distribution Map .
Ochotona
1. O. dauurica dauurica
2. O. dauurica annectens
3. O. dauurica bedfordi
4. O. dauurica altaina
23.—Distribution Map .
Lepus
1. L. europeus tolat
2. L. europeus swinhoei
3. L. europeus filchneri
4. L. europeus aurigineus
XXili
PAGE
370
424
434
518
541
562
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PLATES
PLATE
I.—Upper figure: The southern edge of the mixed forest zone, forty miles northeast
of Urga, Outer Mongolia.
Lower figure: Outpost larches at the edge of the forest zone, forty miles northeast
of Urga, Outer Mongolia : 2 : ¥ : : : :
II.—Sainnoin Khan, Outer Mongolia. Hills with patches of timber
II].—Upper figure: Pass to the Mongolian Plateau at Kalgan.
Lower figure: Mongolian Plateau above Kalgan, showing Chinese cultivation
IV.—The Gobi. Looking out over the valley of oe Nor, from just below Baga
Bogdo, Outer Mongolia : ; : : ? :
V.—Yenchingkou near Wanhsien, eastern Szechwan. Site of bat caves; the lime-
stone ridge in the background is the haunt of Edwards’s Giant Rat (Rattus
edwardsi gigas) A : : : : : :
VI.—Upper figure: Dr. Andrews’s camp and the Snow Mountain, western Yunnan,
12,000 feet.
Lower figure: The Mekong valley, western Yunnan
VII.—Upper figure: A tame Long-eared Hedgehog (Hemiechinus dauuricus alaschan-
icus) at Tsagan Nor, in the Gobi, about to fold up.
Lower figure: The hay-pile of a Pallas’s Mouse-hare asi ati Fed at
Artsa Bogdo, in the Gobi. : ‘ : ;
VIII.—Upper figure: Hoolock Gibbon (Hylobates hoolock), female, killed near the Burma
border, Yunnan. Profile view.
Lower figure: Front view of the same .
IX.—Upper figure: A live Civet (Viverra ztbetha ashtont). Yunnan. Note the dorsal
crest of erect hair.
Lower figure: Head of a Civet (Viverra zibetha ashtoni). Mucheng, Yunnan
XXV
FACING
PAGE
10
I2
16
18
46
306
420
THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
SECTION I
GENERAL INTRODUCTION
SECTION I
GENERAL INTRODUCTION
CHAPTER I—COLLECTORS OF CHINESE AND MONGOLIAN MAMMALS
CHAPTER II—FAUNAL AREAS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA - - -
CHAPTER II—FAUNAL RELATIONS OF ASIA WITH NORTH AMERICA
CHAPTER I
COLLECTORS OF CHINESE AND MONGOLIAN MAMMALS
THE first knowledge of the mammals of China and Mongolia by Europeans
probably dates from the days of the Venetian traveler Marco Polo, who in the
thirteenth century journeyed overland to the court of Kublai Khan and brought
back parts of the Musk Deer (Moschus) which he seems to have met with on
the western borders of those countries. Brief mention of other Chinese mam-
mals is found in a few early works of travel, such as Du Halde’s ‘‘Description
de la Chine,”’ 1735, which notices apparently for the first time the Mongolian
Gazelle and the ‘‘Great Black Ape’’ or gibbon of Hainan; Peter Osbeck’s
“Voyage to China and the East Indies’ (English edition, 1771) contains a
“Faunula et Flora Sinensis,’ from which Thunberg (1823) copies a list of
fifteen species of mammals, including “‘Simia nemea,” ‘‘Sus sinensis,” ‘‘Cervus
alces,’”’ and ‘‘Cervus elaphus.”’ Pallas, too, who traveled in eastern Siberia in
the latter half of the eighteenth century, described a number of species from
near the borders of northern Mongolia that range into that country. The first
important collections from China, however, did not reach Europe till much
later. Among the earliest of these was perhaps that of John R. Reeves, who
while stationed at Canton, sent back to the British Museum a number of
mammals, of which J. E. Gray figured and named in his ‘Illustrations of
Indian Zoology,” Canis procyonoides, Viverra pallida, Rhizomys sinensis, and
Lepus sinensis. This work bears the date 1830-34, but some of the plates are
lettered 1829. Gray soon after (1837) described Felis chinensis and Lutra
chinensis, and Ogilby, in 1838, Cervus reevesit from the same source. The
botanist R. Fortune (1853) who made two visits to China before the middle of
the last century (1843, 1844), also brought back a few mammals to the British
Museum, which subsequently proved new or valuable.
Beginning about 1858, Robert Swinhoe, while on British consular service
in China, took a very active interest in the zodlogy of that country and from
time to time sent notes or specimens to the Zodlogical Society of London or to
the British Museum. His work took him to Peiping, Chefoo, and Kalgan in
North China, as well as to the island of Formosa, while later he was for some
3
4 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
time in residence at Amoy and again at Ningpo in South China, and also made
collections in Hainan. His published communications on the mammals of
eastern China and Formosa extend over a period of some sixteen years to 1874,
and include descriptions of various new species. ’
By far the most outstanding figure among collectors of Chinese mammals
is the Jesuit missionary, Pere Armand David. He arrived in Peiping in July,
1862, and at once seems to have begun actively to make investigations and
collections of the fauna. In 1864 he spent several months at Jehol, 200
kilometers north of Peiping, and in 1866-68 undertook a journey into what
was then Chinese Mongolia, residing for some time at Saratsi, in northwestern
Shansi. The collections he made, together with various specimens added by
M. Fontanier, the French Consul at Peiping, were sent to the Paris Muscum,
where they were studied by Alphonse Milne-Edwards, who described various
new species among them. David’s most remarkable journey, however, was
made about 1870 into the principality of Muping in Szechwan, then regarded
as part of eastern Tibet. He was the first naturalist to reach these highlands,
and in the course of nearly a year’s work made an extraord nary collection of
mammals, large and small, including many wholly new and unknown types as
well as other species previously undescribed. These included the new in-
sectivore genera Anourosorex, Uropsilus, Nectogale, and Scaptonyx, and the
Golden Monkey, Rhinopithecus. The extraordinary zeal of this indefatigable
collector resulted in bringing together at Paris a representation of Chinese
mammals excelling any previously made. In August, 1871, these collections
were on special view to the public at the Muséum d’Histoire Naturelle at Paris
and were made by Milne-Edwards the subject of a magnificent volume with
an atlas of colored plates—the well known ‘‘Recherches” (1868-74). David
himself published several brief reports on his collecting journeys (see David, A.,
1867-71, 1872-73, 1872, 1872a). He had many narrow escapes,—several
attempts were made to poison him,—but he survived all dangers in a miraculous
way. In the course of his work he was accompanied by a faithful Chinese
servant, “Yellow Tom,” whose memory Milne-Edwards essayed to perpetuate
by naming in his honor a supposed new rat, “‘Mus huang-thome’’! Later David
visited Chekiang and Kiangsi Provinces, but collected mainly in other branches
than mammals. In 1873 he spent three and a half months in the mountains of
Shensi, not far from Sianfu, making additional collections, and in the same
year journeyed to Kuatun in the mountains of northwestern Fukien, where
again he obtained various species of exceptional interest, including the first
specimens of the curious genus Typhlomys, described by Milne-Edwards, and
still unknown from other parts of China. Here, too, he collected the first
examples of the microtine later named by Thomas as Microtus melanogaster
colurnus, and notes on the label of one (now in the British Museum), ‘“‘rubigin-
COLLECTORS OF CHINESE AND MONGOLIAN MAMMALS 5
osus n. sp.,’’ but for some reason the name never was published. The locality
became a famous one for naturalists: both C. B. Rickett and J. D. La Touche
had collectors working there for several years (see Thomas, O., 1898, p. 769),
and later it was visited by Mr. Clifford H. Pope, who secured an excellent
collection for the American Museum in the course of the Asiatic work.
Mention should be made of the services of the French missionaries to
science, for David was not alone in his interest in the mammals of China.
Perhaps the foremost is P. M. Heude who in the course of a number of years
from 1885-1901 published in his ‘‘Mémoires concernant l’Histoire Naturelle de
l’Empire Chinois,” a series of papers on the ungulates of China as well as on
the bears and other species. His intense interest in the details of tooth
structure led him to bestow technical names freely on many minor and in-
dividual variations in the skulls he brought together, resulting unfortunately
in greatly burdening the nomenclature of many of these animals. His Sikawei
Museum (now known as the Heude Museum) at Shanghai contains most of his
type specimens, which have since been studied by Sowerby, while a general
account of his life and work has been published by Courtois (1906). In
Tatsienlu, Szechwan, several of the French missionaries have from time to time
sent valuable specimens to the Paris Museum. Among others, the name of
Monseigneur Biet is linked with his discovery of a striking species of Rhino-
pithecus and that of R. P. Dejean with the Yunnan Sambar Deer.
For many years following David’s time, western China was very little
visited by naturalists. In 1907-08 the late Walter R. Zappey accompanied
the veteran traveler E. H. Wilson into Hupeh and Szechwan, making extensive
collections of birds and mammals for the Museum of Comparative Zodlogy,
and eventually reached Tatsienlu and the extreme edge of the Tibetan plateau
at Ramala Pass.
Our first important knowledge of the mammals of extreme southwestern
China is due to Dr. John Anderson (1879), who as naturalist and medical
officer on two British expeditions from India to the borders of western Yunnan
in 1867-68 and 1875, made collections in various branches of zodlogy, later
embodying the results of his work in a sumptuous volume with atlas, giving
descriptions and colored figures of many species. Most of these were pre-
viously known in part from Indian representatives.
Toward the close of the nineteenth century, Prince Henri d’Orléans under-
took a journey from Tongking, across Yunnan to northern India, collecting a
few mammals on the way, but not until comparatively recent years has system-
atic collecting been done in this province. The explorations of F. Kingdon
Ward in 1911, 1913-14, 1921-22, among the great snow peaks of southwestern
Yunnan, and the subsequent work of George Forrest in 1922, resulted in many
interesting discoveries, which with lists of the species obtained have been
6 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
published by Oldfield Thomas (1922b, 1923). Meanwhile in 1916-17, Dr. Roy
C. Andrews undertook the first of his Chinese expeditions, and accompanied
by Mr. Edmund Heller, a skilled field naturalist, crossed Yunnan to Burma,
returning with one of the largest and best prepared collections of large and
small mammals ever made in this part of China. In the prosecution of this
work in subsequent years, Dr. Andrews and his associates have done intensive
collecting in various parts of China: eastern Szechwan, northern Hopei,
northern Shansi, in the Taipai Shan of Shensi, and in Fukien. Mr. Clifford
H. Pope has continued the work in the last-named area, visiting also the island
of Hainan where large collections were made,
To the late Oldfield Thomas, Keeper of Mammals in the British Museum,
must be given high credit for the interest he aroused among his countrymen
stationed in various parts of China or traveling through it, so that for many
years correspondents from various parts of this vast area continued to send
to the British Museum from time to time specimens of large and small mam-
mals. In this way Thomas built up a considerable representation of Chinese
species at London, until in 1904 His Grace the Duke of Bedford undertook to
finance the work of a trained collector for more systematic exploration. The
services of Malcolm P. Anderson were secured and he was sent first to the
Japanese islands and Korea, then to Shantung, the Mongolian plateau, Hopei,
Shansi, Shensi, Kansu, Szechwan, and Yunnan. The results were briefly re-
ported upon by Thomas in a series of papers from 1906 to I912 and added
greatly to a general knowledge of Chinese mammals. In some of this work
Anderson was accompanied by Dr. J. A. C. Smith and Arthur de Carle Sowerby,
who helped with the collection and preparation of specimens. The latter has
himself done considerable collecting for both the British Museum and the
U.S. National Museum, and through various popular books and more technical
papers as well as in general articles in the China Journal (which he helped to
found) has contributed greatly to furthering an interest in Chinese natural
history, culminating in his recent successful attempt to establish a public
natural history museum at Shanghai.
Several Chinese zodlogists are now taking an active interest in the fauna
of their native land, among whom mention should be made of Chausu Mc-
Amicus Shih, who has made several collecting journeys into the less-known
provinces of southern China,—Hunan, Kwangsi and Kwangtung. Important
collections were made in the last-named region by R. Mell, an Austrian botanist
and naturalist, in the years from 1916-21. These were in part reported on by
Matschie in 1922. Another expedition into China led by Stétzner, in 1916,
was accompanied as naturalist by Dr. Hugo Weigold whose collections eventu-
ally reached the Dresden Museum and were reported on by Jacobi (1922).
Weigold collected in northern Hopei, then proceeded up the Yangtze to the
PLATE 1
The southern edge of the mixed forest zone, forty miles northeast of Urga, Outer Mongolia
Outpost larches at the edge of the forest zone, forty miles northeast of Urga, Outer Mongolia
COLLECTORS OF CHINESE AND MONGOLIAN MAMMALS ‘f
Wa Shan region of Szechwan, previously visited by Wilson and Zappey.
He finally reached Batang and northern Szechwan at Sungpan.
China has thus been traversed by many collectors, chiefly from east to
west, less often in the opposite direction. It is impracticable to mention here
the names of all those who have added to the knowledge of Chinese mammals,
but it may be pointed out that there are still large areas from which little is
known, particularly in the southern provinces, although the western highlands
and the northeastern parts of the country may now be thought of as fairly well
worked. The excellent report of Dr. W. H. Osgood on the mammals obtained
for the Field Museum by the Kelley-Roosevelts and Delacour Asiatic Expedi-
tions, chiefly in Tongking, indicates that many species are to be expected along
the extreme southern border of China, which hitherto have been taken but a
short distance only across that line.
Various Russian explorers have likewise done much to advance our knowl-
edge of the mammals of Mongolia. Pallas in the latter half of the eighteenth
century traversed Siberia, but his journey was mainly to the north of Mongolia.
During the years 1855-59, Gustav Radde (1862) traveled extensively in Trans-
baikalia, several times crossing the border into northeastern Mongolia, making
collections and observations on the fauna. His volume on the Mammalia is of
importance as giving much data on the habits and distribution of many species
common to both countries, including several forms which he named as new.
His specimens went to the Zodlogical Museum of the Academy of Sciences at
St. Petersburg (now Leningrad).
The four expeditions of Nikolai M. Przewalski into central Asia resulted in
the discovery of many new mammals, which likewise were given to the Zo6-
logical Museum of the Academy. After his return from the last of these
journeys, a special exhibition of these was held in the new wing of the Museum
and a catalogue of the collection (in Russian) was printed, which included 702
mammals, 5,010 birds and 1,199 reptiles and amphibians. His first expedition,
from 1871-73, extended across northern Kansu and Mongolia to Kalgan; the
second, 1876-77, was chiefly concerned with an exploration of the Tien Shan
area; the third expedition, 1879-80, slightly more to the south, was to the Nan
Shan, Kansu, and southern Alashan; while the fourth, in 1883-85, was to the
country between the plateau of northeastern Tibet and the Tarim basin. The
zoological results of these explorations were in part published by the Academy,
but of the mammals only the rodents were in part completed by E. Buechner,
with a later monograph by Zalensky on Przewalski’s Horse, discovered in the
course of the third journey. The text, in Russian and German, is magnificently
illustrated by a number of colored plates. Accounts of Przewalski’s explora-
tions were published by him in Russian with later German and English editions
- (see Przewalski, N. M., 1884; also the English edition translated by Morgan).
8 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
In 1884-87, an expedition to Kansu and northwestern Szechwan was
undertaken by G. Potanin and M. Berezovski for the Russian Geographic
Society. The former visited the Ordos Desert and northern Shansi, touching
also Kansu and Mongolia, while the latter confined his efforts mainly to the
region about Ssigu and the adjacent parts of Kansu and Szechwan. Except
for the specimens obtained by Przewalski, these collections were the first to
be made in Kansu and included among other rarities, the Golden Monkey and
the Giant Panda, apparently secured through native hunters. Buechner,
who reported on the mammals, regretted that most of them were given to the
museum at Tomsk rather than to the larger institution at Leningrad. Other
Russian explorers, including P. K. Kozlov in 1909 and 1924, as well as the
brothers Grum-Grzimailo, who made a journey to western China shortly before
1907, have collected a number of interesting species in extreme western Mon-
golia, while in 1910-11 Douglas Carruthers, accompanied by J. H. Miller and
M. P. Price, made a collecting trip for the British Museum, starting work at
Minussinsk, Siberia, and working southeastward through the Syansk Moun-
tains, crossed northwestern Mongolia, then proceeded westward through the
Tannu Ola to the Great Altai and Barlik Mountains, northwestern Dzungaria,
and along the Tien Shan to the Hami Mountains, and thence back to the Muzart
valley, Kuldja, and Yarkand to India.
Of the extended work carried on by Dr. Roy C. Andrews in eastern and
central Mongolia, resulting in the collection of fine series of the desert species,
and in northern Mongolia where the edge of the northern forest brings in an
entirely different set of species, a full account is given in the narrative forming
the first volume of the present series. Especial credit is due Dr. Walter
Granger, who in the intervals between his many other duties, collected and
prepared a large part of the splendid series of Mongolian and also Chinese
small mammals in the course of several years’ work; also to Mr. Clifford H.
Pope, whose intensive work in Hainan and Fukien resulted in large collections
of small mammals from these important localities. Dr. Andrews himself
worked in Fukien and in Yunnan with the aid of Mr. Edmund Heller in his
earlier expedition and brought back a magnificent collection of the smaller
species from these areas as well as a representative series of the larger mammals.
Jaquit} Jo sayojzed YIM s][ty
“eyjosuojy Jojng ‘ueyy ulouuTeS
CHAPTER II
FAUNAL AREAS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
THE vast area included within the political boundaries of China and
Mongolia is roughly some 2,000 miles square and constitutes about one-third
of the continent of Asia, between approximately 22 and 52 degrees of north
latitude and 90 and 120 degrees of east longitude. A wide range of climatic
conditions is thus presented, correlated not only with latitudinal but also with
topographical and other factors. Proceeding from north to south, the mam-
malian fauna shows many striking contrasts between associations charac-
teristic of one and another of these areas. On the other hand, some are wide-
ranging species, such as tiger and black bear, and occur with but slight
modifications under varying climatic conditions. The present distribution
of the fauna is to be looked upon as the end result of many millions of years
of changes, both climatic and geographic, some of them slow and by imper-
ceptible degrees, others more rapid and spectacular. The composition of the
fauna at any time is in part a result of the history of the area where it is found
and in part a result of the food and other habitat preferences of the component
species. If the local conditions undergo marked or gradual change, the species
have three courses open: (1) they may gradually become adapted to the changes
(evolution) ; (2) they may move off to other areas where the preferred conditions
still continue (emigration); or (3) if appropriate response is impossible, they
may remain and slowly die out as the changing conditions become more and
more unfavorable (extinction).
The history of the mammalian fauna of eastern Asia during the long past
may be in part worked out through the study of its fossils and must be left
largely for the paleontologist. The present fauna of the area shows the fol-
lowing seven chief divisions: (1) the northern transcontinental forest which
borders northern Mongolia, and to the east of the Khingan Mountains ex-
tends around the eastern edge of the Gobi to Manchuria and northeastern
China; (2) the intervening Gobi, including not only the grasslands that form
a long east-west loop around the northern and eastern edges of Mongolia,
but also the more arid and strictly desert area of the central Gobi; (3) the north-
eastern part of China, including southern Hopei, Shantung, northern Shansi
and Shensi, and Kansu, southward approximately to the borders of the Yangtze
9
10 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
basin or roughly latitude 34°; (4) South China, including the eastern part of
the country from the Yangtze basin to the southern border, characterized by
many species that prefer a milder climate, many of them, as one proceeds
farther south, of chiefly tropical and subtropical distribution; (5) the western
highlands, which begin at about the longitude of western Hupeh or eastern
Szechwan, and include the latter province from the borders of Kansu and
Shensi south through Yunnan and probably parts of Kweichow; (6) the
subtropical border of extreme southern China; and finally (7) the edge of the
Tibetan plateau along its extreme eastern border, where it meets the western
highlands of Szechwan. !
1. The Northern Forest Fauna:—The mixed evergreen and hardwood
forest of north temperate latitudes is practically continuous across northern
Europe and Asia from the limit of tree growth southward. In the east the
southward limits are somewhat restricted by the arid conditions of central
Asia, so that it becomes more or less broken. The edge of this forest
follows along the northern edge of Mongolia, giving way rather abruptly to
the open grasslands and the more barren stretches of the Gobi; but to the
eastward of the north-south Khingan Range it continues farther down across
Manchuria to northern and central Hopei. In a general way it corresponds
to the boreal forest of the Canadian Zone in North America.
Prominent among the northern trees composing this mixed forest are
larch, fir and pine as well as oaks and birches. It carries with it a rather
characteristic series of mammals, many of them with closely similar represen-
tatives in northern and central Europe, and in diminishing number, in northern
North America. Among these, the insectivores are few, chiefly two species
of small shrews (Sorex araneus borealis and S. buxtoni) and probably Neomys
(as yet not known from Mongolia but recorded slightly north of its borders),
as well as a race of the European hedgehog (Erinaceus); bats are represented
by several species of the family Vespertilionide, belonging to the genera
Myotis, Eptesicus, Plecotus, and Vespertilio, closely resembling corresponding
European forms; the carnivores include the Brown Bear, Red Fox, the wide-
ranging Wolf, the Ermine, and Pygmy Weasel (Mustela rixosa pygmea),
Badger (Meles), Otter (Lutra lutra chinensis) and Lynx (Lynx lynx isabellina).
These are associated with various northern rodents, including varieties of the
European Tufted-eared Squirrel (Sciurus vulgaris) and the small northern
flying squirrel (Pteromys volans buechneri) in the mixed forest, and in the
more open parts the Eversmann’s Spermophile (Citellus eversmanni jacutensis).
Beaver just reach the edge of Mongolia in the southern extension of the forest,
but doubtless were formerly more widespread. In suitable situations the
Mouse-hare (Ochotona hyperborea mantchurica) is found southward into this
part of Mongolia, but the genus, although represented in western Europe
PLATE III
Pass to the Mongolian Plateau at Kalgan
Mongolian Plateau above Kalgan, showing Chinese cultivation
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FAUNAL AREAS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA II
in glacial times, has since died out in that continent. Other characteristic
rodents are: the Red-backed Lemming (Myopus), the Field Vole (Microtus
mongolicus representing the European M. arvalis), the red-backed mice (Cle-
thrionomys), of two and perhaps three species corresponding to those of northern
Europe, while of larger ungulates, the Pig, Elk or ‘‘Moose,”’ the Red Deer,
and the Roe Deer are represented by forms differing but very slightly from their
European relatives. Most of these species continue across to the Pacific
coast following the northern forest and skirting the edge of northern Mon-
golia. To the southward the limit for most of them is fixed by the intervening
Gobi which extends eastward from the arid wastes of central Asia, and forms
an effectual barrier. A few, however, such as one of the red-backed mice,
flying squirrel, roe deer, appear again in northern China on the other side of
the desert, having perhaps skirted its eastern end, following the forested
parts east of the Khingan Range into Manchuria and northern Hopei. To
the south and west of Peiping or thereabouts, the conditions are more arid
and the forest broken, perhaps due in part to human destruction, making
such a passage more difficult. Here, too, the northern-forest fauna appears
to reach about its natural limit, and meets the species of more southern range
that find their bounds in these latitudes.
2. The Gobi:—The fact that most of the boreal forms of mammals
characteristic of the Mongolian forests do not reappear on the south side of
the Gobi and are not found as relict colonies at high altitudes farther south,
seems evidence that these species, if driven south by the cold of the glacial
period, were unable to cross the intervening desert, which, therefore, must
have existed for a very long period, forming an effective barrier to the forest-
living types except those that were able to circle the eastern end. The Gobi
forms a long tongue of desert extending eastward from the central Asiatic
deserts, bringing in with it a series of mammals, particularly rodents, that
have become adapted for desert life in a remarkable degree, implying a very
long period of evolution in that type of environment. This arid area is more
or less continuous from northern Africa, but most of the genera represented
are of Asiatic affinities. The general east-west trend of the higher mountain
chains enclosing the western end of the Gobi is perhaps a factor in permitting
this extension of the desert by interposing a less effective barrier against the
prevailing winds to extract their moisture.
In the narrative volume of these reports, Dr. Roy C. Andrews and Dr.
Walter Granger point out that the Gobi is not equally desert throughout,
but that a broad belt of grasslands forms a wide, flat border around its northern,
eastern and southeastern ends, while the central portions are much more arid
or truly desert. Thus in crossing from southeast to northwest—Kalgan to
Urga—one first passes through the southern grassland belt, then traverses the
I2 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
dry desert country of the central Gobi to Tuerin, where one emerges upon the
northern grasslands, over which the caravan track proceeds until the forest
edge is reached in northern Mongolia. These three divisions differ in their
fauna. Characteristic of the southern grasslands are the Mongolian Gazelle
(Prodorcas gutturosa) and the small spermophile (Citellus dauuricus mongolicus),
which extends its range southward over parts of northern China. In the
northern grasslands the spermophile is replaced by a larger species (C. pallidi-
cauda). It is here, also, that the colonies of Bobac Marmot (Marmota bobak
sibirica) are found (related to the form of central Europe), while preying upon
them and the spermophiles is the Masked Polecat (Mustela eversmanni tiarata),
corresponding in this relation to the Black-footed Ferret of North America,
that frequents the colonies of “‘prairie dogs.’’ Brandt’s Field Vole (Microtus
brandti) is abundant as well as M. poliakoffi, while a third species (M. tian-
shanicus angustus) is rarer. Both the latter are members of the subgenus
Stenocranius. The small hamster (Cricetiscus songarus campbelli) is a charac-
teristic grassland species of both the southern and the northern portions.
Extreme northwestern Mongolia is inhabited by several species that
seem to be absent from the rest of the country. Among these are Przewalski’s
Horse, which just reaches this area from farther west, and the vole (Microtus
agrestis mongol) representing the group so widespread in North America, with
an additional postero-internal loop on the middle upper molar. The large
jerboa (Allactaga) is found over much of Mongolia, but the smaller genus
(Alactagulus) has thus far been taken in the far northwestern part of the coun-
try only. The Mouse-hare (Ochotona alpina) also reaches this end of Mon-
golia from the west. Notable also is the extension of the Mountain Sheep
(Ovis ammon darvini) and the Siberian Ibex (Capra sibirica) into the central
Gobi, following the northwest-southeast trend of the mountain chains into
the central part of the desert. It was perhaps by following these ranges that
the sheep crossed to northern Shansi, and perhaps in former times extended
into Shantung, but the ibex apparently did not penetrate so far, although both
are found together in the western Gobi.
The typical desert country occupies the central part of Mongolia and is
largely barren and dry, as well described by Dr. Roy C. Andrews in the first
volume of this series. Water is scarce, forage is sparse and cover hardly avail-
able over great stretches. Yet a number of mammals are more or less confined
to this desert. Of larger species the wild ass and the gazelle (Gazella sub-
gutturosa hillieriana) are confined to this environment, the former sometimes
gathering into considerable herds, but the latter consorting in small groups.
Wolves are rare, and two species of fox, one a representative of the widespread
Red Fox, the other resembling the American Kit Fox, are present in small
numbers. One or two types of desert-living cats (Felis manul and probably
E IV
PLATE
BY]OSUOTY JojnO ‘opsog vseg Mojaq qsnf wouy ‘ION uPSesy, Jo Kaljea 94} I9AO NO ZuryooT “Iqoy ayy,
ere
LVIPE EPO
FAUNAL AREAS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA 13
Felis bieti= pallida) must find at times abundant food in the shape of small
rodents, such as the various species of jerboa and Przewalski’s Vole (Lagurus
przewalskii). A burrowing adaptation of the microtine type is found in the
genus Ellobius, of which forms closely allied to those of western and central
Asia have penetrated well into this desert, where they have sought shelter
through an underground existence. The small hamsters, Phodopus, have sim-
ilarly developed subterranean habits, burrowing in the sand hills, and in corre-
lation with these habits have nearly lost the tail and are extremely pallid in
color. Most interesting of all are the various genera of leaping rodents that
have developed the saltatorial habit in correlation with desert living, and have
become long of foot and limb, with long tails and, usually, much enlarged
audital bulle, sometimes associated with long external ears as in Allactaga
and Euchoreutes, or with short ears as in Dipus, Salpingotus and Cardiocranius;
all are characteristic of sandy deserts, developing stiff hairy pads under the
toes for giving a secure footing on the shifting sand. Hares (Lepus europeus
tolai) are common over parts of the Gobi as well as in North China, with the
palest of the races in the desert. They often haunt old camp sites along the
caravan track. Pallas’s Mouse-hare (Ochotona pallasii) lives among rocks
in the desert, as does also the Cliff Mouse (Alticola) and a desert race of a
northern bat (Eptesicus nilssonii gobiensis) while the Dauurian Mouse-hare
makes burrows out in open grassy places. Hedgehogs of the long-eared group
(Hemiechinus), very pale in color, take the place of the short-eared Erinaceus
of the northern fauna, while shrews are almost lacking, although a single speci-
men of a pale form of Crocidura (C. ilensis lar) was taken by the expedition
at Tsagan Nor.
3. North China:—South of the Gobi and its extension the Ordos Desert,
is a wide stretch of country comprising the northern parts of Kansu, Shensi,
and Shansi, and the southern portion of Hopei, over which the conditions are
semiarid, with occasional mountain ranges, partly wooded. Malcolm P.
Anderson (in Thomas, 1909, p. 964) writes: ‘‘The provinces of Shan-si and
Shen-si are quite different in character. The former may be briefly described
as a mountainous country with occasional large upland plains. Some peaks
in Shan-si rise above 10,000 ft., and are massive rocky mountains with only a
comparatively thin coating of loess soil. Where the loess figures mostly is
in the plains, of which that of Tai-Yuen-Fu, that of Ta-Tung-fu, and that of
Hsiu-clou are the best examples. The streams of Shan-si flow only in the
rainy season, with the exception of the larger rivers. Northern Shen-si, on
the other hand, is a region of loess hills of almost uniform height; the skyline
of Shen-si, seen from the mountains of its eastern neighbour, is a straight line
declining very gradually as it passes from north to south.””. Of the mammals
of this area, some are of northern transcontinental types, which may have
14 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
reached this area either by extending their range around the eastern edge of
the Gobi, or in case of species with a slightly more southern tendency, by
having been able to spread widely east and west across the less barren parts
of central Asia, in recent or earlier times.
An interesting example is Clethrionomys rufocanus shanseius, the only one
of the red-backed mice yet found in the area south of the Gobi, occurring in
the spruce forests of northern Shansi. Another example is the northern flying
squirrel (Pteromys volans buechneri), which probably occurs in northern Mon-
golia, but hitherto is recorded only in Kansu and the forests of southern Shensi
of the present area. The chipmunks (Eutamias) have a rather similar dis-
tribution, for they are found in the open forest of northern Mongolia, around the
eastern parts of the country, to Hopei, Shansi, Shensi, and Kansu. In a
general way, these and a number of other species are limited in their southward
tange by the east-west mountain ranges—the Min Shan in southern Kansu,
and the Tsingling of southern Shensi and Shansi—and the northern borders
of the Yangtze basin, with slightly differing limits in accordance with their
particular requirements. Thus among the Insectivora, the mole genus
Scaptochirus is characteristic of northeastern China; the hedgehog of this
region is a close relative of the Eurasian species Erinaceus europeus, while
the shrews of both red-toothed (Sorex) and white-toothed (Crocidura) types
are rare, Sorex sinalis being known from Kansu, the small Crocidura ilensis
shantungensis representing the latter genus in the northeast. The hamsters,
including the larger Cricetulus triton group and the smaller C. barabensis races,
do not extend south of these limits. Gerbils of the two species Meriones
unguiculatus and M. psammophilus are both common in North China, and
are partial to semi-desert. The mole-rats of two types are characteristic
northern animals, the more northern Myospalax myospalax psilurus extending
southward from extreme northeastern Mongolia into Hopei, the more southern
M. fontanierit ranging south into Hupeh and northern Szechwan at high alti-
tudes in slightly differing races. Other northern species, whose range is
transcontinental in the north temperate zone and extends to northern China,
include the Roebuck (Capreolus), the Red Deer (Cervus elaphus kansuensis),
the Badger (Meles meles leptorynchus), the Otter (Lutra lutra chinensis), the
Wolf (Canis lupus chanco), the Wild Boar (Sus scrofa subsp.) and various
rodents such as voles of one or two species (e.g., Microtus ratticeps flaviventris),
the Brown Rat (Rattus norvegicus socer), the Harvest Mouse (Micromys), and
the small House Mouse (Mus bactrianus races). Other species of North China
have a more restricted range, at least in modern times, and are peculiar to
this part of China, though no doubt with once a wider range. Such are the
River Deer (Hydropotes), confined in China to the Yangtze River bottoms but
turning up once more in Korea; David’s Deer (Elaphurus) the antlers of which
FAUNAL AREAS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA 15
are associated with ancient human culture in Honan; and the Groove-toothed
Flying Squirrel of the forests of Hopei. On the other hand, sundry species
whose distribution is essentially southern here find their northern limit, as
the Striped Tree Squirrel (Tamiops s. vestitus), the Large-toothed Flying
Squirrel (Trogopterus), the common Yellow-bellied Rat (Rattus confucianus
chihliensis and other races) and R. nitidus humiliatus. This meeting of the
northern and the southern faunas is paralleled to some degree in North
America.
4. South China:—In a general way the parallel of about 34° north
marks the southern limit of the North China fauna, while south of that,
from about the northern edge of the Yangtze drainage and the Tsingling
Range, southward, this gives place to a more numerous assemblage of species
whose distribution is largely southern, and corresponds in a general way to
the austral fauna of North America. Many of the species are wide-ranging
across the whole of southern China, while others are more strictly confined
either to the lower country of the eastern parts or to the highlands of the
western portion. One may thus distinguish the South China fauna and that
of the western highlands. Of those species that are wide-ranging longitudi-
nally and altitudinally, it is usual to find that the highlanders represent a
more or less differentiated race from those of the lower coastal districts of
southeastern China. There are thus subspecies of various bats in the lower
country of South China differing subspecifically from their representatives
in the west, as Rhinolophus blythi calidus and R. b. szechwanus, R. episcopus
caldwelli and R.e. episcopus of east and west respectively, Myotis chinensis
and M. c. luctuosus, and among rodents many others might be mentioned of
the genera Dremomys, Callosciurus, Sciurotamias, Petaurista, Eothenomys,
Rhizomys, Rattus, Mus, among the Carnivora the widespread weasels Mustela
sibirica and M. alpina, and among ungulates the genera Capricornis and
Nemorhedus, in all of which examples are found of subspecific differentiation
into races characteristic of lowland and highland of eastern and western China.
A number of other species or genera are not found in the western uplands
but are confined to the southeastern lowlands. Such are the moles of the
genus Mogera of Fukien and Hainan, the ferret-badgers (Helictis), the Crab-
eating Mungoose (Herpestes urva), the Clouded Leopard (Felis nebulosa), the
Scaly Anteater (Manis pentadactyla dalmanni), the distribution of which is
doubtless largely governed by that of the termites on which it feeds, the curious
Tufted-tailed Dormouse (Typhlomys), the Red-cheeked Squirrel (Dremomys
rufigenis pyrrhomerus), Reeves’s Muntjac and the Tufted Muntjac (Mun-
tuacus reevesit and M. crinifrons). Perhaps the common Rhesus Macaque
(Macaca mulatta) might be included here, although it ranges across extreme
southern China, and even reaches considerable altitudes in parts of Szechwan.
16 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
The Sika Deer (Cervus nippon boschi) is another example of a species charac-
teristic of southeastern China, although represented also in Korea. The
genus Rattus is found chiefly in warmer countries of the Old World and is
“represented in South China by a number of species which do not go much
beyond the Yangtze basin in the east, although occurring also in the western
highlands, such as R. losea, R. edwardsi, R. bowerst, and others.
With all these more southern species the limits of northward distribution
vary slightly in each case, but as a whole they represent a very distinctly
austral element.
5. The Western Highlands:—By far the most interesting and remarkable
of the faunal divisions of China is that of the western highlands, from approxi-
mately southern Kansu and southern Shensi southward to include Szechwan
and parts of northern Yunnan and probably Kweichow. This great area is
well watered and mountainous, many of its ranges extending up to ten thousand
feet or more, with many peaks even in western Yunnan running to 13,000 feet
and perpetually snow-capped. The northern boundary is marked approxi-
mately by the east-west ranges of the Min Shan (in Kansu) and Tsingling
(southern Shensi), but on the west the mountain chains of the Szechwan and
Yunnan borders trend north and south, thus opposing a barrier against the
westerly winds and, by condensing moisture from these air currents, producing
an abundant rainfall with its consequent forest growth. The forests are largely
of fir and spruce with hardwoods at middle levels, but in the higher parts,
8,000 to 10,000 feet, the growth is lower, and is characterized by thickets of
small bamboo and rhododendron. The north-south ranges of western China
are believed to be older geologically than the east-west Himalayas with which
they are contiguous, and seem to have afforded asylum for many peculiar,
often primitive, types of mammals not known elsewhere to-day. On the other
hand, their contact with the Himalayas allows a certain interchange or exten-
sion of range for some of the faunal elements, as in the case of such genera as
Soriculus, Nectogale, Chimarrogale, Ailurus, Budorcas, Nemorhedus and others,
which are present in the Chinese highlands and in the eastern Himalayas.
Peculiar to the former, are the following genera: among insectivores, Uropsilus
and the related Rhynchonax and Nasillus, the more mole-like Scapanulus, and
the shrews, Blarinella and Anourosorex (the latter extending into India); of
the primates, the Golden Monkey (Rhinopithecus); of carnivores, the Giant
Panda (Ailuropoda) ; of rodents, the Rock Squirrel (Rupestes), and the Jumping
Mouse (Zapus), notable for its close relationship to the American Zapus, as
well as the subgenus Neodon of Microtus. The voles of the genus Eothenomys,
although extending in mountainous country to the coast ranges of Fukien
and westward to the borders of Burma, are essentially characteristic of these
highlands, as are also the mouse-hares, Ochotona thibetana and its races, a
PLATE V
sis TRS ee
Yenchingkou near Wanhsien, eastern Szechwan. Site of bat caves; the limestone ridge in the background
the haunt of Edwards’s Giant Rat (Rattus edwardsi gigas)
is
FAUNAL AREAS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA 17
forest-dwelling species, and possibly O. glovert of the mountainous parts of
western Szechwan.
The presence of a mole of the genus Talpa (T. longirostris) here is interest-
ing, as its affinities are more western, so that it possibly entered China by way
of the Himalayan chain. In the opposite direction, a number of species
seem to have spread into the Himalayan region, or to have been indigenous
there. Thus the Takin and the Goral as well as the Serow reach their western
limit in the Bhutan region; the shrews of the genera Soriculus and Nectogale
as well as Chimarrogale occur in the Himalayas; the small Panda (Ailurus) is
found there also, but not the Giant Panda; the widespread Rattus fulvescens
extends into Nepal.
It is interesting to find that the lofty mountain masses of Yunnan and
parts of Szechwan that reach altitudes of over ten thousand feet with perpetual
snow at their summits, show very little in the way of special alpine species.
This is apparently because even during the Pleistocene period there was no
way whereby boreal mammals, if pushed south by the advancing glaciers in
the north, could cross the east-west deserts of the Gobi and central Asia, for
the lack of north-south mountain chains afforded no such highway for migra-
tion as we see, for example, in western North America, where boreal types of
birds and mammals occur on the upper levels of the Sierra and Rocky Moun-
tains, far south of their sea-level distribution. Perhaps in part because of
this lack of competitors, in part because of favorable conditions of climate and
food, these western highlands have remained to the present the home of many
annectant or peculiar types that have elsewhere died out. Thus the genus
Neotetracus may be thought of as an ancestral member of the Erinaceide;
Uropsilus is a primitive shrew-like member of the Talpide; Parascaptor is
perhaps a relative of the American mole Parascalops; Eothenomys, with its
subgenera Anteliomys and Caryomys, shows many intermediate characters
from which more advanced types of microtines may have developed, while
the subgenus Neodon is practically a Pitymys without fossorial modifications.
The absence of the latter genus from China is noteworthy. Zapus in these
highlands is a relict, having died out elsewhere in the Old World, and the
raccoon-like Ailurus is an annectant genus of the Procyonide that has survived
here but disappeared elsewhere. The three genera of goat-antelopes (Budorcas,
Capricornis, and Nemorhedus) all occur together here as more primitive
members of the Bovide, represented elsewhere only by the Rocky Mountain
Goat, and perhaps by the musk-oxen in America. Hemmed in by deserts
on the north and west, and by low country on the east, the south has been the
main source of intrusives, and these include for the most part species or
genera whose main area of distribution is at lower and warmer latitudes
(for example the Rhesus Monkey and Sambar Deer).
18 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
6. The Subtropical Fauna:—While the mammals of southern China are
mostly of warmer-country types, often with wide longitudinal and latitudinal
distribution, there are a number of species of distinctly more tropical preference,
that just reach the southern edge of the country or penetrate a short distance
beyond its borders. These may be regarded as constituting a subtropical
element, which appears in extreme southern Yunnan, Kweichow, Kwangsi, and
Kwangtung Provinces and in the island of Hainan. Of such are the tree-
shrews (Tupaia), represented by local races of the single species T. belangeri, in
Yunnan and Hainan, as well as the shrew-like Hylomys and Neotetracus in
the former; other insectivores include the peculiar mole, Parascaptor (Yunnan),
and several species of white-toothed shrews (Crocidura); a larger number of
bats of tropical and subtropical distribution, including two genera, Cynopterus
and Rousettus, of fruit bats; and various Microchiroptera, as Taphozous, an
emballonurid; Lyroderma, a megadermid; species of Hipposideros and Trienops
of the Hipposideride; Tylonycteris, Scotophilus, Scotomanes, and Kerivoula
of the Vespertilionide; and Cherephon and Nyctinomus of the Molosside. At
least three species of langur monkeys (Pithecus), and the gibbons (Hylobates
hoolock and H. concolor), just enter the southern borderland, the last on the
island of Hainan; possibly, too, Macaca assamensis and the Stump-tailed
Macaque (Lyssodes) should be regarded as intrusives from the subtropics.
Among the Carnivora there are a number of subtropical species such as the
Lesser Ferret-badger (Helictis taxilla sorella), the Indian Otter (Lutra taray-
ensis from Yunnan), two species of palm civets of the genus Paradoxurus,
one of which (P. minor exitus) barely reaches the southeastern border, the
other (P. hermaphroditus laotum) occurring in Hainan; mungooses (Herpestes)
of two species, one in Hainan, the other (H. urva) more widely spread across
the mainland of extreme southern China. Many rodents might be added to
this list, including the giant squirrels (Ratufa, in Yunnan and Hainan); several
flying squirrels, large and small, as Petaurista hainana, P. yunnanensis,
P. punctatus marica, Pteromys (Petinomys) electilis (Hainan) and Belomys
pearsoni; the mole-rat (Rhizomys pruinosus) just reaches southwestern Yunnan
and is of more southern distribution than R. sinensis and its races, while other
genera include such subtropical mammals as Leggada, Bandicota, Vandeleuria,
Chiropodomys, and Hapalomys, members of the Muride, a family of essen-
tially warm-country distribution. Among the ungulates, the larger muntjacs
(Muntiacus vaginalis muntjak in Yunnan, and M. v. nigripes in Hainan) may
be included as subtropical species, as well as the Panolia Deer (Rucervus
platyceros hainanus). There is some evidence that in former times elephant
and rhinoceros may also have reached the southern borders of China.
No doubt future work will add considerably to this list, for the southern
provinces, except Yunnan, have not been thoroughly collected.
PLATE VI
The Mekong valley, western Yunnan
FAUNAL AREAS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA 19
7. The Tibetan Plateau:—On its extreme western border, China includes
the eastward edge of the great Tibetan plateau. The traveler emerges from
the high passes of the Szechwan highlands, as near Tatsienlu, on the ancient
caravan trail, wpon more open country, broken, yet scarcely mountainous,
sparsely covered with grass and scattered vegetation, partly watered by swift
narrow streams, trending northwest to southeast, some of which unite to form
the Yangtze River flowing eastward to the Pacific Ocean, while others, turning
southward, form a series of deep, narrow and nearly parallel valleys transecting
western Yunnan. This plateau is semiarid and supports a characteristic
fauna, although the species of mammals are relatively few, and include only
such as can withstand the rigorous climatic conditions and find subsistence
there. The following species are known from the borderland of China and
range westward into Tibet: the Black Grizzly Bear (Ursus pruinosus) which
subsists in part upon the burrowing mouse-hares that it digs up; of these, the
red-eared species (Ochotona erythrotis) is found on the high mountains of
western Szechwan; the Gray-tailed Hare (Lepus oiostolus) and races which
occur along the western edge of Szechwan and Kansu; the Himalayan Marmot
(Marmota himalayana robusta), hardly if at all distinguishable from the animal
of the more western Himalayas; and several larger hoofed mammals, including
the White-lipped Deer (Cervus albirostris), remarkable for its rough coat, the
Tibetan Gazelle (Procapra picticaudata), which ranges northeastward into
Kansu, where it is represented by a closely similar race, Przewalski’s
Gazelle (P. picticaudata przewalskii), the Blue Sheep (Pseudots nayaur
szechuanensis) with a like distribution, and probably too, the Wild Yak, which
is known to occur close to the borders of Szechwan, and slightly farther north
enters Chinese territory in northwestern Kansu. Possibly the Bactrian Camel
was originally part of this fauna. Future investigation will doubtless show
that the Snow Leopard (Uncia uncia), a species of these barren heights, also
enters Chinese territory in the extreme west of Szechwan, for, although no
specimens seem to have actually been taken in the province so far as recorded,
it is well known to range across Tibet at higher levels, preying on young wild
sheep and ibex, while the skins are frequently traded across into China. No
doubt a few additional species will eventually enlarge this list.
CHAPTER III
FAUNAL RELATIONS OF ASIA WITH NORTH AMERICA
A CERTAIN obvious similarity between the fauna and flora of northern
Eurasia and those of northern North America has led zoégeographers to unite
both in a single major division, the Holarctic Region. So far as the mammals
go, however, this likeness is most marked amongst the boreal types of the arctic
regions and of the transcontinental evergreen forest belt, southward of which
the community of mammalian forms becomes less and less evident or is almost
completely lost. This seems to indicate that the last land connection by way
of northeastern Asia and Alaska, along which interchange must have taken
place, was far to the northward and of relatively narrow extent, so that only
species of northern distribution were enabled to cross from one continent to
the other. The effect of a continuous land bridge of this sort would be to shut
out any arctic current bringing cold water from the north through Bering
Strait, while the warm Japanese Current washing its southern shores would
perhaps affect but a narrow strip along its southern edge, bringing to it a warm,
moist climate such as at present obtains along the shores of Alaska, British
Columbia, and the State of Washington. The abundant moisture favors
forest growth, so that mainly forest-living species might be expected to take
advantage of the connection to make the crossing. On the other hand, ‘“‘the
shutting off of the warmer southern currents from the polar region probably
marked the commencement of a cooler northern climate’? (Osborn, H. F.,
“The Age of Mammals,’’ 1910, p. 244). There is evidence that such a connec-
tion existed in early Pleistocene times and lasted till near the end of the glacial
period, when Asia and North America were again completely separated. At
an earlier epoch, in the Pliocene, there was a similar connection between the
two continents, with evidence of a generally warmer climate farther to the
north which would have enabled species of more southern latitudes to make
the crossing, while a cooler climate in the north during subsequent times must
have forced many of these southward to more congenial conditions. In the
present distribution of eastern Asiatic mammals, there seems to be indication
that at least two such periods of interchange took place, and as one would
20
FAUNAL RELATIONS OF ASIA WITH NORTH AMERICA 21
expect, the species of the earlier immigration are found farther to the south
than those of the later one.
The living species of mammals in northern Asia are in many cases repre-
sented in northern North America by forms so closely similar that the differ-
ences are hardly if at all more than of subspecific value. In other cases, how-
ever, those of one continent are not now represented in the other, although
there may be evidence of their former presence in the shape of fossils, as in the
case of the musk-ox, once of circumpolar distribution, but now confined to
Greenland and northern Canada. When the forest fauna of northern Mon-
golia is compared with that of the ‘“‘Canadian Zone” of North America, its
New World equivalent, many such correspondences appear, together with a
smaller number of disharmonies.
Among the Insectivora, the Saddle-backed Shrew, Sorex araneus borealis,
is represented in northern America by the very similar S. arcticus group which
is found from Alaska to Nova Scotia, but it seems uncertain whether S. minutus
or S. buxtont has a similar New World relative. Among the bats, the
Eurasian Myotis daubentonii is doubtless the counterpart of M. lucifugus,
which reaches tree limit from Alaska to Labrador, but other species are for the
great part more southern in distribution. Among these the short-nosed
Myotis frater, described from Fukien, seems to be the Chinese representative
of M. volans of western North America which ranges northward to extreme
southern Alaska. Possibly at some former time the range was continuous
across an ancient land bridge so that under very little warmer conditions the
common ancestor was able to extend farther northward, although since then
the increasing cold has forced the modern descendants somewhat to the south
of those latitudes. The close correspondence between the small-footed and
long-haired Myotis muricola moupinensis with its peculiarly dark-based fur
and contrasting reddish tips, and the western American M. californicus group
suggests a near relationship, and perhaps again indicates that the latter
were derived from this Asiatic stock at a time when land connections and
slightly warmer temperatures in the north made it possible for the species to
cross from the Old to the New World. The present northward distribution
of the two shows a wide gap from the Chinese highlands to extreme southern
Alaska, for as in the previous case, the climatic conditions in eastern China
are now more rigorous than in corresponding latitudes of the southern Alaskan
coast. The interchange perhaps goes back to Pliocene times.
Turning to the Carnivora, similar correspondences occur. An outstanding
case is that of the family Procyonide, the raccoons and their kin. At the
present time the group is well represented in tropical America, with a single
species of Procyon extending northward in the United States to southern
Canada in forested areas. Its only representative in Asia is the small Panda
22 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
(Ailurus fulgens) at present confined to the highlands of southwestern China
and the adjacent portions of the Himalayas. There must have been a time,
probably far back in the later Tertiary, when the group was more widespread,
and a land connection in the north enabled the ancestral forms to cross from
one continent to the other. A similar case is that of Zapus to be mentioned
later. Other eastern Carnivora show even closer kinship with American
species. Thus the northern Brown Bear (Ursus arctos lasiotus) seems a close
relative of the American Grizzly, with similar pale shoulder markings, and
Euarctos thibetanus, in spite of its larger size, can hardly be other than the
Asiatic representative of the American Black Bear (Euarctos americanus) with a
comparable wide range from northern Mexico to Alaska. This latter fact and
the marked size difference may indicate that the American animal came with an
older emigration than Pleistocene, although the first presence of bears in
America is supposed to be in relatively late Tertiary times. The Red Fox
(Vulpes vulpes subsp.) and the Wolf of northern Asia are so similar to those
of northern North America as hardly to merit specific distinction from their
New World congeners, implying a separation of relatively short duration,
although the canids are on the whole conservative types. The Old World Ermine
(Mustela erminea and races) finds its counterpart in the closely similar M.
cicognanii of northern North America, a species characteristic of the evergreen
forest area, while the Pygmy Weasel (M. rixosa pygmea) is clearly but sub-
specifically related to the M. rixosa and races of the same area. Probably,
too, the Sable (Martes zibellina and races) stands in a similar relation to the
American Pine Martens (M. americana and races), but the Beech Marten
(M. foina) is not represented in the New World. The lynx of northern Mon-
golia (Lynx lynx isabellina) is replaced in the evergreen forests of Alaska by
the Canada Lynx, at present regarded as a distinct species but perhaps of
closer relationship than this implies.
Coming to the rodents, the tree squirrels show a striking contrast, for
Sciurus vulgaris (and races) of the transcontinental forest of Eurasia has no
close relative in the evergreen belt of America, but its place is occupied by the
smaller red squirrel (Tamiasciurus). The flying squirrel of the northern Asiatic
forests (Pteromys volans subsp.) is currently regarded as generically distinct
from its counterpart (Glaucomys sabrinus) of the American fur countries, but
the differences are probably best considered at most of subgeneric value.
On the other hand, the common ground squirrel of northern Mongolia (Citellus
eversmanni jacutensis) is so closely similar to the Alaskan members of the
C. parryi group that the relationship can hardly be more than subspecific,
and the chipmunks (Eutamias) are evidently near relatives on both sides.
Among the microtines are several interesting contrasts. Thus, of the red-
backed mice (Clethrionomys), forest-living species, the two species of northern
FAUNAL RELATIONS OF ASIA WITH NORTH AMERICA 23
Mongolia are represented in Alaska by but one (C. dawsonz), for the C. rufo-
canus type is not known from the New World.
In the meadow mice (Microtus), the common form of northern Asia is of
the M. arvalis type, represented in northern Mongolia by M. mongolicus,
with but four prisms in the second upper molar. This type is found in North
America represented by M. operarius of Alaska, with a similarly formed
second upper molar. It has apparently not extended far into the continent,
for elsewhere over most of Canada and the United States Microtus pennsyl-
vanicus is the dominant species with an additional postero-internal loop on the
second upper molar. This latter type is represented in northern Europe
and Asia by M. agrestis, of which M. a. mongol is the Mongolian race. The
abundance of this type in North America to the exclusion of the M. arvalis
type may be evidence that it was the first to reach the New World or that it
may have reached the Old from the New.
An interesting parallel in association is found in the Bobac Marmot of the
Mongolian grasslands, which is more or less colonial and has a special enemy
in the Masked Polecat (Mustela eversmanni tiarata). In this relation it is
similar to the American prairie dogs (Cynomys) which find in the related
Black-footed Ferret (Mustela nigripes) a particular enemy. The two hosts
are not very closely allied, but the predators are.
Of the mouse-hares (Ochotona) only one of the three Asiatic subgenera
is represented by the various forms of western North America, namely, the
subgenus Pika to which the Mongolian O. hyperborea mantchurica belongs.
The presence of this northern group on both sides of Bering Strait indicates
again a close affinity between the living species of the two areas.
Among the hoofed mammals, the genus Sus, wild swine, is wholly un-
represented in North America, but it is mainly a group of the warmer parts
of Asia and Europe, ranging northward to Mongolia and the Baikal region,
but more abundant to the southward. The Musk Deer, which ranges north-
eastward into eastern Siberia, might have been expected to appear in western
North America, while the Roe Deer, now common in southern Siberia, might
also have been looked for, but both are unrepresented in the New World.
On the other hand, the Red Deer and the Elk are both represented on the
American side by near relatives, the Wapiti and the Moose.
The Wild Horse (Equus przewalskii), of extreme western Mongolia,
as well as the Bactrian Camel, while no longer represented in the North
American continent by related forms, were probably immigrants in early Pleis-
tocene from that area, where both groups went through mo&t of their evolu-
tionary history. Remains of both genera are known from deposits of the
Ice Age in Alaska.
These close relatives on both sides of Bering Strait indicate, then, a
24 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
former continuity of range by way of a land bridge between the two continents,
of so comparatively recent a date that in most cases, at least, no great differ-
entiation has taken place between the representative forms of the two areas.
A comparison of the mammals of northern China with those of corre-
sponding latitudes of North America shows greater differences between related
groups, indicative probably of an earlier land connection with a still warmer
climate at higher latitudes, so that it was possible for their ancestors to range
farther north and so avail themselves of the opportunity thus afforded to cross
in either direction. This older connection was perhaps in the Pliocene, when,
as shown by fossil remains, such trees as the bald cypress (Taxodium), the
tulip tree (Liriodendron), honey locust (Gleditschia), sweet gum (Liquidambar)
and others now found in southeastern United States were present also in western
Europe and doubtless across the intervening area, for they also persist at
present in southern China. In this connection, too, it is interesting to recall
that the ginkgo tree, now confined to eastern Asia, has lately been found fossil
in the late Tertiary of the State of Washington.
Among the Insectivora of North China and North America, few similari-
ties appear. No hedgehogs survive in North America, although there is
evidence that they may have occurred in early Tertiary; the genus Crocidura
is also quite lacking, although represented by a few species in eastern China
and Korea. A further contrast is the apparent absence of the genus Sorex,
a diversified group in North America, and represented in the Mongolian forest
and Siberia. Of moles, the genus Scaptochirus of North China has no close
relative in America, but Scapanulus, found in the highlands of Shensi, Kansu,
and Szechwan, is believed to be not distantly related to Brewer’s Mole,
Parascalops, of eastern North America, so that the wide gap now separating
them is doubtless of long standing. A somewhat parallel case is that of the
Eastern Chipmunk (Tamias striatus), of the eastern part of North America,
now generically different from Eutamias, its close ally in eastern Asia and
western North America. The mole (Scaptonyx), of the western Chinese
highlands, is related rather closely to Neurotrichus of the American northwest
coast. Among the rodents, the squirrel group of eastern and northern China
shows little similarity to the North American members. The large flying
squirrels are unrepresented in the latter continent; the genera Callosciurus,
Rupestes, Dremomys, and Sciurotamias are also wholly confined to eastern
Asia, the three last almost wholly to China. An interesting contrast is seen
in the cricetines, for, whereas in North America the common white-footed
mouse (Peromyscus) is widespread and in part a forest animal, with long tail,
its closest allies in North China and Mongolia are all ground-living or burrowing
forms with tails shortened or in some species reduced to a mere stump. Thus
the genus Cricetulus is widespread over open country and invades the desert,
FAUNAL RELATIONS OF ASIA WITH NORTH AMERICA 25
while Phodopus is a typically desert-living genus, with pallid coloring and the
soles of the feet provided with pads of hair for progress on sand in which it
burrows. The niche occupied by Peromyscus in the New World is taken by
the wood mouse (A podemus), a murine, which may in part explain the absence
of a forest-living cricetine. The latter genus is confined to the Old World
like the rest of the Muride, including Mus, Rattus and related genera, most
of them warm-climate types. Thus the genus Rattus is chiefly tropical and
south temperate in distribution with only two or three species that reach north
temperate latitudes under natural conditions. No relatives of the abundant
pocket gophers (Thomomys) of western North America are found in Asia, but
their niche is occupied in northern China and parts of northern Mongolia by
the aryicoline genus Myospalax of similar subterranean habits, while gerbils
and jerboas (Meriones, Rhombomys, Allactaga, Dipus, etc.) fill the ecological
niches taken in the New World by leaping desert species of Dipodomys. Of
special interest is the case of the jumping mouse (Zapus), known from the
Szechwan highlands of China, but so closely related to the American Zapus
that it is at most but subgenerically different. This again may be a remnant
of a wider distribution that took place possibly in Pliocene times, for at present
it is unknown from other intermediate areas. The tree porcupines of America,
on the other hand, are unrepresented in the Old World, though two genera of
ground porcupines occur in China. The distribution of the “‘goat-antelopes”’
at present centers in southeastern Asia, with three genera—Nemorhedus,
Capricornis, and Budorcas—found in China. These are doubtless to be looked
upon as survivals of primitive members of the Bovide, but although the first-
named reaches the southern borders of Siberia in Amurland, none appears in
North America, although the Rocky Mountain Goat (Oreamnos) is doubtless
closely related. The musk-ox, probably also to be regarded as a member of
this group, was nevertheless found in northern Asia in the Pleistocene, though
now confined to arctic America and Greenland.
In general it may then be said that, while the mammals of northern
Mongolia of the forest zone correspond in many cases to their close relatives of
northern distribution in the New World, those of more southern latitudes, in
northern and western China, are either unrepresented or their counterparts
are much more distantly related. The obvious conclusion is that the former
group owes its similarity to a more recent continuity of land area, while the
latter group has been separated for a far longer period, allowing time for evolu-
tionary changes in some types and the extinction or increase in others, with a
resulting lack of similarity at the present time.
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SECTION II
SYSTEMATIC ACCOUNT OF
THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
SECTION II
SYSTEMATIC ACCOUNT OF THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
CHAPTER IV—ORDER INSECTIVORA. INSECTIVORES -
CHAPTER V—ORDER CHIROPTERA. BATS - - - -
CHAPTER VI—ORDER PRIMATES. LEMURS AND MONKEYS
CHAPTER VII—ORDER CARNIVORA. CARNIVORES a eae
CHAPTER VIII—ORDER PINNIPEDIA. SEALS, SEA-LIONS’ -
CHAPTER IX—ORDER CETACEA. WHALES, DOLPHINS, PORPOISES
CHAPTER X—ORDER NOMARTHRA. SCALY ANTEATERS OR PANGOLINS
CHAPTER XI—ORDER RODENTIA. GNAWING MAMMALS
Page
29
150
279
312
490
494
514
523
CHAPTER IV
ORDER INSECTIVORA
INSECTIVORES
TuE Order Insectivora stands nearest among living mammalian groups to
the stem from which the placental mammals have arisen. Its members are of
small or even minute size; their reproductive system is of a generalized type,
their teeth are nearly or quite of the full number (eleven in each jaw above
and below) characteristic of placentals, and the molars are similar in structure
to those of the carnivorous marsupials, which in sundry other respects, as in
the formation of the brain and the presence of a distinct perforation (the
entepicondylar foramen) at the inner side of the condyle of the humerus, they
resemble. As a whole the Insectivora tend to have a tubular snout and a
forceps-like action of the jaws, which results usually in an enlargement of the
anterior incisors at the expense of the canines, and the arrangement of the
incisors in lengthwise instead of transverse rows. The canines may be so
reduced as to have disappeared altogether in some forms, although in a few, as
the hedgehogs, they are well developed and may have double roots. Their
food is chiefly of an animal nature, in which insects form a large part. The
group falls readily into two divisions, by some regarded as almost the equiva-
lent of separate orders, namely, a more primitive, the Menotyphla, in which
the pubic symphysis is long, the postorbital process well indicated or even
forming a complete ring about the eye, and the Lipotyphla, in which the pubic
bones are barely or not at all in contact and the postorbital processes unde-
veloped. The two groups differ in many other minute but significant details
of structure, as admirably set forth by Gregory (1910). The Menotyphla are
represented by two living families, the Tupaiide or tree shrews, confined to
southeastern Asia and of arboreal habits, and the Macroscelidide or elephant
shrews found in Africa mostly south of the Sahara. The former is represented
in China by a single species. The Lipotyphla, which include the moles,
shrews, and hedgehogs, on the other hand, are very well represented in eastern
Asia, and include a few primitive forms, as Uropsilus, which show the steps
in the origin of the mole-like from the shrew-like types. Three families of
29
30 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
this group are found in China and Mongolia, representing respectively, the
hedgehogs and their allies, the moles, and the shrews.
KeEy TO THE FAMILIES OF CHINESE AND MONGOLIAN INSECTIVORA
A. Form squirrel-like, tail well-haired and distichous; skull with orbit completely
encircled: bya: POY sting isscvepne sce s che fayes eased 2) ate ee ee Tupaiide
B. Form not squirrel-like, tail close-haired, orbit not encircled by a bony ring.
a. Crowns of upper molars nearly square in outline, consisting of four sub-
equal cusps, with a small central cusp... 06.60 e eee eee eee Erinaceide
b. Crowns of upper molars without a fifth central cusp.
a’. Zygomatic arch complete, form usually fossorial................... Talpide
b’. Zygomatic arch incomplete through loss of the jugal; form more or less
*SMOUISE=IIKE) so dan cvtrive sc imlore pengelccseec cant eeeessoVe.a olateaa Ifomeree rete lsreter eens Soricidz
Family TUPAIIDZ
TREE SHREWS
Tree Shrews are squirrel-like in appearance and like squirrels are active
by day. They are the most primitive of placental mammals, retaining arboreal
habits with a generalized structure. Unlike squirrels, however, they have all
five fingers of the hand and foot well developed and provided with a sharp
claw; the muzzle is somewhat elongated, and the ears rather short. In the
skull, the orbital ring is complete.
Genus Tupaia Raffles
Tupaia Raffles, Trans. Linn. Soc. London, vol. 13, p. 256, 1821.
In his review of the tree shrews, Lyon (1913) restricts Tupaia to those
species in which the tail is well haired throughout, and distichous, the snout
not especially elongated, the naked area on top of the nose cut squarely across
instead of being slightly prolonged backward in the midline, the lower lobe
of the ear smaller than the upper portion, and scantily haired. The tooth
formula consists of: ig c.t pm.§ m.g=38. The upper incisors are slightly en-
larged, the lower narrow and proclivous, the canine above smaller than the
incisors. The upper molars show very well the primitive pattern of cusps,
with the W-shaped commissures. The genus is tropical and subtropical in
distribution, confined to southeastern Asia, including the neighboring large
islands. A single species reaches the southern borders of China and the island
of Hainan, and is divisible into three rather poorly marked forms in this wide
area. The type species of the genus is T. ferruginea Raffles (=T. glis ferru-
ginea) of Sumatra.
THE INSECTIVORES 31
Fic. 1. Distribution Map.
Tupaia
1. TJ. belangeri chinensis 3. T. belangert modesta
2. T. belangeri yunalis
Key To CHINESE Races or Tupaia belangeri
A. Light shoulder stripe evident.
aa Generalitintiabovetsnreenish) 255 sci. «em sieeve spielen eee oe T. belangert chinensis
aa General mbit OrOwIiShyipeeeyt eth «) sieneyahsc jens (oieh wekeuey Vaid eusbad oceania: T. belangeri yunalis
B. Shoulder stripe obsolete, general tint above grayer............... T. belangert modesta
I. Tupaia belangeri chinensis J. Anderson
Tupaia chinensis J. Anderson, Anat. and Zool. Researches Western Yunnan, p. 129, pl. 7, figs. 8, 9, 1879.
Tupaia belangert chinensis Thomas, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. 8, vol. 13, p. 243, 1914; ibid., vol. 14, p. 472, 1914.
Type specimens:—Anderson mentions two individuals procured by him
upon which he founded his description: No. 204a, from Ponsee, Burma, in
32 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
alcohol, and No. 204b and c, the skin and skull of an adult from Muangla,
Yunnan (Cat. Mammals Indian Mus., Calcutta, pt. 1, p. 155, 1881). Accord-
ing to Dr. Lyon, these are probably still in the Indian Museum.
Description:—General color above, from snout to tail, including the backs
of hands and feet, an olive gray, very slightly darker in the middle region of the
back where the black hairs are more numerous. The individual hairs are of
two kinds: the shorter, with slaty bases and the terminal part pale greenish
yellow or with a black ring dividing the greenish-yellow portion; and slightly
longer, stouter hairs chiefly black, with or without a minute tip of greenish
yellow. At the side of the neck a short, ill-defined pale streak extends back
from the ear, where the terminal yellowish portion of the hairs is slightly paler
and more extensive. The tail is like the back above, becoming slightly darker
toward the tip; on its lower surface, the shaft is clothed with short appressed
hairs colored like the rest of the tail in the apical third, but paler ochraceous
buff basally. The entire under side from chin to vent, and the lower sides of
the limbs, are pale ochraceous buff, the hairs with slaty bases except on the
midline of the chest, the inguinal region, the interramal area, and arms. Ears
similar to the back, but very thinly clad with short hair.
Measurements :—Collectors’ measurements of two races are as follows:
° T. belangeri chinensis
No. Total length Tail Hind foot Ear Sex
84929 358 175 44 16 ror
84935 338 178 42 16 a
84937 358 186 42 14 rol
84938 318 174 42 14 ci
84940 356 183 42 17 cS
84928 340 170 43 16 Q
84930 335 155 44 16 g
84931 320 170 40 Ly, ie)
84934 347 163 45 15 2
84936 344 172 42 16 Q
T. belangeri modesta
No. Head and body Tail Hind foot Ear Sex
59828 185 159 43 16 (et
59832 180 150 44 15 fou
59836 180 149 42 II rol
59838 185 150 45 10 rol
59840 189 150 46 13 rou
59829 185 159 43 16 g
59837 180 144 40 14 2
59839 185 165 45 17 2
59844 175 160 45 Io g
59850 195 155 44 a g
THE INSECTIVORES 33
CRANIAL MEASUREMENTS OF TUPAIA
Zygo- Width Upper Lower
Greatest Basal Palatal matic Mastoid across tooth tooth
No. length length length width width molars row row Locality
T. belangeri chinensis
44280 46.7 41.3 24.2 23.5 16.7 15.9 23.7 22.9 Yunnan
44290 48.5 43-7 27.6 23-7 17.6 15.6 27.4 23-5 Yunnan
44293 47.2 41.6 24.4 24.5 17.5 15.5 24.6 23.0 Yunnan
84936 46.7 40.6 24.7 23.3 172 15.9 24.2 21.6 Yunnan
84929 48.6 42.2 25.6 24.6 ey) 14.6 24.2 22.0 Yunnan
84932 44.3 36.1 22.4 22.5 16.9 15.0 22.6 21.6 Yunnan
84934 47.4 41.7 25.1 24.7 18.2 16.0 25.1 23.5 Yunnan
84940 47-7 42.4 25-3 25.6 19.1 15.6 24.4 22.4 Yunnan
T. belangeri yunalis
13685 Mcz 48.2 42.5 26.0 25.2 19.4 16.6 25-7 24.5 Yunnan
13686 MCZ 45-3 40.5 23.7 23.9 17.0 15.8 23.6 22.5 Yunnan
13687 MCz 45-5 40.7 23.6 23.4 18.5 15.5 24.1 22.2 Yunnan
T. belangeri modesta
52829 48.8 42.7 25.8 23.8 18.0 16.6 25.7 24.5 Hainan
59843 49.0 43-9 27.0 25.2 18.6 16.0 26.5 24.9 Hainan
59848 48.6 42.2 26.0 24.5 17.9 16.8 25.7 237, Hainan
Occurrence and Habits:—This tree shrew is characterized by its rather
uniform olivaceous-gray color above, and as indicated by Lyon and later con-
firmed by Thomas (1914, p. 243), is a slightly differentiated race of T. belangeri
of southern Burma, differing in its almost complete lack of ferruginous coloring
on the back. True T. b. chinensis occurs in the North Shan States and across
the southwestern part of Yunnan. A large series collected by Dr. R. C.
Andrews and Mr. Edmund Heller, as well as others collected for the British
Museum and the U. S. National Museum, indicates that it has a wide alti-
tudinal distribution, from the lower levels as at Namting River on the Burma
border, up to 9,000 or 10,000 feet on the Likiang Range and the mountains
to the east. Others are from the Mekong River and about Tali Lake, Yun-
nanfu, and Yunnanyi. Specimens from the last three localities show inter-
gradation with T. b. ywnalis in the very slightly warmer tone of the back. It
does not extend much farther north than the Likiang Range.
Little seems to be recorded concerning the habits of this species in China.
It is in part tree-living, but apparently also spends much time on the ground.
Anderson (1879) notes that the first one he saw on his Yunnan Expedition was
in a grassy clearing close to patches of fruit, and that he at first mistook it for
a squirrel. The stomach of one collected by Heller on the Mekong River con-
tained seeds and leaves, indicating a partially vegetable diet, although insects
and various other forms of animal life doubtless constitute its chief food.
34 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
Specimens examined:—The following thirty-seven:
Yunnan: Chiho, twenty miles south of Likiang, 2; Fengyang, 1; Hainkai, 1; Hsiohsien, 1;
Likiang, 7; Mekong River, 3; Makaihsien, 2; Namting River, Burma border, 1;
Peitai, 1; Mucheng, 1; Tali Lake and vicinity, 3; Wutinghsien, 1; Shihku, Yangtze
River, 1; Yunnanfu, 1; one hundred and sixty miles west, 1; Yunnanyi, 5; Kaochiao, 6.
2. Tupaia belangeri yunalis Thomas
Tupaia belangeri yunalis Thomas, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. 8, vol. 13, p. 244, 1914.
Tupatia ferruginea Shih, Bull. Dept. Biol., Sun Yatsen Univ., Canton, no. 4, p. 2, 1930.
Type specimen:—A skin and skull, No. 12.7.25.45, British Museum, one
of seven collected by Orii, July 10, 1910, at Mengtsz, Yunnan.
Description:—Similar to T. b. chinensis, but the upper parts darker and
of a much warmer tone, due to the more ochraceous subterminal rings of the
particolored hairs, as well as to the more abundant black hairs which in some
specimens darken the rump more than the back. The shoulder stripe is less
conspicuous, shorter, and a nearly clear ochraceous, not so pale as in chinensis.
Measurements :—See table under T. b. chinensis, page 33.
Occurrence and Habits:—In southeastern Yunnan the tree shrew of the
T. belangeri type becomes much less pale than in the western parts of the prov-
ince, the greenish tone is warmer, the back darker, and the color a decided
ochraceous. Thomas, who first recognized this difference, had specimens only
from the extreme southern border, at Mengtsz, the type locality, whence also
the Museum of Comparative Zodlogy has one specimen obtained by the same
collector. Undoubtedly this form extends eastward along the extreme southern
border of China for an undetermined distance, for Shih (1930, p. 2) records
specimens secured by a Chinese expedition from Sun Yatsen University,
Canton, in the Yao Shan area of Kwangsi, at Loshiang and Chinsiu. He
observes that they are more ferruginous above than the Hainan tree shrew.
There seems to be no record of the tree shrew in extreme southern Kwangtung,
though its occurrence in Hainan implies its presence there; nor did Swinhoe
learn of it near Amoy.
Specimens examined:—Three, namely: 2 from Mengtsz, Yunnan, and I
from Tongking (M.C.Z.).
3. Tupaia belangeri modesta J. A. Allen
Tupaia modesta J. A. Allen, Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., vol. 22, p. 481, 1906.
Tupatia belangeri modesta A. B. Howell, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., vol. 75, art. I, p. 5, 1929.
Type specimen:—An adult male, skin and skull, No. 26654, American
Museum of Natural History, from Leimuimon, island of Hainan, January 5,
1903.
THE INSECTIVORES 35
Description:—Upper surface of body and tail an even and finely ticked
mixture of the usual black hairs and particolored hairs with subterminal
ochraceous ring; muzzle and shoulders slightly grayer than in T. b. yunalis.
Under side of chin, throat, and arms buffy white to the roots of the hairs, this
color continued to the central area of the belly and inguinal region, where,
however, the hairs are slaty-based. Shoulder stripe obsolete, at most a barely
indicated area where the pale tips of the hairs are unmixed with black; in some
immature individuals it is better marked. The pelage of December specimens
is shorter and less full than in winter skins of 7. b. chinensis from the Yunnan
highlands.
Measurements :—See tables on pages 32 and 33.
Occurrence and Habits:—Notwithstanding the statement of its describer,
that this ‘‘does not appear to be closely related to any of the previously de-
scribed forms,” it is really very close indeed to yunalis, differing chiefly in a
slightly grayer tinge to the muzzle and shoulders, an average character only.
From the race chinensis of western Yunnan, it is at once separated by its much
more brownish hue, lacking the peculiar greenish tint of the latter. The
shoulder stripe may be hardly perceptible, but in some immature specimens
it is clearly present.
Swinhoe was the first naturalist to list the mammals of Hainan, but he
evidently had no knowledge of the tree shrew of the island. It is, however,
fairly common in suitable places. Dr. J. A. Allen (1906, p. 481), in recording
it for the first time and publishing the original description, had seven speci-
mens, five from Leimuimon in the mountains of central Hainan (the type
locality), one from Utoshi, and one from Hoihow on the northern coast. He
notes that there is a certain amount of individual variation in color, the
youngest of the series having the throat more richly colored, tawny ochraceous.
A. B. Howell (1929) mentions a specimen in the U. S. National Museum from
Kachek, but otherwise there seem to be no other records of definite localities.
Mr. Clifford H. Pope, who was successful in obtaining the large series noted
below, from Nodoa and Namfong, 1922 and 1923, contributes the following
interesting notes. ‘‘This little animal is of general distribution on the island,
but nowhere occurs in great numbers. We first secured it in trapping—two
of them caught in a thicket of high grass, small trees, and bushes. Later
several more were caught, but never more than one or two at a time or in the
same place in spite of dozens of traps set out. Those we caught came to bait
of peanut butter. The fact that the traps were nearly always set in late after-
noon and taken up early the following morning may in part account for our
failure to take more, for they seem to be largely active by day. One was shot
in the Mission compound, at Nodoa, near if not actually in one of the foreigners’
houses and I was told that on a previous occasion one had been found in the
36 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
same house. Another appeared to live under the porch of one of the houses.
I used to see it hopping about in the grass by the side of the house in the middle
of the forenoon but if approached, it would run under the house and hide.
They seem to be largely terrestrial, as well as diurnal, for my Chinese hunter
shot a few, all in broad daylight. On occasion they may utter a shrill cry.”’
Specimens examined:—In all, twenty-eight, as follows: Hainan: Nodoa, 23;
Namfong, 5.
Family ERINACEID
HEDGEHOGS AND THEIR ALLIES
This family includes the hedgehogs and their relatives. They differ in
many details of structure from the tree shrews, and constitute with the other
living insectivores (except the latter and the elephant shrews) the suborder
Lipotyphla. The pubic symphysis is very short, hardly more than a contact
of the pubic bones. There is no complete bony ring surrounding the orbit as
in tree shrews, but instead the postorbital processes are reduced to a mere
point (in Neotetracus) or quite lacking. There is a marked constriction of the
skull behind the orbits, and the zygomatic arch is slender. The snout is not
especially elongate, and the palate retains the primitive trait of having its
posterior border bounded by a raised transverse ridge. The first upper incisor
is the longest, the canine is somewhat reduced in size, and usually two-rooted.
The first premolar is large, its main outer cusp extending well below the level
of the molars. The latter are of characteristic form, with the postero-internal
cusp (hypocone) so enlarged as to give the crown of the tooth a nearly square
outline. There are four blunt main cusps and a smaller fifth cusp in the center
of the crown. The five digits are usually retained on each foot, the radius and
ulna are free, but the tibia and fibula are fused together.
Two subfamilies are recognized: the Gymnurine, including the more primi-
tive members with nearly normal form, spineless coat and a longer or shorter
tail; and the Erinaceine or Old World hedgehogs, with shortened skulls, com-
pact, nearly tailless bodies, and a protective spiny coat.
Key TO THE GENERA OF CHINESE AND MoNGOLIAN ERINACEIDZ
A. Form rat- or mouse-like, fur normal, tail slender.
a. Tail about half the length of head and body......................005- Neotetracus
bx Dailgabouttasilonp as the hind footue. s0) eee Pole nee nee eter iae ele Hylomys
B. Form stout, back with a spiny coat, tail a mere stump.
a. Spines of the crown with a median parting, ears long, the postglenoid proc-
esses of the skull as large as the mastoid processes and hollowed internally Hemiechinus
b. Spines of the crown without a median parting, ears shorter............ Erinaceus
THE INSECTIVORES $7
Genus Hylomys S. Miller
Hylomys S. Muller, in Temminck, Verhand. Natuurl. Gesch. Nederl. Bezitt., vol. 1, Zoogd. Indisch. Archip.,
p- 50, 1839.
In external form the body is slender, mouse-like, with a tapering snout and
well-developed ears, but the tail is very short, about the length of the hind foot,
slender and thinly haired. The hands and feet retain each five digits but the
first and fifth are so short as barely to reach the bases of the three middle toes.
The skull has the full placental tooth formula: i$c.ipm4m3=44. The
anterior incisor is longest, the two others much smaller and shorter; the canine
slightly larger and triangular in profile, with two roots; the three first pre-
molars are all small, two-rooted, and hardly half as high as the fourth which is
large with a prominent outer cusp, exceeding the molars in height. The latter
are squarish in crown view, the two anterior of nearly equal size, the third
much smaller with its outer posterior cusp much reduced.
These small ground-living insectivores are known from the more tropical
parts of the Malay Peninsula and the larger East Indian Islands. One of the
forms barely reaches the southwestern border of China in Yunnan. The type
species of the genus is Hylomys suillus Miller and Schlegel, of Java.
4. Hylomys suillus peguensis Blyth
Hylomys peguensis Blyth, Journ. Asiatic Soc. Bengal, vol. 28, p. 294, 1859.
Type specimens:—The species appears to have been based upon two in-
dividuals from Pegu, Tenasserim, obtained by Blyth and probably still in the
Indian Museum at Calcutta, where Anderson seems to have examined them
and removed the skull of one previous to 1872.
Description:—Upper surface of the head, body, and limbs a very uniform
pale olive yellow and black mixed, giving a somewhat similar color to that of
Tupaia b. chinensis. Individual hairs are either black throughout or slaty at
the base with a short, pale-ochraceous terminal or subterminal band. The
sides of the face about and below the eye are slightly clearer and brighter
ochraceous, and the rump is a very little brighter than the middle of the back,
but otherwise the coloring is very uniform. A certain sheen is imparted to the
pelage by the burnished appearance of many of the longer hairs with their
yellowish tips. The ears, feet, and tail are nearly naked, with a scattering of
minute short hairs, those on the hind feet and tail brownish. Below, the color-
ing of the upper surface merges rather suddenly with that of the under side,
which is grayish white, with a very faint creamy tint on the lower throat and
chest, the bases of the hairs slaty gray. The lower side of the metatarsus is
clad with short stiff hair.
The skull and skeleton have been very carefully described and figured by
Anderson (1874) from a specimen he picked up on the Yunnan border near
38 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
Ponsee, Burma. In form the skull differs from that of Tupaia in a slightly
more elongate snout, less rounded, more flattened brain case, and the reduction
of the bony ring about the eye to a mere projecting point on the frontal behind
the eye. It is very light and delicate, and the zygomatic arch is thin and
slender, especially at the posterior part. The palatal bones in the specimen
examined contain several minute vacuities, and the palate itself ends in a
transverse ridge with a short median projection. The palate is somewhat
arched, the tympanic bullze incomplete.
The teeth are of the full number found in placentals, 44. The anterior
incisor is largest, the second about half its height, and the third about half the
height of the second. The canine and fourth premolar are again larger, the
former in the upper jaw double-rooted, the latter with its outer anterior cusp
(paracone) much enlarged, while between them are three other much smaller
premolars of subequal size and nearly half the height of the two larger teeth.
The molars are three above and below, the first two upper ones squarish in
outline, and consisting of four main cusps with a fifth smaller central cusp.
The third molar has the metacone reduced, so that the outline is nearly
triangular.
As an anomaly, No. 44274 (now 20687 M.C.Z.) has but two upper incisors
on the right side, the small third incisor having been lost.
Measurements:—The six specimens were measured by the collector as
follows:
No. Head and body Tail Hind foot Ear Sex
44112 115 19 25 17.0 oy
44273 112 20 23 16.5 J
44275 115 23 24 17.0 rol
44113 IIO 22 23 17.0 °)
44272 105 24 23 16.0 2
44274 125 22 23 16.5 2
CRANIAL MEASUREMENTS OF HYLOMYS
Zygo- Width Upper Lower
Greatest Basal Palatal matic Mastoid across tooth tooth
No. length length length width width molars TOW row Locality
44272 31.7 28.5 17.3 — 13.3 10.1 17.0 15.5 Yunnan
44274 32.9 30.0 1725) / 0 (065) p38 10.7 16.3 15.6 Yunnan
44275 32.4 29.8 17.0 16.5 12.7 10.4 16.5 15.6 Yunnan
Occurrence and Habits:—Little is known of the habits of this species, but
Anderson supposed that it was, in part at least, tree-living, although its elongate
feet and shortened tail would rather indicate ground-living habits. The genus
was first discovered in Java, but later on the mainland of the Malay Peninsula
in a nearly identical form. Blyth in 1859 described as Hylomys peguensis the
very similar animal from Pegu, Tenasserim, and Anderson (1874, 1879) during
THE INSECTIVORES 39
his expedition to the borders of western Yunnan, picked up dead on the path
at Ponsee, Upper Burma, a specimen that he referred to the same species and
later used as the basis of his careful account of the skeleton with figures. The
occurrence of Hylomys in Borneo was recorded by Thomas, who in 1888 named
this island form H. suillus dorsalis. In recent years, the form on Sumatra has
been distinguished as Hylomys parvus by Robinson and Kloss, and the latter
author gave the name Hylomys siamensis to a specimen from Hinlap, eastern
Siam, on the ground of paler, more buffy coloration and narrower nasals, while
in 1925 Thomas named H. suzllus microtinus, a light-brown race from Thai-Nien,
Tongking. In the lack of specimens for more minute comparison, I have re-
ferred to H. suillus peguensis the series obtained in western Yunnan by the
American Museum Asiatic Expeditions, following Anderson, who had seen the
original specimens. It is not at all impossible, however, that they will even-
tually be found to constitute a local race.
Although Anderson (1879, p. 138) long ago recorded this animal from the
very border of Yunnan, it remained for Dr. Andrews’s expedition actually to
secure it in China. He and Edmund Heller discovered it at only one place, on
the Namting River at the Burma border, at an elevation of 1,700 feet. In late
February, 1917, six specimens were trapped, one of which contained two
embryos. There are apparently no other records, and the species seems thus
to be another of those subtropical mammals whose range just reaches the
southern edge of China.
Specimens examined:—Six, from Yunnan, Namting River, Burma border.
Genus Neotetracus Trouessart
Neotetracus Trouessart, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. 8, vol. 4, p. 389, 1909.
Externally the insectivores of this genus resemble Hylomys except that
the tail is well developed, about half the length of head and body, thinly clad
with minute hairs. The genus was so named by Trouessart in the belief that
its tooth structure resembles that of the supposed fossil hedgehog (Tetracus)
of the Eocene of France. It is, however, as Thomas (1911d, p. 162) has pointed
out, ‘strictly a member of the Gymnurine,” and only distantly related to the
hedgehogs. Itisanear relative of Hylomys, with which it agrees in the formula
of both its milk and permanent dentitions, except in the absence of the minute
second premolar, p2, showing, therefore, a more progressive state, so that the
tooth formula is: i. $c. + pm. $m. $=40 in the adult, while in the milk den-
tition there are only two upper incisors. On the other hand, its tail has under-
gone less reduction, and the thumb is very slightly longer.
The skull resembles that of Hylomys, but the rostrum is slightly shortened,
correlated with the loss of one premolar, and there is a slightly more definite
postorbital process. The palatal bones have better-developed slit-like vacu-
40 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
ities, one in each, with a few irregular pores behind them. The upper first
incisors are a trifle longer and more vertically placed.
The type and only known species of the genus is the following.
5. Neotetracus sinensis Trouessart
Neotetracus sinensis Trouessart, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. 8, vol. 4, p. 389, 1909.
Type specimens:—No one of the original series of seven skins and skulls
from Tatsienlu, Szechwan, is designated as the type, nor are their numbers or
location given. All are therefore to be regarded as cotypes, and are presum-
ably still in the Muséum d’Histoire Naturelle in Paris.
Description:—General external appearance much as in Hylomys suillus
peguensis except that the tail is much longer, slender and mouse-like, and the
mystacial bristles somewhat longer. The upper surfaces of head and body
are of a general olive-brown tone, and the under parts are gray with a very
light buffy wash. The individual hairs of the back and sides are of two sorts:
some entirely black; others with blackish bases, then a band of light ochraceous
and a fine black tip. On the sides the latter hairs are slightly more abundant
and their ochraceous rings broader and polished, giving a lighter and somewhat
glinting appearance. The sides of the head and neck have a richer tint through
the more rusty color of the light band. The ears and upper side of the tail are
dusky, dark brown, covered thinly with blackish-brown hairs visible with a
lens only. The entire under side is pale gray, the hairs with slaty bases, the
whole with a faint suffusion of buffy. The backs of the feet are thinly covered
with pale hairs, among which on the metatarsal area are a few dark-brown
hairs.
The skull, while much resembling that of Hylomys, differs in many details,
as noted above. Thus, in addition to the reduction of the premolars, from
four above and below, to three in each jaw by the loss of one of the minute
teeth, the canine is slightly smaller; the first upper incisors are actually larger
and more pointed. The rostrum is relatively shorter through the reduction
of the front end of the maxillaries and of the nasals; the palatal bones are more
fenestrated, and the postorbital process is more developed and distinctly
projects as a sharp spicular point.
Measurements:—The following measurements were made in the field by
the collector:
No. Head and body Tail Hind foot Ear Sex
44238 105 64. 26.0 avyeild rot
44252 122 62 25-5 18 ro
44258 II5 60 24.0 17 fou
44269 125 70 26.0 18 rot
44266 110 64 24.5 17 9
THE INSECTIVORES 41
CRANIAL MEASUREMENTS OF NEOTETRACUS
Zygo- Width Upper Lower
Greatest Basal Palatal matic Mastoid across tooth tooth
No. length length length width width molars TOW TOW Locality
44238 30.8 27.4 16.8 17.0 12.0 10.0 15.7 15.0 Yunnan
44239 29.9 27.4 16.1 16.5 12.4 9.5 14.7 14.0 Yunnan
44240 30.3 27.2 16.3 16.1 12.5 9.5 14.6 14.0 Yunnan
44249 29.3 26.0 15.6 15.6 12.4 9.4 14.4 14.0 Yunnan
44252 32.0 29.0 17.8 18.0 13.0 10.0 16.0 15.0 Yunnan :
44254 28.5 26.2 15.4 15.7 12.1 9.3 14.1 nae7) Yunnan
44255 29.8 27.4 16.3 17.0 12.5 9.8 15.0 14.4 Yunnan
44256 30.8 27.7 16.5 17.2 12.6 10.0 15.6 14.6 Yunnan
44258 31.0 28.0 16.2 17.0 12.0 9.7 15.3 14.6 Yunnan
44266 31.0 27.2 16.0 L73 12.3 10.0 15.0 14.8 Yunnan
44267 32.3 30.0 18.3 18.0 12.6 9.6 16.4. 15.4 Yunnan
Occurrence and Habits:—The discovery of this remarkable insectivore is
due to the enlightened interest of Monseigneur Biet of the Catholic Mission at
Tatsienlu, Hsikang, who sent a series of seven from that locality to Professor
E. L. Trouessart at Paris. The latter in a brief account of the animal (Troues-
sart, 1909) announced his intention of giving later a more detailed description
of its anatomy, but this has never appeared. The only other records for the
species are those of Thomas (1911d, p. 162), who reports that the Duke of
Bedford’s Expedition under the leadership of Malcolm P. Anderson secured a
male forty-five miles southwest of Yachow (east of Tatsienlu) and thirteen at
Omei Shan (just south of the latter locality) ; while in Yunnan, Mr. F. Kingdon
Ward obtained a specimen at Yangpi, 7,000 feet. —
The American Museum Asiatic Expeditions found this a common species
in parts of western Yunnan, and obtained series at Mucheng, on the Salween
drainage (7,000 ft.), Homushu Pass (8,000 ft.), and at Taipingpu on the
Shweli River, 7,000 ft. Evidently it has a somewhat restricted range at inter-
mediate altitudes in the northern half of Yunnan and the southern half of
Szechwan, with probably a slight extension eastward.
Anderson, who secured the series at Omei Shan, notes that they are found
in damp forest away from water. The stomach contents of one consisted of
“earthworms.”’ The stomach of another collected by Andrews and Heller
contained, on the contrary,.‘‘vegetable matter,’’ indicating perhaps a mixed
diet, for which the low-crowned molar teeth are well suited.
Anderson found four embryos in one and five in another (August 10)
female; four were found also by Andrews and Heller in a female taken April 10
at Taipingpu. The mammez are 2—2, or 8 in all (Thomas, rgrid).
Specimens examined:—lIn all, forty-four, as follows:
Yunnan: Mucheng, Salween drainage, 21; Homushu Pass, 8,000 feet, 17; Taipingpu,
Shweli River, 7,000 feet, 6.
42 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
Fic. 2. Distribution Map.
Erinaceus P Hemiechinus
1. E. europeus dealbatus
3. H. dauuricus dauuricus
2. E. europeus miodon Poe se
dauuricus alaschanicus
Genus Hemiechinus Fitzinger
Hemiechinus Fitzinger, Sitzungsb. Kaiserl. Akad. Wiss., Wien, math.-nat. Classe, vol. 54, pt: I, p. 565, 1866.
Ericius Sundevall, Kong]. Vet.-Acad. Handlingar for 1841, Stockholm, pp. 223, 230-237, 1842. Lonnberg,
Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. 9, vol. 9, p. 620, 1922 (preoccupied by Ericius Tilesius, 1813, for a genus of
fishes). :
THE INSECTIVORES 43
The hedgehogs of this genus differ from the typical members, of which
Erinaceus europeus is an example, in having no median parting of the spines on
the crown, while in the skull the postglenoid processes are as large as the
mastoids and hollowed internally (Thomas, 1918, p. 193). The type species is
H. platyotis of northeastern Africa, but in their main distribution they are
characteristic of southeastern Europe and the desert region of central Asia.
In this group the ears are more prominent than in the common European
hedgehog, with which, however, it agrees in having five toes on both fore and
hind feet, and differs from the African genus Atelerix with four toes only, on
the hind foot. All the species are provided with a spiny armor, and if dis-
turbed can roll themselves into a ball, presenting the spines in all directions.
The large heavy skull, with shortened rostrum, no postorbital processes,
large palatal slits, and well-developed tympanic rings is in contrast to that of
the Gymnurinz. The dental formula is the same as in Erinaceus, namely:
i¢ ct pm. m$=36. The first upper incisor is stout, terete, and quite
twice as high as the second and third. The second upper incisor is smaller
than the third and single-rooted, while the latter is two-rooted, as are also the
canine and two anterior premolars. The outer anterior cusp of the last upper
premolar is high and conspicuous. The two anterior molars are as typically
in the family, squarish in outline, with four blunt cusps and a minute central
one. The last upper molar, like that of Erinaceus, is reduced to a narrow
crescent, but instead of having its long axis nearly in line with the outer border
of m?, it is instead nearly transverse. Both lower incisors, the canine and the
first premolar are single-rooted; the second premolar is large and high with
two roots, and two prominent cusps, of which the anterior in profile is slightly
the shorter. The last lower molar lies on the inner side of the tooth row and
is reduced to a small oval in crown view, with indications of two very short
cusps at its posterior border.
Although several species of this group have been described from Mongolia
and its borders, it seems unlikely that more than one species is really repre-
sented, with perhaps one subspecies, the value of which is still not very clear.
6. Hemiechinus dauuricus dauuricus (Sundevall)
Erinaceus dauuricus Sundevall, Kong. Vet.-Acad. Handlingar for 1841, Stockholm, p. 237, 1842. Dauuria.
Erinaceus auritus Pallas, Zoographia Rosso-Asiat., vol. 1, p. 138, 1811; vol. I, p. 138, 1831 ed.; not Erinaceus
auritus Linneus, 1758. Transbaikalia, Dauuria.
Erinaceus dauricus Wagner, Arch. f. Naturgesch., vol. 9, pt. 2, p. 27, 1843.
?Hemiechinus przewalskit Satunin, Annuaire Mus. Zool. Acad. Imp. Sci. St. Pétersbourg, for 1906, vol. 11, p. 181,
1907. ‘‘Nord China?’
Hemiechinus (?) dauricus Satunin, ibid., p. 185.
?Ericius przewalskii Lonnberg, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. 9, vol. 9, p. 626, 1922.
44 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
Type specimen:—No type is specified. Sundevall’s name is based directly
on the description by Pallas of specimens of a hedgehog from Dauuria, Trans-
baikalia. Pallas, in his Zoographia, gives accounts of both the common
European Hedgehog and the long-eared species, for the latter of which he uses
Linnzus’s name, Erinaceus auritus, to include all the Asiatic forms of this
group, with a general range (op. cit., p. 138): ‘In australioribus Tatariz magne
atque Sibirie . . . usque ad Baicalem lacum frequens.’’ He makes special
mention (op. cit., p. 139) of the fact that those from the latter area are larger
and paler: ‘“‘In Daurico qui libr. rossicas 23g ponderabat, longitudo a summo
naso ad anum 9”. 7’”’. aures 1’’. 4’. cauda 1”. 1’. . . . Dauuricis in genere
vellus subtus fuscescente-cinereum, vel subgryseum ... Mongolis sunt in
deliciis.”” When Sundevall (1842) published his synopsis of the hedgehogs, he
stated that the Dauurian species was unknown to him by specimens, but on the
basis of Pallas’s brief diagnosis, gave it the name Erinaceus dauuricus. It may |
be questioned whether this hedgehog reaches the Transbaikalian district, for
Radde (1862), who collected a series of hedgehogs there, in his account refers
them to E. europeus and in his plate figures skulls of the Amur race of that
species. Satunin, however, has examined his original set of five skins with
fragmentary skulls and (19074, p. 186) gives a brief account of them, reviving
Sundevall’s name.
Description:—The spines begin on a line slightly behind the anterior base
of the ears and extend to the area just above the tail. The spines are dark
brown at the extreme base, then dull whitish for nearly one half their length,
with next a band of brownish black and a contrasting white tip; the coloring
of the hair of the lower parts is very pale, varying somewhat, but apparently,
from Satunin’s account of the Dauurian specimens, the upper part of the head
and the sides are pale brownish gray with faint rusty wash on back of snout
and forehead. The chin, throat, and middle region of the belly are soiled
white; the tail and the feet are chestnut brown, the latter mixed with gray.
In some of the specimens the sides are brownish gray. Young individuals are
said to lack the dark base of the spines. An immature specimen has the entire
under side grayish brown with dark-brown feet. Ears covered with yellowish-
white hairs on inner side and with pale brown on the outer.
Measurements:—No measurements are available except those of Pallas,
which, converted into millimeters, are: head and body, 244; tail, 28; ear, 34.
Satunin gives the following skull measurements for one of Radde’s
specimens from Dauuria: tip of rostrum to infraorbital foramen, 15.5 mm.;
length of nasal suture, 14; combined width of nasals, 4; zygomatic width, 36;
least interorbital width, 13.9; width outside first molars, 22.5; width of rostrum
at level of first incisor, 7; distance between antorbital foramina, 14.
THE INSECTIVORES 45
CRANIAL MEASUREMENTS OF HEMIECHINUS
Upper Lower
Zygo- Width tooth tooth
Greatest Basal Palatal matic Mastoid across Tow, Tow,
No. length length length width width molars alveoli alveoli Locality
H. dauuricus dauuricus
(after Lonnberg) 56 51-5 31-5 365 29.3 24 287 — Mongolia
H. dauuricus alaschanicus
20683 MCZ 47 45 25 28.6 24 19 24 19 Mongolia
Occurrence and Habits:—The range of the long-eared hedgehogs covers an
enormous territory from southeastern Europe and Egypt to the eastern parts
of Siberia. In all this area a number of species have been recognized, but it is
not at all certain that they may not be geographic forms of one or two species.
Thus the present animal may be merely a subspecies of Hemiechinus aurttus of
Europe, but until this can be definitely shown it may stand as distinct. The
long-eared hedgehog of Dauuria evidently has a restricted range in southern
Transbaikalia, where it was taken by Radde in the region about the Tarei Nor
on the northeastern edge of the Gobi. No doubt it occurs locally across
Mongolia, and from his account, either in grass land or more usually in the
tree- and bush-grown parts, probably avoiding the open desert. Recently
Lonnberg (1922) has recorded under the name Ericius przewalsku three hedge-
hogs from Mongolia, two taken by Professor J. G. Andersson at Bank Tsagan
and Burtun Nor respectively, and a third from Tabool, received later from the
same collector. These he regards as larger than the small pallid race, Hem-
iechinus alaschanicus, and refers to Satunin’s species Hemiechinus przewalskit
doubtfully. The latter was based on a specimen from an unknown locality,
but labeled as from ‘‘?North China,’ collected by Przewalski in 1874, the year
in which he procured the types of H. albulus alaschanicus. If it is not synony-
mous with the latter, the name is probably best regarded as a synonym of H.
dauuricus until some trenchant character can be pointed out. Loénnberg admits
that it is ‘“‘hardly possible to tell”’ if it is really different. He gives the following
measurements of two of his specimens:
Hind foot
Total length Tail (without claws) Ear
210 25 41 24 (dry)
Tabool 266 31 43 33
The cranial measurements of Lonnberg’s Tabool specimen are reproduced
in the table on this page.
Specimens examined:—None.
46 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
7. Hemiechinus dauuricus alaschanicus Satunin
Hemiechinus albulus alaschanicus Satunin, Annuaire Mus. Zool. Acad. Imp. Sci. St. Pétersbourg, for 1906,
vol. 11, p. 181, 1907.
Type specimens:—In his brief description, Satunin lists four specimens:
No. 2020, male, from southern Gobi; 2018, 2019, 2021 from Alashan, all
collected by Przewalski in 1874, and now in the Museum of the Academy of
Sciences at Leningrad. Since no type is specified, all are cotypes.
Description:—Similar to H. dauuricus but paler, the sides and under parts
usually pure white instead of washed with grayish brown, and the forehead a
pale rusty brown; backs of the feet dusky brown, mixed with gray. The spiny
covering consists of spines of the usual type in the species, but their long white
tips give a very pale effect. There is a slight amount of individual variation
in color; youngish examples are whiter, less creamy.
Measurements:—Hind foot, with claws, 35 mm., without claws, 30 mm.
See table under preceding race for cranial measurements.
Occurrence and Habits:—Although described as a form of H. “‘albulus,”
there can be no doubt that this is merely a pale desert race of the Dauurian
hedgehog (H. dauuricus), from which it chiefly differs in the more pallid colora-
tion, with white sides and under parts, lacking the brownish wash. Hedgehogs
of this species doubtless occur locally throughout the Gobi, but were secured at
only two places by the Central Asiatic Expeditions, namely at Tsagan Nor,
where five adults were taken, and at Artsa Bogdo, where on July 18, 1925, a
young one only 90 mm. long was found. Howell (1929) mentions four speci-
mens in the U. S. National Museum, from northwest of Ningsia, which agree
in characters with this form.
In his field notes concerning these hedgehogs, Dr. R. C. Andrews writes
that in a river bottom at Tsagan Nor, one was captured alive in a trap, unin-
jured, and after two days became very tame, allowing itself to be handled freely.
It ate grasshoppers and beetles or any other insects voraciously, as well as
raw meat, licking its mouth afterward. It drank water once or twice every
day, taking a considerable quantity each time. It was possessed of great
curiosity, and liked to poke about into corners, investigating carefully any
new object. The skin of the back bearing the spines was very loose, except
when the animal was frightened, when it stiffened, causing the quills to stand
out at all angles. It walked very high on its legs, and entirely on the palms
of its feet, holding the toes and nails high off the ground. In running it would
go at an astonishing rate, and kept much closer to the ground. At Tsagan
Nor the hedgehogs were attracted by some meat thrown into the grass near
camp, and close to the water’s edge. Three or four were caught, as well as
PLATE VII
A tame Long-eared Hedgehog (Hemiechinus dauuricus alaschanicus) at Tsagan Nor, in the Gobi, about to fold up
The hay-pile of a Pallas’s Mouse-hare (Ochotona pallasii pallasiz) at Artsa Bogdo, in the Gobi
Yea
THE INSECTIVORES 47
three young ones that came to traps baited with meat, so they must have been
fairly abundant.
Specimens examined:—The following seven:
Mongolia: Tsagan Nor, 6; Artsa Bogdo, I.
Genus Erinaceus Linnzus
Erinaceus Linnzus, Syst. Nat., ed. 10, vol. 1, p. 52, 1758.
The typical hedgehogs differ from the long-eared group chiefly in rather
stouter build, with larger feet and stronger claws, in their shorter ears which
do not exceed the adjacent spines, and in having the spines of the occipital
region arranged in two clusters with a parting or naked strip between, not
always apparent when the spines are spread.
The skull has a blunter and less tapering snout; the nasals are extremely
narrow, tapering to a fine point behind, while the tip of the ascending process
of the premaxillary is broad and ends bluntly instead of in a slender point.
The post-glenoid process is less hollowed out behind than in the related group.
The teeth are more specialized, in that all the incisors, the canine and the first
premolar are usually single-rooted, although occasionally the canine may have
a double root. The last molar above is much reduced and usually stands with
its long axis in line with the outer cusps of the second molar, instead of nearly
transverse to the tooth row. The tooth formula is as in Hemiechinus.
Probably two forms only are to be recognized from China, both here con-
sidered subspecies of the European animal.
8. Erinaceus europeus dealbatus Swinhoe
CHINESE HEDGEHOG
Erinaceus dealbatus Swinhoe, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1870, pp. 450, 621.
Erinaceus collaris Gray, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1861, p. 390 (part).
Erinaceus europeus dealbatus Barrett-Hamilton, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. 7, vol. 5, p. 367, 1900.
Erinaceus kreyenbergi Matschie, Wiss. Ergebn. d. Exped. Filchner nach China u. Tibet 1903-05, vol. 10, pt. I,
Pp- 135, 138, 1908. Shanghai Market.
Erinaceus tschifuensis Matschie, ibid., p. 137. Chefoo, Shantung.
Erinaceus hanensis Matschie, ibid., p. 138. Hankow, Hupeh.
Erinaceus chinensis Satunin, Annuaire Mus. Zool. Acad. Imp. Sci. St. Pétersbourg, for 1906, vol. 11, p. 173,
1907. Khingan, Tyntza-intza.
Erinaceus hught Thomas, Abstract Proc. Zool. Soc. London, December 15, 1908, p. 44; Proc. Zool. Soc. London,
for 1908, p. 966, 1909. ;
Type specimens:—Swinhoe specified no type specimen in his original
description, but Barrett-Hamilton states (1900, p. 367) that it is No. 61.6.2.5,
British Museum, from Peiping. The type of E. kreyenbergi was a specimen
procured in the Shanghai Market, and is said to be in the Museum at Magde-
48 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
burg, Germany. In recording the specimen, Hilzheimer (1906, p. 184) states
that the head was lacking, but Matschie (1908) shows that this is not the case,
and he examined the skull with the skin. The type specimen of E. tschifuensis
is a skin and skull, No. 4625 in the Berlin Museum, from Chefoo, Shantung,
and that of E. hanensis a skin, number not recorded, in the same institution
from Hankow, Hupeh. The type of E. chinensis is in the Zoological Museum
of the Academy of Sciences at Leningrad. E. hughi, from Paochi, Shensi, is
a rather dark example of E. sassaatinagl lacking any conspicuous number of all-
white spines.
Description:—Similar to the European hedgehog, Erinaceus europeus, but
paler in color and somewhat smaller; spines on the head in two groups, one on
each side of the occiput, with a narrow bare space between; feet large with
prominent claws on all the toes. The spines are of two sorts, some all white
or white with a minute brownish point, but the greater part whitish basally
with a broad band of light brown, not sharply defined, then an equal one of
white, succeeded by a minute brown tip, giving a general brownish gray, pepper-
and-salt effect. The face, limbs, sides and lower parts are clothed with coarse
hair, rather uniform in color, varying from pinkish buff (as in a specimen from
Ichang) to whitish, with a light brown wash on hands and feet. There is,
however, much individual variation in color. Thus of two taken by the
Central Asiatic Expeditions, one (from Yochow) has rather few dark spines,
so that the paler tint predominates, while the other (from Wuhu, Anhwei) has
a preponderance of dark spines. Matschie describes the lower parts of a
specimen bought in Shanghai as ochraceous.
The skull, while closely resembling that of the common European species
in general form, is smaller on the average, and much slenderer. The pre-
maxillaries, in contrast to the condition in Hemiechinus, are usually almost
truncate vertically at their upper ends instead of attenuate. The nasals,
as in E. europeus, vary individually from extremely narrow with a combined
width of only 1 mm., to twice that width. The teeth, though smaller, are
essentially like those of E. europeus, except that the third upper incisor seems
slightly larger in proportion; the last upper molar is small and narrow as in
the latter, but in some individuals stands more nearly transverse to the tooth
row instead of at an angle of some 45° as it does in European specimens.
Measurements:—This eastern hedgehog seems to average smaller than
full-grown European animals. The following dimensions were taken from
fresh specimens by the collector:
No. Head and body Tail Hind foot Ear Locality
8.2.8.1 BM 217 42 41 25.5 Shantung
8.2.8.2 BM 215 45 40 26.0 Shantung
THE INSECTIVORES 49
CRANIAL MEASUREMENTS OF ERINACEUS FROM CHINA
Zygo- Width Upper Lower
Greatest Basal Palatal matic Mastoid outside tooth tooth
No. length length length width width molars row Tow Locality
E. europeus dealbatus
25884 MCz 52.8 49.2 30.0 32.0 19.0 21.0 ey be 26.0 Shantung
25885 MCz 53.5 52.0 30.3 32.2 21.0 20.0 27.2 25.8 Shantung
4625 BERLIN 58.9 56.6 — 359 — 22.1 30.4 —— Shantung
8.2.8.1 BM —_— ss 31.0 —_ 2277, 28.5 26.8 Shantung
LONNBERG 51.0 47.0 29.0 31.0 25.0 20.5 27.3 — Hopei
7132 MCZ 49.5 46.5 28.0 30.0 17.6 20.0 27.0 26.6 Hupeh
56508 U. MICH. 56.6 53-7 32.4 34.1 27.9 20.5 28.1 25.7 Kiangsu
56509 U. MICH. 53.5 49.7 30.9 (30) 25-7 19.3 27.6 25.4 Kiangsu
E. europeus miodon
9.1.1.2 BM 54.6 50.1 28.5 32.1 26.0 21.1 26.5 23.9 Shensi
9.1.1.4 BM 53.2 48.6 28.5 32.0 25.6 20.5 26.0 24.5 Shensi
9.1.1.5 BM 53-7 49.5 29.3 33:2 25-7 21.6 27.5 25.5 Shensi
9.1.1.6 BM 50.9 47.1 27.0 30.8 26.0 20.3 26.0 24.6 Shensi
9.1.1.7 BM 49.3 44.7 27.0 28.7 24.3 20.5 26.3 24.6 Shensi
9.1.1.8 BM 51.9 47.0 27.4 32.0 25.0 20.6 25.7 23.4 Shensi
9.1.1.9 BM (type) 53.7 50.2 28.7 35-7 27.0 223 27.0 25.2 Shensi
g.1.1.10 BM 55-2 50.2 29.1 32.3 25.9 21.5 28.3 25.6 Shensi
Nomenclature:—After careful consideration of the various names applied
to Chinese hedgehogs of this group, there seems to be little doubt that most
of them are synonymous with E. dealbatus, based on variations that are really
only individual. Thus Matschie (1908) describes as E. tschifuensis a specimen
from Chefoo, Shantung, that differs from a Peiping specimen merely in having
a somewhat larger skull, and the forehead and snout a darker brown, nearly
“drab.’”’ It is, however, an aged example which would account for its large
size, while the color, though darker than usual, is doubtless an individual
variation. Thomas (1909, p. 966) in recording two other specimens of E. deal-
batus from the same locality, does not regard them as different. The skulls of
two other Shantung hedgehogs before me are slightly smaller. In the same
paper, Matschie names as new species, E. kreyenbergi and E. hanensis. The
former is based on a specimen purchased in the Shanghai Market and is
characterized as having the snout, sides of head and the under side ochraceous,
the chest brighter (‘‘ockerrot’’), forehead buff, feet dark ochraceous brown;
the latter species is described from a skin from Hankow which seems to differ
from the Peiping specimen in having the head, feet, and under side dark hair-
brown mixed with gray, instead of being pale whitish. Nothing is said of the
skulls of either, and both may for the present be best regarded as identical
50 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
with E. dealbatus of which they represent color variations. I had previously
(G. M. Allen, 1912, p. 242) referred to E. hanensis an immature male from
Ichang, in which the lower surfaces are gray with a decided pinkish wash, but
I now regard this as also a color variation of the same, for evidently there is
much variety in the exact tint of the hairy coat.
Satunin’s Erinaceus chinensis from Khingan, Manchuria (‘‘Tyntza-intza’’),
although outside the area covered, may be briefly noticed here. The single
specimen upon which it is based is evidently large, but in color does not appear
to differ from what is sometimes found in the present form. Indeed, Satunin
(1907a, p. 175) admits that he would not be surprised ‘‘wenn mit der Zeit,
nach Untersuchung grésseren Materials, dieser Igel als identisch mit Er. deal-
batus sich erweist.’’ It is possibly an intermediate toward the larger and
darker eastern form E. amurensis.
I would also include as a synonym, EF. hughit Thomas, the type of which I
examined at the British Museum. It is an unusually dark individual, nearly
lacking the all-white spines.
Occurrence and Habits:—These hedgehogs occur locally over much of
northern China, but seem to be somewhat sporadic in distribution, common in
certain areas and rare or unknown in others. In general they are found in
the northeastern part of the country as far south at least as the Yangtze basin,
and as far west as the borders of the western highlands on the frontiers of
Szechwan. Swinhoe (1870b) described the animal on the basis of specimens
from Peiping, where he regarded it as common, adding (1870¢c, p. 621) that it
is said to occur at Amoy and in Hainan, as well as “‘lately at Swatow,’’ Kwang-
tung. Probably, however, it does not occur much to the south of the Yangtze
basin, and its supposed presence in Hainan, as perhaps also in Swatow, has
never been corroborated and is probably based on reports of porcupines. The
evidence for its having been found at Amoy rests on the statement of Swinhoe
(1864a) that hedgehogs, said to have been locally obtained, have been offered
for sale in the market there. Probably, however, these captives were from
much farther north, while the basis of the Swatow record is not further stated.
The predilection of the Chinese for keeping pets is well known, so that little
weight can be given to locality records based on animals purchased in the
markets. Mell, who spent several years collecting in Kwangtung, makes no
mention of these animals in the list of the mammals he found. The hedgehog
is apparently commonest in the northern part of China, where it seems to thrive
in spite of man and his works. In addition to Swinhoe’s record of its being
common about Peiping (Hopei), Lonnberg (1922) mentions specimens from
the same province (Miyuanhsien, Shunihsien, and Niulangshan), and Jacobi
(1922, p. 2) records other specimens from Peiping, collected by the Stétzner
THE INSECTIVORES 51
Expedition, while Dr. R. C. Andrews secured one at Eastern Tombs, to the
northeast. Still farther east, Howell (1929, p. 6) records two from Tientsin,
Hopei. This hedgehog seems to be still not uncommon in Shantung, despite
the long period of intensive cultivation and denudation. In addition to the
large individual from Chefoo, made by Matschie the type of his E. tschifuensis
(in the Berlin Museum), Thomas (1908d, p. 6) records a male and a female
from the same locality, adding the note of Malcolm P. Anderson, the collector,
that these were purchased alive from peasants who had brought them in; he
also mentions (1909, p. 966) one received from Swinhoe. Anderson says that,
although he failed to secure any himself, in the course of some two months’
collecting, they were apparently ‘‘not uncommon” and strictly nocturnal.
In the same province, Dr. A. Jacot has sent me the skull and a skeleton of
this animal from Tsinan, where they were taken on the campus of Shantung
Christian University. He writes: ‘‘We are in the center of a semiarid region
that has been under intensive cultivation for 2000-4000 years, and the Chinese
have long ago eliminated anything at all edible. There are no woodland
tracts in this Province to my knowledge. The hills have been deforested and
are grubbed monthly of shrubs for fuel. Thus only the most adaptable ani-
mals have survived.”
Farther south, Sowerby (1929c) who has had long experience in China,
says that hedgehogs are found at least as far as Chekiang Province, coastwise;
probably Matschie’s type specimen of EF. kreyenbergi: (in the Magdeburg
Museum) purchased in the Shanghai Market, came from no great distance.
Howell (1929) lists (under Erinaceus hanensis) two specimens from Shanghai
in the U. S. National Museum, one from Ningpo, Chekiang, and others from
Yochow, Hunan, whence also the American Museum has a specimen, and in
addition one from Wuhu, Anhwei; these and the type of E. hanensis Matschie
from Hankow, eastern Hupeh, and the specimen in the Museum of Compara-
tive Zodlogy from the western part of the same province, at Ichang, very
likely indicate roughly the southern range. The northwestward limits are
perhaps in central Shansi. M. P. Anderson (in Thomas, 1909) states that it
is unknown about Paotehchow, at the edge of the Ordos Desert, but he had
reports of it at Ningwufu in the central parts of the province. In the more
arid Shensi Province it doubtless grades into the following subspecies, E. e.
miodon, if that proves eventually to be distinct.
Sowerby (1914, p. 56), in brief notes on the Chinese hedgehogs, writes
that in Hopei they are looked upon as sacred animals by the Chinese and so
are not molested, but on the contrary, little shrines are often built for them.
This may in part account for their comparative abundance in parts of this
province, for elsewhere they are often eaten, and Sowerby recounts that in
52 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
Manchuria the woodsmen prepare them for eating by first encasing them in a
coating of mud, which, after the animal has been roasted whole in the embers
of a wood fire, comes away with the spines, hair, and skin adhering to the clay,
“leaving a very toothsome morsel of beautifully cooked meat.” He adds
that foxes often kill hedgehogs by thrusting their snout under the spiny ball,
and throwing the animal into the air. ‘This makes the hedgehog uncurl,
and, before it can curl up again, the fox has nipped it in the unprotected vitals.’
Specimens examined:—In all, sixteen, as follows:
Hopei: Eastern Tombs, 1; Peiping, 1 (type, B.M.); northeastern Hopei, 1 (B.M.).
Hunan: Yochow, I.
Anhwei: Wuhu, I.
Hupeh: Ichang, 1 (M.C.Z.).
Kiangsu: Nanking, 3 (Univ. Mich.); Shanghai, 1 (B.M., topotype of E. kreyenbergi).
Shantung: Tsinan, 2 (M.C.Z.), 1 (B.M.); Chefoo, 2 (B.M.). ;
Shensi: Paochi, 1 (B.M., type of E. hught).
g. Erinaceus europeus miodon Thomas ~
Erinaceus miodon Thomas, Abstract Proc. Zool. Soc. London, Dec. 15, 1908, p. 44; Proc. Zool. Soc. London,
for 1908, p. 965, 1909.
Hemuechinus miodon Lénnberg, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. 9, vol. 9, p. 626, 1922.
Type specimen:—An adult male, skin and skull, No. 9.1.1.9, British
Museum, from Yulinfu, Shensi, China, 4,000 feet altitude. Collected by
Malcolm P. Anderson, in May, 1908.
Description:—In size and general proportions resembling EF. europaeus
dealbatus, but the spiny coat almost wholly lacks the all-white spines generally
present in the latter. The spines are about 22-24 mm. long on the back,
white for two-thirds their basal portion, then broadly ringed with blackish
brown, the ring some 4 mm. wide, tipped with white for about an equal
breadth, or sometimes the extreme tip minutely dark. The hairy coat of the
head, sides, limbs, and tail is variable, as in E. e. dealbatus, in some a dull
whitish or brownish white to distinctly brown (“broccoli brown’’). The
belly is usually somewhat paler, varying to dull white. The type series is
apparently in winter pelage still or in process of changing, so that the paler
parts may represent the old fur of the latter.
The skull differs from that of more typical E. e. dealbatus in having (in
all but two of the nine specimens) the tip of the premaxillary process more
slender and continued back to nearly or quite meet the anterior point of the
frontal, completely shutting off the maxillary from contact with the nasals.
Measurements:—The dimensions do not seem to be essentially different
from those of E. e. dealbatus, although but few for the latter are available.
The collector’s measurements for the type series are as follows:
THE INSECTIVORES 53
: No. Head and body Tail Hind foot Ear Locality
9.1.1.2 BM 205 35 39 28.0 Shensi
9.1.1.3 BM 176 34 36 24.0 Shensi
9.1.1.4 BM 195 35 36 27.0 Shensi
9.1.1.5 BM 205 37 36 33.0 Shensi
9.1.1.6 BM 175 37 38 29.0 Shensi
9.1.1.7 BM 175 31 36 29.0 Shensi
9.1.1.8 BM 192 40 35 28.0 Shensi
9.1.1.9 BM (type) 215 46 40 34.5 Shensi
g.1.1.10 BM 214 43 37 30.0 Shensi
For cranial measurements of this series, see table under E. e. dealbatus.
Nomenclature:—This hedgehog at first sight does not seem very different
from some specimens of E. e. dealbatus, but the entire series is uniform in
lacking the usual intermixture of all-white spines, common in that race, and
the attenuated premaxillary extending rather far back is also different. Loénn-
berg (1922) concluded that E. miodon is really one of the Hemiechinus group,
but after seeing the original specimens in the British Museum, I agree with
Thomas that its relationships are after all with Erinaceus e. dealbatus, and that
it constitutes a local race of the desert country bordering the Ordos.
Occurrence and Habits:—Hitherto this hedgehog is recorded from the type
locality only, Yulinfu, in northwestern Shensi, close to the border of the Ordos
Desert, and hence not far from the area inhabited by Hemiechinus dealbatus
alaschanicus. Clark and Sowerby (1912, p. 22) write that ‘‘the country about
Yu-lin Fu is wild and inexpressibly dreary. Very few trees are to be seen,
and the bare brown cliffs and yellow sand are devoid of any vegetation, save
an occasional tuft of some sage scrub. In places, especially where, as in the
northeast, it rises to any prominence, gloomy chasms, with deadly quicksands
lurking in their depths, gape in the sandstone and the half-formed shale. To
north and west the prospect is heart-breaking. Sand-dunes and sand-dunes,
and again sand-dunes—shifting with every storm and obliterating every
landmark. Only here and there, as tiny islands in a sea of desolation, small
clusters of mud huts, where some little oasis marks the site of a spring or well.’’
Malcolm P. Anderson, who collected the series of nine upon which the form
was described, notes (Thomas, 1909, pp. 964, 966) that ‘‘the portion of Shen-si
visited appears indeed like an extension of the plateau of which Ordos is part,
only this extension has been cut into by a great many perennial streams, a
process which is now taking place in southern Ordos.” Of the hedgehogs, he
adds, “There appear to be large areas in North China where the Hedgehog is
not found at all, and some places, of which the neighbourhood of Yu-lin-fu is
one, where they are remarkably common. At the time we were at Yu-lin
54 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
(April to May) the neighbouring desert was alive with several species of beetle
upon which the Hedgehog fed. . . . Chinese name, “Tsi-wei’ (tsi- a thorn or
spine).’’ Sowerby (Clark and Sowerby, 1912, p. 83), who visited the type
locality shortly after, was unsuccessful in securing additional specimens, for
on account of the lateness of the season (last of October), he found this and
many other small mammals already gone into hibernation.
Specimens examined:—Nine, the original series in the British Museum,
from Yulinfu, northern Shensi.
Family TALPIDA
MOLES
This family includes the mole-like insectivores, chiefly modified for a
fossorial life through the specialization of the fore feet and anterior part of the
body for pushing a way through loose soil. The head is tapering, the external
ears small or absent, the neck short and muscular. The muscles of shoulder
and arm are enlarged and powerful, their bones short and strong, with the
clavicle and humerus especially well developed, the latter, however, retaining
its entepicondylar foramen. All five fingers are present on the fore feet, each
provided with a stout claw, and in the more strictly fossorial types, the entire
hand is so rotated that the foot seems to be set on edge, with the palm turned
out. The skull lacks prominent ridges for muscle attachment, but its com-
ponent bones fuse at an early age. The zygomatic arch is still present though
slender, and the teeth retain a primitive sectorial type, with sharp cusps on
the upper molars tending to form a W-pattern. The tympanic bone fuses to
the skull, forming a low, rounded bulla.
Thomas (1912d), in a discussion of the family, regards it as divisible into
five subfamilies, of which the Desmanine and the Condylurine are aquatic in
habits, the former confined to western Siberia and southern Europe, the latter
to eastern North America. Representatives of the three remaining sub-
families occur in China, the most primitive, the Uropsiline, including species
of the Chinese highlands that retain an almost shrew-like form, without special
fossorial modifications; the two other groups, the Talpinz or more typical
moles, and the Scalopinz with one Chinese genus and other American forms,
are modified for underground life.
Key TO THE GENERA OF CHINESE TALPIDAE
A. Form shrew-like, with long snout, slender tail, feet not modified for digging; 2 anterior
upper incisors much larger than the canine and anterior premolars immediately following.
a. Nine teeth in the upper jaw, eight in the lower...................- Uropsilus
b. Ten upper and nine lower teeth.
a’. With two lower incisors and three lower premolars............ Rhynchonax
b’: With only one lower incisor and four lower premolars.......... Nasillus
THE INSECTIVORES 55
B. Form thickset for burrowing, snout shorter, tail about twice the length of hind foot or
much less; fore feet broadened and the fore claws lengthened for digging.
a. Anterior incisors small, followed by an enlarged canine; tail about as
long as hind foot.
a lever CecuImieaCh AW astctn tartater mie nit rstve riers tres ral Talpa
b’. Teeth less than eleven in each jaw.
1. Upper premolars three, two small and one large; lower four. Parascaptor
2. Both upper and lower premolars three only.............. Scaptochirus
3. Teeth as in Talpa but lower canine lacking, making the
fourth tooth close behind the upper canine................. Mogera
b. Anterior incisors larger than the succeeding teeth, tail twice as long as
the hind foot.
a’. Upper teeth eleven, lower ten in number, fore feet less broadened. Scaptonyx
b’. Upper teeth nine, lower nine in number, fore feet broader...... Scapanulus
Genus Uropsilus Milne-Edwards
Uropsilus Milne-Edwards, in David, Nouy. Arch. Mus. d’Hist. Nat. Paris, vol. 7, Bull., p. 92, 1871. Milne
Edwards, Recherches pour servir a l’Hist. Nat. des Mammiféres, p. 272, 1868-74.
The insectivores of this group are of special interest as representing the
most primitive of the living mole-like species, in which the bodily form is
still essentially shrew-like, with none of the characteristic adaptations of the
burrowing types. The snout is very long, with a cartilaginous tubular pro-
longation beyond the fore part of the skull; the external ears are well developed
and reach the height of the surrounding fur; the tail is long, slender and covered
with rings of small scales, while the fore feet are provided with slender toes,
each with a compressed instead of a flattened claw. The backs of both hands
and feet are scaly, and according to Milne-Edwards the bones of the ungual
phalanges are entire instead of bifurcate as in the typical moles.
The skull with its rounded outlines and complete zygomatic arch is essen-
tially mole-like, however, and the teeth resemble those of most moles in the
enlargement of the first incisors and reduction of the succeeding teeth, without
the extreme lengthening of the first lower incisors, found in the soricids. In
the type species, U. soricipes, described by Milne-Edwards from Muping,
Szechwan, the tooth formula is given as of nine upper and eight lower teeth
on each side, as follows: i.¢ c.t pm. m.3=34. These are interpreted by
Thomas (1912e, p. 129) as representing the following teeth: 1.>2 c.t
pm.}+49-++- m.+2+ There seems, however, to be a curious variation in
the number of the small premolars and lower incisors that may be present,
variations which are apparently of a definite sort, although accompanied by
little if any external difference. The commoner of these seems to be the
presence of four upper premolars associated with two lower incisors, while
the less usual one is the presence of four upper and four lower premolars, but
in other respects the formule are as given above. Thomas has regarded these
56 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
as indicating two additional genera, which he names Rhynchonax and Nasillus
respectively. It is still uncertain whether they express merely fluctuating
conditions in the presence or absence of nearly functionless teeth in process of
disappearance in a single generic type, or whether they are correlated with
other differences that would distinguish related groups, which, though per-
haps occurring together in the same general area, nevertheless do not intercross
and so are to be regarded as distinct. A conservative course might be either
Fic. 3. Distribution Map.
Uropsilus Rhynchonax Nasillus
1. U. soricipes 2. R. andersoni andersont 5. WN. gractlis
3. R. andersoni nivatus 6. WN. investigator
4. . andersoni atronates
THE INSECTIVORES 57
to consider all three described genera as one, with definite variations among
the disappearing teeth of a dentition in course of reduction, or to recognize
all three at present as representing truly distinct groups of a primitive stock,
until sufficient evidence is obtained to warrant a definite conclusion. The
second alternative is here accepted, and the three genera treated as valid
until they can be shown to be otherwise. The fact that, so far as the available
specimens indicate, these three groups seem to have fairly distinct areas of
geographical distribution, may be interpreted as favoring their distinctness.
10. Uropsilus soricipes Milne-Edwards
Uropsilus soricipes Milne-Edwards, in David, Nouv. Arch. Mus. d’Hist. Nat. Paris, vol. 7, Bull., p. 92, 1871.
Milne-Edwards, Recherches pour servir 4 l’Hist. Nat. des Mammiféres, p. 272, pl. 40, fig. 1; pl. 40A,
fig. 1, 1868-74.
Type specimen:—No type specimen is mentioned in the original descrip-
tion, which, however, was evidently based on an individual sent in alcohol to
the Muséum d’Histoire Naturelle at Paris by Pére Armand David, who col-
lected it in the principality of Muping, Szechwan, China.
Description:—Upper surface of head and body dark brown, near ‘‘Prout’s
brown”’ of Ridgway; below dark slaty. Tail and backs of feet dark brown,
scaly, with minute blackish hairs growing from between the scales.
The skull has a full, rounded brain case, slender up-curved zygomatic
arches, and a tapering rostrum which is slightly depressed anterior to the orbits.
In side view, as seen in Milne-Edwards’s Plate 40A, the first incisor of each
side above is only slightly larger than the second, but set with its broad axis
transverse to the long axis of the skull so that the two of opposite sides together
form a sharp cutting edge. The two teeth following the second incisor are
hardly one-third the size of that tooth, single-rooted, and interpreted as a
canine and premolar 1, short and bluntly conical. The two other premolars
are larger, practically in contact, and the fourth exceeds the one in front of it,
interpreted as pm*. The two anterior molars have the usual cusps well
developed, forming with their commissures a W-pattern, which in the third
molar is reduced through the loss of the posterior commissure of the metacone
and the suppression of the hypocone. In the lower jaw the single large incisor
corresponds to the upper, and is succeeded by three unicuspids, increasing
slightly in size from first to last (regarded as a canine and two premolars),
while the third premolar is larger, and in close contact with that in front.
Concerning the skeleton, Milne-Edwards states that the vertebree number
seven cervicals, thirteen dorsals, seven lumbars, five sacrals, and fourteen
caudals, total 46. The manubrium of the sternum is laterally compressed below,
but does not show the definite keel characteristic of the typical moles, and the
hand lacks the falciform bone. The clavicles are relatively weak, but the
58 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
humerus, though slender and shrew-like, has nevertheless prominent muscle
crests. The terminal phalanges of the hand are normal in form without the
cleft appearance found in the moles, in which the heavy claws require this
extra means of support. .
Measurements:—The measurements of the type specimen and the two
others secured by the Duke of Bedford’s Expedition are as follows:
No. Head and body Tail Hind foot Ear Locality
PARIS 63 64 15 — Szechwan
I1.9.8.12 BM 72 65 15 10 Szechwan
CRANIAL MEASUREMENTS OF UROPSILUS
Zygo- Width Upper Lower
Greatest Basal Palatal matic Mastoid outside cheek cheek
No. length length length width width molars teeth teeth Locality
11.9.8.11 BM 105° 10.9% "=—— "80 ° 9.7 ‘9.0 Szechwan
II.9.8.12 BM 21.2 17.5 10.5 II. 11.6 7.0 9.6 9.1 Szechwan
PARIS (type) 21.0 —_>= ——_—-—— 11.0 —_—_-— —- Szechwan
Occurrence. and Habits:—This remarkable species, a sort of annectant
type between the moles and the more primitive insectivores from which they
must have sprung, was first discovered by Pére David, who in the course of
his exploration in western Szechwan, in 1870, sent back specimens to the
Paris Museum, which were later described and figured by Milne-Edwards.
No further record of the animal occurs for some thirty years, until Pousargues
(1896a, p. 179) recorded a specimen from Yunnan, brought back by Prince
Henri d’Orléans. However, the later discovery of the very similar genus
Rhynchonax as a common species in that province raises the presumption that
in the light of more recent knowledge, this specimen might prove to be a mem-
ber of the latter genus. It was not until 1912 that Thomas (19I2e, p. 129)
discovered the fact that typical Uropsilus, as shown by examination of examples
from Pére David’s original series, has a slightly different tooth formula from
the one more common in specimens he had hitherto referred to this genus,
leading him to reéxamine the entire lot acquired shortly before by the Duke of
Bedford’s exploration under Malcolm P. Anderson. He showed that Uropsilus
soricipes, characterized by the possession of nine upper and eight lower teeth,
is known only from the original series from Muping and from two males having
the same formula, taken by Anderson only a short distance to the northeast of
the original locality, at Weichow, sixty miles northwest of Chengtu, Szechwan,
in the narrow valley of the Sungpan Ho. Apparently, then, this variation, in
which the small upper premolar, between the two large ones, and the second
lower incisor are lacking, is confined to the region of Muping and slightly to
the east, while to the southeast and southwest two other variations occur, each
of which Thomas has regarded as typifying distinct genera, Nasillus and
THE INSECTIVORES 59
Rhynchonax, respectively. In a previous paper (G. M. Allen, 1912), I re-
garded all these variations as merely individual and indicative of a tooth
formula in active process of reduction through the variable presence or absence
of one or two of the minute teeth in one or both jaws. The fact that these
variations seem in some degree correlated with an area of distribution, how-
ever, lends color to Thomas’s view that they represent distinct genera, but the
external similarity of the animals points to their essential specific unity.
Awaiting further knowledge, therefore, it seems best to let Thomas’s genera
stand provisionally as a group of closely related forms, of which typical Urop-
stlus soricipes is the most northeastern in distribution, confined to a narrow
area in Szechwan.
Specimens examined:—Two, from Weichow, Szechwan (B.M.).
Genus Rhynchonax Thomas
Rhynchonax Thomas, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1912, p. 129. Type, Rhynchonax andersoni Thomas.
Uropsilus Thomas, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1911, p. 163. G. M. Allen, Mem. Mus. Comp. Zool., vol. 40,
p. 239, 1912 (in part).
This genus chiefly differs from other members of the subfamily in the re-
tention, usually, of a minute upper premolar (pm‘) and a lower incisor (i;), in
addition to the number present in Uropsilus, making in all ten upper and nine
lower teeth. In external characters the two are alike.
As mentioned under Uropsilus, it is a question whether the presence or
absence of the extra minute tooth above and below is to be regarded as sufficient
basis in this case for a generic separation. In 1912, I inclined to the view that
it was not, especially since a series from Wa Shan, somewhat to the southward
of Muping, showed an additional variation in sometimes lacking the minute
upper premolar, although with nine lower teeth. Thomas, who later examined
one of the specimens, wrote me that he regarded them all, nevertheless, as
Rhynchonax. Thus it appears that the latter may sometimes lose the upper
minute premolar (Thomas writes that its alveolus can be made out in the
specimen sent him from our series), while still retaining the extra lower one;
or, as in some of the Wa Shan series, the reduction may go so far that not only
is there no alveolus to be made out, but the space where the tooth stood is
nearly obliterated by the close approximation of the two large premolars.
Thomas believes further that the color of the two genera is slightly but recog-
nizably different.
11. Rhynchonax andersoni andersoni Thomas
Rhynchonax andersoni Thomas, Abstract Proc. Zool. Soc. London, October 31, 1911, p. 49; Proc. Zool. Soc:
London, 1912, p. 130.
Uropsilus soricipes Thomas, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1911, p. 163. G. M. Allen, Mem. Mus. Comp. Zodl.,
vol. 40, p. 239, 1912 (not Milne-Edwards). ? Pousargues, Bull. Mus. d’Hist. Nat., Paris, vol. 2, p. 179,
1896 (? in part).
60 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
Type specimen:—Adult male, skin and skull, No. 11.2.1.25, British Mu-
seum, from Omei Shan, Omei Hsien, southern Szechwan, 9,500 feet.
Description:—General color above a dark brown, near ‘‘clove-brown’’ to
“‘bister’’ (Thomas); below dark slaty. Tail dark brown all around, with rings
of minute scales, between which are very small bristles of about the length of a
single ring, except toward the tip, where they are longer, tending to form a
short pencil.
As already noted, the tooth formula is normally greater by one upper pre-
molar and one lower incisor than that of Uropsilus, and the color is darker.
Measurements:—The following are measurements of the British Museum
series, those of the exterior made in the field by the collector.
No. Head and body Tail Hind foot Locality
II.2.1.26 BM 67 65 14.5 Szechwan
II.2.1.27 BM 70 67 15.0 Szechwan
1I.2.1.28 BM 71 65 15.0 Szechwan
11.2.1.29 BM 67 68 15.5 Szechwan
II.2.1.31 BM 69 68 15.5 Szechwan
I1.2.1.25 BM (type) 70 67 15.5 Szechwan
CRANIAL MEASUREMENTS OF RHYNCHONAX
Zygo- Width Upper Lower
Greatest Basal Palatal matic Mastoid across - cheek cheek
No. length length length width width molars teeth teeth Locality
R. andersoni andersonti
II.2.1.25 BM 21.0 17.3 10.1 II. 11.5 6.6 9.2 8.6 Szechwan
II.2.1.26 BM 21.7 16.7 9.8 10.6 11.5 6.3 9.4 8.6 Szechwan
I1.2.1.30 BM 22.1 17.3 10.3 10.4 11.5 6.8 9.7 9.1 Szechwan
II.2.1.31 BM 21.6 17.3 9.9 10.4 11.6 6.8 9.6 9.4 Szechwan
7520 MCZ 21.7 17.1 10.5 10.5 11.2 6.6 9.6 9.0 Szechwan
7521 MCz 21.1 16.7 9.8 10.5 11.5 6.1 9.5 8.6 Szechwan
7523 MCZ 20.4 16.6 9.8 9.9 11.2 6.5 9.3 8.6 Szechwan
7524 MCZ 22.0 17.5 10.2 II. D7, 6.8 9.8 8.6 Szechwan
7527 MCZ 22.0 17.5 10.2 10.4 11.4 6.7 9.7 9.0 Szechwan
R. andersoni atronates
44344 20.0 16.6 9.4 10.5 5.8 8.7 8.2 Yunnan
44340 20.0 16.6 9.2 — 10.9 6.3 8.5 7.8 Yunnan
R. andersoni nivatus
44361 20.3 16.2 9.8 11.3 6.2 8.9 8.0 Yunnan
44364 19.9 16.0 9.3 9.7 10.5 6.0 9.2 8.0 Yunnan
Occurrence and Habits:—So far as at present known, this seems to be a
slightly more southern animal than Uropsilus in its general distribution. The
type and eight others were taken by Malcolm P. Anderson at Omei Shan, Omei
Hsien, in central Szechwan. In addition, a small series of seven was secured
for the Museum of Comparative Zodlogy by Walter R. Zappey, in 1908, at
THE INSECTIVORES 61
Wa Shan, slightly south of the same place, and a single one each from Liang-
hokow and Tachiao in the same general area (not Taochow, Kansu, as Howell,
1929, p. 7, suggests). Probably the animal occurs in typical form over
central Szechwan into northern Yunnan, but there seem to be no other authen-
tic records. Specimens secured by the American Museum Asiatic Expeditions
in southern Yunnan are sufficiently different to warrant separation as sub-
species.
Specimens examined:—In all, eighteen, as follows:
Szechwan: Lianghokow, 1 (B.M.); Omei Shan, 9 (B.M.); Tachiao, 1 (U.S.N.M.);
Wa Shan, 7 (M.C.Z.).
12. Rhynchonax andersoni atronates G. M. Allen
Rhynchonax andersoni atronates G. M. Allen, Amer. Mus. Novitates, no. 100, p. 2, December 28, 1923.
Type specimen:—A female, skin and skull, No. 44343, American Museum
of Natural History, from Mucheng, Salween drainage, southwestern Yunnan,
China, altitude 7,000 feet. Collected February 13, 1917, by Dr. R. C. An-
drews and Edmund Heller..
Description:—A dark form, the rump nearly unmixed slaty black; skull
smaller, with the third upper premolar less reduced than in typical R. andersont.
General color above nearly ‘‘Prout’s brown” (of Ridgway). The pelage
consists of shining black hairs, mixed with others that are blackish slate basally,
tipped with hazel. On the rump the latter hairs are few or absent, giving a
strikingly blackish appearance to this region. The lower surfaces of body and
limbs are uniform blackish slate. Backs of feet and entire tail scaly, with
minute scattered blackish hairs; the tail usually not paler underneath.
The skull is smaller than in typical R. andersoni of Szechwan, and the
teeth are smaller throughout, except that the third upper premolar, which in
the latter is minute or sometimes wanting altogether (with about half the
crown area of the first and barely reaching the level of the cingulum of the two
adjoining it), is in this Yunnan animal much larger, of about the same crown
area as the first premolar, with cingulum and crown well developed, the tip
of the tooth standing well above the general cingulum level. In the lower jaw,
the second incisor, instead of being minute, is as large as the canine, and the
small second premolar (p:), though slightly smaller than the canine, is never-
theless much better developed than in typical R. andersoni, in which it is
very minute or sometimes altogether absent.
Measurements:—The external measurements are practically the same
as in R. andersoni. The type measures: head and body, 67 mm.; tail, 57;
hind foot, 14; ear, 10.
For skull measurements, see table under R. andersoni andersoni.
62 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
Occurrence and Habits:—Specimens of this genus were obtained at only
two localities in southwestern Yunnan by the American Museum Asiatic
Expeditions, at Mucheng on the Salween drainage (sixteen), and again at
Peitaiping, where a single one was secured. The slight differences in color
are of less importance probably than the less reduced condition of the teeth
in this more southern animal.
Specimens examined:—Seventeen, as follows:
Yunnan: Mucheng, 6,000-7,000 feet, 16; Mekong drainage, Peitaiping, 9,000 feet, 1 (in
alcohol).
13. Rhynchonax andersoni nivatus G. M. Allen
Rhynchonax andersoni nivatus G. M. Allen, Amer. Mus. Novitates, no. 100, p. 2, December 28, 1923.
Type specimen:—Male, skin and skull, No. 44352, American Museum of
Natural History, from Ssu Shan (Snow Mountain), Likiang Range, western
Yunnan, China, at 12,000 feet altitude. Collected October 22, 1916, by Dr.
R. C. Andrews and Mr. Edmund Heller.
Description:—Similar to typical R. andersoni. but much paler brownish,
with a smaller skull and larger third upper premolar.
In size and cranial characters, this subspecies resembles the preceding but
is much paler brown above, nearly light cinnamon brown, almost of the same
tint as our Sorex cinereus; it lacks the blackish rump of R. andersoni atronates,
and the tail is indistinctly bicolor. The fore legs and under parts are ‘‘deep
neutral gray” (Ridgway), much paler than in R. andersoni from Szechwan.
In certain lights the tips of the hairs appear glistening. Tail fuscous above,
paler below.
The skull is smaller than in the typical form and closely resembles that of
R. andersoni atronates. The third upper small premolar is as large as the first,
- stands well in the tooth row with its cingulum level with those of the adjacent
teeth, and has a distinct crown about as high as the width of the cingulum.
The second lower incisor is larger than the lower canine, and hence much
larger than in the typical form.
Measurements:—The type measured in the flesh: head and body, 68 mm.;
tail, 60; hind foot, 15.
For cranial measurements, see table (p. 60) under R. a. andersoni.
Occurrence and Habits:—The discovery of this animal on the isolated
Likiang Range at altitudes of from 10,000 to 12,000 feet by Dr. Andrews’s
expedition extends the known range of the genus considerably to the southwest.
No doubt intergradation with the preceding race takes place at lower levels
to the northward, but as with many other species this seems to have developed
a local form on this range cut off in the loop of the Yangtze. While resembling
THE INSECTIVORES 63
R. a. atronates in cranial and tooth characters, the color is so strikingly different
that the Likiang specimens can be picked out at once from a mixed series.
The large size of the third upper premolar and the second lower incisor in
these southern races, as contrasted with their reduced size in the typical animal
to the northward, lends color to the argument that we have in these and Uropst-
lus a progressive series in reduction of these teeth, culminating at the north-
ward limits of the range in their loss, in what is here called Uropsilus soricipes;
so that it may be that we have to do really with but this single species, of
which the forms of Rhynchonax may be regarded as subspecies. It is peculiar
that all the specimens taken were males.
Specimens examined:—Nine, from Yunnan: Likiang Range, Ssu Shan
(Snow Mountain), 10,000—12,000 feet.
Genus Nasillus Thomas
Nasillus Thomas, Abstract Proc. Zool. Soc. London, October 31, 1911, p. 49; Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1912,
p- 129.
While having the same number of teeth, ten above and nine below, as
Rhynchonax, the formula differs in that but one instead of two lower incisors
is present, with all four lower premolars instead of only three. Thomas
fas interpreted the teeth a§ follows: 1.4-2-4- ct pm. ame OS
or 38inall. In general appearance this genus externally is similar to Uropsilus
but slightly smaller. It may again seem possible that the variation in tooth
formula is not a matter of generic value, but Thomas, after careful study of
the three types of formule, has reached the conclusion that in the present
case a separate genus should be recognized, with Nasillus gracilis as its type.
14. Nasillus gracilis Thomas
Nasillus gracilis Thomas, Abstract Proc. Zool. Soc. London, October 31, 1911, p. 49; Proc. Zool. Soc. London,
1912, p. 130.
Type specimen:—A female, skin and skull, No. 11.9.1.13, British Museum,
from Chinfu Shan, near Nanchwan, southeastern Szechwan, China.
Description:—Externally resembling Uropsilus and Rhynchonax, the
general color above is near “‘sepia,’’ much as in Uropsilus soricipes, not so
dark as in Rhynchonax andersoni; below slaty. Hands and feet pale brown,
the tail uniformly brown.
The skull is shorter and decidedly narrower than in either of the two
related genera, with a less-expanded brain case. The upper third premolar
(absent in Uropsilus and minute in Rhynchonax andersoni) has the crown as
large as the small anterior premolar; in the lower jaw the minute incisor stand-
64 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
ing just back of the large anterior incisor in the latter species, is quite lacking,
but there is a very minute second lower premolar, the smallest tooth in the
jaw. Hence, although the same number of teeth is present as in Rhynchonax,
their interpretation is different.
Measurements:—Thomas gives the following measurements of the type
and only known specimen, and points out that the hind foot is proportionately
smaller than in the related genera Uropsilus and Rhynchonax: head and body,
66 mm.; tail, 55; hind foot, 13.5; ear, 9.
For cranial measurements see the table under JN. investigator.
Occurrence and Habits:—This species is known only from the single speci-
men taken at Chinfu Shan, near Nanchwan, in southeastern Szechwan, which
is apparently the most eastern point known for the occurrence of a member
of this group. The altitude is about 4,000 feet.
Specimens examined:—One, the type, from Nanchwan, Szechwan (B.M.).
15. Nasillus investigator Thomas
Nasillus investigator Thomas, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. 9, vol. 10, p. 393, 1922.
Type specimen:—Skin and skull, No. 22.9.1.16, British Museum, from
the Kiukiang-Salween divide, at 28° north, northwestern Yunnan, China.
Collected July 24, 1921, by George Forrest.
Description:—Externally similar to N. gracilis, ‘indeed, all the members
of the three genera Uropsilus, Rhynchonax and Nasillus are hardly distinguish-
able from each other’ (Thomas), externally, except that the members of
Rhynchonax are noticeably more blackish.
The skull differs from that of N. gracilis in being longer with a wider
brain case. The skull of the type, though still retaining milk teeth, is said
by its describer to be quite of full size, and in its tooth formula agrees with
that of N. gracilis, as do also the five other specimens taken at the same time
and place.
Measurements:—The original series and another from Gomba-la were
measured by the collector as follows:
No. Head and body Tail Hind foot Ear Locality
22.9.1.13 BM 80 54 16 9 Yunnan
22.9.1.14 BM 83 59 14 10 Yunnan
22.9.1.15 BM 80 66 15 8 Yunnan
22.9.1.16 BM (type) 88 62 14 10 Yunnan
22.9.1.17 BM 74. 74 14 9 Yunnan
22.9.1.18 BM 78 75 15 9 Yunnan
22.9.1.19 BM 67 64 15 10 Yunnan
23.3.7.7 BM 70 72 13 10 Yunnan
THE INSECTIVORES 65
CRANIAL MEASUREMENTS OF NASILLUS
Great- Zygo- Mas- Width Upper Lower
est Basal Palatal matic toid across tooth tooth
No. length length length width width molars row tow Locality
N. investigator
22.9.1.15 BM 2) 9.9 — 67 9.7 90 Yunnan
22.9.1.16 BM (type) 21.3 — 06) 102) ) 11-1 6.59 (O25 8.6 Yunnan
22.9.1.17 BM —_s> 9.7 m— — 66 94 4x88 Yunnan
22.9.1.18 BM 2i-5, 17.4. 10.1 QO 25.5) 6.8) O78) o.9)) Munnan
22.9.1.19 BM 21.8 — 9.7 10.8 D163) 6:5) 10:27) 4316.) Yunnan
N. gracilis
11.9.8.13 BM (type) 20-31) 16:3 9.2 96 104 62 89 18.1 Szechwan
Occurrence and Habits:—Seven specimens in all were obtained by Forrest
at or near the type locality, all of which agree in tooth formula, thus addi-
tionally confirming Thomas’s view of the distinctness of the genus. The
locality is at an altitude of 11,000 feet, on the Kiukiang-Salween divide at
about latitude 28° N. The same collector later secured one at Gomba-la, on
the Mekong-Salween divide. Nothing further is known of it, but undoubtedly
it will eventually prove to be at most a slightly larger subspecies of N. gracilis,
of which it is obviously a close relative. The luck of-collecting appears again
in this case where Forrest secured six specimens, while Andrews and Heller
working in the same general area secured numbers of Rhynchonax instead.
From the brief notes entered on the labels of the original series, it appears
that all were trapped on open alpine meadows at altitudes of from 11,000-
14,000 feet, except one which was caught in Abzes forest at a similar height.
It is thus apparently a high-alpine species.
Specimens examined:—In all, eight, namely:
Yunnan: Salween-Kiukiang divide, 7 (B.M.); Mekong-Salween divide, 1 (B.M.).
Genus Scaptonyx Milne-Edwards
Scaptonyx Milne-Edwards, Recherches pour servir 4 1’Hist. Nat. des Mammiféres, p. 278, pl. 38B, fig. 4; pl. 40B,
fig. 2, 1868-74.
This is a somewhat more mole-like member of the Uropsiline than
Uropsilus, with a long cartilaginous snout, slightly broadened hands with
large, nearly straight claws, of which the first and fifth are much shorter than
the three middle ones. There is practically no external ear and the tail is
shorter and more thickened than in that genus, thinly clad with stiff short
hairs that do not conceal the rings of scales. It resembles the Japanese
Urotrichus and the western American Neurotrichus, to both of which it is
related. In the skeleton, Milne-Edwards has shown that the terminal
66 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
phalanges of the hands are bifid as in the moles, and the humerus lacks the
entepicondylar perforation for the brachial nerve.
In the skull the zygomatic arches are complete though slender and thread-
like, and the tooth formula has one lower incisor on each side less than the full
placental number. The interpretation of the lower teeth was tentatively
published by Milne-Edwards as three incisors, a canine, three premolars and
three molars, but Thomas (1912b) has shown that it is really one of the
incisors (the anteriormost) that is missing, so that the tooth formula is:
i.$c.ipm.4m.% = 42. The first upper incisor of each side is the largest,
and the two are set with their chisel-like edges transverse to the tooth row;
the two succeeding upper incisors are smaller, the canine conical, and relatively
small, about as high as the first incisor; it is followed by three small, conical,
double-rooted premolars, and a fourth much larger consisting of a high tri-
angular cusp and asmallinner lobe. In the lower jaw the two anterior incisors
on each side are small, chisel-like and project slightly forward, the canine is
very small, while the first premolar as in the true moles is enlarged and conical,
with a minute posterior cusp at the base. The two small premolars behind it
are similar but smaller, and double-rooted. ;
So far as known the genus is confined to the Chinese highlands.
This interesting genus, as Milne-Edwards says, looks like a mole with the
feet of Urotrichus, or like a Urotrichus with the head of a mole. It gives the
annectant stage between the more shrew-like moles, as represented by Urop-
silus, and the more typical genera, adapted for a wholly subterranean life.
The presence of this genus isolated in the highlands of western China is another
instance of the persistence here of a primitive type, while its additional interest
lies in the fact that it is represented on the Pacific coast of North America by
a related but more progressive genus, Neurotrichus, and in Japan by Uro-
trichus. Only one species is known, with one subspecies.
16. Scaptonyx fusicaudatus Milne-Edwards
Scaptonyx fusicaudatus Milne-Edwards, Recherches pour servir a l’Hist. Nat. des Mammiferes, p. 278, pl. 38B,
fig. 4; pl. 40B, fig. 2, 1868-74.
Scaptonyx fusicauda David, Nouv. Arch. Mus. d’Hist. Nat. Paris, vol. 7, Bull., p. 92, 1871 (lapsus calami).
Type specimen:—The type was a specimen sent by Pére Armand David
who secured it ‘‘sur les confins du Kokonoor et du Sé-tschouan.”’ Unfortu-
nately, the flask in which it was preserved in alcohol was broken in transit to
France, so that the specimen arrived in very poor condition, and the skull was
so injured that Milne-Edwards found it possible to figure the teeth only.
The specimen is still preserved in the Muséum d’Histoire Naturelle at Paris.
Description:—The general form is mole-like, with the fore feet only
slightly broadened, but with stout flattened fossorial claws, the hind feet more
THE INSECTIVORES 67
slender, with long, compressed claws, the backs of both hands and feet covered
with scales between which are short scattered black hairs. Fur soft, short
and mole-like, of a uniform dark slate color throughout. The tail is hardly
twice the length of the hind foot, thickened, and slightly tapering from the
enlargement near the base (fusiform), thinly and evenly clad with long project-
ing blackish hairs.
The skull is lightly built, with slender and complete zygomata, the sade
tapering to a blunt point. The teeth have been briefly described under the
generic characters.
Measurements:—The type specimen measured: total length, 108 mm.;
tail, 45. No skull measurements of the typical form are available.
Occurrence and Habits:—The type is the only recorded specimen.
Specimens examined:—None.
17. Scaptonyx fusicaudatus affinis Thomas
Scaptonyx fusicaudatus affinis Thomas, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. 8, vol. 9, p. 514, 1912.
Type specimen:—A male, skin and skull, No. 12.3.18.1, British Museum,
from twelve miles south of Atuntze, northwestern Yunnan, at 13,500 feet
altitude. Collected June 22, 1911, by F. Kingdon Ward.
Description:—Similar to the typical form, but the upper canine slightly
smaller, and with other minute differences in the teeth, as follows: third upper
premolar not larger than second incisor; first and second upper premolars sub-
equal, and smaller than the third; fourth upper premolar slightly shorter
horizontally but of about the same breadth as the third; lower tooth row
shortened, the incisors less spatulate; canine (the third tooth in the jaw)
shorter and more slender than the posterior incisor; first and fourth lower
premolars nearly equal in size but “‘rather lighter” than in the typical form, but
the second and third lower premolars conspicuously smaller, the latter not a
quarter the bulk and only about half the height of the fourth; the second lower
incisor again about one-half its bulk and three-quarters its height, both the
second and third single-rooted (Thomas, 1912b, p. 514).
Measurements:—The following dimensions are available from specimens
in the British Museum, and others taken by Edmund Heller of the fresh speci-
mens collected by the American Museum Asiatic Expeditions:
No. Head and body Tail Hind foot Ear Sex
12.3.18.1 BM (type) 90 31 15.5 35 of
44517 88 26 15.0 — rol
44518 ~ - — — o
44519 — — we ee wee J
22.9.1.12 BM 80 29 12.0 —
68 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
CRANIAL MEASUREMENTS OF SCAPTONYX
Zygo- Breadth Breadth Upper Lower
Greatest Basal Palatal matic ofbrain outside tooth tooth
No. length length length breadth case molars TOW row Locality
12°3710.0 BM, | 24.3°) "202 II.0 8.6 10.7 6.8 10.5 9.1 Yunnan
44517 24.0 19.4 10.5 8.5 — 6.7 10.5 9.8 Yunnan
44518 —_ — — — — — — Yunnan
44519 — ———— — = — —— — Yunnan
22.9.1.I2 BM 22.4 18.6 10.0 — 9.9 6.0 10.1 9.3 Yunnan
The skull is extremely slender, with thread-like zygomata, which are
less in width than the width of the brain case. The canine and unicuspid
premolars of the upper jaw are all double-rooted.
Thomas, who made actual comparison of the skull of the type of S. fusi-
caudatus with that of his specimen from Atuntze, has pointed out the minute
differences mentioned above in the proportions of the teeth, and on that basis
has regarded the latter animal as a distinct form. It must be said, however,
that the characters are of the most trivial nature, and without comparison
of more than these two individuals it is difficult to tell how valuable they
may be as a basis for subspecific distinction, since there is no way of knowing
how great may be the individual variation in the typical form. Of the three
specimens secured by the American Museum Asiatic Expeditions, No. 44517
has only three lower premolars, lacking apparently the second, of which there
is not even an alveolus.
Occurrence and Habits:—The type specimen of this subspecies, taken some
twelve miles south of Atuntze, in northwestern Yunnan in 1912, was the second
known example of the genus, and enabled Thomas to correct the impression
of Milne-Edwards that the snout was not especially elongated, for it is ap-
parently nearly as attenuate as in Uropsilus. Ten years later, Thomas
(1922b, p. 393) recorded a second specimen, also a male, secured by George
Forrest, on the Mekong-Salween divide, 28° north, at an elevation of 7,000 to
8,000 feet, practically a topotype. The only other specimens known seem to
be the three secured by Dr. Andrews and Mr. Heller in 1914, one not far from
the original locality, at Tomulang in the Chungtien district, northwestern
Yunnan, at 10,000 feet, and two others on the Snow Mountain of the Likiang
Range, to the southward, at from 12,000 to 13,000 feet. Probably this is
a species of more or less forested country, for Thomas records of his first
specimen that it was taken on a mossy bank in a fir forest.
Specimens examined:—Five, as follows:
Yunnan: Tomulang, Chungtien district, 1; Likiang Range, Snow Mountain, 2; Atuntze,
1 (B.M., the type); Mekong valley, 1 (B.M.).
THE INSECTIVORES 69
Genus Talpa Linnzeus
Talpa Linnzus, Syst. Nat., ed. 10, vol. 1, p. 52, 1758.
The typical genus of moles shows a body specialized for subterranean
burrowing life, in the pointed head, heavy musculature of neck and arms,
the shortened tail, fore feet enlarged and broadened with the palms turned
outward, and the five claws stout, flattened and elongate for digging. The
short, plush-like fur, lacking a definite grain, is suitable for living in close
quarters, and the eye is much reduced in correlation partly with life under-
ground.
The teeth in Talpa are of the full number characteristic of placental
mammals, with the formula: i. ct pm.4m.$=44. The three incisors above
and below are subequal, small and with chisel-like edges set nearly transverse
to the long axis of the skull; the canines are well differentiated by their size,
the upper especially large in contrast to the reduced condition in the Uropsi-
linze, and are two-rooted. The three small premolars that follow are of nearly
equal size, the fourth considerably larger, while the three molars all show the
four primary cusps, of which the two outer form a W with their commissures.
The last molar is the smallest, with its inner cusps slightly reduced.
The type species is Talpa europea Linneus. As a genus this is chiefly
found in the temperate portions of Europe and western Asia, as far as the high-
lands of India, while a single species reaches western China.
18. Talpa longirostris Milne-Edwards
Talpa longirostris Milne-Edwards, Compt. Rend. Acad. Sci., Paris, vol. 70, p. 341, 1870; Recherches pour servir
a l’Hist. Nat. des Mammiféres, p. 281, pl. 17A, fig. 2 (skull and teeth); pl. 38, fig. 2 (exterior), 1868-74.
Type specimen:—No type is indicated in the original description, but the
specimen figured and described by Milne-Edwards is presumably still in the
Muséum d’Histoire Naturelle at Paris, having been sent by Pére Armand
David from ‘‘Thibet oriental,’ that is, probably from the mountains of
Muping, Szechwan, China.
Description:—This mole is slightly smaller than the European species,
with, for a mole, a fairly well-developed tail, terete, with long sparse hairs,
the more terminal of which are some 12.5 mm. long. The general color in
fresh pelage is slaty black, with a slightly brownish tinge.
The skull has a narrow rostrum, and narrow almost cylindrical inter-
orbital region, from which the wide, oval brain case rather abruptly expands.
The upper incisors are subequal, the third slightly the narrowest; the second
upper premolar is slightly smaller than the first, and recurved; the third
and fourth increase regularly in size, but the fourth has a distinct basal cusp
posteriorly.
70 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
Measurements :—In addition to the measurements given by Milne-Edwards
(1868-74, p. 283) for the type of this species, those of the two in the British
Museum are added:
No. Head and body Tail Hind foot Locality
PARIS (type) 105 20 20.0 (c.u.) Szechwan
99.3.1.9 BM ——— —_ 18.5 (c.u.) Szechwan
II.2.1.24 BM 105 20 14.5 (s.u.) Szechwan
CRANIAL MEASUREMENTS OF TALPA LONGIROSTRIS
Zygo- Width Upper Lower
Greatest Basal Palatal matic Mastoid across tooth tooth
No. length length length width width molars row row Locality
99.3.1.9 BM 129 —- — 7 13.1 12.4 Szechwan
II.2.1.24 BM 32.1 26.8 12.9 9.0 14.5 6.8 12.6 12.0 Szechwan
Milne-Edwards’s excellent figures of the skull and dentition leave no doubt
that this is a true Talpa. In comparison with the European species, how-
ever, the upper premolars seem slightly stouter, and the anterior two perhaps
single-rooted instead of with two roots, while the large first lower premolar
is shown in contact with the lower canine. Milne-Edwards states that there
are four lower incisors, but in fact there are only three. The lower canine
in side view resembles the incisor next it in its low crown and short cutting
edge, but in crown view its base extends much farther inward; the first lower
premolar has become caniniform, and of large size, but that it is not the canine
is shown by the fact that it lies just behind the upper canine when the jaws
are closed.
Occurrence and Habits:—Although said by Milne-Edwards to be apparently
“assez commune” in the mountains of Szechwan and eastern Tibet, this
continues to be a rare species in collections. It was discovered by Pére David
in the course of his journey to Szechwan in 1870, whence he sent back the first
specimens to the Paris Museum. This area was at that time a borderland
included as part of Tibet, but there seems to be no evidence that the species
actually occurs in that country as at present understood. No specimens were
again reported until 1899, when De Winton and Styan recorded a male secured
by the latter at Yunglipa (Yangliupa) in northwestern Szechwan; they de-
scribe its color as uniformly black. This specimen remained unique in the
British Museum collection until 1911, when Thomas (1911d, p. 163) recorded
a second male secured by Malcolm P. Anderson at Omei Shan in the same
province. Slightly to the southward the later expedition of the Dresden
Museum secured two additional specimens in alcohol, from the isolated Wa
Shan Range, the first bought from natives at Wa Shan, the second caught by
a dog at Hwanglungtse, in an alpine forest of red-barked birches, among mossy
boulders (Jacobi, 1922, p. 2; Weigold, 1923, p. 71).
THE INSECTIVORES 71
Anderson’s specimen from Omei Shan was caught on a “mossy bank in
damp forest,”’ so that the slight available evidence seems to indicate that it
is a forest-dweller.
Specimens examined:—Two, namely:
Szechwan: Omei Shan, 1 (B.M.); Yangliupa, 1 (B.M.).
Genus Parascaptor Gill
Parascaptor Gill, Bull. U. S. Geol. and Geogr. Surv. Terr., vol. 1 (ser. 2), p. 110, 1875. Type species, Talpa
leucura Blyth.
This genus is closely similar to Talpa, of which by many writers it has
been regarded as merely a subgenus, but is well distinguished by the tooth
formula, which differs from that of Talpa in lacking one of the small upper
premolars, making a total of three premolars above instead of the four present
in Talpa, as follows: 1.3 c.+ pm. m.3 =42. In external appearance it resembles
the common mole, but the tail is very short and club-shaped. Its range
includes Assam and Burma, eastward to the borders of Yunnan, and Siam.
But the one species is known from eastern Asia, although Milne-Edwards at
one time referred to it the mole described from North China by Thomas as
Talpa leptura, in which the tooth formula was similar, but which, as later
pointed out by Thomas (1910), proved on further examination to be really
_ a Scaptochirus, with the characteristic broad heavy skull, but abnormally with
an extra lower premolar. Milne-Edwards (1884) has also described as Para-
scaptor davidianus a mole said to have been collected by Pére Armand David
in Syria, but nothing further seems to be known about it.
19. Parascaptor leucurus (Blyth)
Talpa leucura Blyth, Journ. Asiatic Soc. Bengal, vol. 19, p. 215, pl. 4, fig. 1, 1850.
Parascaptor leucurus Milne-Edwards, Compt. Rend. Acad. Sci., Paris, vol. 99, p. 1142, 18845
Type specimen:—The original specimen was from Cherra Punji, Assam,
British India, and is presumably in the Indian Museum at Calcutta.
_ Description:—Similar in general appearance to the common European
mole, but the tail very short, club-shaped, about one-twelfth of the total
length. Color a uniform brown, varying to black, the basal part of ~ fur
“leaden black”’; tail hairs very short, white or whitish.
The skull is of the more delicate type, like that of Talpa, with tapering
rostrum. The teeth resemble those of the latter, but lack one of the small
unicuspid premolars, so that only two of these small teeth intervene between
the well-developed upper canine and the large posteriormost premolar. In
the lower jaw, the canine in side view is low, with a chisel-like edge, and closely
resembles the incisors, while the first premolar as in Talpa is enlarged and
72 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
caniniform, closing behind the upper canine; it is succeeded by two small
premolars set close together, while the fourth is large, equaling in size the
first.
Measurements:—Blanford gives the following dimensions (here reduced
to millimeters) for an alcoholic specimen from India, and I have added those of
the Suki specimen:
No. Head and body Tail Hind foot Locality
14.10.32.2 BM 110 15.5 15 Yunnan
BLANFORD 105 10.0 — India
CRANIAL MEASUREMENTS OF PARASCAPTOR
Zygo- Mas- Width Upper Lower
Greatest Basal Palatal matic toid across tooth tooth
No. length length length width width molars Tow Tow Locality
14.10.23.2 BM 27:80" 24240 11-71 +(955) 13:6)N 73 11.5 11.5 Yunnan
22.10.21.1 BM 28:5 in24.3 IT:6. 9:3 14.3) «73 11.6 II.I Yunnan
Occurrence and Habits:—Blanford gives the distribution of this mole as
Sylhet, the Khasi and Naga Hills, south of Assam, and probably locally
throughout Burma, reaching an altitude of as high as 10,000 feet. It is also
present in northern Siam, whence it is recorded by Gyldenstolpe (1919)
as having been obtained by Eisenhofer southeast of Chiengmai. It is, there-
fore, not surprising to find it extending into the extreme western border of
Yunnan, whence Thomas (1914b, p. 473) has lately recorded the first known
Chinese specimen, collected by F. Kingdon Ward at Suki, in the Salween
valley, 7,000 feet altitude, in north latitude 27° 30’. There is also in the British
Museum a second specimen from Yunnan, taken at Tengyueh, and received
in 1922. Ward notes on the label of his specimen that it was captured where
there were “numerous burrows in the river bed, amongst grass and shrubs.”
No other specimens have been taken in China and nothing is recorded of its
soil preference or food.
Specimens examined:—In addition to specimens in the British Museum
from the Shan States, Khasi Hills, and Assam in British India, two, from
Yunnan,—Suki and Tengyueh respectively (B. M.).
Genus Scaptochirus Milne-Edwards
Scaptochirus Milne-Edwards, Ann. des Sci. Nat., Zool., ser. 5, vol. 7, p. 375, 1867.
Talpa David, Nouv. Arch. Mus. d’Hist. Nat. Paris, vol. 3, Bull., p. 26, 1867 (not Linnzus, 1758).
Chiroscaptor Heude, Mém. concern. l'Hist. Nat. de l'Emp. Chin., vol. 4, pt. 1, p. 36, pl. 9, figs. 1-1c, 1898.
The moles of this genus differ externally from Talpa in the more reduced
tail, which is very short and slender (about two-thirds the length of the hind
foot), and thinly haired.
THE INSECTIVORES 72
The skull is less delicate, with a shorter, broader rostrum, and the molar
teeth are larger with higher crowns. In its dentition, Scaptochirus has one
less premolar both above and below, on account of the loss of one of the small
intermediate teeth in each jaw, so that the formula is: 1.3 c.t pm. m.3=40.
The lower canine is in side view like an incisor, while the first lower premolar
is enlarged and caniniform.
The type species is Scaptochirus moschatus Milne-Edwards, and the
genus seems to be confined to eastern China and the borders of southeastern
Mongolia. Only a single species is known from this area, with a subspecies
of which little is yet made out.
20. Scaptochirus moschatus moschatus Milne-Edwards
Scaptochirus moschatus Milne-Edwards, Ann. des Sci. Nat., Zool., ser. 5, vol. 7, p. 375, 1867; Recherches pour
servir a l’Hist. Nat. des Mammifeéres, p. 173, pl. 17, fig. 4; pl. 17A, figs. 1-1c, 1868-74.
Talpa europea David, Nouv. Arch. Mus. d’Hist. Nat. Paris, vol. 3, Bull., p. 26, 1867 (not of Linnzus, 1758).
Talpa leucura ? Swinhoe, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1861, p. 135 (not of Blyth).
Scaptochirus davidianus Swinhoe, ibid., 1870, p. 620 (errorim).
Talpa leptura Thomas, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. 5, vol. 7, p. 470, 1881.
Parascaptor leptura Milne-Edwards, Compt. Rend. Acad. Sci., Paris, vol. 99, p. 1142, 1884.
Chiroscaptor sinensis Heude, Mém. concern. 1’Hist. Nat. de 1’Emp. Chin., vol. 4, pt. 1, p. 36, 1898.
Scaptochirus moschiferus Heude, ibid., p. 40, pl. 9, figs. 2-2c (errorim).
Scaptochirus leptura Thomas, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. 8, vol. 5, p. 350, 1910.
Scaptochirus lepturus Thomas, loc. cit.
Type specimen:—The original specimen was collected by Pére Armand
David ‘‘en Mongolie” and is presumably still in the collection of the Muséum
d’Histoire Naturelle at Paris. In David’s time the term Mongolia was used
to include what are now the western parts of Hopei and Shansi, so that Thomas
has suggested that the type locality may therefore be considered Suanhwafu,
about one hundred miles northwest of Peiping, whence much of David’s
“Mongolian” material came.
Description:—In color this mole is a nearly uniform clear grayish brown
above and below, slightly paler about the mouth and on the lower side, glisten-
ing silvery in certain lights. The fur is short, with slaty bases and minute
brownish tips. The snout is thinly haired, with a lengthwise groove ventrally.
The tail is short, about two-thirds the length of the hind foot, with short hairs,
hardly hiding the scales, and forming a short terminal tuft. Backs of the broad
fore feet and narrower hind feet thinly haired, or in old animals nearly naked.
Measurements:—No fresh measurements of this mole are at hand. Milne-
Edwards notes that the head and body of his alcoholic specimen, following the
curve of the back, measured 140 mm., and the tail less than a centimeter.
The hind foot of the type of S. leptura is 20 mm.; its tail, perhaps stretched
in the mounted specimen, is 15 mm.
74 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
Fic. 4. Distribution Map. < :
Scaptochirus Scapanulus
1. S. moschatus moschatus 3. S. owent
2. S. moschatus gilliest
CRANIAL MEASUREMENTS OF SCAPTOCHIRUS
4 E
S < 3 s 5 8
gs a eel a
ee ant Meant Pras Wee ee
z Si oak ae OS aie OBS
S. moschatus moschatus
28.1.6.2 BM 34.2 29.6 14.5 14.7 18.0 10.8 14.3
28.1.6.3 BM 34.3,.29.3. 14.7 —— 17.8 10.7 14.3
28.1.6.4 BM 34.0 28.9 14.2 14.3 18.1 II.I 14.5
8.8.11.15 BM 33-2 —— 14.7 —— 17.4 10.5 14.4
16.1.1.4 BM 30.7 27.2 13.3 —— 17.2 10.1 13.0
61.6.2.4 BM 34.0 —— 14.9 —— 18.1 10:5 14.6
(type of T. leptura)
25883 MCz 35:7 30.9 15.3 —— 17.9 II.1 15.7
S. moschatus gilliest
10.3.13.I BM 30:2) 2514) 124133 161g" "O17 e12:5
Lower tooth row
Locality
13.6 Shantung
14.0 Shantung
13.5 Shantung
13.7 Hopei
—— Hopei
13.3 Hopei
14.4 Shantung
12.5 Shansi
THE INSECTIVORES 75
Nomenclature:—The first specimen of this mole to reach Europe was
one sent by Consul Swinhoe to the British Museum in 1860, from Peiping.
This, as Swinhoe mentions, was pronounced a new species by Gray, who gave
it the manuscript name (on the museum stand) Talpa chinensis. This, how-
ever, seems never to have been published, so that it remained for Milne-
Edwards to study and describe it as a new genus and species in 1867, on the
basis of a specimen sent by Pére David, probably, as Thomas suggests, from
Suanhwafu, about ninety miles northwest of Peiping. Later, in 1870, Swinhoe
in his account of Chinese mammals again mentions the species, but inad-
vertently called it’ Scaptochirus davidianus, a specific name which, curiously,
Milne-Edwards gave in 1884 to a mole from Syria. In 1881, Thomas having
removed the skull from the original specimen sent by Swinhoe, found that
the number of teeth agreed with Talpa instead of with Scaptochirus, and
therefore described the specimen from Peiping as Talpa leptura. He later
discovered, however, that the lack of the additional tooth characteristic of
the genus Scaptochirus was evidently an abnormality, for the teeth agreed
otherwise; nevertheless he assumed that the Peiping animal might be main-
tained as distinct on the basis of a longer tail, 15 mm. in the specimen as
mounted, but this seems highly improbable, and as the skulls are quite the
same, I am regarding T. Jeptura as a synonym of S. moschatus.
In 1898, Heude described as a new genus and species, Chiroscaptor sinensis,
a mole from Hopei which he believed differed from S. moschatus (inadvertently
written moschiferus!) in that the cusps of the lower molars projected much
more forward. An examination of his figure and description, however, leaves
no doubt that the differences he observed were due to the fact that he compared
the fresh, unworn dentition of his type with the much worn teeth of an older
individual.
Occurrence and Habits:—Specimens of this mole seem to be uncommon in
collections. In addition to the original specimen sent by David to Paris,
and assumed to have come from northwest of Peiping, the British Museum
has two from the neighborhood of the latter city, and another from Chihfeng,
200 miles to the north. Apparently its range extends farther to the north-
east, for A. B. Howell (1929) records a specimen in the U. S. National Museum
from Heisui, Manchuria. The only other locality yet reported is Weihsien
in Shantung.
Specimens examined:—Nine, as follows:
Hopei: Peiping, 2 (B.M., including type of Talpa leptura); Chihfeng, 1 (B.M.).
Shantung: Weihsien, 6 (A.M.N.H., M.C.Z., B.M.).
76 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
21. Scaptochirus moschatus gilliesi Thomas
Scaptochirus gilliesi Thomas, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. 8, vol. 5, p. 350, 1910.
Scaptochirus gillesei Sowerby, in Clark and Sowerby, Through Shén-Kan, p. 172, 1912 (Japsus calami).
Type specimen:—An adult, skin and skull, No. 10.3.13.1, British Museum,
from Hotsin, southwestern Shansi, China. Collected November, 1909, by
Robert Gillies.
Description:—Similar to the typical race of Hopei and Shantung, but
smaller, with smaller skull, although the tail and foot measurements are
nearly identical. The general color of the type may be a slight shade darker,
about ‘‘broccoli brown.”
The skull is markedly smaller with less narrowed middle region, smaller
and lighter teeth.
Measurements:—No measurements of total length are available, but
the tail is about 16 mm. long; hind foot with claws, 19.5; breadth of fore foot,
12.5. Cranial measurements of the type are given in the table under S.
moschatus.
Occurrence and Habits:—Moles referred to this slightly smaller race
have been taken at several localities in Shansi and Shensi. In addition to
the original specimen sent from Hotsin, southwestern Shansi, the American
Museum Asiatic Expeditions secured one at Maitaichao, some forty miles east
of Paotow; A. B: Howell (1929) records four in the U. S. National Museum
from twenty miles west of Ningwufu and a single one from Taiyuanfu, whence
also the Museum of Comparative Zodlogy has two specimens collected by
F. R. Wulsin; in northwestern Shansi, Sowerby (Clark and Sowerby, 1912,
p. 172) mentions its capture on the plains of Wuchai, a dry, sandy area. In
Shensi, Sowerby secured it at Yulinfu on the borders of the sandy Ordos Desert,
where it was rare and “‘unexpected.’’ He writes (Sowerby, 1914, p. 59) that
this mole ‘‘seems to have adapted itself to an existence under more or less
desert conditions, in which there certainly cannot be any abundance of worms.”
Possibly in the absence of these, it finds subsistence in the shape of beetle
larve, with the adults of which the same author found the desert swarming
at certain times of year. Of the two specimens from Taiyuanfu, one taken
August 10, 1921, is a young animal with the hair just beginning to grow out,
and so short that it hardly projects from the skin. The type specimen in the
British Museum is considerably smaller than those from about Peiping, yet
is quite adult, with basal suture wholly obliterated.
Specimens examined:—In all, four, as follows:
Shansi: Maitaichao, 1; Taiyuanfu, 2 (M.C.Z.); Hotsin, 1 (B.M., the type).
THE INSECTIVORES +
HINA SEA
POU ean HAI)
Fic. 5. Distribution Map.
Mogera
1. M. latouchet 2. M. hainana
Genus Mogera Pomel
Mogera Pomel, Arch. des Sci. Phys. et Nat., vol. 9, p. 247, 1848.
The moles of this genus are characterized by the loss of the lower canine
from the dentition, so that the total number of teeth present is one less on
each side than in Talpa, in which the full number typical of placental mammals,
namely 44, is found. The tooth formula is, therefore: 1.3 c.¢ pm.t m.3 =42.
The upper incisors form a slightly convex transverse row; the upper canine is
strong and broad, the upper premolars 1-3 are usually double-rooted. In
the lower jaw there is a space where the missing canine should be, while the
first premolar is large, double-rooted, and functions in place of the canine,
although its true homology is evident from the fact that it closes behind the
upper canine tooth. Externally the moles of this genus resemble Jalpa
in having the usual form and a short stout tail, well clothed with hair. The
range of the genus in general is complementary to that of Scaptochirus, for
whereas the latter is the mole of northern and northwestern China, the former
78 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
is found in the extreme eastern and southeastern part of the country. No
doubt there is a difference in soil preference or food, inducing the former to
seek the sandy dry areas of the loess formation, while the latter is more coastal,
and perhaps is partial to a different type of country. In China this genus
is at present known chiefly from the southern portion, extending westward to
Szechwan, and eastward through Formosa and the Japanese islands into
Korea and Manchuria, but apparently avoiding altogether the provinces of
North China. The type species is the Japanese Talpa (=Mogera) wogura
Temminck.
22. Mogera latouchei Thomas
LA TOUCHE’S MOLE
Mogera latouchei Thomas, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1907, p. 463.
Talpa sp., Swinhoe, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1870, p. 620.
Talpa wogura Thomas, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1898, p. 771 (not of Temminck).
Mogera mogera Shih, Bull. Dept. Biol., Sun Yatsen Univ., Canton, no. 4, p. 3, 1930.
Type specimen:—The type is a skin and skull, No. 98.8.17.1, British
Museum, from Kuatun, northwestern Fukien, China. J. D. La Touche, col-
lector, 1898.
Description:—A small mole, of a nearly uniform slate color, faintly washed
above with dark brown; below more smoky, the throat and upper chest paler,
dark gray. Backs of the hands and feet and the tail thinly clad with dull
whitish hairs, those on the tail longer. The tail is slightly longer than the
hind foot.
The skull is smaller as compared with that of the more northern forms,
and is specially characterized by having the first upper premolar single-rooted
and usually shorter than the second. .
Measurements:—The following measurements of the exterior were made
by the collector, Mr. Clifford H. Pope, of a series from Chunganhsien:
No. Head and body Tail Hind foot Sex
IIo 15 14.0 2)
84805 93 19 14.0 rol
84806 108 18 14.0 fos
84808 106 14 14.0 rot
84809 87 16 13.5 rou
84810 95 20 14.0 rot
84811 115 19 14.0
THE INSECTIVORES 79
CRANIAL MEASUREMENTS OF MOGERA
Upper Lower
Greatest Basal Palatal Greatest Across tooth tooth
No. length length length width molars TOW Tow Locality
M. latouchet
84805 29.0 25.0 12.0 14.0 vie) 12.0 11.5 Fukien
84809 27.7 24.0 11.5 13.0 7.0 11.5 11.0 Fukien
84811 28.5 24.0 11.7 13.5 6.8 11.6 — Fukien
84808 29.5 25.0 12.0 15.0 7.0 11.8 11.0 Fukien
96.8.17.1 BM 28.8 24.0 11.6 13.9 Tee 11.6 10.8 Fukien
M. hainana
10.4.25.4 BM 30.0 — 12.0 14.3 7.6 Lie7, DL Hainan
Occurrence and Habits:—The occurrence of a mole in southern China seems
first to have been recorded by Robert Swinhoe (1870c, p. 620), who secured
one from Foochow, Fukien. It was next obtained in the northwestern part
of the same province by J. D. La Touche and C. B. Rickett, who secured six
(four skins and two in alcohol) at Kuatun, where it was found to be ‘‘tolerably
common’”’ in the hill country. One of these specimens subsequently became
the type of this species. In addition, Cabrera (1922, p. 163) has recorded it
also from Foochow, and the American Museum of Natural Nistory has speci-
mens from Fuching and from Shaowu on the Min River in the same province,
as well as a series from Chunganhsien, northwestern Fukien, practically topo-
types, secured by Mr. Clifford H. Pope, who writes that it is common there
in the high mountains. At Kuatun, he says, the Chinese know it as ‘“‘fan pa
chang”’ (reversed palm) and ‘‘pu chien t’ien’’ (not see heaven, 7. e., blind).
Westward from Fukien, it is found sparingly, having been recorded from the
southwestern border of Hunan (Shih, 1930b, p. 2) and still farther south,
from the Yao Shan district of Kwangsi (Shih, 1930, p. 3); while the most west-
erly locality known is Tseogiakeo, Szechwan, south of Suifu, on the Yunnan
border, whence A. B. Howell (1929, p. 7) records a single specimen in the col-
lection of the U. S. National Museum. Concerning the last, Howell states
that it has a broader interpterygoid and smaller bulle than a specimen from
Kuatun, indicating that possibly the more western animal is slightly different,
although without a series for comparison, the value of these differences cannot
be determined. He adds further that in his specimen from Kuatun the first
upper premolar is a trifle longer than the second, instead of shorter; it is slender
and recurved.
Specimens examined:—Sixteen, including skins with or without skulls,
and a separate skull, namely:
Fukien: Fuchinghsien, 1 skull; Chunganhsien, 8; Shaowu, Min River, 4; Kuatun, 1 (B.M.,
the type); northwestern Fukien, 2.
80 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
23. Mogera hainana Thomas
THE HAINAN MOLE
Mogera hainana Thomas, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. 8, vol. 5, p. 535, 1910.
Mogera insularis hainana Kloss, Journ. Nat. Hist. Soc. Siam, Bangkok, vol. 6, p. 213, 1923.
Type specimen:—The type is an adult female, skin and skull, No. 10.4.25.4,
British Museum, from Mount Wuchih, Hainan, China, taken by Alan Owston’s
collector.
Description:—Larger and browner than M. latouchei, the general color
of the head and body above, nearly ‘mummy brown’’ of Ridgway, slightly
more smoky below, and paler grayish about the head above and below. In
the specimen at hand, the sides of the muzzle are white. Backs of the hands
and feet with scattered short whitish hairs; tail very short, shorter than hind
foot, and well covered with short hairs like the back in color. As usual in
moles, a silvery sheen appears in certain lights.
The size is intermediate between M. insularis of Formosa and M. latouchei,
both of which agree in having the anterior premolar of the upper jaw smaller
than the second and single-rooted, while M. hainana agrees with the more
northern members of the genus in having that tooth larger than the second
and double-rooted.
Measurements:—The following field measurements were made by Mr.
Clifford H. Pope:
No. Head and body Tail Hind foot Locality
59913 120 9 14 Hainan
59914 II5 14 17 Hainan
59915 122 10 II Hainan
59916 125 9 8 Hainan
59917 134 12 18 Hainan
For cranial measurements, see table under M. latouchei, page 79.
Occurrence and Habits:—The occurrence of a mole on the island of Hainan
was apparently unsuspected by Swinhoe, or by later collectors, until, in 1910,
Thomas obtained it from Mount Wuchih through Alan Owston’s collectors,
and named it Mogera hainana. By a curious chance, Kloss (1923), thirteen
years later, overlooking Thomas’s description, renamed the animal Mogera
insularis hainana, regarding it as a subspecies of the Formosan animal, M.
insularis. His specimen also came from Five-finger Mountain (Wuchih).
It is apparently local in its distribution and difficult to secure. Mr. Clifford
H. Pope tells me that he set traps in many places, and frequently found the
little ridges of earth pushed up by the animals, but succeeded in catching
only two, although four others were purchased from natives. His trapper
THE INSECTIVORES 81
averred that they burrow at a deeper level than the moles of North China
(Scaptochirus) with which he was familiar.
Specimens examined:—Seven, as follows:
Hainan: Nodoa, 1; Namfong, 5; Mount Wuchih, 1 (B.M., the type.)
Genus Scapanulus Thomas
Scapanulus Thomas, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. 8, vol. 10, p. 396, 1912.
The special interest of this genus of moles is that it represents in eastern
Asia the group to which the moles of North America belong (except of course,
the star-nosed mole), namely, the subfamily Scalopodine (“‘Scalopine’’),
in which the incisors become enlarged and the canine of the upper jaw reduced,
so that the anterior teeth of the jaw bear the brunt of its forceps-like action.
Exteriorly the form is mole-like, but the hands, though more expanded than
in Scaptonyx, are not quite so wide proportionally as in Talpa, etc., while the
claws, though long and flattened, are rather slender. The first digit of the
hind foot, as first noticed by Thomas, is set outward at a slight angle to the
remaining toes, and its claw is stouter and more sharply curved than the others,
which are long, slender, and nearly straight. The tail is relatively long, about
twice the length of the hind foot, stout and thickly haired. The snout is taper-
ing, fairly long, and grooved on its lower side in the middle.
In the skull, the pterygoids are better developed than in Scapanus, and the
tympanic bone is incomplete. The interparietal is broad, and less tapering
forward than in Urotrichus. The tooth formula includes nine teeth above and
nine below on each side, a number present elsewhere only in Neurotrichus, as
follows: 1.3 c.t pm.$ m.3=36. Thomas is confident that it is the third incisor
in each jaw and probably the second premolar that are lacking. The lower
incisors are proclivous and both abut against the large upper first incisor.
Thomas states that the second upper incisor and the first upper premolar
are subequal and smaller than the canine that stands spaced between them.
In our specimen, however, the second incisor is nearly as large as the canine,
and the first premolar is slightly the smallest of all. The third premolar is
as high as the canine but more broadly triangular in side view. The upper
canine and the two small premolars are all double-rooted. The fourth upper
premolar is largest, with a distinct posterior shoulder, but our specimen does
not show an internal cusp as did that of the type. The internal ledge-like
protocone of the upper molars is faintly three-lobed.
The type and only known species of the genus is Scapanulus oweni
Thomas.
24. Scapanulus oweni Thomas
Scapanulus oweni Thomas, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. 8, vol. 10, p. 396, 1912.
Type specimen:—A male, skin and skull, No. 12.8.5.2, British Museum,
82 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
from southeast of Taochow, Kansu, China. Collected October 31, 1911, by
G. Fenwick Owen.
Description:—General color above and below drab gray, with a silvery
appearance in certain lights, very similar to the color of Blarina. On close
inspection it is seen that the individual hairs are slaty with a minute tip of
brown. Area at base of snout slightly paler. Backs of hands and feet thinly
haired, their central area colored like the back, the fingers whitish. The
stout club-shaped tail is all of twice the length of the hind foot with claw, and
so thickly clothed with rather long hairs as to hide the scales; its tip and
lower side are slightly paler than the rest, which is colored like the back.
The peculiarities of the skull and teeth have been noted in the generic
description.
Measurements:—Thomas published the following dimensions of the type,
taken in the flesh: head and body, 108 mm. ; tail, 38; hind foot, 14. A specimen
in the Museum of Comparative Zodlogy measured: total length, 136 mm.;
tail, 38.
SKULL MEASUREMENTS
Zygo- Breadth Breadth Upper Lower
Greatest Basal Palatal matic ofbrain across tooth tooth
No. length length length breadth case molars row TOW Locality
BM (type) Phe ee Ayes LG | 9.6 13.0 8.0 12.3 11.5 Kansu
23915 MCZ 2710) 20-5) el 2rI 10.0 13.2 8.0 11.7 11.0 Kansu
Occurrence and Habits:—As already noted, this mole is an Asiatic repre-
sentative of the subfamily to which the American moles (except Condylura)
belong, in which the anterior incisors are enlarged and the canine reduced.
It much resembles Scapanus or Parascalops externally, but is smaller with a
longer, well-haired tail. The curious distortion of the first hind toe and its
peculiar curved nail were mentioned by Thomas in his original description and
are evident in our specimen too. The discovery of this remarkable mole in
northwestern China is another of the notable finds in recent years, linking the
fauna of eastern Asia with that of America.
Apparently this is a forest-living mole, for G. Fenwick Owen, who collected
the two specimens originally recorded, states that they were taken in mossy
undergrowth in fir forest. In addition to these, from twenty-three and forty-
six miles respectively, southeast of Taochow, in Kansu, only a few other speci-
mens are known, as follows: one from Archuen, Min Shan, in the U. S. National
Museum (A. B. Howell, 1929, p. 8), and a second from Choni, in the Museum
of Comparative Zodlogy, both localities in southeastern Kansu; a third in the
THE INSECTIVORES 83
American Museum of Natural History, collected by Dr. R. C. Andrews, at
Taipai Shan, Tsingling Mountains, Shensi, the last extending the known range
slightly to the eastward; and a fourth taken in northwestern Szechwan, at
Hoangshuikwan, north of Sungpan, July 16, 1931, by the Brooke Dolan
Expedition, and now in the collection of the Museum of Comparative Zodlogy.
Specimens examined:—Four, as follows:
Shensi: Taipai Shan, Tsingling Mountains, 1.
Kansu: Choni, 1 (M.C.Z.); southeast of Taochow, 1 (B.M., the type).
Szechwan: Hoangshuikwan, 1 (M.C.Z.).
Family SORICIDA
SHREWS
While both the Talpidez and the Soricide are believed to have originated
from some common stock, the former have retained the zygomatic arch of the
skull and to a large extent an unspecialized dentition, although in some of its
members the anterior incisors are slightly enlarged and the canines correspond-
ingly reduced. The genus Uropsilus, as the most primitive of living talpids,
indicates in general what this common stock may have been like.
The Soricide, instead of developing modifications for digging, have
retained the lightly built, slender body and limbs, with unenlarged feet and
claws, a long tapering head and snout, and a low but evident externalear. -The
skull is especially characterized by the loss of the zygomatic arches, and the
great enlargement of the first incisor of both jaws, together with reduction
of the canine, producing a forceps-like modification, foreshadowed in the den-
tition of Uropsilus. The tympanic is a delicate ring of bone, unsolidified
to the skull, in contrast to the bulla-like structure in the Talpide. A cloaca
is frequently present, again a primitive character.
Two subfamilies are recognized: one, the typical Soricine, in which the
teeth are red-tipped; the other, the Crocidurine, in which the teeth are white.
The former is mainly of northern distribution and occurs throughout most of
the holarctic region; the latter is confined to the eastern hemisphere and is
most abundantly represented in tropical and subtropical areas. In both
subfamilies, as parallel modifications, aquatic members have been developed
as well as semifossorial forms with reduced tails. In China and Mongolia,
the Soricine are found throughout the more northern wooded area, southward
at higher levels in the western highlands, while the Crocidurine are abundant
in the southern parts of the area, even at high altitudes, but are few in number
of species in northern China and Mongolia.
84 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
Key TO THE GENERA OF CHINESE AND MONGOLIAN SORICIDZ
A. Teeth with their cusps pigmented dark chestnut............... Subfamily Soricinz
a. Tail about as long as head and body or less; upper unicuspids
five; large lower incisor with three crenulations on its cutting
edge.
a’. Form slender, ears obvious, claws delicate, tail about half
the length of head and body or longer.................. Sorex
b’. Form stouter, ears not evident, claws slightly lengthened,
tail about half the length of head and body............. Blarinella
b. Tail long, about equaling or exceeding head and body; upper
unicuspids less than five; large lower incisor with a single prom-
inent denticle on its cutting edge.
EMaal Ohojoleraibuab ely oy enoaad saa GoM O MOONS na os non Ac Soriculus .
ib AiUppenitinicuspids:s) poe ae ret ere ata elses ycinacye hoon token talents Chodsigoa
B. Teeth white, their cusps unpigmented......................-- Subfamily Crocidurine
a. Tail at least half as long as head and body.
a’. Ears prominent, projecting well above fur; tail with longer
scattered bristles, especially on its basal half.
a) Se Uppentinictispidsy4s cess cect | tee alae a eioree Suncus
bY.) Upperiainicuspidsts i Mee) Hd, Pe SR Crocidura
b’. Ears reduced, not projecting; aquatic, with fringes of short
stiff hairs on sides of feet and toes.
a’’, Feet not webbed, tail cylindrical................... Chimarrogale
b”’. Feet webbed to base of third joint; tail with vertical
andMlateralicrestss ek sites: notekt tere. eke tees RUN Nectogale
b. Tail very short, not exceeding hind foot in length; ears much
reduced; upper unicuspids 2 only..................0e cece Anourosorex
In addition to these genera it can hardly be doubted that the genus
Neomys, an aquatic group of the Soricine, will eventually be found in the
northern part of Mongolia, for it occurs over much of continental Europe and
the British Isles, eastward into northern Asia, and has recently been recorded
from the shores of Lake Baikal, at no very great distance to the north of the
Mongolian border (Ognev, Annuaire Mus. Zool. Acad. Sci. de Russie for 1917-
21, vol. 22, p. 346, 1921).
Genus Sorex Linnzus
Sorex Linnzus, Syst. Nat., ed. 10, vol. 1, p. 53, 1758.
The members of this genus include some of the smallest living mammals.
The limbs and feet are delicately formed, all four feet with five toes well
developed, the first shorter, and all provided with sharp compressed claws.
The snout is elongate and tapering, the vibrissz long, and the tail slender and
thinly haired, about as long as the body.
The skull is low and broad, of delicate structure, the brain case relatively
large, the rostrum pointed and narrow. The first upper incisor is much en-
THE INSECTIVORES 85
larged with two cusps one behind the other, the posterior cusp equaling in side
view the two succeeding unicuspid conical incisors; the canine resembles these
incisors in shape but is smaller, and is followed by two small premolars of which
the second is much smaller than the first, and stands in the angle between the
first and the much larger third premolar (p‘), which is somewhat molariform
with a well-developed antero-internal cusp. The molars exhibit the primitive
structure, with a well-marked W-pattern formed by the two outer cusps
(paracone and metacone) and their commissures, and a large inner cusp (proto-
cone) with a postero-internal ledge (hypocone) produced distinctly backward.
In the lower jaw the first incisor is also enlarged, long and scalpriform, with
its long axis in the direction of the tooth row and its upper cutting edge pro-
vided with three serrations; it is followed by two smaller teeth, triangular in
side view, which are interpreted as a canine anda premolar. The lower molars
are three in number, so that the tooth formula is: i.¢ c.+ pm.{ m.3 = 32.
This genus is of holarctic distribution in forested areas of the northern
parts of Asia, Europe and North America. Several species occur in China
and the wooded parts of Mongolia. In general they are of a nearly uniform
brownish color above, paler below; one group, however, has a narrow black
median stripe. Type species, Sorex araneus Linneus.
Key TO THE CHINESE AND MONGOLIAN SPECIES OF Sorex
A. Back a uniform shade of brown without black median stripe.
a. Larger, hind foot with claws 13-14 mm.
a’. Lower surfaces whitish-tipped.
EES Alpail eilovrths ZK) yaobsabee en Gone Agate ec Be ot OO OOe Sorex araneus borealis
bYaiDanltaboutisopmmycsecveicee ante Hecate dee S. excelsus
b’. Lower surfaces distinctly brownish................ S. sinalis
b. Smaller, hind foot with claws 12 mm. or less. .
a’. Skull length about 18 mm.
Aa OTLOWIEL fee pc mey earn sie hee cre isiegeeoeliis S. buxtont buxtont
Bivegs GIVE ayer eitra trc cree ey ete Pra ccererrs cee eer S. buxtoni cansulus
baskulllensthaboutersimimere so: 422 222+ ss ese ee S. minutus thibetanus
B. Back with a blackish median stripe.
a. Dark brown above.
a’. Larger, skull length 17.5-18.0 mm................- S. cylindricauda cylindricauda
Dawsmeallen skullllength 166mm 4-0 4.0 eee ele S. cylindricauda gomphus
by ealer: oravish: brown aboves o.css.csc sc «
= a ks: — a — Shensi
C. smith parca
44443 20.5 17.5 8.7 8.8 5.5 8.5 7.8 Yunnan
Genus Blarinella Thomas
Blarinella Thomas, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1911, p. 166.
Sorex Milne-Edwards, Recherches pour servir A l'Hist. Nat. des Mammifeéres, p. 261, pl. 38A, fig. 2; pl. 38B,
fig. 2, 1868-74 (in part).
A soricid somewhat modified for burrowing, through the great reduction
of the external ear, moderate development of the claws of the fore feet, and
the shortening of the tail to about one half of the head-and-body length.
The skull is small and rather delicate, tapering in form, without the sudden
narrowing of the rostrum seen in Chodsigoa or the heavy angular brain case of
Blarina. The teeth are rather similar to those of Sorex, except that the
canine (third upper unicuspid) is proportionally much smaller, while the first
premolar (fourth upper unicuspid) is exceedingly small and the second about
equal to it but so wedged in the angle behind the large posteriormost premolar
as to be quite invisible from the outside. The large anterior incisors are like ©
those of Sorex and differ from those of Blarina in having the posterior cusp
well set off from the main cusp instead of being obsolete; the anterior lower
incisor has three supplementary cusplets on its upper cutting edge as in
Sorex, instead of the single low hump in the middle of the edge as in Blarina.
The upper molars again are much like those of Sorex in having the hypocone
low and ledge-like, produced behind so that the posterior edge of the two
THE INSECTIVORES 113
anterior molars is excavated, whereas in Blarina the hypocone is large, about
as well developed as the protocone, and broadened so that the posterior border
is practically a straight line, and the outline of the crown is nearly square.
The tips of the teeth are lightly pigmented. The tooth formula is the same
as in Sorex, namely: i.¢ c.t pm.¢ m.3 =32.
Fic. 8. Distribution Map.
Blarinella ‘
1. B. quadraticauda quadraticauda 3. B. quadraticauda wardi
2. B. quadraticauda griselda ;
114 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
A peculiarity, first noted by Thomas (1915d), and apparently character-
istic of this genus, is the reticulated character of the bony wall of the mesop-
terygoid fossa, visible with a lens.
Notwithstanding Thomas’s statement (1911d, p. 166) that this genus is
‘more allied to the N. American Blarina than to any of the Old World genera
of shrews’ and that it affords a parallel case to that of the jumping mice,
Zapus, representing this group in the two continents, a careful examination of
the teeth induces me to take the opposite view and to regard Blarinella as much
more closely related to Sorex than to the American Blarina. In its anterior
upper incisors with their large posterior cusp, in the structure of the upper
molars with low hypocones, produced backward to form a crescentic hind
margin, and in the presence of three cusplets on the cutting edge of the first
lower incisor, Blarinella much resembles Sorex, and equally differs from
Blarina, which is much more modified, not only in its external form, heavier
build, shorter tail, more reduced ears, but also in its heavier, more angular
skull, the anterior incisors with the supplementary cusps obsolete, the less-
reduced first premolar, and in the greater development of the protocone and
hypocone of the two anterior upper molars so as to form a nearly square tooth.
On these grounds I should think of Blarinella as being a Sorex-like type, with
the beginnings of fossorial modifications in its exterior form, and with the re-
duction of the tooth row accomplished by the lessened size of the upper canine
and the premolar following. The next stage in this method of reduction is
exemplified by Soriculus in which the first premolar is lost. Blarinella is
probably not closely related to any of the American genera of shrews, but a
close parallel is perhaps to be found with the American genus Cryptotis, in
which the minute first premolar is absent.
The type and only species of the genus is that described first by Milne-
Edwards as Sorex quadraticauda. Two subspecies, fairly well marked, are here
recognized.
Key To CuINnEsE Races oF Blarinella
A. Three upper unicuspids visible in side view.
a. Darker, second unicuspid about equaling the first in
Sides Views... irda cis Se Ae tee eters © Meee tate tee B. quadraticauda quadraticauda
b. Grayer, second unicuspid intermediate in size between
the firstiand “third Wi titers cm oa cece pines al koe inves B. quadraticauda griselda
B. Four upper unicuspids visible in side view............... B. quadraticauda wardi
44. Blarinella quadraticauda quadraticauda (Milne-Edwards)
Sorex quadraticauda Milne-Edwards, Recherches pour servir a 1’Hist. Nat. des Mammiféres, p. 261, pl. 38A,
figs. 2-2d; ple 38B, fig. 2, 1868-74.
Soriculus quadraticauda Dobson, Monogr. Insectivora, pt. 3, pl. 28, figs. 4, 4a, and explanation, 1890.
Blarinella quadraticauda Thomas, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1911, p. 166.
THE INSECTIVORES 115
Type specimen:—The type specimen was secured by Pére Armand David
on his expedition into Muping, western China, in 1870, and is still preserved in
the Muséum d’Histoire Naturelle at Paris.
Description:—A rather stout-bodied shrew, with external ears extremely
short, and a slender tail about half as long as the combined head and body.
General color of body above brownish gray, with a silvery reflection in certain
lights; below, a clearer gray with a faint suffusion of yellowish brown. Tail
with very short hairs, dark brown above, pale below. Backs of hands and
feet pale brownish.
The skull is slender and delicate, but heavier than that of a Sorex, and
with a blunter and less slender rostrum. The characters of the teeth have been
sufficiently described under the account of the genus, but in this, the typical
form, as Thomas (1911d, p. 167) points out, the first two upper unicuspids are
large and subequal, the third is about half their size, in side view, its hinder
edge about level with the front edge of the large premolar (p‘), while the
fourth is minute, and of about the size of the fifth, both of them crowded in
behind the large premolar, and with their crowns compressed in the axis of the
tooth row, so that in profile only three unicuspids are to be seen.
In his original description, Milne-Edwards describes and figures only four
unicuspids in the upper jaw, but Thomas (1911d, p. 167), after a reéxamination
of the type specimen, shows that it “‘presents the intermediate condition of
having on the right side only four unicuspids, the fifth minute one being
missing . . . while on the left this tooth is present.”” Of four other specimens
in the British Museum, three have the five unicuspids present on both sides,
but the fourth lacks the minute fifth tooth on both sides.
Measurements:—According to Milne-Edwards, the type specimen meas-
ured: total length, 103 mm.; tail, 4o.
Cranial measurements of the typical race are not available, but probably
differ little if any from those of the two races following.
Occurrence and Habits:—So far as at present known, this form of Blarinella
occurs only in central and eastern Szechwan, China. In addition to the orig-
inal specimen secured in the principality of Muping, Thomas (1911d) has re-
ported the capture of four at Omei Shan, to the south, at an altitude of 9,500
feet, and (1912e, p. 134) another from southeastern Szechwan, near Nanchwan,
at only 4,000 feet. Nothing is recorded of its habits, but presumably it is, like
its American counterpart, to some extent a burrower, tunneling in light soil
and leaf mould.
Specimens examined:—None.
116 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
45. Blarinella quadraticauda griselda Thomas
Blarinella griselda Thomas, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. 8, vol. 10, p. 400, 1912.
Type specimen:—A female, skin and skull, No. 12.8.5.23, British Museum,
from forty-two miles southeast of Taochow, Kansu, China, at 10,000 feet
altitude. Collected September 17, 1911, by Dr. J. A. C. Smith.
Description:—Smaller, grayer and shorter-tailed than typical B. quad-
raticauda. General color above, mouse gray; rather paler and more drabby
below. Hands, feet and tail dull grayish instead of brown.
Skull slightly smaller than in B. quadraticauda. Second upper unicuspid
intermediate in size between the first and the third, instead of nearly equaling
the first in side view.
Measurements:—The type, as measured by the collector, shows the follow-
ing: head and body, 68 mm.; tail, 33; hind foot, 11.
The skull measured: condylo-incisive length, 20 mm.; condylobasal length,
18.6; greatest breadth, 9.4; upper tooth row, 8.6; front of p‘ to back of m%, 4.5.
The above account of the type specimen is from the description of Thomas.
The characters claimed may be individual or otherwise within the limits of
variation of the typical form, but, since slightly differentiated races of other
species seem to take origin under the somewhat different environmental con-
ditions of Kansu, it may well be that this specimen represents a northern race.
Occurrence and Habits:—It was captured ‘‘on a mossy bank, in birch-
wood.” I have referred to this a second specimen in the American Museum of
Natural History, from Kansu, without more exact locality.
Specimens examined:—One, from ‘‘Kansu.”’
46. Blarinella quadraticauda wardi Thomas
Blarinella wardi Thomas, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. 8, vol. 15, p. 336, I915.
Type specimen:—A male, skin and skull, No. 15.2.1.3, British Museum,
from Hpimaw, Upper Burma, north latitude 26°, east longitude 98° 35’.
Collected August 10, 1914, by F. Kingdon Ward.
Description:—Color dark smoky gray above, very slightly paler below
with a faint wash of drab across the chest; tail slightly shorter than in typical
B. quadraticauda, bicolor, dark gray above, pale below. Backs of hands and
feet pale brownish.
In the type the skull is said to be shorter than that of the typical form,
and of less breadth, while the first and second unicuspids of the upper jaw are
considerably smaller. In his account of B. quadraticauda, Thomas (1911d,
p. 167) confirms what appears in Milne-Edwards’s figure, that in side view
only three of the five unicuspids are visible; but in B. g. wardi, as represented
by Yunnan specimens, four are visible.
THE INSECTIVORES 117
Measurements:—The following measurements are from fresh specimens,
made in the field:
No. Head and body Tail Hind foot Ear Locality
BM (type) 70 35 II.0 4 Burma
44377 66 34 11.5 _— Yunnan
44394 65 36 12.0 — Yunnan
44.400 62 37 12.0 _ Yunnan
44407 70 33 12.0 — Yunnan
CRANIAL MEASUREMENTS OF BLARINELLA QUADRATICAUDA WARDI
Breadth Upper Lower
Greatest Basal Palatal Greatest across tooth tooth
No. length length length breadth molars TOW TOW Locality
BM (type) 19.3 18.0 — 8.5 — 8.4 Gy | Upper Burma
44377 19.8 18.0 8.7 8.5 5.1 8.6 7h Yunnan
44394 18.8 17.0 8.0 8.5 5.3 8.5 7.5 Yunnan
44400 19.3 17.3 8.7 9.0 5.2 8.5 Yi Yunnan
44407 , 19.0 17.5 8.4 8.5 4.8 8.2 7-4. Yunnan
Occurrence and Habits:—This race, which differs from the typical form of
Muping chiefly in having the tooth row less compressed, so that four instead
of three unicuspids are visible in side view, was first discovered just across the
border of western China, at Hpimaw, Upper Burma, at about 26° north,
98° 35’ east, at an altitude of 8,000 feet, so far as known the westernmost limit
for this genus. Thomas (1922b, p. 394) later recorded a second specimen from
Burma, just across the border of China on the Kiukiang-Salween divide, and
at the same time the first Yunnan specimen, from the Mekong-Salween divide,
28° north, at 14,500 feet, both secured by George Forrest in the course of his
exploration of southwestern Yunnan. The supposition that the tail in this
race is slightly longer than in the typical form does not seem to be borne out
by his statement that it measures 35 mm. in length, for Milne-Edwards states
that the tail of typical cylindricauda is 40 mm. During the course of their
work in western Yunnan, Dr. R. C. Andrews and Edmund Heller secured a
series of twenty-five specimens, from various localities between Peitai, thirty
miles south of Chungtien (10,000 feet), and the Likiang Range, as well as at
Hsiaokela (8,000 feet) on the Mekong River, and again at Mucheng, Salween
drainage, at only 7,000 feet. Evidently it is not uncommon in proper localities
at high altitudes. Curiously enough, all but two of the twenty-five specimens
taken were males. The collector’s note on the label of one of these states that
it was found dead with a beetle in its jaws. Osgood (1932) records a specimen
from Nguluko, near Likiang.
Specimens examined:—In all, twenty-five, from the following places:
Yunnan: Peitai, thirty miles south of Chungtien (10,000 feet), 3; Tomulang, Chungtien
district (10,000 feet), 1; Hapa, twenty miles south of Taku (10,000 feet), 3; Yinpankai
(9,000 feet), 1; Homushu Pass (8,000 feet), 2; Likiang (10,000-12,000 feet), 7; Hsiao-
kela, Mekong River (8,000 feet), 4; Mucheng, Salween drainage (7,000 feet), 4.
118 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
Genus Suncus Hemprich and Ehrenberg
Suncus Hemprich and Ehrenberg, Symbol Physice, 1832, dec. 2,k. Type, Suncus Sacer = Sorex crassicaudus
Lichtenstein.
Sorex in part of authors; Crocidura in part.
Pachyura De Selys-Longchamps, Etudes de Micromammalogie, 1839, p. 32, as a subgenus of Crocidura. Type,
Sorex etruscus Savi.
It has been shown by Cabrera (Journ. Mammalogy, vol. 5, p. 131, 1924)
that the generic term Pachyura, long in use first as a subgenus and lately as a
genus for the white-toothed shrews having thirty teeth, is after all antedated
by Suncus, for which the genotype is specifically stated to be the species
described by Lichtenstein as Sorex crassicaudus. This genus externally re-
sembles Crocidura in its shrew-like form, prominent ears, and tapering tail
with scattered projecting bristle-like hairs. It may be thought of as repre-
senting a less progressive stage in the specialization of the dentition, so that
it retains a minute premolar in addition to the large premolar of the upper jaw,
making four unicuspids in the upper series. The dental formula is, therefore,
one more than in Crocidura, namely: 1.4 c.t pm.i m.3 = 30.
The teeth are white, unpigmented, instead of having the tips chestnut as
in the Soricinz. In general the first upper incisor is large and hook-like, with
the posterior cusp not very well marked. The large lower incisor has its
upper, cutting edge nearly straight but with a long, low crenulation marking a
poorly developed cusp.
The genus is tropical and subtropical in its distribution, in Africa, the
Mediterranean region and southern Asia. But a single species, the widely
distributed house shrew, occurs in China, and even there is probably in part
an introduction.
' 47. Suncus murinus (Linnzus)
? Sorex murinus Linnzus, Syst. Nat., ed. 12, vol. 1, p. 74,1766. Java. Swinhoe, Zoologist, vol. 16, p. 6224,
1858; Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1870, p. 620.
Sorex myosurus Pallas, Acta Acad. Sci. Imp. Petropol., for 1781, pt. 2, p. 337, 1785. Swinhoe, Proc. Zool. Soc.
London, 1870, p. 231.
Sorex swinhoei Bly’h, Journ. Asiatic Soc. Bengal, vol. 28, p. 285, 1859; ibid., vol. 29, p. 89, 1860. Mell, Arch. f.
Naturgesch., vol. 88, sect. A, no. 10, p. 15, 1922.
Crocidura microtis Peters, Monatsb. Kon. Preuss. Akad. Wiss., Berlin, 1870, p. 589.
Crocidura (Pachyura) murina J. A. Allen, Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., vol. 22, p. 481, 1906.
Suncus myosurus A. B. Howell, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., vol. 75, art. I, p. 9, 1929.
Type specimen:—It is not known if the type specimen is still in existence.
Indeed, the applicability of the specific name itself is stillin doubt. Linnzeus’s
name, Sorex murinus, has long been tacitly supposed to refer to the common
musk shrew of southeastern Asia, but the description itself is perhaps inde-
terminable, as pointed out by Dr. J. A. Allen (1906, p. 481), beyond the fact
THE INSECTIVORES 119
that it refers to a shrew of an ashy color, the size of a house mouse, with the
tail slightly shorter than the body, and came from Java. It is true that several
species of the genus Crocidura are known from Java, but the present is a
common species there, and the one most likely to be first brought to the atten-
tion of European naturalists. Moreover, the brief description applies to it
well enough. In a recent collection received from the island, it is the only
shrew represented, and that by a series of several specimens. It may then
be as well to continue following traditional usage, as Dr. Allen himself did, and
as is done in a number of cases where Linnzus’s description taken by itself
might readily be admitted to be indeterminable. Otherwise, the name Sorex
myosurus Pallas may be used as A. B. Howell (1929) has done. Probably
Peters’s Crocidura microtis refers to the same species. His specimen came
from Hongkong, China, and on account of its size, given as length, 120 mm.,
tail, 35, may have been youngish, for its foot measurement, 18 mm., and that
of the upper tooth row, 13 mm., accord very closely with those of the species
here called Suncus murinus.
Description:—General color above, including the backs of the hands and
feet, and the tail all around, a brownish gray, slightly grayer on the lower
surface of the body. The ears are prominent, and nearly naked; the vibrissz
are abundant but not longer than the head, and the tail as usual in this genus
and in Crocidura, has a number of long bristle-like hairs standing out here and
there from the shorter hairs that clothe the tail. There is a prominent gland
in the middle of each side, marked by a small area of appressed hairs.
The skull is strong and heavy, with prominent low sagittal crest and
sharper, higher lambdoid crests; the anterior end of the brain case projects
squarely out, forming nearly a right angle. In side view the large anterior
upper incisor has a strong, nearly vertical hook-like main cusp with a well-
developed posterior cusp. Following it are four unicuspids, of which the first
is largest, then come two of equal size and only about one half as big as the first,
while the fourth is much smaller, about a third as big as the two in front of it,
and just visible between the third and the large premolar. The two anterior
upper molars have the W-pattern well evident, their posterior border slightly
excavate. The last upper molar is relatively small, about a third the crown
area of the second, with the protocone, paracone and metacone present and
three instead of four commissures.
Measurements:—The following measurements are from fresh specimens
taken in the field by the collector. The largest specimens seem to be old males
which may attain much larger external dimensions than are shown by the
females, though the cranial differences are less marked.
120 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
No. Head and body Tail Hind foot Ear Sex Locality
84784 128 78 14.0 21 rot Fukien
84786 134 71 14.0 21 fos Fukien
84787 130 65 14.0 21 rot Fukien
84789 145 77 14.0 24 ro Fukien
60246 148 77 12.0 20 of Fukien
84778 II5 ao 12.0 21 Q Fukien
84785 116 65 13.0 19 9 Fukien
84781 113 72 14.0 20 fe) Fukien
84790 124 72 14.0 20 9 Fukien
84791 130 70 13.5 19 9 Fukien
CRANIAL MEASUREMENTS OF SUNCUS MURINUS
Greatest
width Width Upper Lower
Greatest Basal Palatal of brain across tooth tooth
No. length length length case molars TOW TOW Sex Locality
84779 31.0 28.6 15.0 13.0 10.0 13.7 12.6 roi Fukien
84786 32.0 29.4 15.0 13.3 9.8 —— 12.0 fou Fukien
84787 32.0 30.0 15.0 13.2 9.2 13.2 12:3 rot Fukien
84788 30.5 28.2 14.5 12.0 10.0 13.5 12.0 fof Fukien
84789 34.0 31.5 16.0 14.0 10.0 14.4 13.0 fot Fukien
84778 cues 29.0 15.0 12.3 9.5 1365 12.8 9 Fukien
84780 31.0 28.2 15.0 12.0 9.5 13.7 12.5 Q Fukien
84781 31.5 29.0 15.2 12.7 10.0 14.0 12.8 2 Fukien
84783 32.0 29.5 15.0 12.0 9.8 13.6 12.5 9 Fukien
84790 31.0 29.0 14.8 12.7 9.4 13.5 12.3 °) Fukien
Occurrence and Habits:—So far as available records go, this large shrew is
found in the larger towns of South China, coastwise as far north as Fukien,
at least. Swinhoe (1870c, p. 620) speaks of it as common in the vicinity of
Amoy and other larger towns of southern China, as well as on Hainan where it
was abundant in the capital city, and Dr. J. A. Allen (1906, p. 481) also records
it there. It is present on Formosa as well as in Japan, but I have no record of
its presence on the mainland north of Futsing. Howell (1929) mentions
specimens in the U. S. National Museum from the following localities: Fukien
Province, Foochow, Futsing, seventy miles southwest of Yenping, and Kulingsu
Island near Amoy. Mell (1922) found it abundant about Canton in Kwang-
tung Province, and expresses his doubt of its occurrence on Hainan. This
doubt is, however, at once dispelled by J. A. Allen’s record (1909, p. 242) of two
specimens from Tingan and Notai on that island. The collectors of the
American Museum Asiatic Expeditions secured it at the following localities in
Fukien: Foochow, Futsing, Sashin, Yenping, Yuki.
Swinhoe and other authors mention its strong musky odor, which persists
even on old dried skins. Swinhoe says that about Amoy it is called ‘‘chi-chi6”
or Money Rat because of the peculiar chatter it keeps up as it runs about, a
THE INSECTIVORES 12I
noise somewhat like that of jingling cash. Notwithstanding that it is doubt-
less carried about by junks in the cargo and so has opportunity for occasional
colonization, there seems to be little evidence that it has spread much, and
is apparently confined to the warmer coast region of South China. Mell
(1922) has given an excellent short account of its habits as observed about
Canton. He says it is found in the plains, villages and cities of the entire
Kwangtung Province, and is the commonest mammal in field and city about
Canton; at least it is seen and heard oftener than rats on account of its sharp
chirrup constantly given asit runs about. It is especially abundant in swamp
or pond areas where dikes are not broken and offer an abundance of holes. It
comes freely into the houses, even in the middle of the city of Canton, but is
generally absent from woods and thickets. It is a voracious destroyer of
ground insects. A captive one that Mell kept for a time ate at a sitting seven-
teen caterpillars of Theretra nessus, weighing in all 153 grams. It cannot or
does not climb, but will jump as high as twenty centimeters. It will bite
sharply if cornered, and is sometimes killed by cats, but they will not eat it
because of its disagreeable odor, which Pocock has supposed to be in a measure
protective, or at least warning. Mell supposes it may breed twice in the
course of a year, for he twice found nest young, of four in a litter. In Fukien,
Mr. Clifford H. Pope assures me that these shrews seem to show no caution,
but will walk blindly into a trap day or night, even though the blood of a
previous victim be still on it. He found it common about the farm houses.
Specimens examined:—In all, thirty-three, as follows:
Fukien: Futsing, 17; Foochow, 2; Sashin, 5; Yenping, 8; Yuki, 1.
Genus Crocidura Wagler
Crocidura Wagler, Oken’s Isis, 1832, p. 275.
This genus is externally quite like Suncus, with shrew-like form, a stout,
tapering tail, with scattered bristle hairs along its entire length, prominent
ears and rather short vibrisse. It is chiefly distinguished by the further
reduction of the dentition through the loss of the minute fourth upper unicuspid
and the closure of the space between the third unicuspid and the large pre-
molar, giving the following dental formula (as interpreted by Miller):
it C.t pm-t m2 = 28.
The genus is largely tropical and subtropical, but a few species extend into
temperate Europe and Asia. The type species is C. leucodon Hermann of
central Europe.
Key To CHINESE AND MONGOLIAN SPECIES oF Crocidura
A. Larger, skull length 20 mm. or more, hind foot 14 or over.
a. Skull length 20-21 mm., hind foot about 14, no white tip to tail C. attenuata
122 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
b. Skull length 22-24 mm., hind foot about 15-19, tail with a small
VUASHhe oF o Ee Oe PR Se Nei ees A PRM E Ot nes SA sdoe se C. dracula
ala Warcer -sieullMenotiees-o4 mm, ta. nage hier ae C. dracula dracula
bi. omatlersskulllencth 206mm oe eos ee oe Bae C. dracula grisescens
B. Smaller, skull length less than 20 mm., hind foot 12-13 mm.
a. Smaller, color brownish, skull length about 17 mm............ C. tilensts
a’. Hind feet whitish.
a’é) Colorationsvenyipallidils.siaes faerie: 1 2et- cee: C. ilensis lar
bY. i Coloration dulliibrownish.ft-. geet eee fe eee C. ilensis shantungensis
bp) Hind feet idariey{ a sia. Pa tieed seach. creyohiete « hoen ee eel. C. ilensis pheopus
b. Larger, color gray, skull length about 19 mm.
a’. Tail about 50 mm., skull length 19, paler................ C. vorax
b’. Tail about 42 mm., skull length 18, darker............... C. rapax
48. Crocidura attenuata Milne-Edwards
COMMON GRAY SHREW
Crocidura attenuata Milne-Edwards, Recherches pour servir a l’Hist. Nat. des Mammiféres, p. 263, pl. 38B,
fig. 1; pl. 39A, fig. 2, 1868-74.
Crocidura grisea A. B. Howell, Proc. Biol. Soc. Washington, vol. 39, p. 137, 1926; seventy-five miles southwest
of Yenpingfu, Fukien.
Crocidura attenuata grisea A. B. Howell, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., vol. 75, art. 1, p. 9, 1929.
Type specimen:—The original specimen was collected by Pére Armand
David, in the principality of Muping, central Szechwan, China, and is pre-
sumably still in the Muséum d’Histoire Naturelle at Paris.
Description:—The general color in summer pelage is hardly different
from that of Suncus murinus, a uniform brownish gray above, and a paler,
clearer gray below, faintly tinged with brown. On close inspection, the upper
surface appears to be minutely punctate with paler reflections from the grayer
portions of the hairs. The backs of the hands and feet are thinly clothed
with short pale hairs. Winter skins are paler, more silvery, with longer hair.
The skull is lightly built, less angular than that of the much larger Suncus
murinus, with low but evident lambdoid crests meeting at the occiput. The
sagittal crest is less prominent, a mere ridge. The rostrum is pinched in at
the tip and is less tapering than in Sorex. The teeth are practically like those
corresponding in Suncus. The anterior large upper incisor has a prominent
posterior cusp and a slender nearly vertical main cusp. The first unicuspid
is large, in side view considerably exceeding the posterior cusp of the first
incisor, and is about double the height of the subequal second and third uni-
cuspids. There is usually no space between the latter and the premolar.
The large lower incisor is without distinct lobes on its cutting edge as typical
of the genus. Its base is in contact with the anterior half or two-thirds of
the ventral side of the first lower unicuspid.
THE INSECTIVORES 123
Measurements:—The following external measurements were taken in the
field by the collectors:
No. Head and body Tail Hind foot Ear Sex Locality
58301 70 51 14.0 10.0 Q Szechwan
58302 71 51 13.0 9.0 fe) Szechwan
84801 88 50 13.5 9.5 Q Fukien
84302 83 50 13.0 6.0 2 Fukien
84803 89 58 14.0 9.0 rofl Fukien
84804 83 54 15.5 10.0 ofl Fukien
60251 78 53 15.0 9.0 rofl Fukien
56063 70 49 13.0 8.0 Q Hunan
59919 76 45 13.0 6.0 9 Hainan
59950A 72 38 13.0 7.0 9 Hainan
CRANIAL MEASUREMENTS OF CROCIDURA ATTENUATA
Breadth Breadth Upper Lower
Greatest Basal Palatal of brain outside tooth tooth
No. length length length case molars TOW TOW Locality
44630 20.3 18.5 9.5 9.4 6.5 9.0 8.5 Fukien
84802 20.2 18.2 9.0 9.4 6.5 9.0 8.1 Fukien
7229 MCZ ~=20.0 18.2 9.3 8.9 6.3 8.9 8.2 Hupeh
56063 20.4 18.6 9.4 9.3 6.7 9.0 8.3 Hunan
56046 20.3 18.3 9.0 g.1 6.1 8.9 7.8 Szechwan
56054 20.0 17.8 9.0 9.0 6.5 9.0 8.0 Szechwan
84011 21.0 18.1 9.9 9.0 6.1 9.2 8.8 China
Occurrence and Habits:—This is a common shrew over all South China at
the lower levels, extending its range at least as far north as the mouth of the
Yangtze and the adjacent region in Kiangsi. Thence it is found westward in
the Yangtze basin to the borders of the mountainous country of eastern Szech-
wan, as at Ichang in Hupeh, and at Wanhsien, Szechwan, where a considerable
series was collected by Dr. Walter Granger in 1921-22. According to Milne-
Edwards, the original specimen came from Muping in central Szechwan, but
it may be doubted if it is found at such elevations, and I am inclined to think
that the type specimen really came from somewhere along the way nearer
the Yangtze valley, for other and more experienced collectors have not found
it at the higher levels in this province. In the coastal provinces, Clifford H.
Pope collected it at Futsing, Chunganhsien, and Yenping, Fukien, as well as
on the island of Hainan, where he secured two at Namfong and a single one
at Nodoa. These Hainan specimens seem to be quite the same as those from
Wanhsien, eastern Szechwan, and others from southern China, although the
collector’s field measurements of the tail are shorter than the average of other
Chinese specimens. As these measurements were probably made by native
collectors, they may be in some cases subject to correction, depending on the
method of taking them. Nor have I been able to differentiate satisfactorily
124 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
the Fukien individuals from the more western Szechwan series, although
A. B. Howell (1926, p. 137) has distinguished specimens from near Yenping as
C. grisea, later regarding this as a subspecies of C. attenuata. His main diag-
nostic characters are the small size (‘‘smallest of the all-gray Chinese members
of the genus’’) and the dorsal coloration (‘‘pure slate gray faintly grizzled’);
but the measurements given are practically the same as those of the typical
race, namely: head and body, 70 mm.; tail, 56; hind foot, 12; ear, 9; and the
dimensions of the skull are the same, except that the length of the maxillary
tooth row (misprinted 6.5 mm. in the original account and corrected to 8 mm.
in the 1929 paper) is I mm. too small for the usual C. attenuata; while the
peculiar silvery gray of the upper parts is undoubtedly the characteristic color
of the usual winter pelage which differs strikingly from the darker brown of
summer. Since the type was collected on November 23, it must have been
in the fresh winter coat, as are those in a late-November series from Chekiang
in the Museum of Comparative Zodlogy. The brownness of the two Yochow
specimens with which Howell compared the three Fukien examples was
undoubtedly a seasonal character, for winter skins (January) from Yochow,
Hunan, in the collection of the American Museum of Natural History are
quite indistinguishable from winter specimens from the type locality of
C. grisea. I have, therefore, regarded the latter as a synonym of C. attenuata.
The most northwesterly point at which the species has been taken is in the
Wenhsien country, near Taochow, southeastern Kansu (Thomas, 1g911d, p.
168), where two specimens were secured by the collectors of the Duke of Bed-
ford’s zodlogical expedition in 1909. There appears to be no evidence of its
occurrence in the extreme west of Szechwan and Yunnan until the low country
is again reached in southwestern Yunnan, where on the Namting River at
the Burma border, Dr. Andrews’s expedition secured a specimen, preserved in
alcohol, and a skin and skull which seem to be thisform. The skull of the latter
specimen is a very little shorter than those of the series from eastern Szechwan,
but the specimen otherwise is not noticeably different. In southern Szechwan,
Thomas (1912e, p. 134) has recorded it from Chinfu Shan, near Nanchwan,
and from the mountains fifty miles northeast of Chungking; and Howell (1929,
p- 9) from Suifu. Probably, then, the species ranges quite across southern
China at the lower altitudes.
Little seems to be known of the habits of this shrew. Unlike species of
Sorex and of Blarina, the young of which are almost never trapped, the croci-
duras seem to leave their nests and wander about at a tender age, so that small
adolescent individuals are occasionally taken. "Thus Pope, on July 16, 1925,
caught an immature specimen having a body length of only 55 mm., at Chung-
anhsien, Fukien, and the Amefican Museum’s collection has another very
young one caught as it ran across the trail in the mountains near Yenping,
THE INSECTIVORES 125
2,500 feet, in the same province, on August 31, 1920. The specimen previously
mentioned, from the Namting River, on the Burma border, contained a single
embryo on February 26, 1917, indicating that in the warmer part of the range
at any rate, the young may be born early in the year, and that there is perhaps
more than a single litter a year.
Probably the shrew recorded by Mell (1922, p. 16) as Crocidura microtis
from Kwangtung and by Shih (1930, p. 2) as C. fumigata from Kwangsi, South
China, is this species. The former author found it in wooded mountains with
underbrush and stones. He once found a nest with five young, their eyes still
closed, in a hole among rocks in late July, and at another time a nest with four
young. Captives, he adds, must be watched lest they devour each other.
Specimens examined:—In all, ninety-four, as follows:
Kiangsu: Chingking, I.
Chekiang: Dahyang, 2; Ningpo, 1; Tunglu, 9 (M.C.Z.).
Hupeh: Ichang, 1 (M.C.Z.).
Szechwan: Wanhsien, 42.
Hunan: Yochow, 3.
Fukien: Chunganhsien, 12; Futsing, 1; Yenping, 1.
Hainan: Namfong, 2; Nodoa, 2.
Yunnan: Namting River, at Burma border, 2.
China: no definite locality, 15.
49. Crocidura dracula dracula Thomas
WHITE-TIPPED SHREW
Crocidura dracula Thomas, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. 8, vol. 9, p. 686, 1912.
Crocidura predax Thomas, ibid., ser. 9, vol. 11, p. 656, 1923. Likiang valley, Yunnan.
Type specimen:—An adult male, skin and skull, in the British Museum,
original number 34, from (probably) near Mengtsz, Yunnan, China. Orii
Collection.
Description:—In general similar to C. attenuata but larger. The general
color above is gray with a decided brownish tinge over the back, the head and
sides less brownish. On close inspection, there is a slightly grizzled appearance
due to silvery reflections from the pale-gray tips or subterminal portions of
the hairs. The feet are thinly covered with dull whitish hairs. The tail is
dark brown above and slightly but indistinctly paler below, terminating in a
very short pencil which is whitish and forms a rather characteristic mark.
The lower surface of the head and body is clear gray with a faint buffy or
drabby wash. This description is from topotypes taken in February and
March, and so representing the winter pelage, but no summer specimens are
at hand for comparison.
126 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
The skull is essentially similar to that of C. attenuata but considerably
larger. The teeth are likewise the same except for their greater size, but the
first lower unicuspid is proportionately lower, nearly twice as long as its vertical
height.
CHINA SE
Shale HAI)
Fic. 9. Distribution Map.
Crocidura
1. C. dracula dracula 2. C. dracula grisescens
Measurements:—Four specimens which are virtually topotypes, and
formed part of the same collection with the type, show the following dimensions
as recorded on the labels by the collector; others are from the type region of
C. predax, and elsewhere.
No. Head and body Tail Hind foot Ear Locality
14202 MCZ 103 78 16.0 10.5 Yunnan
14203 MCZ 84 74 16.5 12.0 Yunnan
14204. MCZ 86 62 15.0 11.0 Yunnan
14205 MCz 88 73 16.5 12.0 Yunnan
85010 85 70 16.0 9.0 Yunnan
85011 Osiaiae 70 17.0 9.0 Yunnan
44421 90 66 16.0 — Yunnan
44445 85 72 17.0 —— Yunnan
44475 88 70 15.5 — Yunnan
44495 90 80 17.0 == Yunnan
44496 95 80 18.0 — Yunnan
44453 105 78 19.0 — Yunnan
THE INSECTIVORES 127
CRANIAL MEASUREMENTS OF CROCIDURA DRACULA
Width Width Upper Lower
Greatest Basal Palatal ofbrain across tooth tooth
No. length length length case molars row TOW Locality
C. dracula dracula
14202 MCZ — 6.5 10.3 9.8 Yunnan
14203 MCZ 23.0 21.0 10.6 10.4 AL 10.0 9.5 Yunnan
14204 MCZ 24.0 22.0 II.2 10.2 7E3, 10.7 9.8 Yunnan
14205 MCZ 23.0 21.0 10.8 10.0 7.0 10.3 9.8 Yunnan
BM (type) 2en8 22.4 — 10.2 Gf! 10.5 — Yunnan
44421 22.6 20.5 10.3 10.0 7.0 10.0 9.7 Yunnan
44422 23n1 21.0 11.0 10.5 6.9 10.4 9.5 Yunnan
44445 a — II.0 10.5 Fhe 10.7 10.0 Yunnan
44475 — — 10.9 10.0 6.9 10.3 9.5 Yunnan
44495 24.0 21.7 II.1 10.5 6.9 10.4 9.5 Yunnan
44496 24.0 22.5 11.5 10.8 Ghee 11.0 10.0 Yunnan
' C. dracula grisescens
252187 USNM (type) 21.6 — 9.9 — 9.3 — Fukien
Working with a very much larger and more representative series than
Thomas had at his command when he described Crocidura predax from the
Likiang valley of central Yunnan, I am quite unable to find any characters
that will distinguish the animal of the latter region from typical C. dracula of
southern Yunnan. The only character claimed is the supposed slightly greater
size, but a series of careful measurements of topotypes of both fails to reveal
any tangible difference. The type of C. predax is said to have a skull length
of 24.1 mm., but this is practically equaled by a topotype of C. dracula, while
the skulls of other topotypes of the former are very slightly smaller. A large
series also shows a slight amount of variation in the brownish tint of the upper
surface, some specimens being distinctly browner or grayer than the average.
In some cases this apparent difference may be partly due to the greater stretch-
ing in making up the skin by some collectors, and is independent of season.
I am, therefore, regarding C. predax, the type of which I have compared with
that of dracula, as a synonym of the present species.
Occurrence and Habits:—This shrew was first described from Mengtsz in
southeastern Yunnan, from a specimen taken by a Japanese collector, part
of whose specimens, it appears, were abstracted and sold to parties in America.
Four skins and skulls from this source are in the Museum of Comparative
Zodlogy, and have served as a basis for comparison with the extensive series
of shrews of this species secured by Dr. R. C. Andrews and Edmund Heller
in their journey across Yunnan. They trapped numbers at altitudes up to
9,000 feet in Likiang, and a few at Tali Lake and near Yunnanfu. Their most
northern locality was on the Yangtze River at Shihku, near the base of the
Likiang Range. Thence westward, they found it all the way to the Burma
.
128 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
border on the Namting River at an altitude of only 1,700 feet above sea level.
Doubtless the species occurs quite across southern China at the lower eleva-
tions (below 9,000 feet), but no records are available between Yunnan and
eastern China where it is represented in Fukien by the very similar but slightly
smaller race, grisescens. No doubt, too, its range extends for some distance
into Indo-China, as indicated in Thomas’s report on mammals from Tongking,
secured by Stevens, among which were three crociduras with a skull length of
24 mm. taken at Ngai Tio (see Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1925, p. 498). This
species is, therefore, one whose main area of distribution is southern, reaching
the southern parts of China.
Among the series taken by Dr. Andrews, was one exceptionally large
male with a skull length of 26 mm., and a head-and-body length of 105 mm.,
affording additional evidence that old males may attain a considerably larger
size than the average.
On the Namting River at the Burma border, 1,700 feet elevation, the
breeding season must be early in the year, for Heller notes on the labels of
three females taken between February 22 and 26 that each contained two
embryos.
One secured at Likiang, 8,200 feet, was in full moult on October 4.
Specimens examined:—In all, ninety-nine, from the following localities:
Yunnan: Chaunglung, Salween River, 2,000 feet, 2; Chungpa, Mekong River, 6,900 feet,
3; Homushu Pass, 8,000 feet, 2; Likiang, 8,200 feet, 31; Likiang, 9,000 feet, 11 (in-
cluding type of predax in B.M.); Lukuchai, 2 (M.C.Z.); Mengtsz, 2 (M.C.Z.), 1
(B.M., the type); Namting River, Burma border, 1,700 feet, 23; Shihku, Yangtze
River, 6,000 feet, 6; Shungkwan, Tali Lake, 6,000-6,500 feet, 3; Tashuitang, Salween
drainage, 6,000 feet, 1; Yangpi River, Tengyueh road, 5,000 feet, 4; Yangpifu, 5,200
feet, 2; Yungchangfu, 5,500 feet, 4; Yunnanfu, 2.
50. Crocidura dracula grisescens A. B. Howell
Crocidura grisescens A. B. Howell, Journ. Mammalogy, vol. 9, p. 60, 1928.
Crocidura dracula grisescens A. B. Howell, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., vol. 75, art. 1, p. 10, 1929.
Type specimen:—An adult female, skin and skull, No. 252187, U. S.
National Museum, from Kuatun, northwestern Fukien, China. Collected by
F. T. Smith.
Description:—Similar to the typical form but slightly smaller. A compari-
son of topotypes of this race with topotypes of dracula indicates that in colora-
tion they are precisely alike, except that in the buffy wash of the belly the
northeastern subspecies may be a little paler. The minute whitish tip to the
tail is characteristic of both forms as well.
Unfortunately, skulls are not available for comparison, but according to
its describer, the present form is slightly smaller in its cranial dimensions, and
if collectors’ measurements are to be trusted, in the tail length as well.
THE INSECTIVORES 129
Measurements:—The following dimensions are those given for the type
by Howell and here converted into millimeters, as well as those of two collected
by Clifford H. Pope in northwestern Fukien.
No. Head and body Tail Hind foot Ear Locality
252187 USNM (type) 89 61 16.1 9.6 Fukien
84755 87 59 15.0 9.0 Fukien
84756 go 65 14.0 6.0 Fukien
For cranial measurements of the type, see table on page 127.
Occurrence and Habits:—The specimens from the Kuatun district of
northwestern Fukien, on which Howell bases this form, doubtless represent
approximately the northeastern limits of the range of this shrew. Two other
skins, without skulls, collected by Pope in the same region at Chunganhsien,
bear out the claim that it is a slightly smaller and shorter-tailed race. The
color is exactly the same as in the typical form, even to the minute white
tail tip, but the skull measurements of the type are small and the field measure-
ments in the two lots indicate a slightly shorter tail and hind foot than in the
Tongking series.
Specimens examined:—Two, from Chunganhsien, Fukien.
51. Crocidura ilensis ilensis Miller
Crocidura ilensis Miller, Proc. Biol. Soc. Washington, vol. 14, p. 158, I90I.
Type specimen:—In the British Museum, an adult female, skin and skull,
from Kukturuk, Ili, extreme western Sinkiang, central Asia.
Description:—A small shrew, above pale drab, the hairs drab gray sub-
terminally, and darker gray at the base; below, silvery whitish gray, distinctly
but not sharply contrasted with the back. Tail indistinctly bicolor, whitish
gray below, but drab above like the back. Feet whitish gray.
The skull is somewhat smaller than that of the European C. russula, with
the upper unicuspids smaller and less terete.
Measurements:—In the description of the type, Miller gives the following
dimensions: head and body, 55 mm.; tail, 30; hind foot, 13 (without claws, 12);
ear, —.
Skull: greatest length, 16.6 mm.; width of brain case, 8.4; width across
molars, 6.0; upper tooth row, 8.4; lower tooth row, 8.0.
Occurrence and Habits:—Although described from so far to the westward,
this shrew as a species seems to have a wide distribution across north-central
Asia. Miller has indicated the close relationship with his C. shantungensis,
which, on further study, I have ventured to regard as merely subspecific.
Perhaps both are forms of C. suaveolens. The typical C. ilensis is said to
have been found in the open grass country of western Sinkiang, and doubtless
130 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
is a pallid semi-desert form. Its claim to a place in the Chinese fauna rests
upon the record of a female taken by Douglas Carruthers on the steppe south
of Tarbagatai Mountains, in extreme western Mongolia, on the borders of
Dzungaria (Thomas, 1912a, p. 392).
Specimens examined:—None.
52. Crocidura ilensis lar G. M. Allen
Crocidura lar G. M. Allen, Amer. Mus. Novitates, no. 317, p. 1, May 19, 1928.
Type specimen:—A male, skin only, No. 59940, American Museum of
Natural History, from Tsagan Nor, central Gobi, Mongolia. Collected
August 3, 1922, by Dr. R. C. Andrews.
Description:—A small, short-tailed, pallid race of C. ilensis. Upper sur-
Fic. 10. Distribution Map.
Crocidura
1. C. ilensis lar 3. C. ilensis pheopus
2. C. ilensis shantungensis
THE INSECTIVORES 131
face of body and tail very pale grayish brown, nearly ‘“‘wood brown”’ (Ridgway,
1912), the hairs of the body slaty at their base, with a minute subterminal
ring of gray, and pale-brown tip. On close inspection a finely grizzled effect
is given by the gray rings which show through and heighten the pallid appear-
ance of the upper side. Chin and backs of the hands and feet white to the
roots of the hairs, the rest of the lower surface of the body dull white, the
individual hairs gray at the base, tipped with white. Tail rather sharply
bicolor, white below, grayish brown above, well clothed with short hairs which
form a small pencil, and with numerous. scattered bristle hairs conspicuously
projecting throughout its length.
The skull of the only specimen is unfortunately lost, but it is likely to be
similar to that of the typical subspecies, perhaps a trifle smaller.
Measurements :—The type measured in the flesh: head and body, 60 mm.;
tail, 29; hind foot, 12; ear, 8. The short tail and small hind foot are less than
the average of the other races and are perhaps distinctive, apart from the very
pallid coloration.
Occurrence and Habits:—The single specimen on which this form is based
I originally described as a distinct species, but I believe it is probably best
considered a subspecies of the wide-ranging C. ilensis, of which it is apparently
but a pale, desert-living representative. The type of C. ilensis itself was
taken in grass land, and thus in a somewhat different sort of country fifteen
hundred miles distant to the westward. Dr. R. C. Andrews writes: “It was
a great surprise to find a shrew in this desert. I can think of no place in which
I should less have expected to find one. It was caught in the taxidermist’s
tent as it was about to run through. Even in the long grass about the edge
of the lake, which is only thirty or forty yards away, there is a terrain of sand
and gravel, very hard, from which the long coarse grass grows.’’ Possibly
the individual was a wanderer from the grassy cover. In spite of trapping,
no others were secured, so that it must be local and uncommon where it
occurs. Not only is its presence quite unexpected in the middle of the Gobi,
but the record itself constitutes apparently the most northern occurrence of
the genus yet known in Asia.
Specimens examined:—One only, the type.
53. Crocidura ilensis shantungensis Miller
Crocidura shantungensis Miller, Proc. Biol. Soc. Washington, vol. 14, p. 158, I90T.
Crocidura coree Thomas, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1908, p. 639; ibid., 1911, p. 688. A. B. Howell, Proc. U. S.
Nat. Mus., vol. 75, art. 1, p. 10, 1929 (in part).
Type specimen:—A skin and skull, No. 86151, U. S. National Museum,
from Chimeh, Shantung, China. Collected June, 1898, by Paul D. Bergen.
132 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
Description:—A very small, distinctly brownish shrew with white feet.
Upper surface of head, body and the ears very nearly ‘‘russet” of Ridgway;
below, whitish gray, the hairs slaty at the base; backs of the hands and feet
clear whitish; tail bicolor, like the back above, whitish below, with numerous
scattered bristle hairs along its length. The hairs of the dorsal surface have
minute reflections of light when seen at certain angles. The winter pelage
is slightly paler and grayer; clearer white below.
The skull and teeth are of the usual type in this genus; the first large
upper incisor has a strong posterior cusp, and is followed by a large unicuspid
whose tip projects slightly beyond this cusp; the two unicuspids that follow
are much smaller, about half the height of the first, and a third its bulk in side
view. The second of these unicuspids is slightly narrower than the one in
front of it, while the tips of both are on about the same level as that of the main
cusp of the large premolar.
Measurements:—This is the common small shrew of China, with a total
length of not quite 100 mm. usually, the tail slightly less than the length of
head and body combined. The following measurements were made in the
field from fresh specimens.
For cranial measurements see table below.
No. Total length Tail Hind foot Ear Locality
24320 MCZ 96 32 10.5 7-5 Chekiang
24323 MCZ 96 36 12.5 7.5 Chekiang
24325 MCZ 97 39 11.5 8.0 Chekiang
24326 MCZ 97 38 12.0 6.0 Chekiang
CRANIAL MEASUREMENTS OF CROCIDURA ILENSIS RACES
Breadth Breadth Upper Lower
Greatest Basal Palatal ofbrain across tooth tooth
No. length length length case molars row TOW Locality
C, ilensis ilensis
BM (type) 16.6 —— — 8.4 6.0 8.4 8.0 Sinkiang
C. ilensis pheopus
56019 16.4 15.8 fs} 7.5 5.0 7.4 6.6 Szechwan
56031 17.0 15.6 7.6 7.4 5.0 7a 6.8 Szechwan
56039 17.0 15.8 7.5 7.6 5.2 HE 6.6 Szechwan
7230 MCZ 17.6 16.0 8.0 8.0 5.5 7.8 6.9 Hupeh
C. tlensis shantungensis
24320 MCZ 16.5 15.2 7.8 7.8 5.2 7.6 6.7 Chekiang
24323 MCZ 16.7 15.0 7-5 7-9 5.0 7-4 6.8 Chekiang
24324 MCZ 16.6 15.0 S| 7.0 5.0 7.6 6.8 Chekiang
24325 MCZ — — 8.1 8.0 5.3 75 72 Chekiang
172541 USNM 16.6 15.0 7.6 75 5.0 7-5 6.6 Shansi
172540 USNM 17.0 15.0 oh 767 4.9 7.6 6.8 Shansi
172539 USNM SS OT — 5.0 7.8 7.0 Shansi
86151 USNM (type) —_—_ sosa——--——— — — 7.8 7.0 Shantung
THE INSECTIVORES 133
Occurrence and Habits:—This is the eastern representative of the common
small reddish-brown shrew found across east-central Asia. It occurs in eastern
China from the Yangtze valley northward into northern China, doubtless
intergrading here with the nearly identical C. coree of the Korean peninsula.
Indeed, Thomas (1908f, p. 639) records a single specimen from the Eastern
Tombs, sixty-five miles east of Peiping, Hopei, as “‘closely similar”’ to the latter,
but on geographic grounds I have thought it best to regard this as a representa-
tive of C. shantungensis or possibly as an intergrade between the two. Pre-
sumably, too, the specimen from thirty miles south of Fengsiangfu, southern
Shensi, recorded by Thomas (191 Ie, p. 688) as Crocidura coree, is the same,
as are also, in my opinion, the three specimens recorded by Howell (1929, p. 10)
from five miles south of Taiyuanfu, Shansi. These I have examined through
the courtesy of the U. S. National Museum, and find that they can be closely
matched by specimens in corresponding pelage from Chekiang. They were
taken in late October, and their very short pelage is apparently the winter
coat not yet fully developed, for one seems still to retain a trace of the slightly
darker summer pelage across the rump. The small series from Tunglu,
Chekiang, collected by J. T. Wright for the Museum of Comparative Zodlogy,
perhaps represents approximately the southern part of the species’ range in
eastern China, for none of the many collections made farther south in Fukien
and elsewhere, includes it.
Specimens examined:—In all, fourteen, as follows:
Chekiang: Tunglu, 5 (M.C.Z.).
“China,’’ 1; 3 (Univ. Mich.).
Shansi: five miles south of Taiyuanfu, 3 (U.S.N.M.).
Shantung: Weihsien, I.
Shensi: forty-five miles south of Fengsiangfu, I.
54. Crocidura ilensis pheopus G. M. Allen
Crocidura ilensis pheopus G. M. Allen, Amer. Mus. Novitates, no. 100, p. 7, December 28, 1923.
Crocidura coree G. M. Allen, Mem. Mus. Comp. Zool., vol. 40, p. 242, 1912 (in part).
Type specimen:—Adult female, skin and skull, No. 56013, American
Museum of Natural History, from Wanhsien, Szechwan, China. Collected
November 2, 1921, by the Central Asiatic Expeditions, Dr. Walter Granger.
Description:—A dark-brown shrew, like C. ilensis shantungensis, but less
grayish and with dark-brown instead of whitish feet.
The entire dorsal surface of the body, the backs of the fore and hind feet,
and the upper surface of the tail dark brown, nearly “‘“mummy brown’’ (Ridg-
way, 1912), browner and less grayish than C. 7. shantungensis. At the sides,
the chin, throat, forearms and belly become rather abruptly whitish, the hairs,
except at the chin, white-tipped, with dark-gray bases. The base of the tail
134 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
is gray beneath, but terminally is much the same dark brown on both surfaces.
The long bristle hairs are scattered evenly throughout its length.
The skull has about the same dimensions as that of its neighbors, C. 7. coreg
and C. i. shantungensis. It is small and delicate, with the rostrum not
especially elongate, and the teeth quite as in those races. The first upper
unicuspid is about double the height of the rounded posterior cusp of the first
incisor. The second and third unicuspids are practically equal in height and
cross-section, and reach the level of the tip of the paracone of the carnassial.
The lachrymal foramen is exactly over the point of contact of the first and
second molars.
Measurements:—In general dimensions this race does not seem to differ
appreciably from those of eastern China. The following measurements were
taken in the field from fresh specimens by Dr. Walter Granger.
No. Head and body Tail Hind foot Ear Locality
56013 (type) 62 37 12 9 Szechwan
56019 56 38 10 8 Szechwan
56031 65 45 12 7 Szechwan
~ 56039 60 44 12 9 Szechwan
7230 MCZ 58 40 13 _— Hupeh
For cranial measurements see table, page 132.
Occurrence and Habits:—The distribution of this dark-footed form of the
small eastern Crocidura is still to be worked out, but probably includes the
forested part of eastern Szechwan and southern Shensi with their more abun-
dant rainfall. At Wanhsien, the type locality, on the Yangtze in eastern
Szechwan, Dr. Walter Granger secured a fine series of twenty-three in the
autumn and winter of 1921-22, and I refer to it also two specimens from Taipai
Shan, in the Tsingling Range, southern Shensi. These localities seem to
mark in a general way the southwestern limits of its distribution in China,
for the various collecting parties that have visited this area failed to find it
in the higher country of western Szechwan or farther south in the Yangtze
basin. A single specimen in the Museum of Comparative Zodlogy from
Ichang agrees with the Wanhsien series in its redder, less grayish, color and
dark feet in comparison with the subspecies C. 7. shantungensis of the drier
country to the northward, and is the same individual that I previously (1912,
p. 242) identified as C. coree.
Specimens examined:—In all, twenty-six, as follows:
Hupeh: Ichang, 1 (M.C.Z.).
Shensi: Taipai Shan, Tsingling Mountains, 2.
Szechwan: Wanhsien, 23.
55. Crocidura vorax G. M. Allen
Crocidura vorax G. M. Allen, Amer. Mus. Novitates, no. 100, p. 8, December 28, 1923.
THE INSECTIVORES 135
Type specimen:—Adult male, skin and skull, No. 44383, American Museum
of Natural History, from timber line forest on Ssu Shan (Snow Mountain),
Likiang, Yunnan, China, at 12,000 feet altitude. Collected October 15, 1916,
by Dr. R. C. Andrews and Edmund Heller.
Description:—A medium-sized, grayish-brown species, apparently allied
to C. russula.
Head and body above a very pale grayish brown, nearly ‘“‘wood brown’”’
(Ridgway, 1912), with a minutely pepper-and-salt appearance, due to the
presence of a narrow gray band below the brownish tips of the hairs. The
color gradually pales at the sides into the gray of the belly, with a faint wash
of buffy on the chest. The bases of the hairs everywhere are slaty, becoming
paler, almost ‘“‘slate gray,’ below, where they show through slightly. Tail
distinctly bicolor, darker than the back above (nearly “‘clove brown’’); clear
gray below. The hair of the tail is thick enough to conceal the scales, and the
scattered bristle hairs are chiefly present on the basal half. Ears thin, small
and less conspicuous than usual.
The skull is of about the same size as that of C. russula of Europe, with
a low but well-defined sagittal ridge and more prominent lambdoid ridges.
The first upper unicuspid is largest, exceeding the posterior cusp of the large
anterior incisor. The second and third unicuspids are practically equal in
both vertical extent and cross-section, their tips practically on the same hori-
zontal line as the anterior cusp (paracone) of the large premolar, instead of
slightly exceeding it as in C. russula. The relations of the paracone to the
main cusp of the premolar are about as in the latter, but the tooth seems to
be much longer than in that species, its posterior edge forming a wide back-
wardly directed crescent, with the summit of the main cusp about over the
center of the base of the tooth.
Measurements:—The type, as measured by the collector, shows the follow-
ing dimensions: head and body, 72 mm.; tail, 51; hind foot, 13. These may
be maximum dimensions, for five other specimens from the type locality aver-
age: head and body, 64.2; tail, 40.6.
The skull is obviously larger in its dimensions than that of the dlensis
group to which the animal bears considerable external resemblance. The
following dimensions are from topotypes.
CRANIAL MEASUREMENTS OF CROCIDURA VORAX
Breadth Breadth Upper Lower
Greatest Basal Palatal ofbrain outside tooth tooth
No. length length length case molars TOW TOW Locality
44382 19.0 723 8.6 8.3 5.6 8.0 7.5 Yunnan
44383 (type) 19.8 17.4 7.6 9.0 5.7 8.3 7-O)) Yunnan
44387 —— — 8.6 — 5-7 8.1 7.5 Yunnan
136 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
Occurrence and Habits:—In its rather long fur, brownish coloration, and
thin small ears, this shrew has at first sight much the appearance of a Sorex
as the skins are made up. Although in general resembling also Crocidura
ilensis pheopus, it is a much paler brownish gray, and of distinctly larger di-
mensions, as is obvious on comparison of the skulls. The length of the hind
foot is only slightly greater, but the fore feet, when skins of the two are laid
side by side, are obviously larger. It is apparently not distantly related to
C. russula of Europe, of which perhaps it should be regarded as a subspecies,
but until a general review of the relationships of the Asiatic species of the
genus can be made, I have hesitated to make a more definite assignment.
This shrew has been taken at high altitudes on the Likiang Range, between
9,000 and 12,000 feet (timber-line), and I have referred to it also a few indi-
viduals from lower levels, including one from Taku Ferry, 6,000 feet, and one
from Chitien, 6,400 feet, both in the Yangtze valley near the eastern base of
the range, as well as one from Minkai, Tali Lake, 7,500 feet, a short distance
to the south. No doubt it is this shrew of which Thomas (1922b, p. 394;
1923, p. 657) records specimens from 9,000-13,000 feet on the Likiang Range,
as a ‘‘small species of the russula group.”’
The collector’s note on the type specimen states that when taken it was
in the act of devouring a mouse (A podemus) caught in a trap.
Specimens examined:—In all, nine, as follows:
Yunnan: Ssu Shan, Likiang Range, 5; Peishui, Likiang Range, 1; Taku Ferry, Yangtze, 1;
Chitien, Yangtze, 1; Minkai, Tali Lake, 1.
56. Crocidura rapax G. M. Allen
Crocidura rapax G. M. Allen, Amer. Mus. Novitates, no. 100, p. 9, December 28, 1923.
Type specimen:—Adult male, skin and skull, No. 44321, American
Museum of Natural History, from Yinpankai, Mekong River, southern Yun-
nan, at 9,000 feet altitude. Collected December 25, 1916, by Dr. R. C. An-
drews and Edmund Heller.
Description:—A small shrew of the C. russula group, resembling C. vorax
in size and proportions, but the entire dorsal surface a much richer brown,
nearly ‘‘bister’’ (Ridgway), slightly peppered with gray on the head and
shoulders. Below, a light “mouse gray.” Feet thinly covered with minute
gray hairs. Tail bicolor like the body, the bristle hairs rather few and scat-
tered.
The skull is like that of C. vorax, but slightly more delicate.
Measurements:—The collector’s measurements of the type are: head and
body, 64 mm.; tail, 42; hind foot, 12.5. The skull measures: greatest length,
18; basal length, 16.3; palatal length, 8.0; width of brain case, 8.2; width
outside molars, 5.3; upper tooth row, 8.0; lower tooth row, 7.4.
THE INSECTIVORES 137
Occurrence and Habits:—Although treated as a distinct species, this
shrew is probably only a richer-colored, lowland form of the preceding, and
may even prove to be not very different when a larger series is available. In
fact, to judge from descriptions alone, both may be closely related to C.
indochinensis, or possibly inseparable from it. For the present, therefore,
I have retained C. rapax as originally published. In addition to the type, the
collection of the American Museum of Natural History contains a skin from
Homushu Pass, which though grayer, may nevertheless be the same, and A. B.
Howell has recorded five specimens in the U. S. National Museum from
Yochow, Hunan, as ‘‘perfectly typical.”’
Specimens examined:—Three, including the type from Yinpankai, Mekong
River, Yunnan, and a skin and an alcoholic from Homushu Pass, Yunnan.
Genus Anourosorex Milne-Edwards
Anourosorex Milne-Edwards, Compt. Rend. Acad. Sci., Paris, vol. 70, p. 341, February, 1870; Ann. des Sci.
Nat., Zool., ser. 5, vol. 13, art. 10, 1 p., March, 1870; Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. 4, vol. 5, p. 306, April,
1870; Recherches pour servir 4 l’Hist. Nat. des Mammiféres, p. 254, pl. 38, fig. 1; pl. 38A, figs. 1-1j, 1868-74.
Pygmura Anderson, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1875, p. 229, footnote.
Anurosorex Anderson, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. 4, vol. 16, p. 282, 1875; Anat. and Zool. Researches Western
Yunnan, p. 150, pl. 5, 1879.
This genus represents a fossorial modification of the white-toothed shrews,
that stands in somewhat the same relation to Crocidura as Blarinella does to
Sorex. In external appearance it is at once distinguished by the minute and
practically naked, scale-covered tail which is slightly shorter than the hind
foot, by the scaly feet, well-developed fore and hind claws and somewhat
shortened bluntly pointed snout. The eyes are greatly reduced and are not
evident in skins, while the external ear is a bare rim, not visible above the fur
of the head. The skull, in accordance with the burrowing habits of the animal,
is more solid than in Crocidura, with a low but strong sagittal ridge and low
occipital ridges that project slightly behind, flange-like, forming a continuous
crescent as viewed from behind, instead of two straight crests meeting at an
angle. The parietal surface of the brain case is faintly rugose for muscle
attachment, and its outline is laterally produced to form a strong angle at the
point of greatest breadth. A small oval foramen is Ua ah medially between
the first upper unicuspids.
The teeth are stout and have prominent cusps and angles. The dentition
shows additional modification beyond that of Crocidura in the reduction still
further of the unicuspids so that there are only two between the first large
incisor and the large carnassial of the upper jaw, while at the posterior end of
the molar series, both upper and lower last molars are much reduced in size,
so that the upper is merely a low transverse ridge in which the identity of the
inner cusp or protocone is hardly obvious. The large upper premolar is de-
138 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
cidedly molariform, with its outer portion consisting of the usual small anterior
paracone, then a wide blade-like compressed main cone which is broadly ex-
tended behind, while the inner portion has a small low but evident pair of cones
one behind the other, closely simulating the protocone and hypocone of the first
molar. The latter is the largest of the molars, and is remarkable in having the
antero-external parastyle large and rounded as well as the postero-external
metastyle, while the mesostyle is greatly reduced, and represented only by
a thin ridge connecting the paracone and metacone, so as to produce a long
cutting edge. The second upper molar has only about half the crown area
of the first, on account of the great reduction of the posterior half of the tooth,
in which the metacone and hypocone are very small and the mesostyle and
metastyle much reduced. The third upper molar has a crown area barely
equal to that of the metacone of the second, and lies transversely to the tooth
row, inside the outer corner of the second. In the lower jaw, the long blade-
like incisor has its cutting edge straight, while the molars like those of the upper
jaw are graduated in size, the first largest and long in profile view, the two
others successively smaller, the third very small but with three obvious cusps
representing the paraconid, protoconid and hypoconid. The tooth formula
is probably to be interpreted as follows: i.¢ c.t pm.t m.3 =26.
This interesting genus, which at first sight so much recalls the American
Blarina, but really is a parallelism from another division of the Soricide, is
confined to the highlands of western China and the adjacent parts of eastern
India and Indo-China. It was one of the many remarkable discoveries of
that indefatigable traveler and collector, Pére Armand David, who was the
first European naturalist to secure small mammals from Szechwan. Milne-
Edwards, in a brief preliminary paper on his collections, named and tersely
characterized the new genus, without even giving a specific name, reserving
this for his later account in the ‘‘Recherches.’’ Meanwhile, before this work
had reached India, Dr. John Anderson had obtained the genus from Assam,
and given a preliminary diagnosis of it under the name Pygmura.
57. Anourosorex squamipes Milne-Edwards
Anourosorex squamipes Milne-Edwards, Recherches pour servir a l’Hist. Nat. des Mammiféres, p. 264, pl. 38,
fig. 1; pl. 38A, figs. I-1j, 1868-74.
Anourosorex squamipes capnias G. M. Allen, Amer. Mus. Novitates, no. 100, p. 10, 1923.
Anourosorex assamensis capito G. M. Allen, zbid., p. 11.
Type specimen:—No type specimen is mentioned in the original account
of this species, nor any definite locality, beyond the statement that it occurs
“dans les montagnes du Sé-tchouan et du Tibet.’’ It is assumed, however,
that Pére David’s specimens came from the principality of Muping in central
Szechwan, and that they are still preserved in the Muséum d’Histoire Naturelle
at Paris.
THE INSECTIVORES 139
Description:—Fur fairly long, about 9 mm. on the center of the back,
becoming slightly longer on the rump, about 11 mm. General color above
a dark mouse gray to fuscous, with the faintest suggestion of brown; a small
spot of ochraceous tawny is usually present on each cheek; below, paler gray
with a slight wash of buffy over the tips of the hairs. Backs of the hands and
feet dusky, the fingers and claws white. The feet, like the tail, are practically
naked, but the latter has a few minute terminal hairs, although otherwise its
scaly covering is dark brownish.
Fic. 11. Distribution Map.
Anourosorex
A. squamipes
140 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
The cranial characters have been briefly described in the account of the
generic distinctions. In this species the skull is slightly shorter proportionally
than in A. assamensis, forming about 25 per cent. of the total length. It is
characteristically heavy in build, with stout, broad teeth. The upper incisors
are broadened out by the formation of distinct internal ledges, while the outer
corners of the large upper premolar and the first molar are produced laterally
to form distinct angles. In one of a series of twelve skulls, the third upper
molar is missing on both sides, with no trace even of an alveolus.
Measurements:—The collector’s measurements of a series from Wa Shan,
in central Szechwan, are as follows:
No. Total length Tail Hind foot Locality
7535 MCz 102 13 15.0 Szechwan
7536 MCZ 104. 9 16.0 Szechwan
7537 MCZ 101 13 16.0 Szechwan
7538 MCZ 99 15 15.5 Szechwan
7539 MCZ 100 13 16.0 Szechwan
7543 MCZ 100 14 15.0 Szechwan
7545 MCZ 92 12 15.0 Szechwan
7547 MCZ 98 13 15.0 Szechwan
7546 MCZ 96 13 15.0 Szechwan
7550 MCZ 96 10 14.0 Szechwan
CRANIAL MEASUREMENTS OF ANOUROSOREX SQUAMIPES
Breadth Breadth Upper Lower
Greatest Basal Palatal of brain across tooth tooth
No. length length length case molars TOW TOW Locality
7532 MCZ 24.7 22.0 12.0 13.2 7.6 11.3 10.4 Szechwan
7533 MCZ 24.5 21.8 12.0 12.9 7.5 11.5 10.4 Szechwan
7534 MCZ 24.8 22.0 12.0 13.4 7.5 11.6 10.5 Szechwan
7535 MCZ 25.5 22.5 11.2 13.2 7.5 11.5 10.6 Szechwan
7536 MCZ 25.0 22.1 12.0 12.6 we II.I 10.3 Szechwan
7539 MCz 26.0 23.0 12.0 14.0 8.0 11.8 10.7 Szechwan
7543 MCZ 24.4 22.5 12.0 13.7 7.8 11.9 10.7 Szechwan
7545 MCZ 23:2 21.1 11.2 12.0 7.1 II.0 10.0 Szechwan
7546 Mcz 24.4 22.0 12.0 12.2 opel 11.2 10.0 Szechwan
7548 MCZ 25.0 22.5 12.0 13.5 7.6 11.5 10.5 Szechwan
44502 ies 19.5 10.4 11.4 7.0 10.0 9.0 Yunnan
44506 23.0 20.8 11.5 11.6 = II.0 10.0 Yunnan
44516 23.5 21.3 11.8 13.0 7.6 11.3 10.2 Yunnan
Occurrence and Habits:—The range of this stump-tailed shrew seems to
coincide more or less with the forested highlands of western China, from the
Tsingling Range on the southern border of Shensi, westward to extreme
southern Kansu, and thence south across Szechwan and probably northern
Yunnan, passing into southern Yunnan. It was one of the many remarkable
discoveries of Pére Armand David, who first met with it in central Szechwan,
THE INSECTIVORES 141
probably in the principality of Muping, where so large a number of his finds
were made. The only note on its habits is the remark of Milne-Edwards that
it usually keeps in its underground tunnels, and is common in the plains and
mountains of eastern Tibet and Szechwan, the latter province being at that
time considered a part of Tibet. Later, David (1873) found the species again,
not far from Sianfu in southeastern Shensi, where he lived for three and a half
months. Dr. Andrews also procured it in Shensi, a little farther west, at
Taipai Shan, in the Tsingling Range, at 10,000 feet altitude. Still farther
west, it has been recorded by Buechner (1892, p. 151, 105 of separate) from
near Ssigu, Kansu, where the Russian explorer, Berezovski, found a dead one,
and brought it back to Leningrad. It is common in Szechwan, where its
easternmost record seems to be at Wanhsien, on the Yangtze River, whence Dr.
Granger secured a specimen for the American Museum, and A. B. Howell
records (1929, p. 11)’ two others in the U. S. National Museum, as well as
seven from Suifu on the same river in the southern part of the province. It
seems to be most frequently found in central Szechwan, for the late Walter R.
Zappey secured at Wa Shan (or Yashan) a fine series of seventeen for the
Museum of Comparative Zoélogy in 1907, and the Stétzner Expedition seven
at the same place (Jacobi, 1922, p. 2), while Thomas (1911d, p. 168; I9I2e,
p. 134) records it from several stations just south or west of the type locality,
as at forty-five miles west and southwest of Yachow, and at Omei Shan, as
well as from Chinfu Shan (near Nanchwan); fifty miles north of Chungking;
near Yuenchinghsien in western Szechwan; and twenty-one miles northeast
of Chaotungfu, Yunnan, 5,800 feet. There appears to be but one record of
its presence in Hupeh, at the same time the most easterly known record for
the animal, namely, two taken in 1907 by W. R. Zappey, at Changyanghsien
and one at Hsienshanhsien, both localities not far from Ichang, where the
forested highlands really begin (G. M. Allen, 1912).
To the southward, it was found at various localities in southwestern Yun-
nan by Dr. R. C. Andrews, up to altitudes of 10,000 feet, as in the Chungtien
district and on the Yangtze River above Taku Ferry, while on the Mekong
River specimens were taken at various places up to 8,000 feet. It seems odd
that no evidence of its presence has been found on the Likiang Range.
Osgood (1932) is doubtless correct in placing the two races I described
as A. s. capnias and A. s. capito in the synonymy of this species, for the differ-
ences observed, though at first puzzling, appear with study of further series
to be largely individual or seasonal.
Specimens examined:—In all, forty-nine, as follows:
Hupeh: Changyanghsien, 2 (M.C.Z.); Hsienshanhsien, 1 (M.C.Z.).
Shensi: Taipai Shan, 10,000 feet, 2.
Szechwan: Wanhsien, 1; Wa Shan, 19 (M.C.Z.); Suifu, 4 (U.S.N.M.).
142 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
Yunnan: Chungtien district, Tomulang, 10,000 feet, 1; and Peitai Mountain, 10,000 feet,
thirty miles south of Chungtien, 2; twenty miles north of Taku Ferry, Yangtze River,
10,000 feet, 2; Mekong River, Hsiaokela, 8,000 feet, 5; Mekong River, Yinpankai,
9,000 feet, 1; Mekong River, Lachumi, 9,000 feet, 1; Mekong River, Chiangwei,
8,000 feet, 1; Mucheng, Salween drainage, 7.
Genus Chimarrogale Anderson
Chimarrogale Anderson, Journ. Asiatic Soc. Bengal, vol. 46, pt. 2, p. 262, 1877.
Crossopus Gray, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. 1, vol. 10, p. 261, 1842 (part, for Crossopus himalayicus).
Crocidura Anderson, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1873, p. 231 (part).
Just as the Old World genus Neomys is an aquatic modification of a
soricine type, so this genus is an aquatic form of the crocidurine or white-
toothed shrews. Its external modifications for aquatic life lie principally in
the well-developed feet with a fringe of flattened stiff hairs on both lateral
edges of each toe in place of a web for swimming; in the somewhat waterproof
nature of the pelage through the glossy, burnished tips of the guard hairs,
and especially of the elongated hairs of the rump, tending to keep out water,
and again in the reduced ears with a valvular antitragus for closing the open-
ings when under water. The tail is relatively long, about equaling the body
length. The skull is peculiarly shaped, with a broad flattened brain case
which in profile makes a nearly flat angle with the dorsal outline of the ros-
trum. The latter has its upper outline nearly parallel with the alveolar margin.
The bony structure of the skull is markedly thin and light, with the sagittal
and lambdoid crests very low. There is a pair of minute foramina in the
palate between the two first unicuspids. The teeth are white throughout and
relatively light. The anterior upper incisors have their main shaft nearly
vertical, slender, and sharp-pointed, with a low posterior cusp. Then follow
three unicuspids of practically the same height and cross-section, about as
high as the anterior cusp of the large premolar following. This premolar has
its main cusp low, about one and a half times as high as its anterior cusp, while
its postero-external commissure as well as that of the first molar are produced
backward, forming a blade-like cutting edge. The second molar lacks this
extension, and has the paracone and metacone of practically equal size, while
the hypocone of both the large premolar and the two anterior molars is low
but evident, and succeeded by a still smaller but distinct cingulum cusp.
The third upper molar is much reduced in size, but shows a fairly distinct pro-
tocone and paracone, with a posterior transverse ridge or commissure. In
the lower jaw, the large blade-like incisor has its cutting edge straight; the
second of the two smaller teeth following is slightly notched at its upper pos-
terior edge, while the three molars show a decrease in size from front to back,
but the third lower molar, even though small, shows all the cusps still present.
The tooth formula may be interpreted as follows: i. c.t pm.t m.$ =28.
THE INSECTIVORES 143
This genus of water shrews occurs in the hill country from Darjeeling and
Sikkim, India, eastward across southern China to the mouth of the Yangtze,
and southward into Indo-China, and is found also in Japan. Two species
have been described from China; one of these is represented by two subspecies,
both of which are closely similar to the Indian C. himalayica. For an excellent
anatomical account of the latter, see Anderson, 1879, p. 139. The species
and races may be distinguished by the following key.
Key To CHINESE SPECIES AND SUBSPECIES OF Chimarrogale
A. Belly white, with a sharp line of demarcation from the slaty color
BUMUEC DAC ona cree teste Aero cist tretavens Ae Bene edb tph do ove oat et C. styani
B. Belly grayish washed with brown, grading by imperceptible de-
mreessinto the color/of the back. .25..2...462+ se. 4-ce% +e C. himalayica
a. Slightly larger, hind foot, without claws, 23 mm. or more... C. himalayica himalayica
b. Slightly smaller, hind foot, without claws, 22 mm. or less... C. himalayica leander
58. Chimarrogale himalayica himalayica (Gray)
Crossopus himalayicus Gray, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. 1, vol. 10, p. 261, 1842.
Chimarrogale himalaica Anderson, Anat. and Zool. Researches Western Yunnan, p. 139, pl. 5, figs. 17-30, 1879.
Chimarrogale himalayica A. B. Howell, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., vol. 75, art. I, p. 11, 1929.
Type specimen:—The type is a skin, formerly mounted, No. 42.2.18.1
in the British Museum, and from which the anterior teeth have been extracted.
The locality is not mentioned by Gray, and on the label is merely ‘‘Himalaya,”’
C. Drummond, collector.
Description:—Apparently the color is identical with that of the eastern
subspecies, a uniform blue-gray above, slightly darker in the middle of the
back, and minutely peppered with pale whitish subterminal bands on most of
the hairs. Longer white-tipped hairs are evenly sprinkled throughout the coat,
and are especially numerous and long on the rump. The color of the back
grades by imperceptible degrees into the paler mid-ventral region which is
distinctly washed with brownish. Backs of the feet light brown. Tail a
uniform dark brown above and all around at the terminal third or more, the
basal third below white.
The skull of the type is not preserved, except for the anterior teeth. Its
chief characters have already been mentioned.
Measurements:—No fresh measurements of Chinese specimens are avail-
able, but the size does not greatly differ from that of the race C. h. leander.
In the type as mounted, the tail measures about 80 mm., the hind foot with
claw 23.3 mm. In a specimen from Tongking in the British Museum, the
hind foot without claw is 23 mm.
144 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
CRANIAL MEASUREMENTS OF CHIMARROGALE HIMALAYICA
Breadth Breadth Upper Lower
Greatest Basal Palatal oofbrain across tooth tooth
No. length length length case molars TOW TOW Locality
C. himalayica himalayica
27451 MCZ 26.9 — 12.8 14.2 8.5 12.5 10.5 Yunnan
240167 USNM 26.0 23.0 12.0 13.5 8.0 11.4 10.1 Yunnan
8.7.6.17 BM 27.8 24.5 eye, 13.8 8.4 12.4 II. Kashmir
C. himalayica leander
2.6.10.3 BM (type) 25.5 22.3 12.0
7 II.0 10.3 Fukien
84793 25.6 23.2 ° 12.8 is 80 11.8 10.6 Fukien
84794 25.0 22.8 12.2 13.6 8.5 11.5 10.5 Fukien
84795 26.0 23.6 13.0 13.8 8.4 11.5 10.6 Fukien
Occurrence and Habits:—Little is known of this species, but it is apparently
present in small numbers along the mountain streams of Yunnan, westward
into the Himalayan region. After examining the type and other specimens
in the British Museum, I cannot see that the Yunnan examples are different,
and A. B. Howell reached the same conclusion. Anderson (1879, p. 139) gives
a minute account of a specimen which he caught in a mountian stream ‘‘behind
our camp at Ponsee, in the Kakhyen hills, at an elevation of 3,500 feet,”’ on
the border of western Yunnan. He “‘‘observed it running about over the stones
in the bed of the stream and plunging freely into the water. It was evidently
engaged in feeding, and in addition to insects and aquatic larve, it is probable
that . . . it may kill young fish.”
Specimens examined:—In addition to the type and specimens from
Sikkim, Kashmir, and Tongking in the British Museum, I have examined the
following from China:
Yunnan: Likiang, 2 (1 each in M.C.Z. and U.S.N.M.).
59. Chimarrogale himalayica leander Thomas
Chimarrogale leander Thomas, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. 7, vol. 10, p. 165, 1902.
Chimarrogale himalayica Shih, Bull. Dept. Biol., Sun Yatsen Univ., Canton, no. 4, p. 2, 1930; zbid., no. 8, p. I,
1930.
Type specimen:—A skin and skull, No. 2.6.10.3, British Museum, from
Kuatun, northwestern Fukien, China, 1,200 meters altitude. Winter. Col-
lected by F. W. Styan.
Description:—Similar to the typical form but slightly smaller, the color
somewhat paler, the white of the tail not extending to the tip on the under side.
Color above blackish slate, minutely grizzled with paler, due to the pres-
ence of many all-light-gray hairs mixed with others having a gray base, then a
dark brown subterminal ring and a minute pale tip. Sprinkled among the
other hairs are many longer ones with pale shining tips that project and serve
to waterproof the fur; these increase in length and conspicuousness posteriorly,
THE INSECTIVORES 145
and produce a distinctly hoary appearance over the hind quarters. Lower
surface covered with shorter, smooth fur of a dark gray washed with brown.
Feet pale brownish, with a darker brown line extending to the outer side; the
fringing hairs of the toes white. Tail covered with short hairs that barely
conceal the scales; color brown above, paler and somewhat silvery below,
nearly clear whitish on the basal half. Vibrisse short, extending back to the
ear, white.
The skull does not apparently differ from that of C. himalayica except
in the slightly smaller size and smaller teeth. The great reduction of the pos-
terior cusp of the first upper incisor and the specialization of the tooth through
its sharply pointed main cusp are generic characters.
Measurements:—Since no flesh measurements were available of the type
specimen, the following are of value from a series of topotypes collected by
Mr. Clifford H. Pope.
No. Head and body Tail Hind foot Ear Locality
84793 106.0 84.0 22.0 5 Fukien
84794 80.0 90.0 21.0 7 Fukien
84795 108.0 91.0 23.0 10 Fukien
24307 MCz 95-5 80.5 20.5 — Chekiang
For cranial measurements, see table under C. h. himalayica.
Occurrence and Habits:—This race of the Himalayan Water Shrew is
apparently fairly common in suitable localities, such as along upland streams
in eastern China. In addition to the original specimen from Kuatun in north-
western Fukien, three others were taken at Chunganhsien, close to the same
place by Mr. Clifford H. Pope in May, June, and early July, 1926. He notes
that the native name is ‘‘shui lao shu’’ or water rat, and though seldom taken,
it is said to be fairly common in the Kuatun streams. His hunter was certain
he had seen the same animal in the Futsing Mountains in the same province
at hardly 300 feet altitude, but all efforts to procure it there failed. In life the
tail is four-sided. The most northerly point of its known range is furnished
by a single skin without skull collected by J. T. Wright at Tunglu, northern
Chekiang, and now in the Museum of Comparative Zodlogy. To the south-
west it extends its range probably across most of the mountainous area of
southern China, but the actual records are at present few. These are of several
from the Yao Shan district of Kwangsi (Shih, 1930, p. 2) and ten others from
the Yao Shan region, North River, in Kwangtung (Shih, 1930a, p. 1; 1931, p. 2).
In the mountainous regions of the latter province, Mell (1922, p. 16) also
secured it, and records two apparently newly born young found on May 12,
in Mahutze Shan, 750 meters altitude. Two adult males and a female were
taken at ‘‘Drachenkopf,’’ Kwangtung, in a deep valley along a rocky brook,
and another under a large stone by a brook at Mahutze Shan. It is evidently
146 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
confined to the vicinity of small streams and is supposed by Anderson to live
upon insects and small fishes. As a subspecies this is barely distinguishable on
the ground of its slightly smaller size, and doubtless intergrades with the typical
race in western China.
Specimens examined:—In all, five, namely:
Chekiang: Tunglu, 1 (skin only, M.C.Z.).
Fukien: Chunganhsien, 3; Kuatun, 1 (B.M., type).
60. Chimarrogale styani De Winton and Styan
Chimarrogale styani De Winton and Styan, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1899, p. 574.
Type specimen:—A female, skin and skull, No. 99.3.1.8, British Museum,
from Yangliupa, northwestern Szechwan. Collected June 16, 1897, by
F. W. Styan.
Description:—Above, uniform dark slaty black from the shoulders back-
ward, interspersed with shining white hairs increasing in length and in numbers
on the rump; below, including the lips and side of the face to the level of the
eye, white washed with yellow, a sharp line dividing the dark and light surfaces.
Feet white except a narrow area on the dorsal surface, running toward the fifth
digit. Tail; short-haired, tapering and colored above like the back, below
whitish to the tip.
No comparative account of the skull characters is given by the author,
but from an examination of the type it appears that the skull is slightly smaller
than that of C. himalayica.
Measurements:—The only available measurements are those of the type,
taken from the dried skin, and a second specimen in the British Museum,
which I have had the privilege of examining.
No. Head and body Tail Hind foot Ear Locality
99.3.1.8 BM (108) (61) 20.0 — Szechwan
15.2.1.2 BM 100 85 17.5 (s.u.) 6 Burma
CRANIAL MEASUREMENTS OF CHIMARROGALE STYANI
Breadth Breadth Upper Lower
Greatest Basal Palatal of brain across tooth tooth
No. length length length case molars TOW TOW Locality
99.3.1.8 BM (type) 11.3 7a 10.5 9.6 Szechwan
15.2.1.2 BM 23.9 21.7 II.0 11.8 7.0 9.9 9.3. Burma
Occurrence and Habits:—This rare aquatic shrew is known from but two
specimens, the type in the British Museum, and a second specimen secured by
F. Kingdon Ward in the mountains of Upper Burma, at an altitude of 11,000
feet (Thomas, 1915d, p. 335). He writes (F. K. Ward, 1921) that he captured
it by hand as it swam in a small brook on Imaw Bum in the daytime.
Evidently it resembles in its habits the other species of the genus, frequenting
THE INSECTIVORES 147
alpine streams. It is, however, very different in appearance, for the sharply
delimited white ventral surface is, as Thomas says, very similar to the color
pattern of a Neomys, or even of the American water shrews (Neosorex). In
this respect, too, it is similar to the Japanese species, C. platycephala, with
which it is perhaps more closely related than with C. himalayica. Except for
the smaller size of C. styant, it is otherwise rather similar to the last, and it is,
therefore, interesting to find the two living in much the same region. Possibly,
however, the present species is somewhat more northern in distribution, and
will yet be found in Kansu and the Tsingling region.
Specimens examined:—I have examined both the above-mentioned
specimens:
“Northwestern Szechwan”: 1 (B.M., the type).
Upper Burma: Naung Chaung valley, Wulaw Pass, 1 (B.M.).
Genus Nectogale Milne-Edwards
Nectogale Milne-Edwards, Compt. Rend. Acad. Sci., Paris, vol. 70, p. 341, 1870; Ann. des Sci. Nat., Zool.,
ser. 5, vol. 13, I p., 1870; Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. 4, vol. 5, p. 306, 1870; Recherches pour servir a 1’Hist.
Nat. des Mammifeéres, p. 266, 1868-74.
Although Milne-Edwards regarded the water shrews of the Old and New
Worlds (Crossopus[ = Neomys]|, Neosorex, and Nectogale) as forming a special
subfamily, Crossopinz, annectant between the more typical shrews and the
desmans, it seems now obvious that the first two are specializations of the
Soricinz, while the last is a crocidurine, representing a still further adaptation
of the water-living type already foreshadowed by Chimarrogale. In its habits
it is doubtless more aquatic, and the teeth are specialized, probably for fish-
eating, through the more narrowed and prehensile nature of the crowns of the
anterior part of the jaws. This genus of water shrews is externally character-
ized by the long snout, reduced valvular ears, the tail modified for swimming
by the development of median and lateral keels of stiff short hairs, by the
webbed feet, and by the abundance of long, white-tipped over-hairs that serve
to shed water. These and the characters of the skull are excellently shown in
Milne-Edwards’s plates (1868-74, pls. 39, 39A). He describes the tail as
quadrangular at the base, triangular in section in the middle third, and later-
ally compressed in its terminal portion. Basally a line of short stiff bristles
marks the lower angle on each side, beyond which the two lines run together;
forming a ventral fringe along the median line quite to the tip of the tail,
corresponding to a dorsal fringe along the terminal three-quarters of the upper
side. Similar but shorter lateral fringes are present along the middle third of
the tail. The fore and hind feet are webbed to the base of the terminal
phalanges, and their edges are provided with a fringe of short, stiff, flattened
hairs like those in Chimarrogale, to enhance the swimming power of the feet.
The feet are covered dorsally by small scales, which on the toes become trans-
148 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
verse scutes. Most remarkable are the disk-like pads of both fore and hind
feet. These, as shown in Milne-Edwards’s excellent figures, consist chiefly
of a wide transverse pad across the bases of digits 2 to 5 of the fore foot and of
3 and 4 of the hind, that of the fore foot nearly a third larger than that of the
hind; back of this on each foot is a pair of narrower transverse pads, one from
the base of the first digit and one from the opposite side of the foot, both of
which nearly touch in the center of the palm. Two others, forming a similar
transverse row, are shown at the base of the fore foot, but in the hind foot
there is only one transverse pad on the inner side parallel to that at the base
of the first toe, while the metatarsal tubercle is very small and oval with its
axis longitudinal. These extraordinary pads must be useful as adhesive disks
in climbing out on wet stones in the streams where the animal lives, as Milne-
Edwards suggests.
The skull is extraordinarily flattened, with a very broad brain case, the
dorsal profile of which forms nearly a continuation of the same straight line as
that of the rostrum. Milne-Edwards’s figures show a pair of small incisive
foramina between the first pair of upper unicuspids, and two linear palatal
openings about opposite the large premolar. The teeth are mainly notable
for the slender and somewhat unusually elongate first incisors, both upper and
lower, while the basal cusp of the upper is much reduced. The three upper
unicuspids are low and rather more elongate in the axis of the tooth row than
in other shrews, the two first nearly of equal height and cross-section, the third
(the canine) smaller. In the lower jaw the small canine and premolar have
each a central cusp with two smaller cusps, one in front, the other behind
the central one. The cusps of the molar teeth are shorter, but the third molar
is not more reduced than in Crocidura. The tooth formula is the same,
namely: if c.t pm.t m.3 =28.
Only a single species is known, which is confined to mountain streams of
the Chinese highlands westward into Sikkim, where it is represented by a
slightly browner subspecies.
61. Nectogale elegans Milne-Edwards
WEB-FOOTED WATER SHREW
Nectogale elegans Milne-Edwards, Compt. Rend. Acad. Sci., Paris, vol. 70, p. 341, February, 1870; Ann. des
Sci. Nat., Zool., ser. 5, vol. 13, art. 10, 1 p., March, 1870; Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. 4, vol. 5, p. 306,
April, 1870; Recherches pour servir 4 l'Hist. Nat. des Mammiféres, p. 266, pls. 39, 39A, figs. 1-11, 1868-74.
Nyctogale elegans David, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1873, p. 555 (errorim).
Type specimen:—No type is mentioned in the descriptions, but the original
specimen from Muping, Szechwan, is presumably still in the Muséum d’His-
toire Naturelle at Paris.
Description:—General color above slaty gray, overlain, except on the head,
THE INSECTIVORES 149
with longer hairs having gray bases and prominent white tips, which become
more abundant posteriorly. Lower surface of the body from the upper lips
and chin to the tail, white, rather sharply marked off from the color of the
upper side, the hairs everywhere gray at the base. The feet are brown, their
fringes of short hairs white; and the tail is like the back, with its fringes white.
The prominent vibrissze are white. Milne-Edwards states that when wet, the
hair shows minute rainbow reflections as in the desmans, and certain other
insectivores.
The skull has been sufficiently characterized in the generic description, and
is chiefly notable for its flattened and broadened brain case, and the rather slender
first incisors succeeded by long-crowned narrow unicuspids with prominent
central cusp and, in the lower canine and premolar, with minute secondary cusps.
Measurements:—The measurements of the type specimen are given by
Milne-Edwards as follows: total length, 190 mm.; tail, 100; hind foot, 25; fore
foot, 16. Skull, greatest length, 25 mm.; width of brain case, 15.
Occurrence and Habits:—This beautiful water shrew was one of Pére
Armand David's discoveries in the mountainous district of Muping, central
Szechwan. He found it along the banks of the impetuous mountain torrents
and small streams, into which it plunges and swims with remarkable facility,
in pursuit of small fish which apparently form its main diet. It seemed to be
not rare though difficult to secure because of its aquatic habits. To procure
specimens he found it necessary to dam off sections of small streams in order
to find and dig out its burrows. A writer in the Journal of the Bombay
Natural History Society even had the experience of capturing one that came
for the small fish which he was using as bait while fishing along a mountain
stream in India.
This is still a rare species in collections. In addition to the original
specimen in the Paris Museum, from Muping, Pére David later found it in the
mountains of Shensi, near Sianfu, where he resided for three and a half months
in the course of his natural-history explorations (David, 1873). More than
twenty years later Prince Henri d’Orléans obtained four others in the course of
his journey across Yunnan, but the exact localities are not given by Pousargues
(1896a, p. 1) who records them. Finally, a single one, agreeing in all respects
with the original description, was recorded by De Winton and Styan (1899,
p. 573) from Yangliupa in northwestern Szechwan, thus indicating probably
its general northwesterly limits. The latter authors also describe as N.
sikhimensis two specimens from Sikkim, India, which differ in their browner
tint, but doubtless should be regarded as a subspecies only.
Specimens examined:—One skin from Yangliupa, northwestern Szechwan
(B.M.).
CHAPTER V
ORDER CHIROPTERA
BATS
Bats may be looked upon as highly specialized derivatives from the in-
sectivore group that have developed the power of true flight through the
formation of supporting surfaces by the extension of folds of skin between the
hind legs and tail, and between the fore and hind limbs, and more particularly
through the transformation of the hand into a wing by the lengthening of the
four fingers and the stretching of a membrane between them. In habits many
are still insectivorous and retain the essential type of insectivorous molar teeth
with W-shaped secant ridges and cusps. At the same time others have become
frugivorous and have lost this type of dentition and instead have developed
teeth modified in various ways for crushing fruit pulp or other vegetable sub-
stances. In correlation with the development of flight, the bodily structure
has undergone various modifications, such as the reversibility of the hind limbs
and the reshaping of the foot and claws into a hook-like structure for hanging
up while at rest; the fibula is usually reduced and slender; the ulna likewise
becomes thread-like and incomplete distally; various fusions of the vertebrz
take place for strengthening the spinal column; the breast muscles become
enormous for flight; the proportions of the fingers of the hand are greatly ©
altered, with loss of the claws, except that the thumb retains a short hook-like
claw and the first finger may do so. The fur of the wings and supporting
membranes also tends to be lost, from the former altogether, and from the
membranes in great part. The group as represented by the living members
consists of some seventeen families and is usually regarded as comprising two
suborders, the Megachiroptera constituted by the family Pteropide or fruit
bats, and the Microchiroptera including the remaining sixteen families whose
members are for the most part insectivorous, although many have become
frugivorous or have developed other special food habits. The Pteropidz are
exclusively Old World in distribution, confined almost altogether to the
tropical and subtropical regions, although one species occurs in Japan and
another even in the Bonin Islands. On the mainland the family barely reaches
150
THE BATS
151
the southern border of China, where it is at present known by two genera only.
Of the Microchiroptera, six families are represented, of which the Vespertilion-
ide contains the most species.
The following key, based in part on Miller’s
synopsis of the families and genera of bats, will serve for their diagnosis.
A. Larger species, index finger with three phalanges, the last with a
claw; ear simple, oval and tubular, without development of the
tragus; humerus with the outer supplementary head little de-
veloped and not articulating with the scapula................
B. Smaller species, index finger never clawed, and its terminal joint
lost; ears largely developed, the lower portion expanded and
curved forward, but not completely encircling the opening, the
tragus usually well developed; humerus with the outer supple-
mentary head large and usually articulating with the scapula. . .
a. Muzzle with conspicuous leaf-like outgrowths.
a’. Tragus present, bifid; nose-leaves simple...............
b’. Tragus absent; nose-leaves more complex.
I.
Hind toes-with two phalanges-each; nose-leaves con-
sisting of a flat horseshoe-shaped leaf on the muzzle,
with an erect transverse ridge behind, divided more or
lessiantorthree pantsAs minx fo Pus alee si cletibiala ste
. Hind toes with three phalanges each; nose-leaves con-
sisting of a flat horseshoe in front, a narrow erect and
fleshy connecting piece, and a terminal pointed leaf. .
b. Muzzle without conspicuous leaf-like outgrowths.
a’. The tail tip conspicuously free from the interfemoral
membrane.
I.
Second finger without phalanges; tail perforating the
upper side of the membrane; postorbital processes
mresent inthe: skull 0:
. Second finger with one small phalanx; tail projecting
from the posterior border of the interfemoral mem-
brane; no postorbital processes....................
b’. The tail tip not conspicuously projecting beyond the
mterfemoral membrane Ai: 3).0/se a A eee ieee
Family PTEROPIDA
FRUIT BATS OR FLYING FOXES
KEY TO THE FAMILIES OF CHINESE AND MONGOLIAN CHIROPTERA
Megachiroptera
(Pteropidz)
Microchiroptera
Megadermidze
Hipposideridz
Rhinolophide
Emballonuride
Molosside
Vespertilionide
In this, the only family of the suborder Megachiroptera, the obvious ex-
ternal characters lie in the less reduction of the wing bones, in that the second
digit usually has a claw and retains all three of its phalanges, although they are
small; further, the ears are elongate and oval, their bases forming a closed
tube without the development of the tragus, seen in the Microchiroptera, while
152 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
the tail is usually very small and partly free from the interfemoral membranes,
which themselves are reduced to narrow borders stretched by the short cal-
canea. When at rest, hanging by the feet, the head is not turned dorsally
when the animal looks about, but faces forward, with the eyes looking to the
front. In the skeletal structure the shoulder joint is less complex, lacking a
secondary articulation by means of the outer supplementary head of the
humerus with the scapula. The skull has well-developed postorbital processes;
the premaxillary is generally free and lacks the palatal branch, while the cheek
teeth, both upper and lower, are nearly similar in shape, the molars having
two blunt cusps on their anterior end, the protocone and paracone in the upper
teeth, protoconid and metaconid in the lower. Two genera are known to
reach southern China, which is close to the northern limit of their distribution
on the mainland.
Key To THE GENERA OF CHINESE PTEROPID2
A. Size smaller, forearm less than 90 mm.; tail present but very short.
a. Back of skull so little deflected downward that the alveolar line, if pro-
jected backward, falls outside the skull; cheek teeth four above, five
below back of Canine rr ciiersterscl sore okorejeieromeesseietee excite tenet ear Cynopterus
b. Back of skull so deflected downward that the alveolar line, if projected
backward, passes through the root of the zygoma; cheek teeth five above,
six below, ‘backs.of camines <6)... gai vices sds esd wid hes tie eee Daeetiaele Rousettus
B. Size larger, forearm more than 90 mm.; tail absent; back of skull so deflected
that the alveolar line, if projected backward, passes through the zygoma.... Pteropus
[Pteropus chinensis Gray:—In 1870, Dr. J. E. Gray (1870, p. 111) de-
scribed under this name a bat which he supposed came from northern China.
As explained by Andersen (1912, p. 315), this specimen was received from
Robert Fortune, a collector of plants, who traveled in the northern provinces
of China in 1843-45. His specimen appears to have been without label, but
was assumed by Gray to have come from that country and so was named P.
chinensis. But Andersen points out that Fortune, previous to his visit to
China, had also been in the Philippines, and since the type of P. chinensis
“differs in no noteworthy character from that of Pt. leucopterus [of the Philip-
pines] there can be no reasonable doubt that it was obtained by Fortune during
his stay in Luzon.’’]
[Pteropus formosus P. L. Sclater:—According to Mell (1922, p. 13) there
is in the City Hall Museum at Hongkong, a specimen of this Formosan species
labeled merely ‘‘15 XII 1899, Ford.’’ Mell states that Ford had been Director
of the Hongkong Botanical Garden since 1871, so that presumably the specimen
was from near that city. That it might have been sent or brought from
Formosa by persons coming from that island seems equally probable and much
more likely than that it was a waif, borne by storms or in a trading vessel. It
THE BATS 153
should, therefore, await more certain evidence before being admitted as a
Chinese species.]
The rejection of these two records leaves no member of the genus Pteropus
as definitely known to occur in China. The presence of the closely allied P.
formosus and P. dasymallus in Formosa and Japan respectively, and of P.
pselaphon, an ally of the Philippine P. leucopterus, in the Bonin Islands, and
the entire absence of the genus from the mainland of China, so far as at present
known, may be in part a result of an older distribution when higher temper-
atures prevailed to the northward, and in part a result of the mollifying effect
of the warm Japanese current making it possible for these species to subsist
in such outlying regions.
Genus Cynopterus F. Cuvier
Cynopterus F. Cuvier, Dents des Mammiféres, p. 248, 1825.
The fruit bats of this genus are of medium size, with stout heavy bodies
and short snouts. The nostrils are prominent, almost tubular; the second
finger has a well-developed claw; the tail, though very short, is present, and its
tip projects beyond the narrow interfemoral membrane. The calcaneum, as
usual in the group, is short, about equaling the width of the hind foot, and
serves to extend the narrow interfemoral membrane. In the skull the rostrum
is short, the postorbital processes well developed, and the occiput so little bent
that the line of the alveoli, if projected backward, passes through the upper
part of the audital bullz and occipital condyles. The four upper incisors form
a transverse row and are all in contact with one another, but are separated from
the canine by a short space. The canines, both upper and lower, have a small
secondary cingulum cusp on the inner side. The first premolar is small, the
upper smaller than the lower; the second is the largest in both jaws; the molars
(one above and two below) are smallest in descending series. The crowns of these
larger teeth are simple, with an inner and an outer ridge and a groove between,
suitable for frugivorous habits. The tooth formula is: i.§ ct pm. m.4=30.
The palate has ten or twelve thick crescentic cross-ridges between the tooth
rows.
Andersen (1912) recognizes sixteen forms representing six species dis-
tributed across the oriental region from the Indian peninsula and Ceylon,
north to Sind, Nepal, Siam and east to Hainan, thence southward and east-
ward to Borneo, Celebes, and the Philippines. Two species seem to occur in
China, one of which, Cynopterus sphinx, is the type of the genus.
62. Cynopterus sphinx sphinx (Vahl)
Vespertilio sphinx Vahl, Skrift. Naturh. Selsk. Copenhagen, vol. 4, pt. 1, p. 123, 1797.
Cynopterus sphinx sphinx Andersen, Cat. Chiroptera British Mus., vol. 1, p. 598, 1912 (full synonymy).
Type specimen:—According to Andersen (1912, p. 602), the two original
154 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
specimens from Tranquebar, Madras, India, on which the species was based,
were formerly in the collection of the Copenhagen Natural History Society,
and were probably transferred to the newly founded Royal Natural History
Museum in 1804. Doubtless, however, they were destroyed with many other
mounted skins through defective preservation in the years following.
Description:—A stout-bodied olive-brown bat, with the flanks and sides
of the neck bright tawny.
Top of head, back, forearms, and basal part of the interfemoral olive
brown, the neck region more or less tawny-russet, which on the sides of the
neck becomes cinnamon rufous, forming a half-collar, and on the flanks pales
into a slightly lighter shade again. The center of the belly is drab. Ears
naked, black with conspicuous narrow white edges. Membranes dark, black-
ish, the phalanges of the fingers contrastingly pale whitish. On the under side
the fur extends out on the membrane slightly less than half-way between the
elbow and the wrist. Females usually have the tawny shades paler than the
males, and young specimens lack them almost wholly, being dull olive brown
or slaty brown, paler or darker drab below.
The skull in these bats is readily recognizable by the very slight deflection
of the posterior part, so that the line of the alveoli of the teeth if continued
backward would fall outside the skull. The short deep rostrum is a conspicu-
ous character, the distance from the orbit to the nostril opening usually slightly
exceeding one-fourth the length of the skull.
Measurements:—The forearm measurement varies, according to Andersen
(1912, p. 634), from 66-73.5 mm.; the tail from 10-13; the tibia from 25-27.5;
the foot from 16-18.5.
CRANIAL MEASUREMENTS OF CYNOPTERUS SPHINX
Zygo- Width Upper Lower
Greatest Basal Palatal matic Mastoid across tooth tooth
No. length length length width width molars TOW row Sex Locality
58433 21.5 27.0) T6:2 20.0 13.0 10.0 11.0 12.0 o' Hainan
58438 20) 27.2) 16.0 20.3 13.3 9.5 10.2 11.7 @ Hainan
58443 31-7, 28.0 16.1 20.4 TSSr 9.8 10.9 11.5 3 Hainan
58436 32.8 29.0 17.0 21.8 13.5 10.2 II.1 12.3 o Hainan
58410 32.0 28.8 16.5 21.4 13.0 9.3 10.9 12.2 o Hainan
58441 31.5, 28:0 15.8 20.0 12.4 9.5 10.3 11.8 3 Hainan
58422 31.0 28.0 16.2 19.8 12.3 9.6 II.1 12.5 3 Hainan
58417 31.8 ©) 28:2 16.5 20.3 12.8 9.5 II. 12.0 Q Hainan
58439 Binge 20:2m LOL 20.0 12.6 9.1 10.6 11.9 @ Hainan
58431 SISt 192748 16.4 20.2 13.0 9.0 11.0 11.9 + @ Hainan
58346 Atel) 27.70 1610 20.3 12.5 9.2 10.8 12.2 Q Hainan
From the above table it is clear that males and females average almost
exactly the same in cranial dimensions.
THE BATS 155
Occurrence and Habits:—This is the larger species of Cynopterus found over
most of India, Assam, Burma, and Siam, and is represented by a slightly larger
race on the islands of Sumatra and Java. Its presence on the mainland of
China has not been detected, although it must eventually be found along the
extreme southern border, and doubtless in southwestern Yunnan, for Andersen
records it from just across the border in Burma at Bhamo and the Kakhyen
Hills. The credit for its actual discovery in China is due to Mr. Clifford H.
Pope, who in December, 1922, and January, 1923, found it abundant at
Nodoa, Hainan, during the season of the year when the chinaberry trees are in
fruit. Between December 4 and January 23, he secured a series of thirty-six
specimens in that vicinity. He writes: ““December 9th. This morning I secured
several bats of a species new to our growing collection. They were found
hanging in bunches of three or four on the under side of palm leaves, twelve or
fourteen feet above the ground, and in places not in the least dark, where they
were shaded only by the hanging ends of the leaves.
“When the fruit of the Chinaberry tree, sometimes called the Pride of
India, was well developed these big bats became a nuisance. Every evening
about nine o’clock they would come out in numbers to feed on these fruits. All
through the night Chinaberry seeds could be heard dropping on nearly every
porch in the compound, and the following morning the porches would have piles
of the seeds on them. A bat after picking some fruit, would fly to a porch,
hang there from a nail or some projection of the under side of the roof, and
proceed to feast, rejecting the seeds, most of which would be found in little
piles, showing that the bats had favorite projections and nails, and thus night
after night would litter the same places. If surprised at his feast the bat would
quickly fly off.
“We often found these bats hanging under the palm leaves but never more
than seven or eight together. As long as the Chinaberries lasted, these big bats
were always in evidence. After the fruiting season was over, however, they
disappeared and in the course of a two months’ stay thereafter were not seen
at all” (Pope, in MS.).
No doubt the seasonal abundance varies, as Mr. Pope’s notes indicate,
according to the fruiting season of particular trees, and the remarkable thing
is that they arrive in numbers at the proper time. This habit perhaps accounts
for the fact that Swinhoe and later collectors in Hainan failed to find this bat.
Specimens examined:—In all, thirty-six, from Nodoa, Hainan.
156 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
63. Cynopterus brachyotis angulatus Miller
Cynopterus angulatus Miller, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, 1898, p. 316.
Cynopterus brachyotis angulatus Andersen, Cat. Chiroptera British Mus., vol. 1, p. 611, 1912.
Type specimen:—A male in alcohol, No. 83569, U. S. National Museum,
from Trong, lower Siam.
Description:—Similar in size and coloring to C. sphinx with which it occurs
over part of its range, but the ear is smaller and the rostrum shorter, so that the
distance from the orbit to the nasal opening is less than, instead of equaling,
one fourth of the total length of the skull. The same sexual and age differences
in color are found in this species as in C. sphinx.
Measurements:—No Chinese specimens are available for measurement,
but Andersen (1912, p. 634) gives the following dimensions: forearm, 65-72
mm.; ear from orifice, 16-18, instead of 18-20 as in C. sphinx; tail, 8.5-11.5;
foot with claws, 15-17.5; tibia, 23.5-27.5.
The skull measures: greatest length, 30.5-33.2; basal length, 29.5-32;
palatal length, 11.0-12.8; rostrum, 6.5-8.2; zygomatic width, 19.8-21.8; upper
cheek teeth, crowns, 10.2-11.3; lower cheek teeth, crowns, I1.1-12.8.
Occurrence and Habits:—This is the largest of the several races of the
species and occurs over a wide area from Assam, Upper Burma, and northern
Siam, southward in the Malay Peninsula, to Sumatra and the neighboring
islands. Its presence in China is, therefore, not unexpected, and it will prob-
ably be found to reach the extreme southern border. The only actual record
for China is that of Mell (1922), who states that it is common in the southern
part of the Canton region, as at Logong, Lofau Shan, and Dingwu Shan, as well
as on the East River (Ho Yiin), but in the northern part of this area he had
but one instance, at Jann-fah.
Mell states that in March and April it feeds on the large fleshy flowers of
Bombax malabaricum, and in doing so knocks off to the ground from a half to
four-fifths of the heavy blood-red flower heads. In June it becomes a well-
known pest to the “‘laitsi”” growers, and at that season is often captured in nets
placed vertically about these trees. In September and October, they feed on
the fruit of a species of fig, Ficus retusa. During the day they hide in thick or
hollow trees, and on one occasion he found one resting behind a beam in a room.
They are always awake by day, their eyes open, and are ready to fly away at
once if disturbed. Mell believes that they are crepuscular and sleep during
part of the night. They are of a restless and vicious temperament. Captives
will eat at dusk such soft-skinned fruits as banana and persimmon, as well as
the laitsi and lungan fruits. A dozen females that he found in late June and
early July had each a small young one close under the wing. The young
apparently change from one teat to the other, for two young, though occasional,
THE BATS 157
are the exception. One female caught in a tree net was said to have had two
young. These bats, Mell adds, are eaten by the Chinese as they believe them
“strengthgiving.”
Specimens examined :—None.
Genus Rousettus Gray
Rousettus Gray, London Medical Repository, vol. 15, p. 299, 1821.
Bats of this genus somewhat resemble Cynopterus externally but are more
nearly a uniform smoky brown than olive in color. The size, however, is much
the same. In cranial characters the skull of Rousettus differs in the slightly
greater deflection of the posterior part, so that the alveolar line if projected
backward passes through the condyles or through the base of the zygoma; in
addition, the rostrum is less shortened, so that the distance from the edge of the
orbit to the nares is greater than the lachrymal width. In its teeth it much
resembles Cynopterus, but the cusps, ridges and grooves are less strongly de-
veloped. The tooth formula differs in that there is one more molar in each
jaw both above and below, namely: ict pm. m.s=34. The genotype is
Rousettus egyptiacus.
This genus barely reaches the extreme southern borders of China, for its
distribution is tropical and subtropical. A single species has been once
recorded.
64. Rousettus leschenaulti (Desmarest)
LESCHENAULT’S ROUSSETTE BAT
Pteropus leschenaultt Desmarest, Encyclop. Méthod., Mamm., vol. 1, p. 110, no. 142, 1820.
Cynonycteris amplexicaudata Swinhoe, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1870, p. 616.
Type specimens:—According to Andersen (1912, p. 37), the two cotypes of
this species are still in existence in the mounted collection of the Muséum
d’Histoire Naturelle at Paris, and are labeled as from “les environs de Pon-
dichéry,”’ India, collected by Leschenault previous to 1820.
Description:—A fairly large bat, forearm 80.5-87.5 mm., with the general
appearance of the other Chinese fruit bats, Cynopterus, but the color of the fur
browner instead of olive, the back and rump dark, dull brown, crown and
occiput brownish bister, the nape varying from light drab to almost wood
brown; under side between drab and isabella color. There is also a consider-
ably brighter phase, with the back and rump Mars brown, the under side wood
brown (Andersen, 1912, p. 37).
The longer rostrum and the slightly more deflected brain case distinguish
the skull from that of Cynopterus, and the teeth are one more in each jaw, as
noted under the generic diagnosis.
158 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
Measurements:—Andersen gives the following measurements: forearm,
80.5-87.5 mm,; tail, 13-17.5; foot with claws, 20-23.5. The skull measures:
greatest length, 37.5-41.5 mm.; orbit to tip of nasals, 12.8-13.5; zygomatic
width, 22.8-23.7; width outside molars, II-12; upper cheek teeth, 14-15.7;
lower cheek teeth, 15.2-17.
Occurrence and Habits:—The only evidence for the inclusion of this species
in the Chinese list is furnished by the following records. Swinhoe (1870,
p. 616) reported that in May, 1866, a female Cynonycteris amplexicaudata was
brought to him at Amoy, dead, but with a still-living young one clinging to her.
Andersen (1912, p. 35) regards this record as referring to the species in question.
It is corroborated by a second instance mentioned by Mell (1922, p. 13), of a
specimen in the City Hall Museum at Canton, labeled as from Hongkong, and
dated June 9, 1876. The species evidently, therefore, occasionally reaches the
extreme southern border of China, and is of course well known in India,
southern Burma and Siam.
Specimens examined:—None.
Family EMBALLONURIDZ
SHEATH-TAILED BATS
In this family, according to Miller (1907), are combined the greatest
number of primitive characters, together with the least degree of specialization
of any of the Chinese Microchiroptera. In the shoulder joint, the supplement-
ary inner and outer heads of the humerus are slightly developed, and the latter
does not articulate with the scapula; the teeth are typically those of insectivo-
rous bats, the premaxillary bones are not fused to the maxillaries, the tragus is
present but simple, the fibula is slender but complete, while in the skull the
postorbital processes are large and well developed. Externally, in addition to
the fact that the slender and rather short tail projects conspicuously on the
upper surface of the interfemoral membrane slightly back from its edge, the
bats of this family may be at once recognized by the peculiar manner of folding
the wing, so that when at rest the inner of the two phalanges of the third finger
is folded back on the upper side. The family is represented in the tropical
parts of both Old and New Worlds, and by only a single genus, Taphozous, in
China. Although two species are recorded from the country, one of these
appears to be of doubtful origin, while the other is apparently for the first time
here reported.
Genus Taphozous Geoffroy
Taphozous Geoffroy, Description de l’Egypte, vol. 2, p. 113, 1818.
The bats of this genus are large or of medium size, with large erect ears,
THE BATS 159
a short squarish tragus, long tapering muzzle, and the lower lip terminating in
two bare areas separated by a groove; the feet are rather slender, and the very
long calcar spreads the short interfemoral membrane, from the upper surface
of which the slender tail projects. In the skull the forehead is distinctly
hollowed, the postorbital processes are well developed, narrow, and in the
lower jaw there is a conspicuous incurving of the lower margin beneath the
premolars; the premaxillary bones are small and free, carrying each a minute
incisor; the strong canines have a conspicuous cingulum which develops a
small basal cusp at the anterior and posterior ends of the tooth; in the first and
second upper molars the W-pattern of cusps and ridges is well marked, but the
hypocones are lacking, while the third upper molar is reduced, consisting of
the two anterior commissures and the mesostyle only. The formula is:
iz c.t pm.3 m.$ =30.
The genotype is Taphozous perforatus of Egypt.
The genus is typically an inhabitant of warm countries, tropical and sub-
tropical, barely reaching the southern border of China, unless Hollister’s record
of it from Peiping proves to be well founded.
65. Taphozous melanopogon Temminck
BLACK-BEARDED FREE-TAILED BAT
Taphozous melanopogon Temminck, Monogr. de Mammalogie, vol. 2, p. 287, 1835.
Type specimen:—Presumably in the Leiden Museum; from Java.
Description:—On the upper side the fur is confined to the head and body,
not extending out on to the membranes or to the limbs, but on the lower
surface it extends out on the membranes as far as a line joining the elbow and
the middle of the femur. The general color of the fur both above and below is
a dull brown (about “mummy brown’’ of Ridgway), the bases of the hairs
everywhere dull white, which shows through on the throat, and if the hair is
parted, on other portions of the body. At the chin is a small tuft of all-black
hairs, whence the specific name.
The skull, in addition to the general characters already mentioned, is
notable for the large oval brain case with a nearly vertical posterior wall and
the hollowed forehead. The large canines are long, slender and nearly vertical,
followed by a very small premolar with a narrow knife-like edge, and the large
premolar with its main cusp nearly reaching the level of the tip of the canine,
making a conspicuous space between the two. The “‘basial’”’ pits between the
ear conchs are large and deep with a distinct narrow partition in the midline.
160 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
Measurements:—The collector’s measurements of four Yunnan specimens
follow:
No. Total length Tail Hind foot Ear Expanse of wings
85012 110 25 13 21.5 405
85014 100 23 12 21.0 391
85015 105 24 13 21.0 391
85016 . I10 25 14 21.0 410
The skulls of these specimens measure:
Zygo- Width Upper Lower
Greatest Basal Palatal matic Mastoid across tooth tooth
No. length length length width width molars Tow Tow Sex Locality
85014 22.2 8.8 12.8 — 8.9 9.0 10.0 foil Yunnan
85015 22.0 18.4 8.8 13.0 TL.3 8.9 9.0 10.0 g Yunnan
85016 22.0 19.8 9.0 13.0 11.6 9.3 9.0 10.0 fou Yunnan
85012 22.3 19.0 8.9 13.0 11.4 9.0 9.0 10.3 fot Yunnan
Occurrence and Habits:—This is a widely distributed species over much of
tropical India and parts of the Malay Peninsula, although Thomas has de-
scribed as a subspecies, J. m. fretensis, the bat from the Strait of Malacca,
whose range, therefore, intervenes between that of typical 7. melanopogon of
Java and the continental form supposedly the same. It is represented in the
collections of the Central Asiatic Expeditions by four skins and three alcoholic
specimens from Yuankiang, in southern Yunnan. These appear to be the first
recorded Chinese examples and add another to the list of those tropical and
subtropical species the northern border of whose range includes southern China.
Since in its general range this genus and even the family is characteristically
tropical in distribution, it is rather astonishing to find it recorded from Peiping,
in North China, whence Hollister (1913a, p. 157) has described Taphozous
solifer on the basis of alcoholic material collected for the U. S. National
Museum by M. L. Robb in 1901. However, since this bat has the “‘size, pro-
portions, and general characters of Taphozous philippinensis” and on account
of the tropical distribution of the group is unlikely to have come from so far
into the temperate zone as Peiping, I cannot help feeling that there must have
been some mistake about the locality, and that Hollister was led to describe
it more on account of its apparently outlying distribution than from any
marked difference. Until more positive evidence is discovered establishing
the occurrence of Taphozous in North China, I therefore prefer to regard this
as an erroneous record, and to believe that the specimens really came from
some more tropical locality, perhaps in the Philippine group. Hollister’s
description follows:
Type:—An adult male in alcohol, No. 113,010, U. S. National Museum.
Collected March 28, 1901, by M. L. Robb.
THE BATS 161
“Diagnosis:—Size, proportions, and general characters of Taphozous
philippinensis. Color quite different; upperparts with underfur drab instead
of white, and with hair tips and general color much paler; lower underparts with
hairs uniformly drab-gray, not bicolor.
“Color from alcoholic specimens:—General color of upperparts wood-
brown, the underfur drab and the hair tips wood-brown. Middle of throat,
including beard and stripe under and back of ear, blackish. Cheeks, sides, and
belly drab-gray, the hairs unicolor.
“Skull and teeth:—Skull almost precisely as in T. philippinensis. Teeth
slightly smaller, the mandibular rows noticeably narrower.
“‘ Measurements of type from alcoholic:—Head and body, 76; tail vertebre,
21; hind foot, with claws, 12; forearm, 64. Skull of topotype: Condylobasal
length, 19.4; zygomatic breadth, 12.5; breadth of braincase, 10.4; mastoid
breadth, 10.9; interorbital breadth, 5.7; postorbital breadth, 4.8; upper tooth
row, entire, 9.1; mandible, 16.4; mandibular tooth row, entire, 11.1.”
Specimens examined:—In all, seven, four skins and skulls, three in alcohol,
from Yuankiang, Yunnan.
Family MEGADERMID
BIG-EARED BATS
This family is confined to the tropical and subtropical parts of Australia,
Asia and Africa, and its members may be recognized externally by the presence
of a simple leaf-like outgrowth erect on the nose, by their large oval ears, and
the possession of but a single phalanx in the second finger. ‘The tragus is also
characteristic in being bifid, with a short anterior division and a long and
slender posterior one. In the skeleton, the two supplementary heads of the
humerus, trochiter and trochin, are small, of nearly equal size, and lack
articulation with the scapula; the third finger has but two phalanges, the
second but one; the very wide presternum is fused with the first rib and the
first dorsal and seventh cervical vertebre, making a solid bony ring; the fibula
is slender, and imperfect at its proximal end; the ischia of the pelvis are free
posteriorly (Miller, 1907, p. 102). In the skull the most marked peculiarity is
the entire loss of the premaxillaries.
So far as at present known, the family is represented in China by only a
single genus, Lyroderma.
162 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
Genus Lyroderma Peters
Lyroderma Peters, Monatsb. Kon. Preuss. Akad. Wiss. Berlin, 1872, p. 195 (as a subgenus of Megaderma).
Miller, Bull. U. S. Nat. Mus., no. 57, p. 104, 1907 (valid genus).
Megaderma Geoffroy, Ann. Mus. d’Hist. Nat., Paris, vol. 15, p. 197, 1810 (in part).
Eucheira Hodgson, Journ. Asiatic Soc. Bengal, vol. 16, p. 891, 1847 (preoccupied by Eucheira Westwood, 1836,
for a genus of insects). Andersen and Wroughton, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. 7, vol. 19, p. 134, 1907.
This genus is very close to Megaderma of India and Malaysia, but is dis-
tinguished by the strong supraorbital ridges which terminate in short projec-
tions as ‘‘incipient postorbital processes’’ and increase the width of the frontal
region so that the lachrymal width is greater instead of less than the distance
from orbit to canine. The teeth differ in that the upper molars are still more
aberrant through the reduction of the mesostyle and the elongation of the
outer posterior corner (metastyle), thus distorting the W-pattern of the outer
half of the tooth so that the two parts of the W are no longer subequal, but the
posterior part is much drawn out and the hind margin much concave. The loss
of the upper incisors is partly made up by the development of a small cingulum
cusp at the anterior base of the canine, while at its posterior base is a similar cusp
and a large basal cusp; the anterior upper premolar is minute, hidden in the
angle between the canine and large premolar, which are in contact. The lower
jaw has two minute incisors on each side, with trifid crowns; the canine has a
prominent antero-internal basal cusp; and the two premolars are large and
triangular in profile, the anterior slightly larger than the posterior. The
formula is: i.¢ c.t pm. m.3=28. A single species only is found in China.
The type species is Lyroderma lyra of India.
66. Lyroderma lyra sinensis (Andersen and Wroughton)
CHINESE VAMPIRE OR BIG-EARED BAT
Eucheira sinensis Andersen and Wroughton, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. 7, vol. 19, p. 136, 1907.
Megaderma lyra Swinhoe, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1870, p. 616 (not of Geoffroy).
Megaderma spasma Shih, Bull. Dept. Biol., Sun Yatsen Univ., Canton, no. 9, p. I, 1930 (not of Linnzus).
Lyroderma lyra sinensis Sanborn, Proc. Biol. Soc. Washington, vol. 46, p. 55, 1933-
Type specimen:—A skin and skull, No. 7.1.1.339, British Museum, from
Amoy, Fukien, China. Tomes Collection.
Description:—Ears large, oval, joined across the forehead at their bases,
naked except for a line of fine minute hairs along the inner edge and on a rib
running just inside the inner margin. Nose-leaf an erect oval leaf about
10 mm. high in the dry skin, minutely hairy. General color of body above,
from nape to tail mouse gray washed with ‘‘wood brown’’; face light gray;
lower surface paler, the hairs with dark-gray bases and grayish-white tips. The
basal joint of the thumb is included in the membrane of the wing; the second
joint of the third finger is very long, equaling the third metacarpal, and is pale
THE BATS 163
in color along the bone. The tibia is unusually long, more than half the length
of the forearm.
The skull is at once distinguished among Chinese bats by the absence of the
premaxillaries.
Measurements:—The forearm measures 67 and 65 mm. in two skins from
Futsing; the third metacarpal, 47, 51; its first phalanx, 30, 28; second phalanx,
55, 49-5; tibia, 37, 33; foot, 20, 19.5.
CRANIAL MEASUREMENTS OF LYRODERMA LYRA SINENSIS
Zygo- Width Upper Lower
Greatest Basal Palatal matic across Mastoid tooth tooth
No. length length length width molars width row TOW Locality
33126 30.0 24.0 12.0 16.7 10.0 13.0 11.2 13.0 Fukien
33129 30.8 24.8 12.2 17.0 10.1 13.0 D'I:7 13.5 Fukien
Occurrence and Habits:—This species of the more torrid parts of south-
eastern Asia, reaches the southern portion of China, ranging northward along
the coast as far at least as northern Fukien, and perhaps to about the same
latitude in the central part of China. It was first mentioned from the country
by Swinhoe (1870c, p. 616) who recorded as Megaderma lyra a pair captured
in an outhouse at Amoy. It may have been one of this pair that was later
acquired by Tomes and came with his collection of bats to the British Museum,
eventually serving as the type of the subspecies. Swinhoe believed also that
other bats he saw hawking high over the city of Amoy were of this species, but
quite as likely they were Taphozous, which has this habit. In the collection of
the American Museum of Natural History is a series of some twelve specimens,
taken at Futsing, Fukien, by Paul D. Bergen, which mark apparently the most
northerly station yet known for the species. Farther south, at Swatow,
Kwangtung, Andersen and Wroughton record a single specimen in the collec-
tion of the British Museum. The first inland record seems to be the recent
one of Shih (1930b, p. 1), who secured two males and a female from the south-
western border of Hunan, apparently from the limestone caves at Yuen Shan.
Under the name Megaderma spasma, he writes that “‘the record of so southern
and tropical a form in a temperate district is remarkable,’’ but I think that his
specimens must have been this species instead.
More recently Sanborn (1933) has recorded a series of thirty-five taken at
Yachowfu (lat. 29° 20’ north), in western Szechwan, the first to be discovered in
western China. These average very slightly larger in the forearm measure-
ment and are described as ‘‘much lighter in color, being decidedly brown instead
of grayish-brown”’ as compared with the Fukien series. The species is evi-
dently to be looked for all across the southern part of China, for while there
seems to be no evidence as yet of its presence in Yunnan, its occurrence there
is to be expected. The curious food habits of the related Indian species are
164 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
well known, and probably like it this bat feeds upon other vertebrates, including
birds, small mammals, and frogs.
Specimens examined:—Twelve, from Futsing, Fukien.
Family RHINOLOPHID/
LEAF-NOSED BATS
Bats of this group are easily distinguished in external appearance by the
peculiarities of the ears and the more or less complex leaf-like outgrowths of
the muzzle. The ears are proportionally large, but the size is apparent not in
their length but in their breadth, with a wide conch which narrows rather
quickly toward an acute tip. There is no tragus. In these respects they
resemble the Hipposideride, but the formation of the nose-leaves is different.
In the Rhinolophide, these consist of a flat horseshoe-shaped leaf, sometimes
with supplementary and smaller lateral leaves; in the central part of the large
leaf open the nostrils, enclosing between them a small median cup-shaped
section, which rises behind these openings as an erect and somewhat parallel-
sided column (the ‘‘sella’’), its flat face directed forward; its posterior side is
buttressed by a low compressed ridge, the ‘‘connecting piece,’’ which continues
back into the median pointed terminal leaf, the “‘lancet,’’ whose base is formed
by the incurved walls of the horseshoe. The Hipposideride lack this develop-
ment of the central column and the single median leaf, but instead the posterior
wall is erect, and divided into three nearly equal compartments by vertical
ridges. Other external peculiarities are: the normal toes, with three joints each
except on the first digit; the second digit of the wing consisting of the meta-
carpal only; the third finger of the wing with only two phalanges; and the rather
short tail. The outer supplementary head of the humerus has a distinct
articulation with the scapula; the seventh cervical and the first dorsal ver-
tebree are solidly fused together and to the first rib and presternum, making a
strong ring of bone at the anterior part of the thorax. The fibula, though
slender and thread-like, is complete. The skull is peculiar in lacking post-
orbital processes, and in the reduction of the premaxillaries, so that they
consist of the narrow palatal branches only, both separate from each other
and from the surrounding bones, and bearing a single minute tooth. The
palate is very short in the median line, on account of deep indentations at both
ends. (For other details see Miller, 1907.)
This family is exclusively confined to the Old World, chiefly in the warmer
portions, from southern Europe to China and eastward to the Philippines, New
Guinea, and Australia. About a dozen species have been found in China, with
various local races. All are members of the single genus Rhinolophus which
constitutes the family, so that the generic characters are those of the family
as well.
THE BATS 165
Genus Rhinolophus Lacépéde
Rhinolophus Lacépéde, Tableau des div., sousdiv., ordres et genres des Mammifeéres, p. 15, 1799.
In addition to the family characters mentioned, the presence of three lower
premolars distinguishes this group of bats from the related family Hipposider-
ide. The tooth formula is: 14 c.t pm. m.$=32. The minute upper in-
cisors have bluntly rounded tips, but the crowns of the lower are trifid, the
outer larger than the inner, and all forming a continuous row between the
canines, which are simple. The first upper and second lower premolars are
very small reduced teeth, usually crowded more or less completely out of the
tooth row, and practically functionless. The first and second upper molars
show the typical W-shaped pattern of cusps, but the third is reduced in size.
Andersen in various articles has reviewed briefly the species of this family,
giving descriptions and short diagnoses. In his paper of 1905 (Proc. Zool. Soc.
London, vol. 2, pp. 75-145), he recognizes three or four larger groups, into
which most of the Chinese species fall. The least specialized of these is the
R. simplex, later called the R. megaphyllus, group, in which the connecting piece
of the erect portion of the nose-leaf is low and rounded, hardly projecting above
its level, and with the basioccipital not specially narrowed between the cochlez
of the ears; a second group is more evolved with the connecting piece produced
upward in a more or less narrowed point, and with normal basioccipital as in the
R. simplex group: the R. lepidus group. A third group, the R. midas group,
has the connecting process low as in the first group, but the cochlez of the ears
are greatly enlarged, making the basioccipital between them very narrow or
linear. This group is apparently unrepresented in China. Two other groups,
typified by R. macrotis and R. philippinensis, have been found to occur in
China. The type species of the genus is the European R. ferrum-equinum.
Key To CHINESE SPECIES oF Rhinolophus
A. Connecting process coming off from nearly the level of
the summit of the sella.
a. Connecting process in side view low and broadly
OUNCE: Ofer sas aie ci ieite Ie aA als secon (R. megaphyllus or R. “simplex”
group)
a’. Sella in front view parallel-sided ; second phalanx
of third digit not more than one and one-half
times the first.
a’. Larger, forearm about 46 mm............ R. rouxi sinicus
b’. Sella in front view pandurate (sides slightly
concave); second phalanx of third digit more
than one and one-half times the first.
a’’. Small p? in the tooth row, palatal bridge
less than one-third the maxillary tooth row R. affinis subsp.
166 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
b’’. Small p? external to the tooth row or want-
ing, palatal bridge more than one-third the
FoaT 7b a [Ena 5) AYR ei IP a Ae en ON R. ferrum-equinum subsp.
b. Connecting process in side view erect and sharply
MOM Ke ees Ase ds lah ee Meee. Mae AT EM (R. pusillus or R. “lepidus”’ group)
a’. Larger, forearm more than 38 mm.
al. Korearmiahout)42 mms cho sorisecs > les R. lepidus
bi. Borearm: about: 200i aon ie cinder R. cornutus pumilus
b’. Smaller, forearm about 37 mm............... R. blythi szechwanus
B. Connecting process coming off well below the summit
of the sella.
a. Sella narrowing towards the summit, without cup-
like or wing-like expansions at its base; palatal
bridge less than one-third the length of maxillary
Loot TOW reacts lol Wee epee Eke ge eo etter R. pearsonii and R. p. chinensis
b. Sella broad, its basal margin raised, cup-like, or ex-
panded, wing-like.
a’. Base of the sella raised and cup-like in front, its
PACE MAIN MAL Nae te tet se PRE Seve cte ars tte oh. R. episcopus episcopus and R.
e. caldwelli
b’. Base of sella expanded wing-like.
a’. Fur woolly, dark, forearm 71-72 mm..... R. lanosus and R. l. spurcus
b’’. Fur normal, forearm about 55 mm....... R. rex
67. Rhinolophus rouxi sinicus Andersen
Rhinolophus rouxi sinicus Andersen, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1905, vol. 2, p. 98.
Rhinolophus rouxi De Winton and Styan, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1899, p. 573 (in part).
Type specimen:—Adult male, skin and skull, No. 99.3.1.6, British Museum,
from Chinteh, Anhwei, China. Collected by F. W. Styan.
Description:—This bat is easily recognized by the combination of the
following characters: (1) in the wing, the more primitive structure is maintained
wherein the second phalanx of the third finger is not lengthened and so does
not exceed one and one-half times the first; (2) there is a distinct supplementary
leaflet external to the horseshoe at the sides of the muzzle; the sella in front view
is narrow and parallel-sided instead of pandurate, with its summit broadly
rounded; the connecting process in side view is low and broadly rounded off,
and the lancet is hastate, that is, abruptly narrowed in the middle, with a well-
developed, slender tip; (3) the wing membrane is inserted on the leg just above
the tarsus; (4) in the skull the palate is relatively unshortened, so that the
median length is more than one-fourth of the maxillary tooth row; (5) in the
upper jaw, the small premolar (p2) usually stands distinctly in the tooth row,
separating the upper canine and the large premolar, while in the lower jaw the
small premolar (ps) is usually external or rarely half external to the tooth row;
(6) the size is less than in the somewhat similar affinis group, with obviously
THE BATS 167
less bulk, so that even if extreme examples approach each other in forearm
length, the wing expanse is less than in the latter; the forearm measurement is
about 46 mm.
In color the adults are a rich russet brown above with a very indistinct
V-shaped area of darker from each shoulder to the lower back; the basal two-
thirds of the hairs is pale buffy white; below, similar, but the pale bases of the
hairs less extensive except on the throat where they are faintly pinkish buff.
‘The fur is rather short, about 6 mm. The young are smoky gray-brown,
scarcely paler at the base of the hairs.
Measurements:—The following measurements of fresh specimens are avail-
able, including two measured in the flesh by W. R. Zappey, the collector:
No. Total length Tail Hind foot Forearm (dry) Locality
7223 MCZ 75 22 9 45-3 Hupeh
7224 MCZ 69 20 10 44.0 Hupeh
55908 75 25 10 45.0 Szechwan
Andersen (1905e, p. 100) gives the following wing measurements: third
metacarpal, 34; first phalanx of same, 14.6; second phalanx, 20.8; fourth
metacarpal, 34.7; first phalanx of same, 11.2; second phalanx, 12.3; fifth
metacarpal, 35.4; first phalanx of same, 11.9; second phalanx, 11.2.
CRANIAL MEASUREMENTS OF RHINOLOPHUS ROUXI SINICUS
Zygo- Width Maxillary Mandibular
Total Basal Palatal matic Mastoid outside tooth tooth
No. length length length width width molars TOW row Locality
60216 20.2 16.2 6.5 — 9.5 — 7.5 8.0 Fukien
60217 20.2 16.0 5.9 10.5 9.8 — 7.4 8.0 Fukien
60225 19.3 15.4 5.5 10.2 9.5 7.8 Ghee 7.9 Fukien
Occurrence and Habits:—This is a common bat over the southern half of
China from the Yangtze valley on the east, westward along the lower parts of
the Szechwan highlands into southern Yunnan. The type specimen was
secured by Styan at Chinteh, Anhwei (De Winton and Styan, 1899, p. 573),
although the distinction was not made until six years later. It is common in
Fukien, whence series have been obtained from Yenping, by the members of
the American Museum Asiatic Expeditions and by collectors for the U. S.
National Museum (A. B. Howell, 1929, p. 12); Pope found it common at
Chunganhsien in the same province in July, 1926, and A. B. Howell has
recorded it from Foochow. Farther south, Mell (1922, p. 13) writes of finding
single individuals hanging behind roof beams of houses in both the northern
and southern parts of the Canton region. I have already (G. M. Allen, 1912,
P- 245) recorded two specimens collected by Zappey at Ichang, Hupeh, while
still farther west along the River Yangtze, Dr. Walter Granger obtained a
number at Wanhsien, in eastern Szechwan, from the caves in that vicinity.
168 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
Another fine series was taken at Likiang, in western Yunnan, by Dr. R. C.
Andrews and Edmund Heller. It is toa large extent a social species, but during
the season when the females are having their young, they apparently segregate,
the males consorting by themselves. Thus, of the series from Chungan taken
by Mr. Clifford H. Pope, July 15 and 16, 1926, all the adults were old females,
while with them were immature males and females, their progeny, then nearly
full grown. y
Specimens examined:—In all, one hundred and eight, as follows:
Hupeh: Ichang, 2 (M.C.Z.).
Fukien: Chunganhsien, 20; Yenping, 23; Yungan, I.
Szechwan: Wanhsien, 7.
Yunnan: Likiang, 54 (including three skins).
Chekiang: Tunglu, I.
68. Rhinolophus affinis himalayanus Andersen
Rhinolophus affinis himalayanus Andersen, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1905, vol. 2, p. 103, pl. 3, figs. 11a, b.
Rhinolophus affinis Dobson, Cat. Chiroptera British Mus., p. 112, 1878 (in part).
Type specimen:—An adult female in alcohol, No. 79.11.21.148, British
Museum, from Masuri, northern part of United Provinces, India. Collected
by Captain Thomas Hutton.
Description:—Compared with the slightly more primitive R. rouxt sinicus,
this species indicates an advance in specialization, though rather closely related.
It may be recognized by the following characters: (1) in the wing there is a
lengthening of the second phalanx of the third finger, so that it is conspicuously
more than one and one-half times the length of the first; (2) the horseshoe is
larger and the supplementary leaflet reduced to a mere small papilla on each
side; the sella is distinctly pandurate (with the sides slightly concave), the
connecting process, however, low and broadly rounded off; the lancet cuneate,
that is, not concave at the sides or narrowed below the tip; (3) the skull differs
in having the palate so shortened that its median length is only about a quarter
that of the maxillary tooth row; (4) the small premolar (p?) of the upper jaw is
practically in the tooth row, while that of the lower jaw (p;) is normally ex-
ternal to the row as in rouxi. ‘This is a larger bat in bulk of body, with longer
forearm (about 53 mm.) and slightly longer wings; the fur, too, is longer and
more loose, not short and rather close as in rouxt.
Two color phases are recognized by Andersen, a darker in which the bases
of the hairs above are grayish, their tips Mars or wood brown; the lower side
paler, more drab or tawny olive. In the brighter phase, the color above is
lightened by the bases of the hairs being buffy and their tips more tawny, the
lower side almost pale ochraceous with browner flanks.
THE BATS 169
Measurements:—The forearm is 50 mm. or more to 56 mm. in length,
hence larger than in the forms of rowxt. An adult male from Wanhsien
measured in the flesh: head and body, 58 mm.; tail, 35; hind foot, 13; ear, 20;
spread of wings, 318.
CRANIAL MEASUREMENTS OF RHINOLOPHUS AFFINIS AND SUBSPECIES
Zygo- Width Upper Lower
Greatest Basal Palatal matic Mastoid across cheek cheek
No. length length length width width molars teeth teeth Sex Locality
R. affinis himalayanus
56900 23.0 18.8 7.8 11.5 10.6 8.4 8.7 9.0 of Szechwan
56898 22.9 18.6 7.5 10.7 10.0 8.2 8.4 g.1 roy Szechwan
56899 = 23.6 19.2 vler Die 10.3 8.4 8.8 9.5 fof Szechwan
56901 22.4 17.6 6.6 10.5 10.3 8.2 8.0 8.5 of Szechwan
Syr5l 8 23.3 18.5 7.6 11.3 10.5 8.5 8.7 9.1 fof Szechwan
57159 22.6 18.2 WE 10.4 10.2 8.3 8.5 9.0 o& Szechwan
R. affinis macrurus
44770 —— — — 11.3 10.4 8.6 9.1 9.8 fof Fukien
44698 23.7 19.4 8.3 II.1 10.6 8.8 8.8 9.5 fot Fukien
44769 23.3 18.9 7.6 11.4 — 8.7 8.8 9.7 fof Fukien
57182 23.2 19.4 7.5 11.9 11.4 9.3 9.2 10.3 fof Fukien
57185 23.9 19.7 8.1 11.8 10.7 9.2 9.2 10.0 of Fukien
Bgl, 22.7 18.8 6.6 11.4 10.7 8.5 8.7 9.2 rol Fukien
R. affinis hainanus
58323 22.7 18.4 7.4 10.8 10.3 8.8 8.7 9.3 Q Hainan
58350 22.0 17.8 7.0 10.7 10.4 8.3 8.4 9.1 Q Hainan
58352 22.4 17.8 6.6 10.9 10.7 8.6 8.6 9.3 Q Hainan
58361 22.5 18.0 8.0 10.8 10.5 8.1 8.7 9.4 Q Hainan
58364 23.0 18.8 7.8 10.9 10.5 8.4 8.9 9.6 9 Hainan
58365 22.6 18.0 Thee 11.0 10.5 8.5 9.0 9.5 9 Hainan
58383 24.0 19.8 7.8 10.9 10.6 8.7 9.2 9.9 Q Hainan
58396 23.8 19.2 7.6 11.5 10.6 8.6 9.0 9.9 fof Hainan
58449 23.7 19.2 7.8 II.2 10.5 8.1 9.0 9.9 fou Hainan
58470 24.0 19.6 8.0 II.I 10.5 8.3 9.0 9.8 rofl Hainan
Average 23.0 19.1 7.8 10.9 10.5 8.4 8.8 9.5
Occurrence and Habits:—This bat has much the same general range as R.
rouxt on the Asiatic mainland, perhaps penetrating farther into the hill country,
asin India. Across southern China the two species occur in the same localities,
so that they are likely to be confused unless the diagnostic characters as out-
lined are noticed. Asa species it seems to be slightly more plastic, so that local
forms are differentiated more readily. The present race, R. a. himalayanus,
a slightly darker form than the following, is probably to be found in the more
moist and elevated parts of western China and eastern India, while in the
warm lowlands of eastern China, a slightly different form occurs which corres-
170 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
ponds fairly with Andersen’s subspecies R. a. macrurus. Andersen mentions
as representing R. a. himalayanus a specimen from Nanking, in Anhwei, but it is
quite likely that additional material would show that this is not typical. I
have referred to this subspecies a series from Wanhsien, Szechwan, and also
two in alcohol from Shenchow, Hunan, which may, however, be again some-
what intermediate if enough comparative material were available. A further
series was obtained by the American Museum Asiatic Expeditions from
Likiang in Yunnan, and others from Tengyueh, one of which, on May 27,
contained a large fetus.
Osgood (1932), in recording a series of skins and alcoholic specimens from
Nguluko, near Likiang, Yunnan, refers them to the race R. a. tener, with some
hesitation. Possibly the study of a larger and more representative series of
the species from China would show that a further revision of names is necessary.
Specimens examined:—In all, twenty-eight, as follows:
Hunan: Shenchow, 2 (alcoholics).
Szechwan: Wanhsien, 10 (3 alcoholics).
Yunnan: Likiang, 8 (alcoholics); Tengyueh, 8 (alcoholics).
69. Rhinolophus affinis macrurus Andersen
Rhinolophus affinis macrurus Andersen, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1905, vol. 2, p. 103.
Type specimen:—An adult male in alcohol, No. 90.4.4.7, British Museum,
from Taho, Karennee, southeastern Burma. Collected February, 1888, by
Leonardo Fea.
Description: —Compared with R. a. himalayanus of western and central
China, this race has a somewhat broader horseshoe, slightly longer tibia and
ears; the tail also averages slightly longer.
The color is apparently quite the same as in R. a. himalayanus, with a
darker, wood-brown phase having grayish bases to the hairs, and a brighter
phase in which the bases of the hairs are bright buffy, their tips nearly tawny
brown.
Measurements:—Andersen (1905e, p. 105) gives a table of comparative
measurements, from which it appears that in his specimens of R. a. himalayanus,
the length of ears is 17.2-18.5 mm., in R. a. macrurus from 20-20.7; the breadth
of nose-leaves from 13.8-14.5, in R. a. macrurus 15.2-15.8; the tibia 22.8-23.8,
against 23.9-25.4 in R. a. macrurus; the other dimensions, however, practically
the same in both. A series of specimens from Fukien agrees with his descrip-
tion of R. a. macrurus, and I am referring them to that form, as A. B. Howell
(1929) has done with a similar lot in the U.S. National Museum. The forearm
THE BATS 171
measurement in the specimens at hand is from 53.5-54, the length of tibia 25.
For cranial measurements see table, page 169.
Occurrence and Habits:—This slightly larger subspecies is evidently a more
southern representative of R. affinis, and, since the type came from southeastern
Burma, it is likely that the form ranges across Siam and Indo-China to the low
country along the seaboard of southern China. The specimens at hand are all
from near the coast, namely, from Tunglu, Chekiang Province, and Futsing,
Yuki, and Yenping, Fukien Province, the last in the hills, a locality whence
also the U. S. National Museum has specimens, referred by A. B. Howell to
this form. Yuki is at an altitude of four thousand feet, and the specimens
from here were taken inacave. It will remain for future collecting to discover
how far inland this race is found, but probably it is another of those mammals
that just reach the southern border.
Specimens examined:—In all, fifteen, from the following localities:
Fukien: Futsing, 5; Yenping, 6; Yuki, 2.
Chekiang: Tunglu, 2.
70. Rhinolophus affinis hainanus J. A. Allen
Rhinolophus hainanus J. A. Allen, Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., vol. 22, p. 482, December 17, 1906.
Type specimen:—An adult female, skin and skull, No. 26748, American
Museum, of Natural History, from Pouten, island of Hainan, China.
Description:—This is a race of R. affinis differing from R. a. himalayanus
in its broader horseshoe and in its richer russet color, in the latter respect
closely resembling Fukien specimens of R. a. macrurus, but more cinnamon
below, and a very little darker above. The forearm measurement is also a
little smaller, in a series from Nodoa, averaging 50 mm., with very slight varia-
tion, and so 2-3 mm. smaller than in the mainland race. The length of the leg
from knee to end of claws is also about 2 mm. less on the average.
Measurements:—In addition to the few differential measurements just
given, the cranial measurements of a series of ten adults are given in the
table, page 169.
Occurrence and Habits:—This richly colored race is presumably confined to
the island of Hainan. In addition to the original series of twenty-seven from
Pouten, Hainan, Mr. Clifford H. Pope collected thirty-eight at Nodoa in
January, 1923.
Specimens examined:—In all, thirty-eight, from Nodoa, Hainan.
172 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
71. Rhinolophus ferrum-equinum nippon Temminck
Rhinolophus nippon Temminck, Monogr. de Mammalogie, vol. 2, 8th monogr., p. 30a, 1835.
Rhinolophus ferrum-equinum nippon Andersen, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1905, vol. 2, p. 110.
Rhinolophus ferrum-equinum Thomas, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1911, p. 687; tbid., 1912, p. 128.
Type specimen:—The type of this race is presumably in the Leiden Mu-
seum, Holland, whither it was sent from Japan.
Description:—The bats of this species are in a more advanced stage of
specialization than either of their allies, R. rouxi or R. affinis, especially as
regards the reduction of the tooth row. They may be recognized by the fol-
lowing combination of characters: (1) the wing as in R. affinis is somewhat
lengthened, so that the second phalanx of the third digit is more than one and
one-half times the first; at the same time, the third metacarpal has become
shortened, so that when the wing is folded, it is decidedly less than the fourth
and fifth, while the last is very slightly longer than the fourth; (2) the horseshoe
is broad and the sella is pandurate (with distinctly concave sides), the sup-
plementary leaflet of the horseshoe smaller and less obvious than in affnis,
the lancet not cuneate but with a long and rather slender tip (hastate); the
connecting process low and broadly rounded off; (3) the skull has the palatal
bridge long, nearly one-third the length of the maxillary tooth row, and its
size is larger; (4) the small premolar of the upper jaw (p”) is usually either
quite outside the tooth row or is actually wanting, so that the canine and
large premolar are in contact, their cingula overlapping, and the lower small
premolar (p;) is also external to the row; according to Andersen, the pan-
durate saddle combined with the external position of the small upper premolar
suffices alone to distinguish this species among oriental bats, yet the upper
small tooth may stand occasionally quite in the row; (5) the long tail, equal-
ing one and one-third times the length of tibia, is further distinctive; (6) a
reduction in the number of vertical grooves on the bare area of the lower lip
is again a progressive character, for in this species the two lateral ones are
lost, leaving only the median groove of the three usually present in R. rouxi
and R. affinis.
In color these bats are a uniform smoky gray above very slightly tinted
with buffy at the sides; the lower surface is practically the same. There is
also a slightly brighter phase with pale brown tips to the hairs.
Measurements :—This race is slightly smaller than the more western ones,
with smaller skull and teeth than R. f. tragatus of western China. In his
table of measurements, Andersen gives as the forearm measurement 57.2-59.3
mm., therefore overlapping slightly those of tragatus, but the skull length is
slightly less. In two specimens from Shantung, the forearms measure 56
and 60 mm. respectively, the tibia, 23, 23.3 respectively. The third meta-
THE BATS 173
carpal, 37, 40.4; its first phalanx, 19.5, 20; second phalanx, 34, 33; fourth
metacarpal, 43, 45.5; fifth metacarpal, 45, 46.2.
For skull measurements see table.
CRANIAL MEASUREMENTS OF RHINOLOPHUS FERRUM-EQUINUM RACES
Zygo- Width Upper Lower
Greatest Basal Palatal matic across Mastoid cheek cheek
No. length length length width molars width teeth teeth Locality
R. ferrum-equinum nippon
58281 24.8 20.0 7.8 123 9.1 10.0 10.7 11.0 Szechwan
84862 25.0 20.2 8.5 12.1 g.1 9.4 10.3 II.I Fukien
84863 a oo — D7, 9.0 9.2 9.8 10.9 Fukien
84864 — a — 12.1 9.0 9.5 10.1 11.4 Fukien
84865 24.5 20.5 8.0 12.2 9.0 9.6 10.3 11.0 Fukien
84867 oe —- — II.0 9.0 g.1 10.0 10.8 Fukien
25872 MCZ = 23.5 19.0 8.4 11.5 8.5 8.5 9.2 10.8 Shantung
25873 MCZ 23.2 18.8 8.0 11.6 8.8 8.8 9.4 10.6 Shantung
R. ferrum-equinum tragatus
45047 24.5 20.0 8.1 12.0 8.9 9.0 9.4 10.9 Yunnan
Occurrence and Habits:—This eastern race of the wide-ranging horseshoe
bat is typical in Japan, and according to Andersen, a specimen from Shanghai
is indistinguishable, so that the bat from eastern China is regarded as the
same. It ranges northward as far at least as southern Korea, and Ognev
(1927, p. 142) has recorded his belief that it may occur at Vladivostok, although
he complicates the matter by naming a large Japanese example R. f. mikadot
(from Yokohama). It is thus the most northerly species of the genus. Al-
though not abundant, it evidently occurs throughout northern China, even in
semi-desert areas. Thomas (1908f, p. 637) mentions a single specimen, a male,
found hanging by itself in a cave thirty miles west of Peiping, and Jacobi
(1922, p. 2) records fourteen others secured near that city by the Weigold
Expedition. There are two skins in the Museum of Comparative Zodlogy,
presented by Dr. Arthur Jacot, who secured them in a cave at Lungtung,
southeast of Tsinan, Shantung. One of these is in the usual gray type of
pelage, the other much paler, the bases of the hairs distinctly whitish or pale
drab, tipped with slightly darker brown, but additional specimens are needed
from northern China to determine whether a pallid race exists in the drier
parts of this area. Its occurrence in Shensi has been mentioned by Thomas
(1911e, p. 687), without reference to subspecies, in recording three females
secured in the Shangchow district in the southeastern part of the province.
A series of seven skins and skulls including two nearly full-grown young
collected at Chunganhsien, Fukien, by Clifford H. Pope, and a skin and skull
in the collection of the American Museum of Natural History taken by Dr.
Walter Granger at Wanhsien on the border of eastern Szechwan, I provisionally
174 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
refer to this race, the last on account of its short forearm of 56mm. It must
be acknowledged, however, that the eastern race is not very different from the
slightly larger R. f. tragatus in its general appearance. Andersen points out
that this race has the upper small premolar less decidedly external to the tooth
row than in the western races, so that it may not be surprising to find that,
in the series from Chunganhsien, Fukien, it may even stand quite in the row
separating the canine and the large premolar, as in R. affinis, but the great
length of the palatal bridge at once throws it into R. ferrum-equinum. In
some cases, as in the Shantung specimens, the two sides vary in the same skull.
Specimens examined:—In all, ten, as follows: -
Shantung: Lungtung, southeast of Tsinan, 2.
Fukien: Chunganhsien, 7.
Szechwan: Wanhsien, I.
72. Rhinolophus ferrum-equinum tragatus Hodgson
Rhinolophus tragatus Hodgson, Journ. Asiatic Soc. Bengal, vol. 4, p. 699, 1835.
Rhinolophus ferrum-equinum Dobson, Cat. Chiroptera British Mus., p. 119, 1878 (in part).
Rhinolophus ferrum-equinum tragatus Andersen, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1905, vol. 2, p. 111.
Type specimens:—The three cotypes, from Nepal, are now in the British
Museum (Andersen, 1905¢, p. II2).
Description:—This is a very slightly larger race than the more primitive
R. f. nippon, with smaller teeth, and a skull that is smaller in general propor-
tions, although the horseshoe and the nasal swellings upon which it rests are
equally broad. The color is the same.
The skull represents ‘‘unquestionably a higher stage’ of development
than that of R. f. nippon (Andersen, 1905e, p. 112), for the small upper pre-
molar is so forced out of the tooth row that it is wholly external, and the cingula
of the canine and large premolar actually overlap, or in some cases it has
disappeared altogether; in the lower jaw the small premolar (p;) is likewise
well on the road to disappearance, and if present is very minute and wholly
external to the tooth row. It is absent in a large proportion of skulls.
Measurements:—Andersen gives the following measurements for this bat:
ears, length, 21.8-24.5 mm.; breadth of horseshoe, 8.8-9.7; forearm, 59-63;
third metacarpal, 37.2-40.3; its first phalanx, 20.5-23; second phalanx, 32-34.5;
‘fourth metacarpal, 42-45.1; fifth metacarpal, 43.5-47.3; tail, 34.8-37; tibia,
25.6-26.6; foot, 13-14.3.
For cranial measurements see page 173.
Occurrence and Habits:—Probably this will be found to be the common
form of the species in western China, chiefly in the highlands, for it seems to
reach middle altitudes. The American Museum Asiatic Expeditions secured
THE BATS 175
it at Likiang and again at Tengyueh, in western Yunnan. A female from the
latter locality, taken on May 22, 1917, contained a large fetus. Very likely
the male recorded by Thomas (1912e, p. 128), without reference to the sub-
species, as taken in a cave near Penhsien, thirty miles northwest of Chengtu,
northern Szechwan, at 3,000 feet, is referable to this race.
Specimens examined:—In all, six, as follows:
Yunnan: Likiang, 2; Tengyueh, 4.
73. Rhinolophus lepidus shortridgei Andersen
Rhinolophus lepidus shortridgei Andersen, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. 9, vol. 2, p. 377, October, 1918.
Type specimen:—A male, skin and skull, No. 18.8.3.1, British Museum,
from Pagan, Irrawaddy River, Burma. Collected October 12, 1913, by Guy
C. Shortridge.
Description:—A medium-sized species, distinguished by the following
combination of characters: (1) the wing is not lengthened, so that the length
ot the second phalanx of digit III is less than one and one-half times the first;
the metacarpals are practically equal, with the fourth very slightly the longest;
(2) horseshoe not completely covering the upper lip, notched in the middle,
with a small tooth-like projection on either side of it; a small supplementary
leaf on each side; sella slightly concave at the sides, and somewhat narrower
at top than bottom; connecting process projecting as an acute triangle beyond
the summit; lancet hastate, lower lip with three vertical grooves; (3) the skull
has a long palatal bridge, a trifle less than one-third the length of the maxillary
row, and the zygomatic width is practically that of the mastoid portion of the
skull; (4) the small upper premolar (p2) is always in the tooth row, the small
lower premolar (p;) variable, in or somewhat external to the row; (5) the
forearm measurement is about 42-43 mm. (see Andersen, 1905e, p. 122).
In color the bases of the hairs above are very light écru drab, tipped with
wood brown or cinnamon; below, somewhat lighter.
Measurements:—The specimen mentioned below was measured in the
flesh as follows: head and body, 51 mm.; tail, 20; hind foot, 9; ear, 20; spread
of wings, 250; forearm (in skin), 43; metacarpals, subequal, length of third, 33.
Andersen (1918, p. 376) notes the following skull measurements based
on a series of topotypes: total length to front of canine, 16.8-18.7; condylo-
canine length, 15-16.9; maxillary tooth row, 6.5-7.5.
Occurrence and Habits:—This is a slightly larger eastern race of R. lepidus,
the typical form of the Indian peninsula, known hitherto from the type lo-
cality, Pagan on the Irrawaddy, and from Kindat on the upper Chindwin,
Burma. A single skin, the skull for which is unfortunately lost, was secured
by Dr. Walter Granger near Wanhsien, in extreme eastern Szechwan; the bat
176 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
was found wintering in a cave two miles northeast of the village of Yenchingkou,
February 10, 1926. This is apparently the only record of the species from
China, except that of Osgood (1932), who mentions a series of eleven from
Nguluko, Yunnan (near Likiang), which, however, he regards as not altogether
like any of the described subspecies. With a lens, the front face of the sella
and the connecting process are seen to be covered with minute hairs.
Specimens examined:—One only (skin), from Wanhsien, Szechwan.
74. Rhinolophus cornutus pumilus Andersen
Rhinolophus cornutus pumilus Andersen, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1905, vol. 2, p. 127, fig. 22b.
Type specimen:—Adult female, in alcohol, No. 2.10.7.18, British Museum,
from Okinawa Island, Riu Kiu group, Japan, March 16, 1902.
Description:—A small bat, forearm 39 mm., distinguished by the following
characters: (1) wing not lengthened, the second phalanx of third digit not
more than one and one-half times the length of the first; (2) nose-leaves much
as in R. lepidus, with the sella slightly constricted in the middle, and its summit
narrower than the base, the connecting process in side view acutely pointed,
forming nearly an isosceles triangle; (3) skull smaller than in R. lepidus, and
narrower; (4) arrangement of the teeth as in R. lepidus, the small upper pre-
molar in the tooth row, the small lower premolar variable.
In color, the bases of the hairs of the upper side are contrastingly paler
than their tips, whitish tinged with écru drab, while the tips are brown, giving
a general effect of broccoli brown to Prout’s brown. Under side ‘‘écru drab,”
darker on the flanks (Andersen).
Measurements:—Andersen gives the following: forearm, 38.8-39.7 mm.;
third metacarpal, 27.7-28.7; its first phalanx, 10.7-11.4; second phalanx, 12.7-
13.2; fourth metacarpal, 27.7-29.5; fifth metacarpal, 27.7-29.5; tail, 18; tibia,
16.2-17.2; foot, 8.
Skull: total length, 16; zygomatic width, 7.9; mastoid width, 7.8; upper
cheek teeth, 5.7; lower cheek teeth, 6-6.1.
Occurrence and Habits:—This bat is recognizable by its small to medium
size and the sharp-pointed connecting process, typical of the R. lepidus or
R. pusillus group. Although described from the Riu Kiu Islands, Andersen
regards a specimen collected by Swinhoe at Foochow as the same. It is also
recorded from localities in the higher country of western China. Thomas
(1911d, p. 160) records five from Kiatingfu, Szechwan, identified as this form
by Andersen, as well as several secured in caves near Penhsien, thirty-five
miles northwest of Chengtu, northern Szechwan, altitude 3,000 feet (Thomas,
1912e, p. 128). Insoutheastern China, Mell (1922, p. 13) mentions a specimen
THE BATS 177
from the northern part of Kwangtung, but says they are apparently more
common in the southern part, living by day in colonies in caves or rock crevices,
rarely in houses. In their haunts may be found, scattered beneath their resting
places, the wings of various moths, as Arcte, Grammodes, Ophideres, Ischyja—
owlets, or of geometrids.
Specimens examined:—None.
75. Rhinolophus blythi szechwanus Andersen
Rhinolophus blythi szechwanus Andersen, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. 9, vol. 2, p. 377, 1918.
Rhinolophus minor G. M. Allen, Mem. Mus. Comp. Zool., vol. 40, p. 244, 1912.
Type specimen:—A female, skin and skull, No. 13.1.26.2, British Museum,
from Chungking, Szechwan, China. Collected September 27, 1912, by
W. R. Brown.
Description:—This species is the smallest of the genus occurring in China,
with a forearm of about 37 mm. It may be further distinguished by the
following points: (1) wing unlengthened, the second phalanx of the third
digit not exceeding one and one-half times the first; (2) the sella broadest
at the base, then slightly concave at the sides and narrower at the summit;
the connecting process sharply pointed in side view, forming nearly an isosceles
triangle; (3) the small upper premolar in the tooth row, and provided with a
small cusp, the lower small premolar variable but frequently standing in the
row or practically so. ;
The color above is a uniform brown, almost exactly ‘‘cinnamon brown”
of Ridgway, the bases of the hairs everywhere conspicuously whitish; lower
surface of body a pinker, paler tint of the same at the sides, the throat and mid-
ventral region pale drab. Immature specimens are a grayer brown with less
clear pale bases to the dorsal hairs.
Measurements:—The following measurements are from fresh examples
made by the collectors in the field.
Total Head and Hind
No. length body Tail foot Ear Spread Locality
56909 — 38 23 8 15 205 Szechwan
56298 — 39 21 8 16 235 Szechwan
56918 — 42 22 8 17 227 Szechwan
58293 — 42 23 9 17 242 Szechwan
7515 MCZ 62 — 17 8 —_ — Szechwan
7516 MCz 65 — 22 9 — — Szechwan
7517 MCZ 64 — 24 9 = — Szechwan
7518 Mcz 61 — 21 8 —_ — Szechwan
For cranial measurements see table, page 178.
178 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
CRANIAL MEASUREMENTS OF RHINOLOPHUS BLYTHI SUBSPECIES
Zygo- Width Upper Lower
Greatest Basal Palatal matic Mastoid across cheek cheek
No. length length length width width molars teeth teeth Locality
R. blythi szechwanus
56909 15.8 12.5 5.3 72 7-5 5.6 5.6 5.6 Szechwan
56910 15.6 12.4 5.1 xe 7.5 5.6 5.6 5.7 Szechwan
56911 16.5 13.1 5.2 7.3 7.8 5.5 5.6 5.9 Szechwan
56913 16.2 13.0 5.5 6.9 75 5.4 5.7 5.7 Szechwan
56919 16.4 — 5.6 7s 7.5 5.5 5-5 5-7 Szechwan
56922 15.8 13.1 5.5 G20 7.4 5.5 5.7 5.8 Szechwan
57160 15.8 12.6 4.7 72 7.4 5.6 5.3 5.5 Szechwan
58282 16.2 12.9 5.0 7.6 7.6 5.6 5.6 5.8 Szechwan
58287 16.4 12.9 5.0 7.1 7.5 5.2 5.5 5.5 Szechwan
58293 16.7 13.5 5.5 7.6 —_— 5.9 6.0 6.1 Szechwan
R. blythi calidus
44772 15.5) 024.) 45 7-5 — 5-7 5-5 5-7 Fukien
84835 16.2 12.6 5.5 7.4 7.5 5.8 5.5 5.8 Fukien
83983 16.2 13.0 5.2 7.2 7.6 5.6 5.5 5-7 Fukien
83984 15 -5id (lesa, eae’, 7-3 —_ 5-7 5-7 5-7 Fukien
44673 16.8 Tae 5.5 — 7.4 5.7 5.5 5.6 Fukien
R. blytht parcus
58312 16.0 — 5.0 7.5 — 5-7 5.8 6.0 Hainan
58329 15.8 12.8 5.0 73 7.5 5.7 5.6 6.0 Hainan
58451 16.3 13.0 5.3 7.4 == 5.8 5.6 5.8 Hainan
58358 15.8 12.2 4.7 7.5 75 5.6 5.8 6.1 Hainan
58461 16.7 13.4 5.4 7.9 7.9 5.7 5.9 6.2 Hainan
58465 16.5 13.3 5.4 7.5 Shea 5-7 5.7 6.0 Hainan
58469 16.0 12.9 5.1 75 °— Cer) Ber 6.1 Hainan
58474 16.1 13.0 5.0 7.1 7.3 5.7 5.4 6.0 Hainan
Occurrence and Habits:—This little bat is found probably across the more
humid uplands of southern China. The type locality is Chungking, in
Szechwan, and the Central Asiatic Expeditions secured a series from a cave
near Wanhsien in the eastern part of the province in the winter of 1922-3.
I have referred to it also four specimens from Ichang, Hupeh, in the Museum
of Comparative Zodlogy. No doubt additional collecting will reveal its
presence to the southwest of these localities in western Szechwan. It is the
smallest of the Rhinolophi found in the region and darker in tint than the
coastal race.
Specimens examined:—In all, forty-three, as follows:
Hupeh: Ichang, 4 (M.C.Z.).
Szechwan: Wanhsien, 39.
76. Rhinolophus blythi calidus G. M. Allen
Rhinolophus blythi calidus G. M. Allen, Amer. Mus. Novitates, no. 85, p. 1, August 28, 1923.
Type specimen:—An adult female, skin and skull, No. 44692, American
THE BATS 179
Museum of Natural History, from Yenping, Fukien, China. Collected
June 17, 1916, by Dr. Roy C. Andrews.
Description:—In color this lowland race is much brighter than R. b.
szechwanus, more cinnamon throughout. The bases of the hairs above are
everywhere whitish, with a faint buffy tint, their tips dull cinnamon, near
“sayal brown’”’ of Ridgway; below, pale pinkish buff, the hairs becoming whitish
near their bases.
The skull is a very little larger than in szechwanus, but otherwise there is
little difference.
Measurements:—The size is practically the same as in the other sub-
species: forearm, 38 mm.; tibia, 15; foot, 7.
For cranial measurements see table, page 178.
Occurrence and Habits:—This is merely a somewhat brighter-tinted low-
land race of the Indian R. blythi, occurring probably in suitable places across
southeastern China, as far north as Fukien Province. Although not a very
strongly marked subspecies, the average difference, when series of the two
forms are laid out in comparison, is considerable.
It is not unlikely that the specimen in the British Museum from Foochow,
which Andersen (1905e, p. 127) doubtfully referred to R. cornutus pumilus, is
really this. It was taken by Swinhoe many years ago, but its imperfect
condition rendered its identification difficult.
Specimens examined:—In all, eighteen, as follows:
Fukien: Kuliang, 1; Futsinghsien, 2; Yenping, 14; Yuki, 1.
77. Rhinolophus blythi parcus G. M. Allen
Rhinolophus blythi parcus G. M. Allen, Amer. Mus. Novitates, no. 317, p. 2, May 19, 1928.
Type specimen:—Adult, skin and skull, No. 58465, American Museum of
Natural History, from Nodoa, island of Hainan, China. Collected December
8, 1922, by Clifford H. Pope, Central Asiatic Expeditions.
Description:—Structurally like R. 6. szechwanus of western China and
R. b. calidus of southeastern China, but differing from both in its rich russet
or darker brown coloring.
Color above in the red phase, nearly “‘russet’”’ (Ridgway). The individual
hairs over the back are pale ochraceous at their bases, deepening to a distinct
russet tip about 2mm.inlength. Scattered among these are hairs with minute
blackish tips, producing a darkening of the surface. On the sides of the head
and on the neck, chest and mid-ventral area, the color is clearer, brighter
tusset; the throat is paler, pinkish buff. In the axillar region, ventrally, is a
well-defined dusky area. Specimens in the brown phase are Mars brown,
180 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
paling to the roots of the hairs, above; below, drab washed with chestnut at
the sides.
The cochlez are very large, nearly meeting in the midline so that the
basioccipital is very much narrowed. There is a well-defined sagittal crest,
branching anteriorly to form a ridge over each orbit, with a slight depression
between. The first small upper premolar stands quite in the tooth row, while
in the lower jaw the minute middle premolar of the type specimen stands in
the row, but in other specimens may be partly external to it.
Measurements:—In the type the forearm measures 36.3 mm.; third meta-
carpal, 27; fourth metacarpal, 28; fifth metacarpal, 27.6; tibia, 13.5; foot, 7.
The skull: greatest length, 16.5; basal length, 13.3; palatal length, 5.4;
palatal bridge, 1.7; zygomatic width, 7.5; mastoid width, 7.7; width outside
molars, 5.7; upper cheek teeth (canine to last molar), 5.7; lower cheek teeth
(canine to last molar), 6.0.
See also table, page 178.
Among the specimens secured, a bright, tawny phase is the more common,
while a deep-brownish phase is also represented. In its brighter, more intense
coloring, it forms a marked contrast to the dull, gray-colored R. b. szechwanus,
in which the bases of the dorsal hairs are whitish, their tips drab, the belly
drab. In R. b. calidus of eastern China the color becomes slightly more buffy,
but in this race from Hainan it is strikingly redder, even to the bases of the
hairs. A series of over fifteen skins collected by Mr. Clifford H. Pope shows
much uniformity of tint; but the dull-colored, grayish immature specimens are
about as bright as adults of R. b. calidus.
In the dark or brownish phase this race resembles the two others men-
tioned, but is a much darker brown. The immature individuals of the series
are similar, and it is possible that these brown adults are in reality not fully
mature.
Occurrence and Habits:—Mr. Pope writes of these bats: “I caught several
in the house at night and a few in a long tunnel out in the woods. The tunnel
was an old irrigating ditch extending just beneath the floor of the low jungle.
Another place where we got a few was an old prospector’s hole about fourteen
feet deep, with a slanting entrance and the mouth covered with grass and
bushes. But the largest colony was at the inner end of a deep tunnel dug
straight into the side of a grassy hill. The first trip revealed a colony of
hundreds of bats but when the third visit was made they had deserted the
place and only one or two stragglers were seen. This tunnel is double and is
situated but a few miles west of Nodoa.”’
Specimens examined:—In all, eighteen, from Nodoa, Hainan.
THE BATS 181
78. Rhinolophus pearsonii pearsonii Horsfield
Rhinolophus pearsonii Horsfield, Cat. Mammalia Mus. East-India Co., p. 33, 1851.
Rhinolophus yunanensis Dobson, Journ. Asiatic Soc. Bengal, vol. 41, pt. 2, p. 336, 1872. Hotha, Yunnan.
Rhinolophus larvatus Milne-Edwards, Recherches pour servir a 1’Hist. Nat. des Mammiféres, p. 248, pl. 37A,
fig. 1; pl. 37C, fig. 1, 1868-74 (not of Horsfield). Muping, China.
Type specimen:—The type was from Darjeeling, India, collected by John
Thomas Pearson, and for many years was in the Museum of the Honourable
East-India Company, London, whence it was later transferred to the British
Museum.
Description:—This horseshoe bat seems to bear much resemblance to
R. ferrum-equinum and R. affinis in size and general appearance, with a forearm
of about 55 mm. and a wing structure like that of the former with the third
metacarpal shortest, the fourth slightly longer, the fifth a trifle the longest;
the sella is high and has its lateral borders peculiarly “‘crenulate,” the con-
necting process low, rounded, and coming off well below the summit of the
sella, while the lancet is regularly tapering or cuneate. In the skull the palate
is unusually long, unshortened, nearly one-half the maxillary tooth row;
there is a high sagittal crest, and the temporal fossa is so expanded that the
width of the zygomata is greater than the mastoid width. The small upper
premolar is minute but stands practically in the tooth row, and the small lower
premolar is slightly external. There is only one median groove on the chin.
The fur is long and loose, and described as uniformly dark brown.
The skull is well figured by Milne-Edwards, and shows the long palate,
the minute upper premolar still in the tooth row, and the small lower one
partly external.
Measurements:—The forearm measurement in both Milne-Edwards’s
R. larvatus and Anderson’s R. pearsonii is 55 mm. The former adds the
following: tail, 20; tibia, 26; foot, 12; no cranial measurements are available.
Occurrence and Habits:—The typical race extends its range from eastern
India to the Chinese highlands, from southern Yunnan as far at least as
central Szechwan, whence came the type of Milne-Edwards’s R. larvatus,
which, together with the type of R. yunanensis of Dobson, had already been
made out as synonyms of R. pearsonii by Anderson (1879, p. 95), a decision
since confirmed by Andersen (1905b, p. 289). Milne-Edwards’s specimen was
from Muping, while Dobson’s type was collected by Anderson at Hotha,
Yunnan. The only other record seems to be that of Thomas (1923, p. 656),
who so identified a female taken at an altitude of 10,000 feet on the Likiang
Range of western Yunnan.
Specimens examined:—None.
182 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
79. Rhinolophus pearsonii chinensis Andersen
Rhinolophus pearsoni chinensis Andersen, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. 7, vol. 16, p. 289, 1905.
Rhinolophus pearsoni Thomas, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1898, p. 770. Shih, Bull. Dept. Biology, Sun Yatsen
Univ., Canton, no. 4, p. 3, 1930.
Type specimen:—Adult male, skin and skull, No. 98.11.1.2, British
Museum, from Kuatun, Fukien, China. Collected April 16, 1898, by J. D.
La Touche.
Description:—‘‘Similar to Rh. pearsoni from Darjeeling and Masuri,
but with markedly shorter tibia, slightly smaller skull, narrower maxillar
width, shorter mandible and tooth rows’’ (Andersen).
Measurements:—The forearm measurement of the type is 52.7 mm.;
of the tibia 26 (29 in the typical form) ; the skull has a maxillary width of 9.2
(against 9.7-9.8); length of mandible 16.8 (against 17.7-17.9); maxillary tooth
row, 9.5 (against 9.8-10.2); mandibular tooth row (exclusive of incisors),
10.3 (against 10.8-11.1).
The teeth are as in the typical form with the small upper premolar in
the tooth row, but the small lower premolar slightly external to the row so
that the two larger premolars are almost in contact.
Occurrence and Habits:—The type specimen from Kuatun, in northwestern
Fukien, is the one earlier recorded by Thomas (1898, p. 770) as R. pearsoni,
but on account of its slightly smaller size Andersen regards it as a separate
race. The range probably covers the southeastern part of China, from
Fukien southward. Mell (1922, p. 13) writes that he found it in the mountain
forest to the south and north of the Canton region, as at Tsogokwahn, and in
the mountainous country east of Siudsau. He suggests that these may have
been the large bats seen in August at Wachowtoi, pursuing swarms of termites.
The only other records of its occurrence that I have found are one by Shih
(1930b, p. 1) from the southwest border of Hunan, and a second (Shih, 1930,
p. 3) relating to two specimens from the Yao Shan area, Kwangtung, in both
cases recorded as R. pearsont.
Specimens examined:—None.
80. Rhinolophus episcopus episcopus G. M. Allen
Rhinolophus episcopus G. M. Allen, Amer. Mus. Novitates, no. 85, p. 2, August 28, 1923.
Type specimen:—An adult male, skin and skull, No. 56895, American
Museum of Natural History, from Wanhsien, Szechwan, China. Collected
October 9, 1921, by the Central Asiatic Expeditions, Dr. Walter Granger.
Description:—This is one of the smaller species of the genus, at once
distinguished among Chinese bats by the following characters: (1) The wings
THE BATS 183
are not lengthened, so that the second phalanx of the third finger does not
exceed one and one-half times the second, while in the fourth and fifth fingers
the first and second phalanges are of about equal length. (2) The sella is
remarkably broad (nearly 3 mm. in the dried skin), about half as broad as
high, its extreme base slightly narrower, above which it at once reaches its
full width and maintains it to the broadly rounded summit. At its base,
the outer margins of the nostrils are continuous and raised to form a shallow
cup, but do not form wing-like expansions. The connecting process begins
well below the summit of the sella, is evenly convex and rather low, while the
lancet is about as high as the sella, with convex sides and a rounded tip. The
anterior horseshoe is broad, covering the muzzle, and has a deep median notch,
and a small supplementary leaflet at each side in front. All the nose-leaves
are covered with minute hairs except at the bottom of the cup between the
nostrils. (3) The ears are moderately developed with a conspicuously broad
antitragus. (4) The third metacarpal is the shortest, the fourth and fifth of
equal length. (5) The skull has a low sagittal ridge, narrow zygomata, and
a long palatal bridge equaling one-half the length of the maxillary tooth row.
(6) In the upper jaw the small premolar (p2) retains its primitive position
fully in the tooth row, but in the lower jaw the small p; is external to the
tooth row or at least partly so, or may be quite in the row.
The color above is smoke gray, the hairs dull whitish at their base. Below,
the chin, throat, and middle of the abdomen are pale, almost white, shading
into pale drab posteriorly, and pale cinnamon brown at the sides of the body.
Measurements:—The forearm of the type measures 47.5 mm.; third
metacarpal, 34.5; fourth and fifth metacarpals, 36; tibia, 18 (all from the dried
skin). The collector’s measurements of specimens from Wanhsien are:
No. Head and body Tail Hind foot Ear Spread of wings
56895 51 24 10 26 275
56896 50 32 10 26 280
84889 47 26 10 26 275
84888 51 25 9 26 268
CRANIAL MEASUREMENTS OF RHINOLOPHUS EPISCOPUS EPISCOPUS
Zygo- Width Upper Lower
Greatest Basal Palatal matic Mastoid across cheek cheek
No. length length length width width molars teeth teeth Locality
96895 — 8.2 9.2 6.2 7.0 72 Szechwan
84382 19.8 16.5 7.5 8.5 9.4 6.5 6.8 72 Szechwan
84385 19.8 16.0 Fee 9.0 9.6 6.4 6.9 Fie Szechwan
Occurrence and Habits:—The remarkably large, parallel-sided sella rising
from the slightly expanded cup-like margins of the internasal area distinguishes
this bat at once, while the mitre-shaped lancet with convex sides rising to a
184 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
bluntly rounded tip is also distinctive. Like most other members of the genus,
it is probably confined to the southern half of China, but at present it is known
only from the type locality, Wanhsien, eastern Szechwan, where Dr. Walter
Granger secured a few in October, 1921, and again from the same cave in
December, 1925, and February, 1926, while they were in hibernation. It is
apparently uncommon and perhaps not given to congregating in large numbers
for the winter.
Specimens examined:—In all, thirteen, from Yenchingkou, Wanhsien,
Szechwan.
81. Rhinolophus episcopus caldwelli G. M. Allen
Rhinolophus episcopus caldwelli G. M. Allen, Amer. Mus. Novitates, no. 85, p. 3, August 28, 1923.
Type specimen:—An adult female, skin and skull, No. 44771, American
Museum of Natural History, from Yuki, Fukien, China. Collected October
31, 1916, by Rev. Harry R. Caldwell.
Description:—Similar to the typical form but smaller, with a forearm of
43 against 48 mm., the pelage above a warmer, cinnamon tint near ‘‘sayal
brown,” instead of smoky, a difference about similar to that separating the
upland and lowland races of the small R. blytht.
In the skull the teeth are noticeably smaller; the small upper premolar
is fully in the tooth row and has a long sharp cusp.
Measurements:—The type and only known specimen measured: forearm,
43 mm.; tibia, 17; foot, 9; third metacarpal, 31.5; fourth and fifth metacarpals,
33. Skull: occiput to front of canine, 18 mm.; occipital condyle to front of
canine, 15.5; palatal bridge, 3; zygomatic width, 7.8; mastoid width, 8.5;
width outside molars, 6.7; width across canines, 3.7; maxillary tooth row, 6.0;
mandibular tooth row, exclusive of incisors, 6.5.
Occurrence and Habits:—The single specimen on which this form is based
was taken in a cave at the summit of a mountain, by Rev. H. R. Caldwell,
whose helpful cooperation has resulted in the acquisition of many interesting
specimens from Fukien. It is evidently a slightly smaller and more brightly
colored form of the species discovered on the borders of the Szechwan high-
lands, and in these characters it is paralleled by various bats. It is evidently
uncommon and probably not a social species to any extent.
Specimens examined:—One only, the type, from Yuki, Fukien.
82. Rhinolophus lanosus lanosus Andersen
Rhinolophus lanosus Andersen, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. 7, vol. 16, p. 248, 1905.
Rhinolophus luctus Thomas, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1898, p. 770. Mell, Arch. f. Naturgesch., vol. 88, sect.
A, no. 10, p. 14, 1922.
Type specimen:—An adult female, skin and skull, No. 98.11.1.1, British
THE BATS 185
Museum, from Kuatun, northwestern Fukien, China. Collected April 4
(=18), 1898, by J. D. La Touche.
Description:—This is a species of the R. philippinensis group (Andersen),
characterized by the expansion of the base of the sella to form a cup-like
structure with, in the more advanced species, wing-like outgrowths. The
pelage is peculiar in being dark smoky in color and woolly. It may be dis-
tinguished by the following details: (1) Anterior horseshoe broad, covering the
muzzle, but without a supplementary leaflet at the side; outer borders of the
nostrils raised to form a conspicuous projecting rim, the inner borders likewise
raised, forming a deep cup; base of the sella on each side widely expanded
laterally, forming with the erect and rather narrow sella a trefoil; connecting
process very low and rounded, beginning well below the summit of the sella;
terminal lancet long, narrow, and tongue-shaped, terminating in a rounded
point. (2) Wings not especially modified, the second phalanx of digit three
less than one and one-half times the first; third metacarpal considerably
shorter than the fourth, which is slightly shorter than the fifth. (3) The skull
is notable for the high sagittal crest, the relatively small temporal fossa,
narrow maxillary width, and the deeply hollowed post-nasal depression,
corresponding to the large nose-leaves. The teeth are proportionally small;
the small upper premolar is quite in the tooth row, but its cusp inconspicuous,
while in the lower jaw the small premolar also stands well in the row, separating
the two larger premolars. (4) The nature of the pelage is peculiar among
Chinese bats in its texture; it is long, slightly crinkly or woolly, and is uniformly
sooty throughout. The ears and membranes are blackish.
Measurements:—The forearm of the type measured 71.5 mm., that of a
specimen from Yenping, 69. The latter also gives the following: third meta-
carpal, 45 mm.; its first phalanx, 25; second phalanx, 35; fourth metacarpal,
52; fifth metacarpal, 54.5; tibia, 34; foot, 16.
For skull measurements see table, under R. 1. spurcus, page 186.
Occurrence and Habits:—This bat is at once distinguished among Chinese
species by its large size, blackish woolly fur, and the great development of
the nasal leaves, with the base of the sella expanded to form a trefoil. It is
perhaps only the continental representative of the Javan R. luctus, to which
the type specimen from Kuatun, Fukien, was originally referred by Thomas
(1898, p. 770), although his date does not correspond with that given in
Andersen’s description. The specimen was said by Thomas to have been
taken on ‘18/4/1898,’’ which evidently through inadvertence became April
4th, 1898, in Andersen’s paper. As there was but one specimen, however,
there can be no doubt that the two references relate to the same individual.
This is apparently not a common species in southeastern China. Rev. H. R.
186 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
Caldwell secured one in a chambered charcoal pit in the mountains near
Yenping, 2,000 feet, and others in the same locality, seven in all. Apparently
it is not colonial in its habits. Two from Foochow, Fukien, are also in the
collection of the American Museum. Mell (1922, p. 14) mentions a dark,
woolly bat taken in the mountains east of Siudsau, Kwangtung, that was
doubtless this, though referred to R. luctus.
Specimens examined:—In all, nine, as follows:
Fukien: Yenping, 7; Foochow, 2.
83. Rhinolophus lanosus spurcus G. M. Allen
Rhinolophus lanosus spurcus G. M. Allen, Amer. Mus. Novitates, no. 317, p. 3, May 19, 1928.
Type specimen:—An adult male, skin and skull, No. 58444, American
Museum of Natural History, from Nodoa, island of Hainan, China. December
4, 1922. Clifford H. Pope, collector, Central Asiatic Expeditions.
Description:—A large, dark, woolly-haired bat, like typical R. lanosus
of Fukien in external proportions, but the skull much larger and the fur more
sooty brown, about dull chocolate brown above and below, tipped minutely
with gray, so as to give a slightly frosted effect.
Although the bodily dimensions are practically the same as in the main-
land animal, the skull is decidedly larger. The supraorbital ridges in both
meet to form a prominent sagittal crest and cut off anteriorly a triangular
depression between the orbits. The parietal area shows a curious pitting of
the surface of the bone. The small upper premolar is quite in the tooth row,
but the lower one is partly external, clearly separating the two large premolars,
whereas in the Fukien race it is smaller and more external, allowing these two
teeth to meet.
Measurements:—In the type and a second male, the forearm measures
respectively 70, 71 mm.; the third metacarpal in the type, 44.7; fourth meta-
carpal, 53.2; fifth metacarpal, 54.2; tibia, 36; foot, 18.
CRANIAL MEASUREMENTS OF THE RACES OF RHINOLOPHUS LANOSUS
Greatest
length Zygo- Width Upper Lower
tofront of Basal Palatal matic Palatal Mastoid across cheek cheek
No. canine length length width bridge width molars’ teeth teeth Locality
R. lanosus lanosus
44.763 28.3 —_ _ — 140) 74.9 13.0 10.5 10.5 12.0 Fukien
R. lanosus spurcus
58444 31.3 —_— 155 — 135 104 11.3 12.0 Hainan
58446 30.0 26.2 DIO) here 5.0 13.5) ph io:2) ey GI) 2s Hainan
Occurrence and Habits:—This island race, though externally as large as
the mainland form, has a strikingly larger skull than the Fukien examples.
It is apparently uncommon and of solitary habits, two specimens being all
THE BATS 187
that were secured by Mr. Clifford H. Pope during his stay in Hainan. One of
these was found in a prospector’s shaft in the midst of woods; and a second
individual was started from a similar shaft but was not secured. The other
specimen was taken in a tunnel in a wooded locality. In each case, the
solitary bat, hanging from among roots in the ceiling, was the only inhabitant
of the cave.
Specimens examined:—Two only, from Nodoa, Hainan.
84. Rhinolophus rex G. M. Allen
Rhinolophus rex G. M. Allen, Amer. Mus. Novitates, no. 85, p. 3, August 28, 1923.
Type specimen:—An adult female, skin and skull, No. 56890, American
Museum of Natural History, from Wanhsien, Szechwan, China. Collected
October 12, 1921, by Dr. Walter Granger.
Description:—A large bat with remarkably developed nose-leaves, be-
longing apparently to the R. philippinensis group (in original description said
to be of the R. macrotis group). It may be distinguished among Chinese
species by the following characters: (1) wings ample, but not specially
lengthened, the second phalanx of the third digit not exceeding one and one-half
times the first; metacarpals about equal; (2) nose-leaves greatly developed,
the anterior horseshoe very broad, extending 3 or 4 mm. beyond the muzzle,
deeply notched in the median line, and without supplementary leaflet at
the sides; inner edges of the nostrils produced upward all around to form a deep
cup, with a narrow median slit in the front, and extending backward beyond
the base of the sella wing-like; the sella broad, obovate and minutely hairy,
rising from the posterior side of the nasal cup, its lateral border convex, its
summit broadly rounded; the connecting process is reduced, beginning con-
siderably below the summit of the sella, low and narrow; the lancet extremely
low, about one-third the height of the sella, with broad convex outline; (3) wings
from the tarsus, caleaneum slender, about one and one-half times the length
of the foot; (4) ears very large with a relatively enormous antitragus of about
half their height; (5) fur rather long, about 16 mm. on the back, Io mm. on
the chest, in color a light ‘‘cinnamon buff’’ above, paler below except at the
extreme sides of the axille; a thin fringe of hair borders the inner edge of the
ear conch and the rib parallel to it on the lower three-fifths of the ear.
The skull is peculiar in having the surface of the brain case above the
ear cancellar or spongy in appearance with numerous small fenestre as far
forward as the orbit. The prominent nasal swellings are elliptical with a deep
cavity behind, but there is no narrow rim of bone at their anterior margin
as in some of the bats of this group, despite the size of the nose-leaves. The
sagittal crest is well marked but low. The small premolar of the upper jaw
is fully in the tooth row, and may even have a narrow space separating it
188 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
from the last premolar, yet its cusp is small; in the lower jaw the minute middle
premolar is also fully in the row. The palatal bridge is remarkably long, ex-
tending posteriorly nearly to the plane of the hind edge of the last molar.
Measurements:—The collector’s measurements of fresh specimens give
the following figures:
No. Head and body Tail Hind foot Ear Spread Locality
56890 (type) 55 38 10 a 356 Szechwan
56891 60 38 13 34 362 Szechwan
84891 65 32 12 35 360 Szechwan
The forearm measures 58 mm. in the type; third metacarpal, 41.5; its
first phalanx, 17; second phalanx, 26; fourth metacarpal, 43; fifth metacarpal,
43; tibia, 21.
CRANIAL MEASUREMENTS OF RHINOLOPHUS REX
Zygo- Width Upper Lower
Greatest Basal Palatal matic Mastoid across cheek cheek
No. length length length width width molars teeth teeth Locality
56890 (type) — 10.0 II.0 7.0 8.0 8.0 Szechwan
56891 24.0 20.4 9.8 10.5 11.3 75 8.5 8.0 Szechwan
84381 23.0 19.2 9.4 10.0 II.0 7.0 8.1 8.4 Szechwan
Occurrence and Habits:—It seems extraordinary that so peculiar and so
large a bat should not have been discovered previous to the work of the Central
Asiatic Expeditions, but possibly its distribution or habits are in some way
restricted or peculiar. The deep cup formed by the edges of the nostrils, the
broad tongue-shaped sella, low connecting process, and reduced rounded
lancet are unusual characters, while the position of the small premolar teeth
in the tooth row and the great length of the palatal bridge are primitive traits,
as well as the nearly equal metacarpal lengths. All the specimens seen are
from the cave at Yenchingkou, near Wanhsien, eastern Szechwan, where
Dr. Walter Granger stayed for three winters. On frequent occasions he sent
his collectors to the cave during the winter to collect bats hibernating there
and succeeded in securing in all seven of this species. In the development of
its nose-leaves it represents almost the climax stage of which R. episcopus
is at a much more primitive level. The only other record for this species
seems to be that of Sanborn (1933) of a female taken at Tungwongtien,
Kweichow, to the south. He mentions that the nose-leaves are lower and
narrower than the measurements originally given.
Specimens examined:—In all, seven, including one in alcohol, from
Wanhsien, eastern Szechwan.
Family HIPPOSIDERID
HORSESHOE BATS
This family is closely related to the Rhinolophide, but was for the first
time distinguished by Miller in 1907, on the ground of its further specializa-
THE BATS 189
tions of the girdles and feet, while the form of the nose-leaf is also different,
and the lower small premolar of Rhinolophus is lost. In the feet the toes have
but two phalanges each. The first and second ribs are fused to their vertebrze
and to the presternum, making a solid bony ring, and the lumbars are fused to
form a solid bony rod. The nose-leaves consist of an anterior horseshoe,
with sometimes smaller accessory leaflets; the sella and connecting process
of the Rhinolophide are not present, but an erect transverse leaf corresponds
to the lancet, and is usually divided by vertical septa into three cell-like
portions, the apices of which may be produced into points. The first finger
of the wing, digit II, consists of the metacarpal only, while the other fingers
have but two phalanges each.
The family is confined to the warmer parts of the Old World, from the
Mediterranean region and Africa east to southern China, and beyond to the
Philippines and Australia. Three genera occur in China: Hipposideros with
well-developed tail, the molars with normal styles, toes without traces of the
original phalanges; Celops with a rudimentary tail, the molars with unusually
well-developed styles, and the last upper molar with a distinct but short
fourth commissure (Miller, 1907, p. 114); and Trienops, with the zygomatic plate
remarkably wide vertically and the terminal nose-leaf tripartite. The chief
points may be keyed as follows:
Key To THE GENERA OF CHINESE HIPPOSIDERID
A. Tail well developed.
a. Zygomata not expanded vertically to form a wide plate; nose-leaf not
ERD LY MET OMA GC arsrels saat eteeat oho yeseystgie fs oid 0) e's) ore tence aie = tay ayh el a4ed= ope o) ye ke es Hipposideros
b. Zygomata expanded to form a deep vertical plate; nose-leaf cleft into
EUTEC HALLOW LODESe ccc thats tate cis hetstelers) snsnsierc ois dinie.o/sleidisteretaje nie heise tees Trienops
B. Tail minute; horseshoe covering the muzzle very deeply cleft in the middle. . Calops
Genus Hipposideros Gray
Hipposideros Gray, Zoological Miscellany, no. 1, p. 37, 1831.
Phyllorhina Bonaparte, Iconogr. d. Fauna Ital., vol. 1, pt. 21, 1837.
Reference may be made to Miller (1907, p. 110) for synonymy and di-
agnosis of the genus. In addition to the characters of the nose-leaves pre-
viously mentioned, Hipposideros may be recognized by the large triangular
ears without tragus, but instead a large antero-external lobe as in Rhinolophus,
the well-developed tail, the toes without trace of the original phalanges, The
skull has the nasal portion full and rounded; there is a low sagittal crest, and
the posterior part of the zygoma is usually more or less abruptly expanded.
The upper canines may have a secondary cusp near their base; the first upper
small premolar is usually crowded out from the tooth row, while in the lower
jaw the corresponding small premolar that was present in Rhinolophus, is
190 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
permanently lost. The tooth formula, therefore, has one less tooth than in
the latter, namely: i.3 c.t p. m.3 = 30.
The type species is Hipposideros speoris of India.
Four species are known to occur in China, distinguishable by the following
key:
Key TO THE CHINESE SPECIES OF Hipposideros
A. Size larger, forearm 80 mm., or more.
a. Nose-leaf with four supplementary leaflets, skull with profile of
aoe ACA orm higt=| oj bak ig else Ge MAE UDO OOde Od DOM ano. Bho soc05c H. armiger
b. Nose-leaf with only two supplementary leaflets, skull with profile of
MNUZZIE HALEN ema ere eee ee cr isiers tre, Wis eftheolereleteleeyetarels H. pratt
B. Size smaller, forearm much less than 80 mm.
a. Forearm about 60 mm., nose-leaf with three supplementary leaflets H. poutensis
b. Forearm about 42 mm., nose-leaf without supplementary leaflets... H. gentilis sinensis
85. Hipposideros armiger armiger (Hodgson)
Rhinolophus armiger Hodgson, Journ. Asiatic Soc. Bengal, vol. 4, p. 699, 1835.
Type specimens:—According to Andersen, the types, a male and a female
in alcohol, from Nepal, are now in the British Museum.
Description:—A very large bat, forearm about 85 mm.; tibia, 40; third
and fourth metacarpals practically equal, the fifth very slightly shorter;
wings from the ends of the tibiz, calcaneum only about one-half the length
of the tibia. Ears large, triangular, but the antero-external lobe not promi-
nent. Nose-leaves consist of a large horseshoe partly covering the muzzle,
with four narrow accessory leaflets at each side of it, the fourth and most
external merely a wart-like excrescence. The main horseshoe is not deeply
notched in the middle, and the skin at the outer border of the nostril is slightly
raised; immediately behind the nostrils is a thickened transverse ridge with a
strong vertical rib in the middle, behind this a thinner transverse ridge divided
by vertical ribs into three sections, while on each side behind these ridges is
a thickened fleshy but rather compressed half-ridge. A frontal gland opens
between and in front of these last.
In color, the bases of the hairs above are grayish white or pale drab,
their tips wood brown to Vandyke brown, the lower surface of the body wood
brown, scarcely paler at the bases of the hairs.
The skull is notable for its high sagittal crest continued forward to the
interorbital region, whence the profile slopes evenly forward and downward
to the bases of the canines, making an angle of nearly 45 degrees with the line
of the tooth row. In front view this region forms a somewhat pentagonal
shield with a minute central foramen for the passage of a nerve to the nose-
leaves. The posterior half of the zygoma is expanded vertically to a little
more than double the height of the anterior part. In the upper jaw, the minute
THE BATS 191
first premolar is crowded outward into the angle between the canine and the
large premolar, which, however, are not quite in contact in some specimens,
although practically so in others; in the lower jaw the minute premolar is,
of course, missing, while the two large premolars may even overlap slightly.
Measurements:—In the following list are both inland and coastal forms,
the latter represented by swinhoit.
EXTERNAL MEASUREMENTS OF HIPPOSIDEROS ARMIGER
Head and Hind Third Fifth
No. body = Tail foot Ear Forearm meta- meta- Tibia Locality
carpal carpal
H. armiger armiger
44524 fete) 57 17.0 34 85.0 62.0 59.0 37.0 Yunnan
44536 85 63 19.0 32 95.0 64.0 58.5 36.0 Yunnan
44530 100 61 18.0 32 gI.0 66.0 61.6 38.0 Yunnan
H. armiger swinhoti
57168 — _ 17.5 _ 95.0 66.0 62.0 38.0 Fukien
57169 — — 17.0 — 91.5 64.0 62.0 37.0 Fukien
24235 MCZ 104, 70 21.0 29 98.0 65.0 66.0 40.0 Chekiang
24236 MCZ 110 60 20.5 34 97.0 66.5 64.0 42.0 Chekiang
24243 MCZ 103 53 17.5 35 82.5 58.3 56.0 35.0 Chekiang
There is no constant difference in size between males and females.
The cranial measurements of these forms are:
Length,
occiput Basion Palation Zygo- Width Upper Lower
to front of to to matic Mastoid across cheek cheek
No. canine canine canine width width molars teeth teeth Locality
, H. armiger armiger
44524 31.2 26.0 11.5 18.0 15.0 13.0 12.0 14.0 Yunnan
44530 B13 26.0 11.6 17.5 15.0 12.8 12.5 13.8 Yunnan
44534 32.7 27.0 12.0 18.5 15.5 13.0 13.0 14.0 Yunnan
44536 32.2 27.0 12.8 18.5 15.5 13.0 13.0 14.5 Yunnan
H. armiger swinhoi
57168 33.0 27.5 12.5 19.2 16.0 13.1 13.0 14.0 Fukien
57169 32.2 26.2 1207, 18.3 15.6 13.3 13.0 14.1. Fukien
60206 31.7 26.5 12.0 17.5 15.4 12'3 12.5 13.6 Fukien
60212 31.6 26.0 12.0 17.8 15.3 12.8 12.0 13.5 Fukien
24234 MCZ 31.2 26.0 11.5 18.0 15.5 Nps) 12.3 13.6 Chekiang
24236 MCZ 32.5 27.0 11.7 18.3 15.8 13.0 12:3 13.4 Chekiang
24243 MCZ 31.9 26.0 11.8 18.0 15.1 13.0 12.5 13.5 Chekiang
Occurrence and Habits:—The range in general is from Masuri and Nepal
in northeastern India, eastward across southern China, as a species, to Che-
kiang, and southward, merging into the slightly smaller race H. a. debilis in
the Malay Peninsula. The American Museum Asiatic Expeditions secured
a fine series, partly in alcohol, from various localities in southwestern Yunnan,
192 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
as at Tengyueh, Taipingpu, Homushu Pass, as well as many more from
Wanhsien, eastern Szechwan. Andersen (1906) mentions a specimen in the
British Museum from Kiatingfu in east-central Szechwan, while Howell
(1929, p. 14) records a specimen in the U. S. National Museum from the latter
station, as well as one each from Suifu and Hwangtsaopa, in the same province,
and a third from Changshowkai, Hunan. Thomas (191I2e, p. 128) has re-
corded two males from caves near Penhsien, thirty-five miles northwest of
Chengtu, central Szechwan, which may represent nearly the limit of its range
to the northward in China, while Sanborn (1933) mentions specimens in the
Field Museum from this province and from Kweichow. These localities
indicate a range across the southern half of China, from the Yangtze basin
southward. It is a cave-dwelling species and highly colonial.
Specimens examined:—In all, eighty, from the following localities:
Yunnan: Homushu Pass, 1; Taipingpu, Shweli River, 27; Tengyueh, 23; Yunnanfu, I.
Szechwan: Wanhsien, 20, and 28 skulls.
86. Hipposideros armiger swinhoii (Peters)
Phyllorhina swinhoit Peters, in Swinhoe, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1870, p. 616.
Hipposideros armiger swinhoii G. M. Allen, Amer. Mus. Novitates, no. 85, p. 4, 1923-
Hipposideros armiger of authors, in part.
Type specimens:—Andersen states that the three cotypes of this bat,
collected as skins by Robert Swinhoe, at Amoy, Fukien, China, 1867, are in
the collection of the British Museum.
Description:—Quite similar to the typical form, but the coloring slightly
brighter, the brown of the back a cinnamon brown rather than wood brown,
the lower surfaces buffy brown instead of drab.
In measurements and other characters this bat is not distinguishable from
the typical race.
Measurements :—See tables under H. armiger armiger.
Occurrence and Habits:—When Andersen reviewed the bats of this group,
he (1906) regarded H. swinhoit as a synonym of H. armiger, and pointed out
that Peters in bestowing the name, was considering only the distinction between
it and H. diadema. Andersen himself had chiefly alcoholic material to work
with, in which, naturally, colors are hardly appreciable. With a fine series
of skins before me, from Szechwan and Fukien, it was apparent that those
from the warm coastal area are of a much brighter tint than the duller speci-
mens from the interior. I, therefore, in 1923, revived Peters’s name for the
former. It is not impossible, of course, that the brighter color of the coastal
animal is merely a matter of age or alternative phase, and that the distinction
cannot be maintained. The series collected by the American Museum Asiatic
Expeditions, however, seems to indicate that the variation is geographic.
THE BATS 193
This bat was first recorded from China by Swinhoe (1870c), who secured
a large number in a cave at Amoy, in summer. What may be one of these
very specimens has been in the mounted collection of the Museum of Com-
parative Zodlogy for many years, obtained through Ward’s Natural Science
Establishment, in 1881. The American Museum Asiatic Expeditions secured
a series at Yenping and Hsiyuenkeng in the same province, and a single speci-
men at Chinkiang, Kiangsu, near the mouth of the Yangtze, which, with others
from Tunglu, Chekiang, just east of there, is the most northerly record I
have found for the species, although Andersen mentions a skin in the British
Museum from ‘North China.” A. B. Howell (1929), in recording other
specimens from Yenping in the U. S. National Museum, mentions the brighter
ground color of the lowland animal, and adds that the latter is appreciably
smaller, but this latter character does not seem to be true of the series I
examined, and possibly his specimens were not fully mature. One of the speci-
mens from Yenping (No. 60212, A.M.N.H.) is very bright in tint, and perhaps
represents a rufous phase, having the under parts, head, nape, and sides
ferruginous to orange-rufous, the hairs of the back slightly tipped with darker.
An April specimen, probably a young of the previous year, has the bases of the
hairs soiled white, tipped with smoky brown, the lower side drab, much as in
adults of the duller, inland form. Cabrera (1922, p. 163) mentions specimens
from Foochow, and others sent by Swinhoe to the Madrid Museum in 1867.
Shih (1930) notes it from Yao Shan, Kwangtung, and from southwestern
Hunan (1930b, p. 1). Probably the bat mentioned by Mell (1922, p. 13)
as H. diadema is either this or H. pratti (neither of which he includes) from the
Canton region, where H. diadema is not yet certainly known.
Specimens examined:—In all, thirty-seven, as follows:
Kiangsu: Chinkiang, 1.
Fukien: Hsiyuenkeng, 3; Yenping, 27; Amoy, 1 (M.C.Z.).
Chekiang: Tunglu, 5.
87. Hipposideros pratti Thomas
Hipposiderus (sic) pratti Thomas, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. 6, vol. 7, p. 527, 1891.
Hipposideros pratti A. B. Howell, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., vol. 75, art. 1, p. 13, 1929.
Type specimen:—A female in alcohol (No. not given), in the collection
of the British Museum, from Kiatingfu, Szechwan, China. Collected by
A. E. Pratt.
Description:—Although of the same general size and appearance as
H. armiger, the two species are not at all closely related, as appears on a closer
inspection. Although the forearm is about the same length in both, the
tibia of pratti is longer (about 34 mm. against 26); there are only two instead
of four supplementary nose-leaves outside the horseshoe; also, the skull is
194 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
very different in the rostral portion, for, whereas in H. armiger the profile
of the muzzle slopes evenly from the top of the sagittal crest to the base of the
canines, forming an angle of about 45 degrees with the plane of the palate,
in H. pratti this region is so flattened that there is an almost perpendicular
drop from the summit of the sagittal crest, and the rostral region is so depressed
as to have a profile nearly parallel to the plane of the palate.
Fur above in adults cinnamon or tawny, or tinged with buff on its basal
two-thirds or on the nape and throat for most of its length; on the back the
tips of the hairs are dark brown with pale points giving a dusty effect. Below,
the bases of the hairs are dark brown, their tips cinnamon. Immature speci-
mens are much darker, with the tips of the hairs drab brown, their bases dull
whitish, lacking the cinnamon tint.
The horseshoe does not completely cover the muzzle and has two (instead
of four as in H. armiger) supplementary nose-leaves at each side. The outer
margins of the nostrils are slightly extended as a projecting rim. Adult
males have the posterior erect portion of the leaf very much more developed
than in females and young males, so that instead of a low ridge it is a pair of
prominent, nearly naked leaves, deeply divided at the median line, and in a
dried skin nearly 9 mm. high. In females and young males it is low and in-
conspicuous, more or less concealed by surrounding hairs. In both sexes a
long pencil of black hairs marks a median gland at its base behind. These
striking differences in the nose-leaves of the two sexes have been illustrated by
Osgood (1932, p. 223).
Fic. 12. Nose-leaves of Hipposideros armiger, male (left), and Hipposideros pratti, male (right) and
female (center), natural size. After Dr. Wilfred H. Osgood (courtesy of Field Museum of Natural History).
Measurements:—The type measured: head and body, 90 mm.; tail, 56;
ear from crown, 24; tibia, 35; foot with claws, 21; forearm, 83. In two skins,
the forearm measures 88.5 and 90 mm. respectively; the tibia, 35.5, 34; hind
foot with claws, 18, 20.
THE BATS 195
The following measurements were taken in the flesh by the collector,
J. T. Wright, of bats secured at Tunglu, Chekiang; those of forearm and tibia
are from the dried skins.
No. Total length Tail Hind foot Ear Forearm Tibia
24240 MCZ 161 61 22.0 33.0 89.0 34.0
24241 MCZ 163 56 21.0 35.0 89.5 32.5
24242 MCZ 161 59 21.0 32.0 86.0 34.0
24247 MCZ I5I 50 21.0 30.0 87.5 33.0
24248 MCz 166 59 20.5 33.5 87.3 33.0
CRANIAL MEASUREMENTS OF HIPPOSIDEROS PRATTI
Zygo- Width Upper Lower
Greatest Basal Palatal matic Mastoid across cheek cheek
No. length length length width width molars teeth teeth Sex Locality
60198 BON 270) ats) e eirG.4 16:0!" 12.00) 12:05) 14°2 of Fukien
60201 BALOGH 28.011) *12:4es TBO) 15:7) D7 9) 12°79 kA 0 ef Fukien
60202 33:3 an 2728 T2895 175 TOOe | S1T-0) 91) 12/65) 13.9 fof Fukien
60205 Bole e m2 71Gb) 12-2 Sel atS.7gihO.2 |. ah T 12:6) 1 {T3i9 ref Fukien
60207 BOn 27-year Leal L7G MetO.On na th:O nl 2.5 14.0 rol Fukien
60208 BA OES: Sit OMmELO Sm LO en E2055 A123 On) 914.7 of Fukien
Average Baa 27.7 12.4 18.1 16.0 12.0 12.7 14.1
60197 22. Ome 27 Ole M2 Ol mL 723) etO.On sbiog. | L21 13.5 9 Fukien
60199 Ao 268) | Ley 17.0) ) 15.0) LES. 12.2.> 135 Q Fukien
60200 S20 27:4. 12.5 18.0 "Yoo -11-7°5' T2.0'° 13.6 g Fukien
60203 Boas 2GAee ILD.O) = Sto 5 TOlON Se 125r E207 | 413.4 9 Fukien
60209 BBOm IIe AML! ID 4ue TAS D568) | VIZIOr 1210" | 387 9 Fukien
60210 BBG.) (2710 T1.Biee Gy ALS M8 A241 gS 9 Fukien
Average ao) 27:08, W202 Ob ASG EE) 120) 136
Occurrence and Habits:—Notwithstanding their superficial similarity,
Hipposideros pratti and H. armiger are not closely related, as already shown,
but differ remarkably in the shape of the skull, in the character of the nose-
leaves, and in the length of the tibia. The two are frequently found hanging
up in the same cave, but no doubt in separate clusters, although no information
is at hand on this point. At the type locality, Kiatingfu, Szechwan, this
species was found in the same cave with H. armiger, and this was true also at
Yenping, Fukien, where Caldwell and Andrews secured a series; Howell has
recorded both species from the latter locality, as well as a skull from Futsing.
Jacobi (1922, p. 2) mentions three males from Wanhsien, eastern Szechwan,
and notes that the males have a larger posterior nose-leaf than females. Howell
has also recorded it from Changshowkai, Hunan. No doubt it will eventually
be found over most of southeastern China, but apparently it does not extend
into India. The most northerly record available is from Tunglu, Chekiang,
where at the mouth of the Yangtze, J. T. Wright secured a series of this species
and of H. armiger.
196 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
Specimens examined:—In all, thirty-nine, as follows:
Fukien: Futsing, 1 (skull); Yenping, 33.
Chekiang: Tunglu, 5.
88. Hipposideros poutensis J. A. Allen
Hipposideros poutensis J. A. Allen, Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., vol. 22, p. 483, 1906.
Type specimen:—An adult male, skin and skull, No. 26698, American
Museum of Natural History, from Pouten, island of Hainan, China. Collected
July 2, 1904. .
Description:—‘‘Ears large, nearly as broad as high, thick and leathery,
with 7 or 8 transverse ribs, the lower ones longest and heaviest; inner border
nearly straight, becoming convex near the tip, which is short and rather obtuse;
outer border slightly hollowed below the tip; upper transverse portion of the
nose-leaf narrow, slightly convex, the free portion about 8 mm. transversely
and 2.5 mm. high, or about as wide (transverse measurement) as the horseshoe,
the anterior face with three vertical ridges, most distinct basally; horseshoe
with a slight notch on its free border, and with three small leaflets on either
side; no frontal sac behind the nose-leaf, or at least none distinguishable in
even softened skins; wings from the distal fifth of the tibia; tail very pointed,
most of the last vertebra exserted; thumb short, with the nail about 7 mm.;
feet short, about 9 mm. without the claws.
“Color above (type), at the surface russet brown, basal two-thirds of the
fur pale buffy gray; below similar but much paler, the hairs slightly gray-
tipped; ears brown, membranes blackish brown.”
Measurements:—‘‘Type (from softened, well-filled skin), head and body,
62; tail, 28; forearm, 60; thumb, 7; third metacarpal, 43; fourth, 43; fifth, 41;
third finger (with metacarpal), 82; fourth finger, 65; fifth, 65; tibia, 23; cal-
caneum, 10; foot, 9 mm. The forearm averages 60.6 in a series of 27 adult
specimens, ranging from 58 to 63, with 6 at 60, 15 above 60, and 6 below 60.
“Skull (of type), greatest length, 24; zygomatic breadth, 13; width at
nasal protuberance, 8; mastoid breadth, 11; width at outer base of canines, 6.5;
upper lateral tooth row (including canine), 9; length of lower jaw, 16.”
CRANIAL MEASUREMENTS OF HIPPOSIDEROS POUTENSIS
Zygo- Width Upper Lower
Greatest Basal Palatal matic Mastoid across cheek cheek
No. length length length width width molars teeth teeth Locality
26696 8.6 12.9 11.3 9.2 8.9 9.8 Hainan
26697 23.9 — 8.8 13.2 11.6 9.0 8.8 9.8 Hainan
26702 22.5 — 8.9 —_— — ss —— 9.4 9.1 9.9 Hainan
26716 — — — 1217) 11.4 9.1 8.6 9.5 Hainan
26718 —_—_ ss ——— 8.6 (13.0) — 9.2 8.9 9.7 Hainan
26725 —_ 8.5 12.5 —- 8.8 8.5 8.8 Hainan
26729 23.8 oe 9.1 (13.0) — 9.0 9.0 9.8 Hainan
THE BATS 197
“VYoung:—Ears smaller, thinner, less prominently ribbed; nasal appendages
as in the adult but less developed. Color above seal brown to slaty brown,
without or with very slight reddish brown suffusion, the basal portion of the
fur whitish gray in the darker specimens, faintly buffy gray in the seal brown
specimens; below dark grayish brown to dull drab, the hairs slightly light-
tipped.”
Occurrence and Habits:—The above is the original description, to which
I can add little. It is based on a series of fifty specimens secured at Pouten,
Hainan, July 2 and 4, 1904, including adult and immature individuals. No
other specimens have been taken since. The relationship of this to other
described forms is not yet wholly clear. Dr. J. A. Allen notes that it “is
doubtless closely related to Hipposideros leptophyllus (Dobson), from the
Khasia Hills, eastern Bengal, but differs from it in being considerably smaller,
and in many details of structure, as in the smaller ears, relatively much shorter
tail, broader transverse portion of the nose-leaf, etc.’’ Perhaps, too, it is
related to H. turpis of the Japanese archipelago which is of about the same
size, and has a nose-leaf apparently similar.
Specimens examined:—Ten of the type series, from Pouten, Hainan.
89. Hipposideros gentilis sinensis Andersen
Hipposideros gentilis sinensis Andersen, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. 9, vol. 2, p. 380, 1918.
Phyllorhina aurita Swinhoe, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1870, p. 616.
Phyllorhina fulva Dobson, in J. Anderson, Anat. and Zool. Researches Western Yunnan, p. 98, 1879.
Hipposideros fulvus J. A. Allen, Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., vol. 22, p. 484, 1906 (not of Gray).
?Hipposideros stoliczkana Shih, Bull. Dept. Biol., Sun Yatsen Univ., Canton, no. 9, p. 2, 1930.
Type specimen:—A skin and skull, No. 92.2.1.3, British Museum, from
Foochow, Fukien, China. Collected by J. D. La Touche.
Description:—This is the smallest Chinese member of the genus hitherto
known, with forearm about 44 mm., and occurs in a brown and a yellow phase.
The horseshoe is simple, lacking supplementary leaflets, unnotched in the
middle, and with the other parts of the nose-leaves minutely hairy; under a
lens the external border of the nostrils is seen to be slightly raised, and a median
ridge runs from between the nostrils to the anterior border. The posterior
erect portion is low and divided into three cells. The ears are large, thin and
naked, except at base, with a low, well-haired antitragus. In the wing the
third metacarpal is slightly the shortest, the fourth and fifth about equal;
the basal phalanx of the third finger slightly exceeds the second in length;
the hind legs are proportionally long.
In the brown phase, the fur of the upper surface is cottony white for the
basal two-thirds to three-fourths, tipped with dull brown; below, the throat
and abdomen are dull grayish white, with across the chest a band of drab.
198 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
In the brighter phase, the fur of the dorsal side is golden yellow at base, in-
conspicuously brown-tipped, the lower side uniformly pale yellow.
In the skull the small upper premolar is very minute, barely as high as
the weak cingulum of the canine, and lies in the angle between the latter and
the large upper premolar, external to the line of the tooth row, although there
may be a minute space between these two teeth.
Measurements:—This race differs from typical H. gentilis of Masuri,
Burma and Pegu by its slightly larger size, grading into the latter on the west
and into H. g. atrox in the Malay Peninsula. In H. g. sinensis the forearm
measurement is from 40-43 mm., against 38.5-41.5 in typical H. gentilis,
not a very striking difference. Ina male from western Yunnan, this dimen-
sion is 43.5 mm., in one from Fukien, 42. The tibia in the same two is, 17, 18;
third metacarpal, 31, 31; fourth metacarpal, 33, 31.5. Head and body, 45;
tail, 32; foot, 9.5; ear, 24.5 (flesh measurements of the former specimen).
The cranial measurements are as follows:
CRANIAL MEASUREMENTS OF HIPPOSIDEROS GENTILIS SINENSIS
Zygo- Width Upper Lower
Greatest Basal Palatal matic Mastoid across cheek cheek
No. length length length width width molars teeth teeth Locality
84813 17.9 14.0 6.2 8.6 9.0 6.0 6.0 6.6 Fukien
84814 17.5 14.0 6.3 8.8 9.1 6.1 6.2 6.6 Fukien
84816 17.7 14.2 6.1 8.2 8.7 5.8 6.0 6.5 Fukien
84817 18.0 14.2 6.0 8.8 9.4 6.2 6.3 6.5 Fukien
84818 17.8 14.2 6.3 8.9 9.0 5-6 6.0 6.5 Fukien
84819 17.8 14.0 6.4 8.8 9.0 5.7 6.0 6.5 Fukien
84821 18.0 14.5 6.5 8.9 9.3 6.0 6.2 6.5 Fukien
84823 18.0 14.4 6.5 8.8 9.1 6.0 6.2 6.5 Fukien
84824 17.8 14.0 6.4 8.6 9.6 5.7 6.0 6.6 Fukien
84831 17.4 14.1 6.1 8.6 9.0 5.9 6.0 6.5 Fukien
Average 17.7 14.1 6.2 8.7 9.2 5.9 6.1 6.5
58321 17.0 13.5 5:7; 8.7 9.0 5.6 5.7 6.0 Hainan
58382 17.9 14.2 6.0 8.7 9.0 5.8 6.0 6.4 Hainan
Occurrence and Habits:—This is another species characteristic of southern
China, probably not extending so far north as the large species of the genus.
At all events, on the eastern coast there seems to be no evidence of it farther
north than Fukien, while to the westward it is present in southern Yunnan,
but apparently not in Szechwan. Its small size, cottony-white bases to the
hairs in the brown phase, golden in the yellow, will serve to distinguish it at
once from among Chinese species. Whether the golden ones represent old
adults or not is uncertain, but doubtless the immature and young-adult
specimens are drab-brown. A series of nineteen, all in the brown phase, was
secured by Mr. Clifford H. Pope, from ‘“‘the coffin cavity of an old stone grave”’
in the low, rolling grassy hills of the Fukien coast a few miles south of Futsing.
THE BATS 199
Seven of these (November 27, 1925) were females, the rest males, hence at this
season, at any rate, the sexes were not segregated. Five others taken at
Nodoa and Namfong, on the island of Hainan, are not distinguishable from
those of Fukien mainland; only two were in the yellow phase. A number from
Yenping, Fukien, collected by Dr. R. C. Andrews, are in the yellow phase.
Five others from Yungchang in Yunnan, would be expected to approach the
typical form, but do not seem to differ appreciably from the eastern specimens.
This is the bat called Phyllorhina fulua by Dobson, in reporting on the bats
collected in eastern Burma and western Yunnan by Anderson (1879), while
J. A. Allen records as Hipposideros fulvus, specimens from Rinsui, Hainan,
noting that the brown phase is Gray’s H. murinus. Doubtless, too, Swinhoe’s
Phyllorhina aurita, which he found common at Amoy in May, is the same.
Possibly the bat recorded without comment by Shih (1930b, p. 2) as Hippo-
sideros stolicskana, from the southwestern border of Hunan, is also this, for
he does not mention this common species, and the latter (an Asellia) is not
positively known from China.
Specimens examined:—In all, fifty, as follows:
Fukien: Futsing, 19; Yenping, 21.
Hainan: Namfong, 1; Nodoa, 4.
Yunnan: Yungchang, 5.
Genus Triznops Dobson
Trienops Dobson, Journ. Asiatic Soc. Bengal, vol. 40, pt. 2, p. 455, 1871.
Externally the bats of this genus resemble Hipposideros in having a
well-developed tail, but the terminal portion of the nose-leaf is divided into
three narrow, pointed lobes instead of ending in a semicircular fold. The
dental formula and general structure of the teeth are likewise as in Hippo-
sideros, but the upper incisors are bifid. The zygomata are much expanded,
so that.in some species there is a high vertical plate forming the greater part
of the posterior portion. One species only is known from China. The geno-
type is 7. persicus of Persia.
90. Triznops wheeleri Osgood
Trienops wheeleri Osgood, Publ. Field Mus. Nat. Hist., zool. ser., vol. 18, p. 224, 1932. Sanborn, Proc. Biol.
Soc. Washington, vol. 46, p. 56, 1933.
Type specimen:—An adult female, skin ‘and skull, No. 32236, Field
Museum of Natural History, from Muong Moun, Tongking, French Indo-
China. Collected March 21, 1929, by Dr. Ralph E. Wheeler.
Description:—A small bat, forearm about 42 mm., externally like Hippo-
sideros, except that the terminal margin of the nose-leaf is divided into three
distinct pointed lobes close together at the apex. Tail slightly projecting
from the edge of the interfemoral membrane. The anterior horseshoe is
200 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
supplemented by two lateral marginal leaves. Ears about reaching to the
nostrils when laid forward.
The color is described as brownish (bister) above, or sooty, perhaps
representing two color phases, the hairs broadly white at the base. The under
surfaces of the body are pale “snuff brown,”’ slightly paler at the bases of the
hairs.
Measurements:—Osgood gives the following averages for the measure-
ments of six adults from the type locality: total length, 84 mm.; tail, 39;
hind foot, 8; forearm, 41.6 (dry). An adult in alcohol measured: forearm, 42;
second finger, metacarpal, 32; third finger, metacarpal, 31.5; fifth finger,
metacarpal, 28; tibia, 18; hind foot, 9; calcar, Io.
The skull of the type measured: greatest length, 15 mm.; condyle to front
of canine, 13; zygomatic width, 7.4; mastoid width, 7.1; width across nasal
swellings, 4.4; height of zygomatic plate, 2.0; upper cheek teeth, 5.2.
Occurrence and Habits:—This recently described species was discovered
in two places in western Tongking, Indo-China, by the Kelley-Roosevelts
Expedition in 1929. Its presence in southern China was, therefore, to be
expected, and has lately been substantiated by the finding of three specimens
at Tungwongtien, forty miles southwest of Wenshui, Kweichow. These are
now in the Field Museum of Natural History, and Sanborn (1933) in comment-
ing on them, writes: “‘The specimens are preserved in alcohol and were so
badly shot that but one skull is complete enough for study. The skull and
wing measurements are both slightly larger than those of the type series. . . .
More material may show these Chinese specimens to represent a slightly larger
subspecies. . . . This is the first record of the genus for China.”
Specimens examined:—I have examined two of the original series from
Indo-China.
Genus Ceelops Blyth
Celops Blyth, Journ. Asiatic Soc. Bengal, vol. 17, pt. 1, p. 251, 1848.
Chilophylla Miller, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., vol. 38, p. 395, 1910.
This genus is readily distinguished from its ally Hipposideros: (1) By the
large funnel-like ears, in which the antitragus, instead of being marked off
by a deep notch, is high and more or less continuous with the upper edge.
(2) By the peculiar shape of the nose-leaves, which consist of the usual horse-
shoe over the muzzle, but modified so that it appears to be two distinct broad
leaves separated by a deep cleft in the middle, while beneath each is a single
supplementary leaflet in the shape of a strap-like narrow lappet projecting
forward on each side beyond the upper horseshoe-like portion. The usual
transverse upright portion is present behind the nostrils, and behind that is
the transverse posterior leaf, having a small heart-shaped projection in the
middle. All these outgrowths are minutely hairy. (3) By the very rudi-
THE BATS 201
mentary tail, less than 2mm. in length. (4) By the teeth in which there is a
marked secondary cusp on the upper canine, while the upper molars are
“peculiar in the narrowness of the inner portion, the unusual development of
the styles, and the great depth of the reentrant angles’ (Miller, 1907, p. 114).
The tooth formula is the same as in Hipposideros, viz.:1.4 c.t pm. m.% = 30.
Two species occur in China, a brown, C. inflata, and a gray, C. sinicus.
They seem to be rare, for very few specimens have been taken.
g1. Ccelops inflata Miller
Celops inflata Miller, Proc. Biol. Soc. Washington, vol. 41, p. 85, March 16, 1928. A. B. Howell, Proc. U. S.
Nat. Mus., vol. 75, art. I, p. 15, pl. 2, fig. f, 1929.
Type specimen:—An adult male, in alcohol, No. 238991, U. S. National
Museum, from near Yenpingfu, Fukien, China, 2,000 feet altitude. Collected
April 7, 1922, by Arthur de C. Sowerby.
Description: —‘‘Externally there appears to be nothing to distinguish
the animal from Celops robinsoni,’”’ which in turn is merely a smaller form of
C. frithii, having fur grayish at the base, tipped with warm brown. In the
alcoholic type, the color is doubtless not readily made out. The main differ-
ences, as compared with C. robinsoni from Pahang, are in the larger brain
case, the more extreme narrowing of the interorbital region, and less sharp
definition of the supranarial swellings on the rostrum. In dorsal view the
brain case is at once seen to project more laterally beyond the level of the zy-
gomata. The teeth “are slightly larger than those of Celops robinsoni, a
feature more noticeable in the lower mandibular series,’’ in which the first
and second molars have the inner border broader in proportion to the outer,
and the hypocones better developed; the cingulum is more conspicuous on
the outer borders of the lower molars; and the posterior lower premolar is
larger and its length is greater in proportion to its height (Miller, 1928).
Measurements:—The following measurements are given for the type and
only known specimen: head and body, 34 mm.; tibia, 15.0; foot, 8.0; forearm,
35.6; thumb, 8.8; third metacarpal, 27; fourth metacarpal, 28; fifth meta-
carpal, 29; ear from meatus, I4. -
The skull measures: greatest length, 15.1 mm.; condylobasal length,
13.0; zygomatic breadth, 6.6; rostral breadth, 3.6; interorbital constriction,
1.6; length of brain case, 9.2; breadth of brain case, 7.6; depth of brain case,
‘including auditory bulla, 6.4; mandible, 8.8; maxillary tooth row, 5.0; man-
dibular tooth row, 5.6.
Occurrence and Habits:—Beyond the single type specimen taken by Mr.
Sowerby near Yenping, in Fukien, there are no other Chinese specimens
known. Eventually it may prove that this is merely a subspecies of C.
robinsoni. In his paper on Chinese mammals in the U. S. National Museum,
202 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
A. B. Howell has figured the skull of this and C. robinsoni, to show the very
differently shaped brain case (Howell, 1929, pl. 2, fig. f).
Specimens examined:—One, the type, from Yenping, Fukien.
92. Ccelops sinicus G. M. Allen
Celops sinicus G. M. Allen, Amer. Mus. Novitates, no. 317, p. 4, May 19, 1928.
Type specimen:—An adult female, skin, No. 84893, and skull, No. 84388,
American Museum of Natural History, from a cave two miles northeast of
Wanhsien, Szechwan, China. Collected February 26, 1926, by Dr. Walter
Granger, Central Asiatic Expeditions.
Description:—Pelage long, dense, and woolly, about I1 mm. in length
in the middle of the back, blackish for the basal two-thirds, the terminal third
indistinctly brown, nearly sepia of Ridgway (1912); lower surfaces similarly
blackish at base of the hairs, then minutely ringed with brownish and tipped
with gray, giving an indistinctly tricolor effect. Membranes and large trans-
lucent ears smoke gray.
The nose-leaves are similar to those of C. frithii, the horseshoe and median
erect process posterior to the nostrils thickly clothed with short stiff hairs,
while longer hairs, arising from the sides of the nose-leaves behind the horse-
shoe, form a well-defined fringe. On each side are six longer hairs, one from
back of the anterior edge of the horseshoe, three along its lateral edge, and two
erect, from the face of the raised ridge behind the nostrils.
The wing in this genus is peculiar for the shortness of the third finger
and the length of the fifth; the thumb has a very long metacarpal and short
phalanx (7: 1.6 mm.), the former wholly involved in the membrane; the second
digit has no phalanges and is minutely longer than the combined metacarpal
and first phalanx of the third digit. The latter is the longest digit, due to the
great length of its second phalanx, for its metacarpal and first phalanx are
shorter than those of the fourth and fifth digits. The wing arises from the
metatarsus at the base of the toes. The calcaneum is well developed, as long
as the toes. ;
The skull is remarkably delicate, with a nearly globular brain case, and
very narrow interorbital portion, to which the sharp sagittal crest is confined.
The frontal shield is nearly flat, its dorsal surface inclined at a sharp angle
to the plane of the tooth row, and its anterior swellings but little raised above
the general level on each side. The peculiar prolongation of the premaxille -
and maxille gives the skull a profile that tapers nearly to a point in front.
The upper canine is noticeably compressed, with a prominent secondary
cusp, about half-way on the posterior edge. The small upper premolar is
distinctly crowded to the outer side of the tooth row, but there is a minute
space between the large premolar and the base of the canine. In the lower
THE BATS 203
jaw the outer incisor abuts closely against the canine, instead of being separated
by a space as in C. frithii, and in height barely exceeds the cingulum of the
canine. The anterior small lower premolar is slightly external to the line of
the tooth row. All the lower cheek teeth are much compressed, almost blade-
like.
Measurements:—The collector’s measurements are: head and body, about
38 mm.; ear, 16; spread of wings, 232. The forearm measures 35.5; thumb,
metacarpal, 7; its phalanx, 1.6; second finger, metacarpal, 35; third finger,
metacarpal, 26.3; its first phalanx, 7; second phalanx (somewhat bent), 22;
fourth finger, metacarpal, 28.6; its first phalanx, 9.0; second phalanx, 10.2;
fifth finger, metacarpal, 30.5; its first phalanx, 10.1; second phalanx, 12.0;
tibia, 16.4; foot, 8.0; calcar, 5.
Skull: greatest length, 17.0 mm.; basal length, 13.5; condyle to front of
canine, 15.1; palatal length, 6.2; median length of premaxillaries, 4.0; zygomatic
width, 7.8; mastoid width, 8.2; interorbital constriction, 1.8; width of frontal
shield, 3.9; width outside molars, 5.8; front of canine to back of last upper
molar, 6.4; lower tooth row, incisor to back of last molar, 6.8.
Occurrence and Habits:—By a curious coincidence, the description of
this species was written and sent in for publication before that of C. inflata
reached me, but was not published until two months after the latter. Any
doubts as to the specific difference of the two were dispelled, however, when,
in company with Dr. Wilfred H. Osgood, I had an opportunity to compare
both types, as well as specimens of C. frithit. The present is a very different
species, lacking the shining brown-tipped hairs above, for the brownish rings
are so small in comparison that they hardly lessen the gray appearance of the
fur, while C. frithii is a very brown-looking bat. The type and only known
specimen of C. sinicus was taken in midwinter in a ‘‘warm-air”’ cave at Wan-
hsien, where it was evidently hibernating. This cave had very few bats in it
and was much warmer than other neighboring caves. Bats of this genus
seem to be rare, for few specimens get into collections. No doubt, too, it is
- largely solitary in habits.
Specimens examined:—One only, the type, from Wanhsien, Szechwan.
Family VESPERTILIONIDZ
VESPERTILIONINE BATS
This is a widely distributed family of bats in both Old and New Worlds,
and the only family that is commonly represented in temperate regions.
Externally its members are usually distinguishable by the moderately developed
ears, separate (rarely joined across the head), with tragus, and lacking nose-
leaves or other outgrowths of the muzzle, tail not reduced, but extending to
the margin of the interfemoral membrane. In the wing the second finger has
204 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
a metacarpal and one small bony phalanx, the third finger three phalanges,
of which the terminal one is mostly cartilaginous. The skeleton of the wing
is peculiar in the large secondary articulation of the outer supplementary
head (trochiter) with the scapula, the great reduction of the ulna to a mere
thread distally, while at the base it is fused with the radius. The seventh
cervical vertebra is not fused with the first dorsal, nor are the lumbars fused,
while the sacral vertebre still have their outlines traceable. The skull lacks
postorbital processes, and has present the ascending branches of the premaxil-
laries only. There is always a distinct emargination or notch between them
anteriorly. The teeth are of the usual insectivorous type without modifica-
tion of the cusps for fruit-eating (see Miller, 1907). These bats thus combine
rather unmodified external structure with specialized wing development.
The family is well represented in China by at least twelve or thirteen
genera, possibly more, depending on how closely one divides the group. The
genera here recognized may be known by the following key, representing four
subfamilies as defined by Miller (1907).
KEY TO THE GENERA OF CHINESE AND MONGOLIAN VESPERTILIONID
A. Nostrils normal, not produced as short tubes; anterior upper
premolars (p?, p*), if present, conspicuously smaller than the
last (p*).
a. Ears not funnel-shaped.
a’. Second phalanx of third finger less than three times the
length of the first; median lobe of presternum not larger
tihansthe od yiotunalloOne saan eee eee eer ee aer Subfamily Vespertilioninz
a’’. Six teeth behind the canine, above and below.
1. Hind foot, plus claws, shorter than tibia....... Myotis
2. Hind foot, plus claws, equaling tibia.......... Rickettia
b’’. Less than six teeth behind the canine, above.
1. Ears much longer than head, three lower pre-
molars: onteachiSide wtih oc) ao aay pens toca Plecotus
2. Ears not especially elongated, two lower pre-
molars on each side.
a. Outer upper incisor not extending beyond
cingulum of inner, its crown flat; size large. . Ia
b. Outer upper incisor extending distinctly be-
yond the cingulum of inner, pointed; size
small or medium.
a’. Fifth finger short; when wing is folded it
scarcely exceeds metacarpals 3 and 4.... Nyctalus
b’. Fifth finger longer than combined meta-
carpal and first phalanx in digits 3 and 4.
a’’. Ears not joined across forehead..... Pipistrellus
b”. Ears distinctly joined by a low brow
band e523)... 2 eee eee ace eee Barbastella
THE BATS 205
b’. Second phalanx of third finger long, about three times the
lenethrottherirst phalamxs selected 021+) clays piensa: ps epee Subfamily Miniopterinz
One genus; tooth formula: ig c.4p.3m.$=36......... Miniopterus
b. Ears funnel-shaped, their outer margin wide, aha commenc-
ing slightly in front of the inner margin; sternum very short
and broad, its median length less than twice the width of its
ANCETION EXPANSION 5 4-5 yy eiaatlels se tess sisioee tee eet one Subfamily Kerivoulinz
One genus; tooth formula: i$ c.¢ p.-§ m.g=38............ Kerivoula
B. Nostrils produced as a short tube; first and second upper pre-
mMOlATS|OL aboUtabhe| SAME SIZCu sale elas pe sets ciclo: Aeleaae Subfamily Murininz
{Mofoidel orqonIENE she Kos phoy, wie eve ya nA RADU ena DOO ooo Murina
Genus Myotis Kaup
Myotis Kaup, Skizzirte Entw.-Gesch. u. Naturl. Syst. d. Europ. Thierw., vol. 1, p. 106, 1829. Type species,
Vespertilio myotis Borkhausen = Myotis myotis (Borkh.).
Bats of this genus are very widely distributed, for they occur in every
continent of the globe, including Australia, and in the northern hemisphere
extend as far as the limit of tree growth in the summer season. Indeed, there
is no other group of land mammals that is quite so universal in occurrence.
The species of the genus are many, differing in details of structure that are
often not apparent on casual inspection; yet it is possible to recognize several
groups of more closely interrelated forms, to which names have been applied
in a generic or a subgeneric sense. Nevertheless, on account of the many
intermediate stages or combinations of characters shown by various species,
it seems better for the present to retain them all within the single genus.
Thus the Old World species with very large feet have been called Leuconoé
by Thomas, and Bianchi has given the additional generic names Capaccinius
and Rickettia to include certain European and Asiatic species, in addition to
some half-dozen subgeneric names.
The Chinese species of this genus vary in size from the big M. chinensis
with a forearm of 65 mm., to the small, weak-footed M. moupinensts of less
than half the proportions of M. chinensis. In color all are dark brown or
dark gray, except the large M. formosus rufo-niger which is a handsome rufous.
In its tooth characters this genus probably represents the most generalized
condition in the subfamily Vespertilionine. The formula contains the maxi-
mum number to be found in living bats, namely: i3 c+ pm. m.$=38. Of
the premolars, the anterior two are small, while the third (representing pm‘
and pm,) is the largest. The molars have the W-pattern of cusps well de-
veloped on the first and second of the upper jaw, with a distinct protocone and
hypocone. In many species there is a small protoconule between the former
and the paracone. The third upper molar is reduced through the loss of the
posteriormost style (metastyle) and its commissure and the diminished size
of the hypocone.
206 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
The skull itself is usually rather slender with smoothly rounded brain
case and slightly upturned rostrum.
The type species is the large Myotis myotis of Europe.
Key TO THE CHINESE AND MONGOLIAN SPECIES OF Myotis
A. Size large, forearm 45 mm. or more.
a. Forearm about 45 mm., skull with short, slightly upturned
a1 7A (ee ees eee a hint Santen: A ene ca ae Myotis altarcum
b. Forearm more than 45 mm.
a’. Forearm about 50 mm.
a’’. General color orange and black......5.........-- M. formosus rufo-niger
b’’. General color dark brown above, gray below...... M. pequinius
b’. Forearm 60 mm. or more.
a’, Forearm 60 mmi.:/belly, whitish... .)....2 5.05: M. myotis ancilla
b’’. Forearm about 65, belly dark grayish............. M. chinensis and
M. c. luctuosus
B. Size small, forearm less than 40 mm.
a. Smaller, forearm 31-33 mm.
Second upper small premolar in the tooth row.......... M. muricola moupimensts
Second upper small premolar internal to the tooth row. . M. davidit
b. Larger, forearm 35-39 mm.
a’. Forearm about 39 mm.
a’. Tibia long, 20 mm., foot less than half its length... M. frater
b”. Tibia shorter, about 15 mm., foot more than half its
Teng, |, 2ht2 rtere.o Peat rei s Sane Seceeh ta sn tk eet eNae« M. fimbriatus
b’. Smaller, forearm less than 39 mm.
a’’. Foot large, obviously more than half the tibia..... M. daubentonit
b’’. Foot smaller, about half the length of tibia.
1. Upper molars without obvious protoconule, hair-
iipsiaboverclassyepencee ceric es cists tastes M. mystacinus
2. Upper molars with distinct protoconule, fur
above dull, face densely hairy................. M. laniger
93. Myotis myotis ancilla Thomas
Myotis myosotis ancilla Thomas, Abstract Proc. Zool. Soc. London, April 26, 1910, p. 25; Proc. Zool. Soc.
London, 1910, p. 636; ibid., 1911, p. 688.
Type specimen:—An adult male, skin and skull, No. 10.5.2.4, British
Museum, from Shangchow, southeastern Shensi, China. Collected November
27, 1909, by Malcolm P. Anderson.
Description:—Smaller than the European M. myotis, and paler in color,
with shorter ears. The color above is nearly ‘‘drab”’ of Ridgway, instead of
wood brown as in the typical form, the head grayer; dark shoulder patches
more strongly defined, blackish brown; lower surface as in the typical race,
grayish white, the hairs everywhere with dark slaty bases.
THE BATS 207
Skull slightly smaller than in the European animal, the bullz smaller in
correlation with the shorter ears. In its general form the skull of this species
is relatively slender, with rather narrow brain case and zygomata. The two
small premolars stand quite in the tooth-row, the middle upper one the smallest;
the upper molars have practically no hypocone, and the protocone is low and
without protoconule.
Measurements:—The type measured: head and body, 75 mm.; tail, 56;
foot, 12; ear, 21; forearm, 61 (range 59-62).
Skull: greatest length, 22.2 mm.; basi-sinual length, 17; front of canine
to back of m, 9.2.
Occurrence and Habits:—The above description is taken from Thomas’s
original account, which was based on a series of three males and a female
taken at Shangchow, in southeastern Shensi (see Thomas, 1g910b; IgIIe).
He regards this as the eastern representative of the large Myotis of Europe,
although its relationship to the Indian M. blythi is still uncertain. Although
the typical form seems to be a species of central and southern Europe, ranging
eastward, the few records for eastern Asia seem to be well to the northward.
Thus, in addition to the locality in southeastern Shensi mentioned, the only
other seems to be Tuntzia-inzia, east of Dalai Nor, at the south end of the
Great Khingan, and so perhaps just outside Mongolian territory (Bobrinski,
1929). The two males collected here by Putiata are in the Zoological Museum
of the Academy of Sciences at Leningrad and agree in details of measurement
with those given by Thomas.
Specimens examined:—None.
94. Myotis altarium Thomas
Myotis altarium Thomas, Abstract Proc. Zool. Soc. London, February 14, 1911, p. 3; Proc. Zool. Soc. London,
IQII, p. 161.
Type specimen:—An adult female, skin and skull, No. 11.2.1.9, British
Museum, from Omei Shan, Szechwan, China: Collected August 2, 1910.
Description:—A medium-sized species, forearm 45 mm., with remarkably
shortened rostrum, recalling somewhat M. pequinius in this respect.
Ears ‘“‘nearly as long as in bechsteini, but rather narrow,’ that is, reaching
several millimeters beyond the nose when laid forward, their inner edge evenly
convex, outer slightly concave above, convex in lower half, with a strong
antitragus separated by a deep notch. Tragus long, not very sharply pointed,
evenly but slightly curved outward, and with a well-marked lobule at the
outer base. Feet large, but not disproportionately so; calcar long, extending
rather more than half-way to the tail, with a very narrow postcalcaneal lobule.
Membranes naked, interfemoral not fringed.
208 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
The fur is rather long, but thin in the summer pelage, the hair of the
back about 8 mm. in length. General color above, uniform “dull brown,”
paler than ‘‘Prout’s brown,” the tips of the hairs rather lighter, under surface
hardly paler than the upper except that the tips of the hairs are more distinctly
lighter.
The skull differs from that of the usual Myotis in the shortened rostrum,
which is broad and evenly narrowed forward, instead of being nearly parallel-
sided. In profile the outline of the skull is nearly straight from its highest
point to the level of the small premolars, then abruptly concave with a short
and slightly upturned nasal region. The palate is unusually vaulted. The
small first and second upper premolars both stand in the tooth row, the second
about half the size of the anterior tooth.
Measurements:—The type specimen measured: head and body, 55 mm.;
tail, 48; ear, 22; tragus on inner edge, 8; third finger, metacarpal, 40; first
phalanx, 13.3; combined tibia and foot with claws, 29.
The skull measured: greatest length, 15.2 mm.; basi-sinual length, 12;
breadth of brain case, 7.9; front of canine to back of m’%, 6.5.
Occurrence and Habits:—Hitherto this species has been identified from the
type locality only, Omei Shan in central Szechwan, where in August, 1910, the
original series of five males and four females (no doubt from a roosting colony)
was secured by Malcolm P. Anderson, Dr. J. A. C. Smith and Mr. F. Kingdon
Ward. The description has been taken from Thomas’s (1911Id, p. 161)
account, which gives all that is known of this bat. He notes that ‘‘it is a most
peculiar species and readily recognizable by its size, long narrow ears, and
the unusual shape of its skull, which differs considerably from that of most
members of the genus, although another Chinese species, M. pequinius,
shows an approach to it.”
Specimens examined:—None.
95. Myotis chinensis chinensis (Tomes)
Vespertilio chinensis Tomes, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1857, p. 52. Swinhoe, zbid., 1870, p. 618.
Myotis chinensis G. M. Allen, Amer. Mus. Novitates, no. 85, p. 5, 1923.
Type specimen:—The type is in the collection of the British Museum,
sent from South China by Robert Fortune, a botanical collector, about 1850,
Description:—A large species, forearm about 66 mm. The general color
of the upper parts of the body is a uniform dark olive brown, becoming smoke
color on the muzzle, the hairs everywhere slaty at the base. Below, the throat,
chest, and central parts of the abdomen are uniformly dark gray, the hairs
fuscous at the base and minutely tipped with gray; sides of the body dark
blackish brown.
THE BATS 209
The general proportions of the body are about as in smaller members of
the group, with large ears extending when laid forward about to the tip of
the nose; the calcar is very long and slender, without a keel; at the base of the
fifth finger, ventrally, there is a prominent membranous slip extending from
the wrist to the base of the metacarpal.
The skull has the general slender form characteristic of most of the genus.
In the upper jaw the second small premolar is drawn slightly in from the tooth
row. The upper molars lack a distinct protoconule, and approach somewhat
the condition in the Myotis myotis group. The hypocone is very indistinctly
marked, and hardly forms more than a shoulder of the protocone.
Measurements:—Tomes gives the following measurements of the type:
head and body, 95 mm.; tail, 55 mm.; forearm, 64 mm.
CRANIAL MEASUREMENTS OF MYOTIS CHINENSIS
Zygo- Width Upper Lower
Greatest Basal Palatal matic Mastoid across cheek cheek
No. length length length width width molars teeth teeth Locality
M. chinensts chinensis
60215 23.3 20.0 12.7 15.0 11.5 9.6 9.3 10.2 Fukien
24244 MCZ 22.6 19.4 12.6 — 11.0 8.7 9.0 9.7. Chekiang
24245 MCZ 23.2 20.2 12.6 15.2 11.0 9.8 9.0 10.3 Chekiang
M. chinensis luctuosus with incisors
56867 24.0 22.5 13.4 15.5 11.5 9.7 11.5 12.2 Szechwan
56871 23.7 21.5 13.0 15.5 II.1 9.0 11.5 12.0 Szechwan
Occurrence and Habits:—This large bat is very little inferior in size to
the European Myotis myotis, to which it may prove more closely allied than
at present believed, for in the loss of protoconules and in the great reduction
of the hypocones of the upper molars, it seems to show points of relationship.
Its dark under side, with minute gray tips to the hairs, contrast, however,
with the more extensively whitish under side of that species.
Tomes first described this bat on the basis of a single skin sent by Robert
Fortune, a botanical collector, from ‘‘China.’’ His work was chiefly in
southern China, so that the specimen probably came from some point near
the coast of that part of the country, possibly from Shanghai, where he ob-
tained other bats. The typical form probably ranges over the lowland
country of southern China, and is replaced in the western hill country of eastern
Szechwan by a race lacking the definite broad black band along the sides of
the body. Apart from the eastern specimens listed below, I have seen none
from other localities, except a single one secured by the American Museum’s
expedition in extreme southwestern Yunnan, at Yungchangfu, thus extending
the range quite across southern China. Nothing seems to be recorded of
its habits.
210 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
Specimens examined:—In all, five, as follows:
Chekiang: Tunglu, 2 (M.C.Z.).
Fukien: Yenping, 1; no definite locality, 1 (skin only).
Yunnan: Yungchangfu, I.
96. Myotis chinensis luctuosus G. M. Allen
Myotis chinensis luctuosus G. M. Allen, Amer. Mus. Novitates, no. 85, p. 5, August 28, 1923.
Type specimen:—An adult male, skin and skull, No. 56867, American
Museum of Natural History, from Wanhsien, Szechwan, China. Collected
October 12, 1921, by Dr. Walter Granger, Central Asiatic Expeditions.
Description:—Similar in general proportions and coloring to the typical
form, but differing in having the under surface almost uniformly gray instead
of with a prominent black stripe along the sides of the body. Color above,
a uniform grayish brown, nearly ‘‘buffy brown’’ of Ridgway, the top of the
head somewhat darker smoky; below, uniformly gray, the hairs fuscous at
their base and minutely tipped with whitish, resulting in an evenly frosted
appearance, darkened by the bases of the hairs showing through.
The skull and teeth do not differ from those of the typical form in southern
China, except in being a very little smaller, as indicated by the few available
specimens of the latter.
Measurements :—Two specimens, the type and a topotype, show the follow-
ing measurements, those in the first four columns taken by the collector in the
flesh.
No. Headandbody Tail Foot Ear Forearm Third Mc. Fourth Mc. Fifth Mc.
56867 80 65 16 21 65 64 62 59 -
56871 89 65 16 22 66 61 59 57
The skull measurements of the same two specimens are given in the table
preceding.
Occurrence and Habits:—This is perhaps a race of the interior part of
China, extending to the western highlands. The series secured by the Central
Asiatic Expeditions at Wanhsien, in eastern Szechwan, constitutes all that
I have seen, and is very uniform in the reduction of the blackish area along
the sides. A. B. Howell (1929, p. 15), however, has recorded it from Chang-
showkai, Hunan, and Hwangtsaopa, in Kweichow; the single specimen he
mentions from Yenping, Fukien, should doubtless be referred to the typical
race of the coast.
This seems to be a cave-inhabiting species, for Dr. Granger secured the
Wanhsien series in a cave where several species of bats were hibernating.
Specimens examined:—In all, ten, from Wanhsien, Szechwan, including 3
in alcohol, 5 skins and skulls, 2 skins.
THE BATS 205
97. Myotis formosus rufo-niger (Tomes)
Vespertilio rufo-niger Tomes, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1858, p. 79, pl. 60 (Mammalia),
Vespertilio formosus Dobson, Cat. Chiroptera Brit. Mus., p. 311, 1878.
?Miniopterus schretbersi Shih, Bull. Dept. Biol., Sun Yatsen Univ., Canton, no. 4, p. 4, 1930.
Type specimen:—The type is in the British Museum, as part of the Tomes
Collection, and is the specimen recorded by Dobson (1878) as the one figured
by Tomes. It was collected at Shanghai, Kiangsu, China, by Robert Fortune,
between 1850 and 1860.
Description:—This is a fairly large species for the genus, with a forearm
of about 49 mm. Ears narrowly ovate, tragus long and obtusely pointed,
with a small basal lobule. Wing membrane from the base of the toes. Fur
extending out on to the upper side of the humerus, and below covering the
membrane about to a line joining the elbow and the knee.
Color remarkable for the bright orange-rufous of the entire body, this
coloring extending out on the membranes so as to include all but the tips of
the ears, and in a broad line along each side of the fingers and the basal part
of the wing and tail membranes. That is, the only parts of the membranes
of a brownish black are: the fore part of the antebrachial membrane, two large
triangular spaces between the third and fourth and the fourth and fifth digits
of the wing, as well as the outer part of the wing membrane from the ankle
forward, in a triangle extending nearly to the base of the fifth finger. The
tail membrane is also orange. Lower surface of the body slightly paler.
Measurements:—No measurements are available.
This bat is remarkable in the genus for its handsome orange coloring, with
the same hue extending out along the fingers and covering much of the wing
membranes as well as the interfemoral, so that Bianchi (1917) has proposed
for the species the subgenus Dichromyotis.
Occurrence and Habits:—The Chinese form of the Orange-colored Bat
was first recorded by Tomes (1858) on the basis of a specimen collected at
Shanghai by the botanist Fortune and a second from ‘‘Kiang.’’ He mentions
that he had at first regarded these as different from the typical M. formosus
of India, and had intended to name the Chinese form Vespertilio rufo-niger,
but decided that the difference in the intensity of coloring was hardly important
as a specific distinction, though it might represent an eastern “‘race.”” The
Shanghai specimen is figured in his colored plate (Tomes, 1858, pl. 60, Mam-
malia), and is mentioned by Dobson (1878) as in the British Museum. It is,
therefore, to be regarded as the type specimen. That this bright coloring is
associated with tree-living habits is shown by the fact that Swinhoe (1870c,
p. 617) found a cluster of about ten hanging in the leafy branches of a tree
in Formosa, while the single specimen secured by the Central Asiatic Expedi-
tions was found by Mr. Pope’s Chinese hunter, Da Da, hanging from a bush
212 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
on a low mountain in the thickly settled region of Futsing, Fukien, in October,
1924. Unfortunately, its skull was not preserved. What is doubtless this
same species is the specimen recorded by Shih (1930, p. 4) as Miniopterus
schreibersi subsp., but described as having the orange and black pattern of
Kerivoula picta. It came from Loshiang, in the Yao Shan district of Kwangsi.
The general distribution seems, therefore, to be limited to the warmer parts
of southern China, just as the Indian form is found in the warm parts of that
country.
Howell (1929) questions the validity of this race, since the slight differ-
ences in the ear described by Tomes do not hold for Formosan specimens, but
the color differences, if found constant, may suffice to characterize it.
Specimens examined:—One skin from Futsinghsien, Fukien.
98. Myotis pequinius Thomas
Myotis (Leuconoé) pequinius Thomas, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1908, p. 637.
Capaccinius pequinius Bianchi, Annuaire Mus. Zool. Acad. Sci., Petrograd, for 1916, vol. 21, p. Ixxviii, 1917.
Type specumen:—A male, skin and skull, No. 8.8.7.2, British Museum,
from thirty miles west of Peiping, Hopei, China. Collected October 11, 1907.
Description:—A comparatively large species, forearm about 50 mm.,
with a fringed interfemoral membrane.
Fur rather short and velvety, about 5 mm. long in the middle of the back;
above “‘drab gray,” the bases of the hairs slaty; below, whitish gray, the ends
of the hairs nearly white, their bases slaty. Under side of legs and the anal
region, edging the membranes, white and practically hairless. Ears medium,
rather narrow; tragus short, about half the height of the ear, curving outward
above, narrow but not sharply pointed. Wings from the lower‘end of the
tibiz; interfemoral membrane fringed with pale buffy hairs, its outer border
slightly marbled with white. The skull in profile has a peculiarly upturned,
shortened rostrum, according to Thomas. The middle upper premolar is
minute, as is also the corresponding one of the lower jaw. In one of the two
known specimens, however, this tooth is lacking.
Measurements:—The type measured in the flesh: head and body, 62 mm.;
tail, about 42; hind foot without claws,.12; ear, 18. In the dried skin, the
tibia is 18; third metacarpal, 46; forearm, 50 (in a second specimen, 48.5).
The skull of the type measured: “‘basi-sinual’” length (to the hind edge
of the notch at back of palate), 14.5 mm.; zygomatic width, 12.2; breadth of
brain case, 4.7; front of canine to back of m4, 6.9.
Occurrence and Habits:—Except for the two original specimens taken in
a cave thirty miles west of Peiping, nothing further seems to be known of
this bat, the above description of which is taken from Thomas’s account.
He mentions that these specimens were occupying the cave in company with
THE BATS 213
a colony of Miniopterus, an association of genera sometimes found in southern
Europe.
Specimens examined:—None.
99. Myotis daubentonii (Kuhl)
Vespertilio daubentonit Kuhl, Ann. Wetterau. Ges. Naturk., vol. 4, pt. 2, p. 195, 1819.
Type specimen:—Not known to be in existence. It was from Hanau,
Hessen-Nassau, Germany.
Description (after Miller, 1912, p. 184):—Recognizable by its small size,
forearm about 35 mm., large foot, more than half the length of the tibia, and
by the naked upper surface of the legs.
About the size of M. mystacinus, the ear moderately long, extending
when laid forward one or two millimeters beyond the muzzle; foot decidedly
more than half the length of the tibia; wings from the side of the metatarsus;
tragus about half as high as the ear, its tip rather blunt; metacarpals evidently
graduated from third to fifth, the third slightly shorter than the forearm;
calear long and slender, without keel on the posterior border; tail about as
long as body without head. Fur slightly shorter and more dense than in
M. mystacinus, wood brown above, buffy gray below.
The skull is as small as that of M. mystacinus, but with broader rostrum,
palate and brain case, lower occipital region and deeper rostrum, the greatest
width of brain case slightly more than half greatest length of skull; the teeth
slightly smaller than in M. mystacinus, and differing in having in the upper
molars a small but distinct protoconule on the anterior commissure of the
protocone.
Measurements:—Miller gives the following for European specimens:
head and body, 43 mm. ; tail, 34; tibia, 17; foot, 11; forearm, 37; third finger, 62;
fifth finger, 49; ear, 13.
Skull: condylobasal length, 13.8 mm.; zygomatic width, 9.0; lachrymal
breadth, 5.0; breadth of brain case, 7.8; depth of brain case at middle, 5.4;
maxillary tooth row, 5.2; mandibular tooth row, 5.6.
Occurrence and Habits:—This small brown bat, though superficially re-
sembling M. mystacinus, may be distinguished at once by the relatively
large feet, as well as by the other characters given. It corresponds to some
extent to the North American M. lucifugus, and like it has a distinct proto-
conule on the upper molars. It is a species of the temperate parts of the Old
World, from Sweden to the Mediterranean region in Europe, extending east-
ward probably to the Pacific, following the tree growth apparently wholly
to the north of the desert regions of central Asia. It is included here chiefly
on the evidence of its presence in northern Mongolia, furnished by Bobrinski
214 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
(1929, p. 225), who records specimens in the Zoological Museum of the Russian
Academy of Sciences as follows: (1) one from the River Toi, Kosso Gol,
northwestern Mongolia; (2) a second specimen from the Kosso Gol; (3) one
from River Halhen, northwestern Mongolia; (4) one from Urto-tamir, Hangai,
northern Mongolia; (5) one from Sangin, near Urga, Mongolia. These
localities indicate that in Mongolia, like so many other northern species, it
occurs as far south as the edge of the scattered forest bordering the grasslands
of the northern Gobi. There seems to be no evidence of its presence south
of this area.
Specimens examined:—None.
100. Myotis fimbriatus (Peters)
Vespertilio fimbriatus Peters, in Swinhoe, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1870, p. 617. Dobson, Cat. Chiroptera Brit.
Mus., p. 298, 1878.
Myotis hirsutus A. B. Howell, Proc. Biol. Soc. Washington, vol. 39, p. 139, 1926; Proc. U.S. Nat. Mus., vol. 75,
art. I, p. 15, 1929. Yenping, Fukien.
Type specimen:—The type is a skin in the British Museum, collected at
Amoy, Fukien, China, by Robert Swinhoe.
Description:—A small bat with dull brown lustreless fur, and relatively
large hind feet; tibiz hairy.
Size medium, forearm about 40 mm., foot stout, about 10.8 mm., including
the large pale claws, fur rather short and dense, of a dull grayish brown above,
hardly darkening at the bases of the hairs; below, the hairs have dark slaty
bases, with ashy-brown tips, except at the anal region where there is a small
patch of hairs white to the base. Backs of the tibiz hairy; caleaneum without
a keel.
The skull is considerably larger than that of M. laniger, with proportion-
ately larger canines. The upper molars have a small but evident protoconule,
and the small premolars are not crowded inward from the tooth row.
Measurements:—Howell (1929) gives the average measurements of twelve
specimens as follows: head and body, 48 mm.; tail, 39; ear, 15; forearm, 39;
foot, 10.4; tibia, 15.1.
SKULL MEASUREMENTS OF MYOTIS FIMBRIATUS
Great- Zygo- Width Mas- Upper Lower
est Basal Palatal matic across toid cheek cheek
No. length length length width molars width teeth teeth Locality
60226 . 15.2), 12.0 | 8-0 51910), 5:6) 76 700 7.7) ules
Average of 12 (after Howell) 15.1 —— 66 —.— 7.5 — — _ Fukien
Occurrence and Habits:—This bat, as Howell (1929) remarks, may be the
representative of the European M. capaccinii in eastern Asia, to which it
seems allied in the characters of the skull, the large heavy feet and the hairy
upper surface of the tibia. There is apparently no patch of hair at the elbow.
THE BATS 215
This is another species that Consul Robert Swinhoe found common at Amoy,
whence he sent specimens to Peters at Berlin for identification. The latter
determined that it was undescribed and named it Vespertilio fimbriatus in
Swinhoe’s paper. Swinhoe apparently sent three specimens to the British
Museum, one in alcohol and two as skins. One of these Dobson (1878) lists
as the type and states that it is in a ‘‘very imperfect state of preservation.”’
In 1926, A. B. Howell redescribed the same species as Myotis hirsutus, over-
looking the earlier description. He records thirteen specimens in the U. 5.
National Museum from Yenping, Fukien, and there are others from there in
the American Museum of Natural History. It is evidently colonial in habit,
and was doubtless secured in the well known cave at Yenping.
Specimens examined:—In all, four, of which one is an old specimen from
Amoy in the M.C.Z., and three from Yenping, Fukien, in the A.M.N.H.
1o1. Myotis mystacinus mystacinus (Kuhl)
Vespertilio mystacinus Kuhl, Ann. Wetterau. Ges. Naturk., vol. 4, pt. 2, p. 202, 1819.
Vespertilio montivagus Dobson, Journ. Asiatic Soc. Bengal, vol. 43, pt. 1, p. 237, 1874; in Anderson, Anat. and
Zool. Researches Western Yunnan, p. 98, 1879. Hotha, Yunnan.
Myotis montivagus Trouessart, Cat. Mamm. Viv. Foss., p. 91, 1904.
Type specimen:—Probably not in existence (from Germany).
Description:—For a minute description of the typical subspecies, see
Miller, ‘Mammals of Western Europe” (1912, p. 169). Recognizable by its
small size (forearm 35 mm.), combined with short foot, and wing membrane
inserted at the base of the outer toe. Ear moderately long, extending, when
laid forward, 1 or 2 mm. beyond the nose, tragus narrow, pointed, about
half as high as the ear; third, fourth, and fifth metacarpals subequal, falling
short of the elbow by about 3 mm., when the wing is folded. Foot about half
as long as tibia, the wing membrane inserted at the base of the outer toe.
Calcar long and slender, with practically no keel.
Color above, light yellowish brown, the hairs with a distinct gloss, their
basal three-fourths slaty; below, similar but less bright, the tips of the hairs
gray with a tinge of yellowish.
Skull slender and delicate, breadth of brain case more than that of rostrum
but slightly less than half the greatest length. The small first and second
premolars alike in form, but the second decidedly the smaller and more or
less drawn inward from the line of the tooth row. The first and second upper
molars are practically without hypocone, nor is the protoconule developed.
In the lower jaw the first and second premolars are considerably smaller than
the third, and the second again shows a tendency to be drawn inward from the
line of the others.
Measurements:—Miller (1912) gives the following dimensions of European
216 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
specimens: forearm, 32-35 mm.; third finger, 49-56; tibia, 15; hind foot,
7.6-8; head and body, 44; tail, 4o.
A specimen from Eastern Tombs measured: head and body, 43 mm.;
tail, 35; ear, 12; foot, 6.8; tibia, 15.2. The cranial measurements of the same
specimen are: greatest length, 14 mm.; basal length, 11.6; palatal length, 6.0;
zygomatic width, 8.0; mastoid width, 7.0; width across molars, 5.5; upper
cheek teeth, 5.0; lower cheek teeth, 5.8. The dimensions are not essentially
different from those given by Miller for European specimens.
The type specimen of Dobson’s Vespertilio montivagus from Hotha, Yun-
nan, which I have placed in the synonymy of this species, was measured by
him as follows (inches reduced to millimeters): head and body, 46; tail, 40.5;
foot and claws, 8.0; ear, height, 15; breadth, 7.0; forearm, 38; tibia, 15.
Occurrence and Habits:—This is in general a bat of the north temperate
parts of Europe and Asia, extending nearly to tree limit in the north. Its
precise status in the east has been rather uncertain, but at least it seems un-
common, while its subspecific reference has been also doubtful. The American
Museum Asiatic Expeditions secured a specimen at Eastern Tombs, Hopei,
which, although in alcohol so that its exact coloring is difficult to make out,
is nevertheless probably to be referred to the typical race. Its ears reach
forward to about the end of the nose; the forearm is 32.5 mm., and the wing
arises from the base of the toes. The metacarpals are very slightly graduated,
the third about 0.5 mm. longer than the fourth. Its measurements, given
above, are practically those of the European animal, and it seems otherwise
quite the same. A skin in the American Museum, from ‘‘North China,” is
also apparently this, as well as a specimen in alcohol from Yenping, Fukien.
In the southwest of China, Thomas has recorded (1923, p. 656) a Myotis
“near M. mystacinus,” from 10,000 feet, on the Likiang Range of Yunnan,
indicating that the species covers a wide area across the northern two-thirds
or so of China; and from a careful perusal of Dobson’s description of ‘‘ Vesper-
tilio montivagus,”’ I have little doubt that this name is a synonym of M. mysta-
cinus, and a second record of the species for the highlands of western Yunnan.
Dobson’s specimen came from Hotha, where it was collected by Anderson in
the course of his work there in the early ’70’s. The diagnostic points of the
description appear to be: the small feet, wings from the base of the toes, small
forearm, 38 mm., and the position of the minute upper middle premolar in
the angle between the first and third premolars. In other respects the length
of foot and tibia and the general body measurements agree closely, as does the
description of the color. It may be supposed that in this southern part of its
range the species inhabits the uplands and hence has followed the high country
south into this part of Yunnan. In case future collections show that the color
or other characters are different from those of the European form, Dobson’s
THE BATS 217
name may be available in a subspecific sense. In the northeast, it apparently
follows along the wooded area of northern Mongolia, for Bobrinski (1929,
p. 224) records three in the Museum of the Russian Academy of Sciences,
as follows: (1) a male in alcohol from Uliassutai, northwestern Mongolia,
collected by Potanin; (2) one from near Urga, at a place called Tsummode,
August 14, 1924, collected by Kozlov; (3) one from Tintsa-intsa east of Dalai
Nor, at the south end of the Great Khingan Range.
Nothing is recorded of its habits in China.
Specimens examined:—Three, as follows:
Hopei: Eastern Tombs, 1, in alcohol.
Fukien: Yenping, 1, in alcohol.
“North China”: 1 skin.
102. Myotis mystacinus przewalskii Bobrinski
Myotis mystacinus przewalskii Bobrinski, Compt. Rend. Acad. Sci. URSS, 1926, ser. A, p. 95; Annuaire Mus.
Zool. Acad. Sci. URSS, vol. 30, p. 219, 1929.
Type specimen:—A skin and skull, No. 13906, Zoological Museum of
the Academy of Sciences, Leningrad, U.S. S. R., from the valley of the Moldja
River, on the north slope of the Russian Range, Khotan-tag, southern Kash-
garia. Collected May 4, 1885, by Przewalski.
Description:—A pallid desert form of M. mystacinus. This is structurally
similar to the European race, but pale ochraceous above, in contrast to the
more ochraceous tone of the latter, the hair with the same silky gloss; below,
the tips of the hairs are pale grayish white instead of decidedly gray. The
bases of the hairs above and below are slaty.
No skulls are available for comparison, but the characters doubtless are
much the same as in the typical race. According to its describer, the anterior
upper premolar is smaller than the outer incisor; the middle premolar is minute
and drawn in from the tooth row so as to be invisible from the outside, while
the first and third premolars are in contact; in the lower jaw, the middle pre-
molar is likewise minute and lies on the inner side of the tooth row, leaving the
first and third premolars in contact.
Measurements:—No measurements of fresh specimens are available.
A skin from Shansi has the forearm 34.5 mm.; tibia, 15; foot, 7.
The skull has been figured in outline by Bobrinski (1929) but no measure-
ments are available.
Occurrence and Habits:—This appears to be a pallid, desert race of the
common M. mystacinus of Europe, differing chiefly through its paler tawny
coloration above, and whitish instead of dusky lower surface. But Miller
(1912) notes that the European form is ‘‘occasionally almost whitish’ below.
Although described from Kashgaria, and believed by Bobrinski to be limited
218 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
to that area, it seems likely that it cannot be satisfactorily separated from
the form occurring in the drier parts of Turkestan, southern Mongolia, and
the provinces of Kansu, Shensi, and Shansi bordering the Gobi. Indeed,
Bobrinski himself (1929, p. 221) records specimens in the collection of the
Academy of Sciences at Leningrad, ‘“‘of przewalskii type’’ in alcohol, from the
Chansai River, western Nan Shan, from Hotin Gol near Dinyuanin, west
slope of the Alashan, and from Ucheten Gol Pass, west slope of Alashan,
evidently not distinguishable, collected by Roborovski and Kozlov, and even
describes as new the subspecies M. m. kukunorensis from the Hwang Ho
south of Koko Nor, on the ground of darker color and larger size. There
probably should be referred to M. m. przewalskwi a series of five skins (lacking
skulls) in the collection of the American Museum of Natural History, from
Maitaichao, forty-three miles east of Paotow, Shansi, which seem to correspond
in pale coloring to the Turkestan bat as described by Bobrinski; no doubt, too,
the specimen recorded by Thomas (1909, p. 964) from Paotehchao, Shansi,
is the same. Bats are rare in this semiarid area, and the specimen was the
only one seen by the collector, M. P. Anderson. Eastward, this desert
race doubtless intergrades with the typical form or something very nearly
identical, and still farther east, with the saturate form, M. m. gracilis Ognev,
from Vladivostok. The form M. m. brandtii Eversmann of western Asia is
apparently recognized by Ognev but must be very close to the typical mysta-
cinus.
Specimens examined :—Five (skins only) from Maitaichao, forty-three miles
east of Paotow, Shansi.
103. Myotis laniger (Peters)
Vespertilio laniger Peters, in Swinhoe, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1870, p. 617.
Vespertilio fimbriatus Dobson, Cat. Chiroptera Brit. Mus., p. 298, 1878 (part).
Myotis sowerbyi A. B. Howell, Proc. Biol. Soc. Washington, vol. 39, p. 138, 1926; Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., vol. 75,
art. I, p. 16, 1929. Yenping, Fukien.
Type specimen:—Swinhoe procured a specimen of this bat at Amoy,
Fukien, and sent it to Peters, whose description was published in Swinhoe’s
account of the mammals of South China. Dobson (1878) lists it as in the
British Museum.
Description:—A small dark-brown species, forearm about 35 mm., foot
about 8 mm., slightly more than half the length of the tibia, caleaneum not
obviously keeled, metacarpals slightly graduated, wing membrane from the
base of the toes, upper part of ears narrowed, face densely hairy.
The general color above is a dull dark drabby brown, near “‘iron gray”’
of Ridgway; below, the fur is everywhere dark at base, tipped with brownish
across the chest, and with paler grayish in the center of the abdomen. The
lustreless fur and its relative shortness, the dull sooty-gray tint, and the
THE BATS 219
densely hairy face without bare area surrounding the eye are the obvious
external characters of this species, and distinguish it at once from M. mysta-
cinus of somewhat similar general appearance.
Skull: the upper molars show a distinct protoconule in front view; the
small premolars stand wholly in the tooth row without crowding, and in one
case are even slightly spaced; the upper canine has a small posterior cingulum
cusp.
Measurements:—No measurements of fresh specimens are at hand. The
forearm in two specimens from Fukien is 34 and 35 mm. respectively, the
hind foot 7.6 and 8 mm.
A. B. Howell (1929) gives the following average measurements of fifteen
specimens in alcohol: head and body, 41.3 mm.; tail, 38.6; ear, 12.3; forearm,
34.8; foot, 7.9; tibia, 15.
CRANIAL MEASUREMENTS OF MYOTIS LANIGER
Zygo- Width Upper Lower
Greatest Basal Palatal matic Mastoid across cheek , cheek
No. | length. length length width width molars teeth teeth Locality
84837 13.6 II.0 6.5 — 6.8 5.2 4.9 5.2 Fukien
84838 13.7 11.5 6.7 — 7.2 5.1 5.0 Fou Fukien —
84839 13.0 10.7 6.5 — 6.9 5.0 4.8 4.9 Fukien
84840 13.0 10.6 6.5 = 7.0 5.1 4.8 5.0 Fukien
84841 13.5 11.0 6.0 8.0 7.0 5.1 4.9 5.1 Fukien
85262 13.2 11.9 6.0 9.0 7.0 5.9 5.0 5.5 Hainan
Occurrence and Habits:—This small sooty-colored bat seems to be char-
acteristic of the warmer parts of southern China, and in its short and rather
dense fur recalls the M. austro-riparius of the southeastern United States.
Swinhoe secured one at Amoy, Fukien, and sent it to Peters at Berlin for
identification. The latter regarded it as a new species, the description of
which he sent to Swinhoe for inclusion in the latter’s account of mammals
observed in South China, published in 1870. Dr. R. C. Andrews secured a
series at Yenping, Fukien, and Mr. Clifford H. Pope collected others in the
northwestern corner of the province, at Chunganhsien. He also obtained a
pair in alcohol, from Nodoa, Hainan, the first record for the island. In addi-
tion, I have referred to this species a skin and skull collected by the American
Museum Asiatic Expeditions at Tengyueh, in southwestern Yunnan, a record
which extends the known range to the western part of China.
In 1926, Mr. A. B. Howell described as Myotis sowerbyi specimens of
this same bat from Yenping, apparently overlooking the previous descrip-
tion of Peters. He further records a specimen from Foochow, indicating
the general distribution of the species along the coast region of southern
China. Dobson, who examined both the type of this and of M. fimbriatus,
220 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
regarded the latter as a synonym of M. laniger, but they are really quite
distinct, as Peters showed.
Specimens examined:—In all, thirty-three, as follows:
Fukien: Yenping, 18 (10 in alcohol) ; Chunganhsien, 12.
Hainan: Nodoa, 2.
Yunnan: Tengyueh, I.
104. Myotis frater G. M. Allen
Myotis frater G. M. Allen, Amer. Mus. Novitates, no. 85, p. 6, August 28, 1923.
Type specimen:—An adult male in alcohol, No. 48039, American Museum
of Natural History, from Yenping, Fukien, China. Collected August 10,
1920, by Rev. H. R. Caldwell.
Description:—A small species (forearm 39) structurally similar to M.
volans of western North America, but differing in details as follows: Tail long
as in M. volans, about one-half the total length; tibia very long, exceeding
that of M. volans; the foot much less than half its length, provided with a low
but evident keel at about the length of the tarsus from the ankle. Wings
ample; the metacarpals graduated, the third longest but falling short of the
elbow by about 1.5 mm. when folded. Ears short, barely reaching the muzzle
when laid forward, their tips less abruptly rounded off than in M. volans.
Tragus similar in both, short, its anterior edge slightly concave, its lower half
broad, the posterior upper margin slightly crenulate and abruptly beveled
off to the tip.
On the lower side the fur extends thinly on the wing from a line from the
middle of the femur quite to the elbow, as in the American species. The color
is not evident in the alcoholic specimens, but is apparently dark reddish brown.
The skull closely resembles that of the American species in its short
upturned rostrum, elevated forehead (as seen in profile), and slightly inflated
brain case. As in the American species, the temporal ridges, after uniting
anterior to the occiput, diverge, and are continued back to the lambdoid
crests as convex, not concave lines. The teeth are small and weak, and the
second small premolar is much crowded inward from the tooth row, instead
of being practically in the row as in the American form, and it is proportionally
as well as actually smaller. In the lower jaw, the second premolar in the same
way is more reduced in size and crowded a very little inward from the tooth
row.
Measurements:—The type measured: total length, 94 mm.; tail, 47;
foot, 8; ear from meatus, 11; forearm, 39; tibia, 20; leg from knee to end of
claw, 29.
Skull: greatest length, 13.5 mm.; basal length, 13.2; palatal length, 6.6;
THE BATS 221
maxillary width, 5.9; zygomatic width, 9.2; mastoid width, 8.0; maxillary
tooth row, 5; mandibular tooth row exclusive of incisors, 5.4.
Occurrence and Habits:—This interesting little bat appears to be the
counterpart of the western American M. volans, or long-legged bat, with which
it agrees in most of the important details of structure, though with even more
lengthened tibie and more progressive dentition, in that the minute middle
premolar of both jaws has gone farther on its way toward suppression. The
less-progressive American species may thus have been derived from this
Asiatic species. The three specimens on which it was based remain unique.
They were taken in holes of live bamboo stems on the mountains near Yenping,
Fukien, at about 2,500 feet altitude.
The bats of this group are distinguished by the combination of short
ears, long tibiae and small feet with keeled calcar, fur extending to the elbow
ventrally, and by the inflated skull, with short rostrum, elevated occiput, and
convex outline of the temporal ridges at the occiput.
Specimens examined:—Three in alcohol, including the type, from Yenping,
Fukien.
105. Myotis muricola moupinensis (Milne-Edwards)
Vespertilio moupinensts Milne-Edwards, Recherches pour servir a l’Hist. Nat. des Mammifeéres, p. 253, pl. 37A,
fig. 2; pl. 37C, fig. 4, 1868-74.
Vespertilio muricola Hilzheimer, Abh. u. Ber. Mus. f. Natur- u. Heimatk., Magdeburg, vol. 1, p. 184, 1906.
Dobson, Cat. Chiroptera Brit. Mus., p. 316, 1878 (in part).
Myotis moupinensis Thomas, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1911, p. 162.
Type specimen:—The type was collected by Pére Armand David in
Muping, central Szechwan, China, and sent to the Paris Museum where it
presumably still is.
Description:—Readily distinguished among Chinese bats by its small
size (forearm 33), very small delicate feet, and keeled calcaneum.
Fur long and silky, and of characteristic color; above, the center of the
back is yellowish brown or bronzy, the hairs with long burnished tips, while
the sides of the upper part of the body are dark blackish brown to sooty;
below, the hair is everywhere dark slaty at the base, tipped minutely with
ashy. The appearance of the dorsal side is thus peculiar in showing three
stripes, the central bronze area and the dark smoky stripe on each side.
The feet are smaller and more delicate than in other small Chinese bats,
measuring half the length of tibia; the calcaneum has a distinct lobe or keel;
wing membrane from the base of the toes; ear delicate and fairly long, with a
narrow tip marked off by a sharp notch from the basal portion.
The small delicate skull has a sharply rising forehead in profile, brain
case not flattened, and of oval form in dorsal aspect. The teeth show no trace
222 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
of protoconule in the upper molars, nor do the latter have the hypocone at
all well separated from the protocone. The small first and second premolars
above and below are not crowded but stand each in the tooth row.
Measurements:—A specimen from Likiang measured in the flesh as
follows: head and body, 40 mm.; tail, 38; hind foot, 7.5; ear, 12; forearm, 33.
The skull measures: greatest length, 13.0 mm.; basal length, 11.0; palatal
length, 6.6; zygomatic width, 8.0; mastoid width, 6.6; width across molars,
5.2; upper tooth row, 6.9; lower tooth row, 6.0.
Nomenclature:—This small bat was described from Muping as a distinct
species, by Milne-Edwards, but it is evidently very closely related to M.
muricola (Hodgson) of India, if indeed it is really separable. Thomas (19114,
p. 162) says that it is distinguished from the latter by the sharp notch in the
outer edge of the ear, but this character does not seem very trenchant, nor is
it obvious in skins. Nevertheless, I have retained the Chinese form as a sub-
species. This bat is particularly interesting as probably a close ally of the
M. californicus group of western North America, whose present northward
range now extends to the extreme southern coast of Alaska. One may suppose
that at some time in possibly the Pliocene, when eastern Asia was connected
by land with western North America, these bats ranged continuously across,
but with the subsequent break of this connection and lowered temperatures
to the northward, the members of the group on both sides of the Pacific have
retreated somewhat to the southward, or at least were exterminated in the
north. They agree in the very small delicate foot, with keeled calcaneum,
the origin of the wing membrane from the base of the toes, the delicate and
narrowed ear, in the long silky pelage and its unusually dark-based fur, with
bright contrasting tips, as well as in the formation of the skull, the lack of
protoconules in the upper molars, and the intimate union of protocone and
hypocone.
Occurrence and Habits:—This small bat is now known from various lo-
calities across the southern half of China, exclusive of the area south of latitude
25°. It was first recorded from Muping, in Szechwan, and Thomas (1911d)
again reported it from very near the same region, namely, one from Tatsienlu
and two from Yinchinwan, Szechwan. The American Museum Asiatic
Expeditions have extended its known range considerably to the southwest,
for in 1916 two specimens were taken at Ssushanchang, Likiang, Yunnan.
Eastward it has been recorded from Kiukiang, in northern Kiangsi (Hilz-
heimer, 1906), and a single specimen was secured by the Central Asiatic Expe-
dition at Foochow, Fukien. It is apparently not a common species, and the few
specimens taken seem to be scattered individuals; yet in India Dodsworth
has recorded M. muricola as colonial, sometimes living in bungalows, as the
THE BATS 223
specific name implies, and at Simla apparently to some degree hibernating
or at least withdrawing from the shelter of the house during the cooler part
of the year. He found females with a single young one in May and June there.
Specimens examined:—In all, three, as follows:
Fukien: Foochow, 1 (in alcohol).
Yunnan: Likiang, 2.
106. Myotis davidii (Peters)
Vespertilio davidit Peters, Monatsb. Kon. Preuss. Akad. Wiss. Berlin, 1869, p. 402. Swinhoe, Proc. Zool. Soc.
London, 1870, p. 618.
Myotis davidii J. A. Allen, Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., vol. 22, p. 488, 1906. A. B. Howell, Proc. U. S. Nat.
Mus., vol. 75, art. I, p. 15, 1929.
Type specimen:—The type was collected at Peiping, Hopei, China, by
Pére David, and is in the Muséum d’Histoire Naturelle at Paris.
Description:—The type specimen is described as resembling the common
European M. daubentonit, but distinguishable by the internal position of the
second small premolar in each jaw and the origin of the wing membrane from
the base of the toes.
Color described by Dobson (ex Peters?) as dark with light-brown tips to
the fur above, below similar but with gray or ashy tips to the dark-based hairs.
Probably, however, the specimen was in alcohol, and its precise coloring,
therefore, somewhat indeterminable. J. A. Allen describes a Hainan specimen
teferred to this species as having the upper parts ‘‘nearly black frosted with
whitish tips instead of dark with light brown tips.” In this type of coloration,
it is, therefore, peculiar among bats of this genus.
The feet are rather large; the wing membrane is from the base of the toes,
the calcaneum long, extending slightly more than half-way to the tip of the
tail. The two terminal vertebre of the tail project free.
The skull is characterized by the position of the small second premolar
internal to the tooth row in each jaw, so that the upper first and third pre-
molars are closely approximated, but in the lower jaw separated by a slight
space.
Measurements:—The measurements of the type as given by Dobson, and
converted into metric units, are as follows: head and body, 41.4 mm.; tail,
30.0; hind foot, 8.4; ear, 15.3; tragus, 7.0; forearm, 31.7; third finger, 43;
fifth finger, 35.5; tibia, 12.6; calcaneum, 18. The specimen from Hainan
recorded by J. A. Allen had a forearm of 34 mm.
Occurrence and Habits:—Very little seems to be known about this bat.
The type specimen from Peiping was doubtless in alcohol, so that its colors
may be incorrectly described, for a second example, taken at Rintoi, on the
island of Hainan, a skin and skull, while otherwise agreeing in general, seems
224 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
to be unique among eastern bats of this genus in its blackish coloring, with a
scattering of white-tipped hairs, giving it a slightly frosted appearance. The
withdrawal of the second minute upper premolar wholly inside the tooth
row, and a closely similar condition in the case of the corresponding lower tooth,
seem to be characteristic. In addition to these records, Hilzheimer (1906,
p. 184) mentions that ten were sent to the Magdeburg Museum from Kiukiang,
northern Kiangsi, and A. B. Howell (1929, p. 15) adds the note of a specimen
in the U. S. National Museum from Hsinlungshan, Hopei. Of the latter,
the color is said to be a trifle darker than M. daubentonit. It may eventually
prove to be a close relative of the latter, and J. A. Allen has suggested (1906,
p. 488) that the Hainan specimen may represent a geographically different
form.
Specimens examined:—None.
Genus Rickettia Bianchi
Rickettia Bianchi, Annuaire Mus. Zool. Acad. Sci., Petrograd, for 1916, vol. 21, p. xxviii, 1917, as a subgenus of
Capaccinius (= Myotis). G. M. Allen, Journ. Mammalogy, vol. 17, p. 168, May 14, 1936 (raised to generic
rank).
This genus is evidently a specialized offshoot of Myotis, which in general
it resembles in the number and structure of its teeth. It is, however, widely
different in the proportions of the hind foot and tibia, and in the point of
attachment of the wing membrane to the tibia. The feet are of relatively
enormous size. Inclusive of the large and strongly curved claws, the hind
foot equals the tibia in length, while the wing membrane, instead of arising
from the base of the toes as usual in Myotis, or from the ankle as in a few of
the species of that genus, takes origin from the ventral side of the tibia, about
half-way of its length. This leaves the lower limb unusually free. The teeth
are essentially as in Myotis but the hypocones of the upper molars are more
reduced and there is no protoconule such as is present in some of the smaller
species, sometimes referred to Leuconoé as a subgenus or even a genus. The
outer upper incisor has a conspicuous inner cusp, rather more prominent than
in Myotis. The resemblance of Rickettia to Pizonyx of the Gulf of California
region is rather striking, but it lacks the gland-like structure in the outer part
of the wing membrane and the feet are much more hairy; moreover, the in-
sertion of the wing membrane of Pizonyx is different, in that it continues
ridge-like to the dorsal surface of the outer side of the metatarsus. The type
of the genus and the only species hitherto recognized is Rickettia pilosa (Peters).
107. Rickettia pilosa (Peters)
RICKETT’S BIG-FOOTED BAT
Vespertilio (Leuconoé) pilosus Peters, Monatsb. Kon. Preuss. Akad. Wiss. Berlin, 1869, p. 403. Dobson, Cat.
Chiroptera Brit. Mus., pp. 285, 289, 1878.
THE BATS 225
Vespertilio (Leuconoé) ricketti Thomas, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. 6, vol. 14, p. 300, 1894.
Myotis pilosus Trouessart, Cat. Mamm. Viv. Foss., p. 89, 1904. Miller and G. M. Allen, Bull. U. S. Nat. Mus.,
no. 144, p. 208, 1928. :
Capaccinius ricketti Bianchi, Annuaire Mus. Zool. Acad. Sci., Petrograd, for 1916, vol. 21, p. Ixxviii, 1917.
Type specimen:—The origin of the type and its present whereabouts
remain unknown. Peters based his original description on a specimen in the
Muséum d’Histoire Naturelle at Paris, and gave its locality as Montevideo,
Uruguay. It was an adult female in alcohol, but appears now to have been
lost sight of; at least, M. J. Berlioz of the Muséum, in response to inquiries
on the part of G. S. Miller, Jr., and myself, wrote that he could neither dis-
cover the specimen nor find any mention of it in the Muséum catalogue.
Since no other specimen has ever been reported from South America, and
since Chinese specimens agree exactly with Peters’s description, there seems
no reason to doubt that it came instead from eastern China, whence in 1894
Thomas obtained a skin and skull, collected by C. B. Rickett. Believing it
a new species, he named it in honor of the donor, who had secured it in Fukien,
at Foochow.
Description:—Fur short, close and velvety. Muzzle well clothed with
bristly whiskers. Hind legs, both above and below, the ankles, feet and
calcar covered with rather conspicuous short stiff hairs; basal half of inter-
femoral membrane also hairy. Ears when laid forward not reaching the tip
of the muzzle. Tragus rather short and narrow, less than half the height of
the ear. Thumb with a long slender claw; calcar very long, extending four-
fifths the way to the tail, the terminal vertebra of which is free.
Color of the entire upper surface drab, slightly darker on the sides of
the head. Under surface white, the bases of the hairs plumbeous.
Skull rather slenderly proportioned, with a slight sagittal ridge, relatively
small audital bulle, and slender zygomata which bow outward posteriorly
to form an angle. Upper incisors large, each with a conspicuous secondary
cusp. First upper premolar low, its point hardly projecting above the cingulum
of the canine; second premolar much smaller, its crown area barely half that
of the first, both teeth very slightly internal to the axis of the tooth row.
Lower incisors imbricate, the two inner pairs with their crowns trifid as seen
from in front; the outer lower incisors conspicuously larger, showing only
two cusps from in front, but in crown view a third is seen behind them forming
a blunt elevation.
Measurements:—A skin in the American Museum of Natural History
has a forearm length of 55 mm. An alcoholic specimen in the Museum of
Comparative Zodlogy measures: forearm, 56.5 mm.; head and body, 65 (ca.);
tail, 50 (ca.); foot with claws, 20; ear, 19; tragus, inner margin, 6.8; tibia,
20; calcar, 21.5. Thomas records for the type of his Vespertilio ricketti:
226 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
forearm, 58 mm.; head and body, 69; tail, 48; ear, 18; tragus, inner margin,
6.2; third finger, 94; calcar, 18.
The skull of the second of these specimens measures: greatest length,
21.3 mm.; basal length, 18.0; palatal length, 11.5; zygomatic width, 14.0;
mastoid width, 10.6; width across molars, 8.9; upper cheek teeth, 8.5; lower
cheek teeth, 10.9.
Occurrence and Habits:—Little is recorded of this bat. So far as present
information goes, however, it is found on the eastern coast from Fukien to
Shantung. Following the description of the species in 1869, under an erroneous
locality, the next specimens recorded are two from Foochow, Fukien, one
taken in April, the other in November, 1894. The former served as the type
of Vespertilio ricketti, named by Thomas for the collector, and both are in the
British Museum. The American Museum Asiatic Expeditions secured a third
record, namely, a skin without skull, from Shaowu, Min River, Fukien. More
recently I have reported (G. M. Allen, 1936) the capture of this species at
Suchow, lower Yangtze, by Dr. C. C. Liu, who secured two specimens, one of
which is in the Museum of Comparative Zodlogy, the other in the Field
Museum of Natural History. Unfortunately no field notes accompany any of
these. Since then I have had the opportunity of examining a skin in the
British Museum, received in 1926, and representing part of a ‘“‘batch’’ of 56 of
these bats brought in at Taianfu, Shantung. This is at once the most northerly
record of the species, as well as the only report of its presence in numbers.
The large foot, long and strong calcar for spreading the interfemoral
membrane, the rather short tail, the reduction of the wing attachment so
as to give freedom to the leg, are all characters recalling those in Noctilio and
Pizonyx, and very likely indicate that like them, Rickettia has fish-eating habits
and uses its strong feet for hooking small fish from close to the surface. Un-
fortunately no clue to the food habits could be secured from Dr. Liu’s speci-
mens, for the intestines of both were empty.
Specimens examined:—Four:
Fukien: Shaowu, Min River, 1; Foochow, 1 (B.M.).
Anhwei: Suchow, 1 (M.C.Z.).
Shantung: Taianfu, 1 (B.M.).
Genus Pipistrellus Kaup
Pipistrellus Kaup, Skizzirte Entw.-Gesch. u. Naturl. Syst. d. Europ. Thierw., vol. 1, p. 98, 1829.
The bats of this genus are small, some of them extremely so, and may
usually be distinguished by their small ears, which are proportionally broader
than in Myotis, their short blunt tragus which projects slightly forward, and
by their otherwise generally unmodified exterior. The feet are small and
THE BATS 227
delicate; the tail is wholly included in the membrane, except for the extreme
tip; the wing shows no shortening of the fifth finger. The skull is somewhat
broader proportionally than in Myotis, and there is one less tooth in each jaw,
for the minute middle premolar of the latter is quite lost in Pzpzstrellus and
the space closed. The outer upper incisor is smaller than the inner, and the
latter in the eastern forms has a small secondary cusp. The lower canine is
short and stout, while the upper sometimes shows an incipient cusp at the
posterior base. The tooth formula is: 1.3 c.t pm. m.3 = 34.
Notwithstanding that various names have been assigned to bats of this
genus from China, further study is needed before the species can be correctly
estimated. So similar in size, general appearance, and cranial characters
are they that it is frequently impossible to identify poorly preserved speci-
mens or those in alcohol in which color is not apparent. More recently Thomas
has shown that the males of at least two of the eastern species are readily
recognizable by the wide differences in the baculum or penis bone. Until a
thorough study of the group as a whole can be made, the following determina-
tion of species must be regarded as wholly provisional. The type species of
the genus is the European Vespertilio (= Pipistrellus) pipistrellus.
Key To CutnesE Spectres oF Pipistrellus
A. Color nearly black above, lightly sprinkled with whitish........ P. pulveratus
B. Color grayish or brownish.
a. Grayish brown above, baculum long with double curve...... P. abramus
b. Dark brown above, baculum shorter and straight........... P. tralatitius tramatus
108. Pipistrellus pulveratus (Peters)
Vesperugo pulveratus Peters, in Swinhoe, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1870, p. 618.
Vesperugo maurus Dobson, Cat. Chiroptera Brit. Mus., p. 218, 1878 (in part).
Vesperugo pulverulatus Trouessart, Cat. Mamm. Viv. Foss., p. 112, 1897 (errorim).
Pipistrellus savii pulveratus Thomas, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1898, p. 771.
Pipistrellus pulveratus A. B. Howell, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., vol. 75, art. I, p. 17, 1929.
Type specimen:—A skin in the British Museum, from Amoy, China, col-
lected by Robert Swinhoe, previous to 1870.
Description:—Size fairly large for the genus, forearm about 35 mm.,
general color blackish, minutely frosted with pale gray or white above and
below.
The color above is darker than below, a deep blackish brown, with a
scattering of pale-tipped hairs, which, however, hardly suffice to give more
than a slightly frosted effect to the middle of the back; below, the pale tips
are longer and more abundant, evenly frosting the lower surface.
-Ears fairly large for a Pipistrellus, tragus short, broad and bluntly rounded.
228 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
Wings from the base of the toes, fur of the body not extending out on to the
membranes.
In the skull, the upper and inner incisor of each pair are about equal in
length, the inner bifid, with the secondary cusp on the outer side and directed
slightly backward. The upper small premolar is internal to the tooth row
but visible between the first and third premolars, which are nearly in contact.
Measurements:—The measurements of the type, as given by Peters, and
of other specimens follow.
No. Total length Tail Hind foot Ear Forearm Locality
(type) 85 — 8 12.5 34 Fukien
44678 84 38 8 12.0 36 Fukien
84844 = SS 7 ae 33 Fukien
85013 83 37 8 14.0 36 Yunnan
CRANIAL MEASUREMENTS OF PIPISTRELLUS PULVERATUS
Zygo- Width Upper Lower
Greatest Basal Palatal matic Mastoid across tooth tooth
No. length length length width width molars Tow row Locality
44678 14.2 12.0 6.8 7.6 7.0 5.5 5.8 6.0 Fukien
84844 14.9 11.5 6.5 8.5 7.4 5.6 — — Fukien
85013 — — 6.6 8.7 — 6.0 — = Yunnan
Nomenclature:—This bat is easily recognized among Chinese species of
the genus by its size and the light sprinkling of pale hairs on a dark back-
ground. It was first made known by Peters on the basis of a specimen cap-
tured by Swinhoe at Amoy, Fukien. This specimen is in the British Museum,
listed by Dobson in his ‘‘Catalogue of the Chiroptera” under Vesperugo maurus,
a European species, of which he considered the name P. pulveratus a synonym.
Thomas (1898) later regarded it as an eastern race of Pipistrellus savii, of
which Vesperugo maurus is in turn a synonym. Very likely Thomas’s view is
correct, but for the present it may be better to use the binomial until a thorough
study can be made of all the Asiatic members of the genus.
Occurrence and Habits:—So far as available records go, this bat seems to
be confined to the warm portions of southern China. In addition to the original
locality, Amoy, in southeastern Fukien, Thomas (1898) has recorded it from
the northwestern corner of the same province at Kuatun, and a second was
secured near the same place by Clifford H. Pope, at Chunganhsien. Dr. R. C.
Andrews procured a few at Futsing, eastern Fukien, in late July, 1916, prob-
ably from a small breeding colony, as they are immature. Still farther south,
Mell (1922, p. 14) has recorded the capture of one in Lackpass Forest, in the
Canton region of Kwangtung. From the coast of southeastern China, it
apparently ranges westward quite across the country, for Dr. Andrews brought
back a skin from Likiang and another from Makaihsien, in Yunnan, and Howell
THE BATS 229
(1929) mentions others from Suifu, Szechwan, and Pingkiang, Hunan. Dobson
(1878) lists Peiping as a locality for it, but this is doubtless a mistake. Beyond
these records little more seems to be known of the species.
Specimens examined:—In all, nine, as follows:
Fukien: Chunganhsien, 1; Futsing, 5 (young); Amoy, 1 (M.C.Z.).
Yunnan: Likiang, 1; Makaihsien, 1.
109. Pipistrellus abramus (Temminck)
Vespertilio abramus Temminck, Monogr. de Mammalogie, vol. 2, p. 232, 1835.
Vespertilio irretitus Cantor, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. 1, vol. 9, p. 481, 1842. Chusan Island, Chekiang.
Scotophilus pumiloides Tomes, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1857, p. 51. ?China.
Vesperugo abramus Swinhoe, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1870, p. 618.
Myotis abramus J. A. Allen, Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., vol. 22, p. 488, 1906 (lapsus calamt).
Scotophilus pomiloides (sic) Mell, Arch. f. Naturgesch., vol. 88, sect. A, no. 10, p. 14, 1922.
Pipistrellus abramus Thomas, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1928, p. 143.
Type specimen:—The original specimen is from Nagasaki, Japan, and
may still be in the Leiden Museum, Holland.
Description:—Size small, forearm about 32 mm., wing membrane from
the base of the toes; a low but distinct keel on the calcar. Penis bone long,
10 mm., slender, with a double curvature.
General color above a dull sandy brown over the back, becoming dark
brown on the head; hairs of the lower surface dark-based, with dull gray tips.
Females may be slightly browner.
Skull: the outer upper incisor may equal the tip of the cusp of the inner,
or it may be minutely longer or shorter, even on opposite sides of the same
skull.
Measurements :—
No. Length Tail Hind foot Ear Forearm Locality
7199 MCZ 82 37 9 -—— 34.0 Hupeh
7219 MCZ 88 40 8 —_— 33.0 Hupeh
7197 MCZ 72 32 8 — -_— Hupeh
7205 MCz 87 27 Gi — 31.5 Hupeh
56927 73 34 = II 33-5 Hopei
58284 80 35 8 II 34.0 Szechwan
CRANIAL MEASUREMENTS OF PIPISTRELLUS ABRAMUS
Zygo- Width Upper Lower
Greatest Basal Palatal matic Mastoid across tooth tooth
No. length length length width width molars TOW TOW Locality
7209 MCZ 12.2 10.9 6.1 — 7.0 5.4 5.5 6.0 Hupeh
7210 MCZ 12.8 10.6 6.1 — ee 5.5 5.4 5.7. Hupeh
7212 MCZ 12.8 11.0 5.9 — ee 5.0 5.3 5.7. Hupeh
7213 MCZ D207, 10.5 5.7 8.5 hes 5.5 5.4 6.0 Hupeh
7214 MCZ 12.6 10.9 5.8 — 7.0 5.3 5.4 5.5 Hupeh
44680 13.1 11.5 6.3 8.3 73 5.4 5.5 6.0 Fukien
56927 13.4 11.5 6.6 8.5 7.4 5.0 5.7 5.9 Hopei
230 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
Nomenclature:—Several small species of this genus inhabit the warmer
parts of Asia and Europe, but are so similar in general appearance that it is
not always easy to identify specimens. Lately, however, Thomas showed
that the size and shape of the baculum or penis bone affords an excellent means
for distinguishing the males. The baculum of P. abramus is remarkable for
its length and the double sigmoid curve. Until a more thorough treatment
of all the Old World species can be undertaken, however, most of the older
identifications must be disregarded. Contrary to the opinion I had previously
formed, Thomas regarded P. tralatitius as a species distinct from P. abramus,
a deduction that is doubtless correct. Following my suggestion, A. B. Howell
(1929) had recorded this bat as a northern subspecies of the former, and applied
P. pumiloides to southern animals. I have examined the series, on one speci-
men of which J. A. Allen (1906, p. 487) based his P. portensis from Hainan,
and found the specimens to be immature, and hence dark in coloring; they are
probably closely related to the following species. Cantor in 1842 described as
Vespertilio irretitus what is doubtless this same bat from the island of Chusan,
off the mouth of the Yangtze. Nevertheless, if it should later prove that the
Japanese form is different from that of North China, his name will apply to the
latter. Temminck explains that the specific name is from the Japanese word
“abramusi (insecte du lard).”’
Occurrence and Habits:—This is a common species in eastern China, from
Eastern Tombs and Peiping in Hopei, south through Shantung to at least
Fukien and Hainan, and westward to the borders of Szechwan. It is a house
bat, frequently making small colonies in dwellings, and at night coming in
about the lamps for insects. Swinhoe (1870a) mentions such a colony under
the eaves of a house in Hainan where he lived. He adds that the Chinese
Gazetteer calls it ‘‘Foo-yeh” or “‘belly-wings,” but it is also called ‘‘Feishoo”’
or Flying Mouse.
A specimen from Shenchowfu, Hunan, contained three embryos.
Under Pipistrellus sp.? both Sowerby (1912, p. 172) and A. B. Howell
(1929, p. 17) have recorded this genus from Kansu, but in each case the speci-
men was unsatisfactory for determination.
Specimens examined:—Forty-seven, as follows:
Hopei: Eastern Tombs, 11; Weihsien, 4.
Shantung: Chimo, 9.
Fukien: Yenping, 2; Futsing, 8.
Szechwan: Wanhsien, 3.
Hupeh: Ichang, 6.
Hunan: Shenchowfu, 1.
Hainan: 3.
THE BATS 231
110. Pipistrellus tralatitius tramatus Thomas
Pipistrellus coromandrus tramatus Thomas, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1928, p. 144.
Type specimen:—Adult male, in spirit, No. 25.1.1.120, British Museum,
from Thai-Nien, Tongking, French Indo-China. Collected March 30, 1924,
by Herbert Stevens.
Description:—Size small; forearm, 30 mm., baculum small and approxi-
mately straight, about 4mm.long. General color dark brown, slightly brighter
brown below, with a minutely peppered appearance, due to the extremely
small paler tips of the hairs, hardly visible without a lens.
Skull length about 12 mm. According to Thomas, this form hardly
differs from typical P. coromandrus except in the more delicate build of the
skull.
Measurements:—Thomas gives the following measurements: head and
body, 38 mm.; tail, 28.5; ear, 10.5; tibia and foot, 16.
The skull of the type measures: greatest length, 11.8 mm.; condylobasal
length, 11.4; breadth of brain case, 6.1; mastoid breadth, 6.6; upper cheek
teeth, 4.1.
This species, which superficially resembles P. abramus, may now be at
once distinguished by the very different baculum, which is practically straight,
tapering in side view from base to tip, and about 4 mm. long. The color is
probably consistently different, a more chocolate brown.
Occurrence and Habits:—The range in China probably includes the more
southern portions, but the only specimen that I would positively refer to it
at present is one from Yenping, Fukien, which shows the characters indicated,
and carries the known range northward from Tongking. Probably, however,
a few specimens from southern Yunnan are the same.
Specimens examined:—Fukien: Yenping, I.
Genus Ia Thomas
Ia Thomas, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. 7, vol. 10, p. 163, 1902.
This genus contains but the single species, Ja io, a ‘‘gigantic Serotine,”’
probably the largest of the vespertilionid bats. According to Miller (1907),
it is closely related to Scotozous, which in turn is similar to Pipistrellus, differing
chiefly in the reduced outer upper incisor. In Ja the form of the upper outer
incisor is still different, being flat-crowned, with a well-developed cingulum
and ‘“‘barely indicated central elevation”’; in the first and second upper molars
the mesostyle is less prominent, ‘“‘barely extending outward to line joining the
extremities’’ of the two other styles, instead of exceeding them as in other
related genera. The tooth formula as in Pzpistrellus and Scotozous is:
232 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
i.¢ c.t pm. m.3=34. The canine is strongly in contact with the large premolar
above, while the small premolar (pm*) is minute, visible only with a lens, and
is hidden away in the angle between the two.
The wing in Ja shows an approach to the condition in Nyctalus, in the
shortening of the fifth finger, so that its tip reaches about to the end of the
second third of the basal phalanx of digit 3.
111. Ia io Thomas
Ia io Thomas, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. 7, vol. 10, p. 164, 1902.
Type specimen:—The type is a skin and skull, No. 2.6.10.2, British
Museum, from Changyang, southern Hupeh, China. Collected January 13,
1902, by F. W. Styan.
Description:—A large dark-colored bat, forearm about 70 mm. General
color above a uniform sooty brown; face nearly naked. A small tuft of dark
bristle hairs marks a submental gland. Under parts dark grayish brown,
the hairs everywhere dark brown at the base, indistinctly paling to grayish
brown at the tips. Wings from the ankles; tip of tail slightly projecting from
the membrane. Feet proportionally large and strong, a little longer than half
the tibia, with long claws. Fifth metacarpal considerably shorter than the
third and fourth but the total length of the fifth finger nearly equal to the
length of the former plus half the first phalanx. Ears relatively short, not
longer than the head, densely haired near the tip inside. The tragus is like
that of Nyctalus, short, its greatest breadth about three-fourths its length
on the inner margin, which is straight, while the outer margin is convex.
The tip is bluntly rounded.
The skull is proportionately large and stout, the rostrum rather evenly
flattened above, the occiput distinctly elevated above the fore part of the
brain case, and with a strongly overhanging sagittal crest which continues
forward as a low sharp ridge to the interorbital region. The palatal notch
extends back about to the level of the posterior border of the canine. The
reduced upper outer incisor and the short mesostyle of the upper molars have
already been noted as important generic differences from the smaller but allied
genera Pipistrellus and Scotozous. The basial pits at the back of the skull
are well marked and deeply excavated, longer than broad. Upper inner
incisor with a faint indication of a cusp near the outer tip; lower incisors with
trifid crowns, strongly imbricated. Hypocones practically absent in upper
molars.
Measurements :—
Head and
No. body Tail Foot Ear Forearm Third Mc. Locality
(type) 104 63 ~— 24 72 70 Hupeh
56872 89 61 18 25 72 69 Szechwan
THE BATS 233
CRANIAL MEASUREMENTS OF JA JO
Zygo- Width Upper Lower
Greatest Basal Palatal matic Mastoid across tooth tooth
No. length length length width width molars TOW TOW Locality
(type) 27.0 17.0 — Hupeh
56872 Poko) 227 12.4 16.7 13.8 11.0 11.8 12.9 Szechwan
Occurrence and Habits:—Despite its large size, this bat seems to be rarely
captured, for the first known specimen was not taken until 1902, the type,
collected by F. W. Styan at Changyang in southern Hupeh. The Central
Asiatic Expeditions secured two others at Wanhsien, Szechwan, where pre-
sumably they were found with numbers of other bats in a cave at Yenchingkou,
in which several species wintered. Sowerby (1932b, p. 304) speaks of a speci-
men from Nanking, and Sanborn (1933) has recorded another from Tung-
wongtien, Kweichow, extending the known range slightly to the south.
Specimens examined:—Two only, from Wanhsien, eastern Szechwan.
Genus Nyctalus Bowdich
Nyctalus Bowdich, Excursions in Madeira and Porto Santo, p. 36, 1825 (as a subgenus). Lesson, Nouv.
Tableau Régne Anim., Mamm., p. 27, 1842 (as a subgenus of Vespertilio).
Pterygistes Kaup, Skizzirte Entw.-Gesch. u. Naturl. Syst. d. Europ. Thierw., vol. 1, p. 99, 1829.
Noctula Gerbe, Le Naturaliste, 2™¢ année, no. 24, p. 187, March 15, 1880 (as a new subgenus of Vesperugo).
This genus is evidently related to Pipistrellus, with which it agrees in
tooth formula. Its members are, however, heavier of body, with somewhat
less delicate and proportionately shorter ears. The chief distinguishing ex-
ternal feature is the greatly shortened fifth finger of the wing, the tip of this
finger barely exceeding the fourth or fifth metacarpal, whereas in the related
genera, the tip of the fifth finger usually exceeds the combined length of the
metacarpal and first phalanx (in Ja its tip reaches to about the end of the
second third of the basal phalanx of the third finger). The notch at the tip
of the rostrum is unusually deep, extending back about half-way to the inter-
orbital constriction above, while on the palatal aspect it is unusually large
also. The teeth are much as in Pipistrellus, but the outer upper incisor is
very deeply concave, with a large anterior and small posterior cusp; the canine
is in contact with the large premolar, while the small premolar is minute, and
usually hidden from external view; upper two anterior molars with small
_hypocones (Miller, 1907, p. 207).
At least two forms probably occur in China, but their exact relationships
are still imperfectly made out.
The type species is the Madeiran Noctule, Nyctalus verrucosus Bowdich.
KEY To THE CHINESE Forms oF Nyctalus
AUROIZe Margen gorearmrabOub O2MMIMsc a. soe) \secis ceisyrene eee reli ereeies N. aviator
234 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
B. Size smaller, forearm about 50 mm.
a.e¢Generalcolor dankcer si: ::;'tbine Gs ction erent Eee N. velutinus
b;..:Generali¢olor lesstdanlcss Sas ee ten eo rcce tibiae ean N. noctula plancyi
112. Nyctalus aviator Thomas
THE LARGER NOCTULE
Nyctalus aviator Thomas, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. 8, vol. 8, p. 380, IgII.
Vespertilio molossus Temminck, in Siebold, Fauna Japonica, Mamm. (apergu gén.), p. 15, pl. 3, fig. 3, 1842-45
(not of Pallas, 1767).
Type specimen:—Thomas selected as the type of Nyctalus aviator, a
male, skin and skull, No. 5.1.4.5, British Museum, from Tokyo, Hondo,
Japan. Collected April 30, 1904, by H. Ogawa.
Description:—This is a large bat, resembling the large species of southern
Europe, although their relationships may not be close. The fur of the body
has the usual plush-like character of this genus and extends out on to the wing
membrane along the sides of the body as far as a line connecting knee and
elbow. The color above is uniform dark reddish brown; below somewhat
lighter, ‘‘dead-leaf color.’’
The skull is large and of the general form as in others of the genus.
Measurements:—The forearm measurement, according to Thomas, is 62
mm. No other fresh measurements are available.
The skull of the type measured: condylobasal length, 21.2 mm.; mastoid
width, 14.2; upper cheek teeth (front of canine to back of m‘), 8.5.
Nomenclature:—This bat was first described by Temminck, but his name,
Vespertilio molossus, was invalidated by its previous use by Pallas. Dobson
called it V. lasiopterus, but that term is a synonym of the European JV. noctula
probably, although Dobson’s specimen referred to that species proved to be
N. maximus of southern Europe, a bat perhaps somewhat nearly allied to the
eastern species. Thomas, therefore, bestowed upon the latter the name
N. aviator.
Occurrence and Habits:—The only record of the occurrence of this species
in Chinese territory seems to be that of Thomas (1911f), who, in renaming the
Japanese animal, mentions specimens in addition to his type, from Tokyo
and Nagasaki, as well as from Shaweishan Island, off the mouth of the Yangtze
River. The latter record extends the range southward from the Japanese
archipelago, but otherwise we seem to have very little knowledge of the species,
its distribution or relationships.
Specimens examined:—None.
THE BATS 235
113. Nyctalus noctula plancyi (Gerbe)
Vesperugo (Noctula) plancyi Gerbe, Le Naturaliste, 2™® année, no. 24, p. 187, March 15, 1880.
Vesperugo noctula plancyi Trouessart, Le Naturaliste, 2™® année, no. 26, p. 202, April 15, 1880.
Noctula plancyi Gerbe, Le Naturaliste, 2™° année, no. 26, p. 203, April 15, 1880.
Vesperus sinensis Peters, Monatsb. K6n. Preuss. Akad. Wiss. Berlin, 1880, p. 258. Peiping, Hopei.
Nyctalus noctula sinensis A. B. Howell, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., vol. 75, art. 1, p. 18, 1929 (? in part).
Type specimen:—The type was sent from Peiping, Hopei, China, by V.
Collin de Plancy, for whom it was subsequently named. It is presumably in
the Paris Museum.
Description:—The original description gives few details of value. The
color is said to be brownish black, darker than in the typical form of Europe,
the tragus more abruptly curved and more deeply notched on its inner margin;
tail not projecting from the membrane; third digit falling 3 or 4 millimeters
short of the elbow.
Measurements:—The type is said to have been smaller than the European
form, with a (? head and body) length of 65 mm. instead of 75 as in the latter.
Thomas (1912e, p. 129), writing of a specimen from Szechwan, says that
N. n. plancyi is “‘just distinguishable—by its rather smaller size—from the
Nepalese N. labiatus Hodgs., with which it shares the reduced length of the
outer incisors.’’ Peters (1880), describing the color of the Peiping example
that he named V. sinensis, says it is brown above, the hairs dark brown at
the base and brighter at their tips; below, pale brown; head and body, 70 mm.;
ear, 19; tail, 45; foot, 11; tibia, 18; forearm, 49. His description, published in
the Monatsbericht of the Berlin Academy, was read on March 1, 1880, but
was probably not issued until the following month, hence is antedated by
Vesperugo plancyt of Gerbe.
Occurrence and Habits:—This was described from Peiping, in North
China, first by Gerbe, and again under the name Vesperus sinensis, by Peters.
Trouessart suggested that it should stand as a subspecies of V. noctula, and
Howell, using Peters’s name, Vesperus sinensis, has followed a similar course,
so that it is reasonable to suppose that this is a North China race of the widely
distributed noctule bat. No one since seems to have seen specimens from
North China, although Thomas (1912e) has recorded as of this form, a specimen
from Yachowfu, Szechwan, altitude 2,599 feet, and A. B. Howell (1929, p. 18)
‘another from Hunan (as N. n. sinensis). Whether, however, these more
southern individuals are the present subspecies, or are members of the dark
N. velutinus, or even whether this is a valid form, must for the present remain
unsettled.
Specimens examined:—None.
236 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
114. Nyctalus velutinus G. M. Allen
Nyctalus velutinus G. M. Allen, Amer. Mus. Novitates, no. 85, p. 7, August 28, 1923.
Vesperugo molossus Swinhoe, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1870, p. 619.
Nyctalus noctula labiata G. M. Allen, Mem. Mus. Comp. Zool., vol. 40, p. 243, 1912.
Vesperus lasiopterus Mell, Arch. f. Naturgesch., vol. 88, sect. A, no. 10, p. 14, 1922.
Nyctalus species A. B. Howell, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., vol. 75, art. 1, p. 18, 1929.
Vesperugo noctula Shih, Bull. Dept. Biol., Sun Yatsen Univ., Canton, no. 4, p. 4, 1930.
Type specimen:—An adult male, skin and skull, No. 44649, American
Museum of Natural History, from Futsing, Fukien, China. Collected July
29, 1916, by Edmund Heller and R. C. Andrews.
Description:—Smaller and darker than the western N. noctula. Color
above, Prout’s brown; below paler, near Dresden brown, slightly grayer on
the chest. The bases of the hairs, both above and below, are darker, about
fuscous.
On the dorsal surface the fur of the body extends out as far as a line
joining the knee and the proximal half of the humerus, and across the inter-
femoral membrane nearly to a line joining the middle of the tibie. Below,
the wing membrane is thickly furred from the knee to the basal third of the
fifth finger and at the base of the fourth, as well as on the propatagium and
along the under side of the humerus. On the under side of the interfemoral
membrane its extent is about like that on the upper side, namely, to a line
extending across from the middle of the tibiz.
Measurements:—In the following list the first four measurements were
taken by the collector, the others from the dried skin.
Head Third Fourth Fifth
and Hind Fore- meta- meta- meta-
No. body Tail foot Ear arm carpal carpal carpal Locality
44649 (type) 75 52 II 15 49.0 49.5 48 39.5 Fukien
44773 = = II = 49.0 49-5 49 39-5 Pukien
24250 MCZ — 43 II 18 50.5 52.0 50 41.0 Chekiang
24238 MCZ — 39 10 18 50.0 51.0 50 40.0 Chekiang
13258 MCZ _— 36 II —_ 49.0 51.0 50 42.5 Szechwan
CRANIAL MEASUREMENTS OF NYCTALUS VELUTINUS
Zygo- Width Upper Lower
Greatest Basal Palatal matic Mastoid across cheek cheek
No. length length length width width molars __ teeth teeth Locality
44649 (type) 18.0 18.3 9.0 oe 11.2 8.5 7.0 7B Fukien
44773 17.6 15.9 8.6 11.8 Tey.) Eso 6.5 7.0 Fukien
7222 MCZ 17.0 14.8 8.0 11.5 10.9 8.0 6.5 6.8 Hupeh
54229 U. MICH. 18.6 16.5 — 12.4 10.6 9.0 7.0 7.6 “China”
55831 U. MICH. 18.5 16.5 9.0 — 10.5 8.9 6.8 7.4 Kiangsu
55832 U. MICH. 17.8 T5818. SHS 8.46. 67 > 7:30 Kaangsu
THE BATS 237
Occurrence and Habits:—Undoubtedly the relationship of the noctule
bat of South China is close to that of Europe and northern Asia, and it may
later be shown that it is but a subspecies of the latter. Its small size and very
dark coloring, however, seem quite distinctive, as well as the shorter outer
incisor of the upper jaw, a character it has in common with N. labiatus of
Nepal, to which I had previously (G. M. Allen, 1912) referred specimens.
In this last respect, also, it is like the noctule of North China, N. n. plancyi,
but not having been able to compare it with undoubted specimens of the latter,
I have decided to treat it as a separate species until further studies can be
made.
This bat is apparently not very common over southern China, judging
from the few specimens available. In the Province of Fukien, whence the
type came, the American Museum Asiatic Expeditions secured it at Futsing,
Foochow, and Yuki. Two specimens from Tunglu, Chekiang, taken by J. T.
Wright in November and March respectively, as well as one from Kweichowfu,
eastern Szechwan, and one from Ichang, Hupeh, are in the Museum of Com-
parative Zodlogy, the last a nearly full-grown but still immature one, taken
July 21, 1907. In addition, A. B. Howell (1929) has recorded two immature
examples from Mount Omei, central Szechwan, remarking on their apparently
small size. It is probably this bat that Swinhoe (1870c) records from Hong-
kong as Vesperugo molossus, and perhaps Mell’s (1922, p. 14) record of Vesperus
lasiopterus from near Canton is the same. No doubt also, it is the same
bat of which Shih (1930, p. 4) writes, under the name of Vesperugo noctula,
that it abounds in the Yao Shan district, Kwangsi, where sometimes as many
as twenty may be found by day in the hollow joints of bamboo in the bamboo
forests.
Specimens examined:—In all, twenty-five, as follows:
Kiangsu: Nanking, 2 (Univ. Mich.).
Fukien: Foochow, 5; Futsing, 9; no locality, 2; Yuki?, 1.
Chekiang: Tunglu, 3 (M.C.Z.).
Hupeh: Ichang, 1 (M.C.Z.).
Szechwan: Kweichowfu, 1 (M.C.Z.).
“China,” 1 (Univ. Mich.).
Genus Eptesicus Rafinesque
Eptesicus Rafinesque, Annals of Nature, p. 2, 1820.
The bats of this genus are not very different in external appearance from
Pipistrellus, except that the muzzle is slightly more blunt with heavy lips,
due to the presence of glands on the fore part of the face; the tragus, too, is
slightly longer in proportion and more nearly straight with a blunt point,
238 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
instead of short and rounded. The skull shows a shallow depression on each
side of the rostrum, and the profile is slightly flattened with an even upward
slope from the anterior end. The tooth formula shows an advance over that in
Pipistrellus and Nyctalus in the complete loss of the minute upper premolar
of these latter, giving: 13 c.t pm.4 m.3=32. In this group there are large
and small forms with a considerable range of size between the extremes, but
all may be considered as generically the same. The range includes the tem-
perate and tropical parts of both Old and New Worlds. Three or four forms
occur in the limits here considered. The type species of the genus is Eptesicus
melanops Rafinesque = E. fuscus (Beauvois).
Key TO CHINESE AND MONGOLIAN SPECIES OF Eptesicus
A. Forearm 40 mm. or less.
a. Forearm 40 mm., outer upper incisor obviously shorter than the
ATUM EDA MA yds gatas testa erick mete ha aieha each: Rectan es a ete ete bape ee sReieca aoe E. nilssonit gobienstis
b. Forearm about 37 mm., outer upper incisor equaling the inner in
ExbenG iceussane sb sonrsevonss aorta a « letieoens bleep © ae bebe E. alashanicus
B. Forearm more than 40 mm.
a. Forearm about 51 mm.; paler, the bases of the fur not conspicu-
ously darker than ’thestips:. see mtsscisienl- see Stee eeieicieueere E. serotinus pallens
b. Forearm about 56 mm.; darker, the bases of the fur conspicuously
darker sthan dheirtipss, hs eet se, AS A. ee E. andersont
115. Eptesicus nilssonii gobiensis Bobrinski
Eptesicus nilssoni gobiensis Bobrinski, Compt. Rend. Acad. Sci. URSS, 1926, ser. A, p. 96.
Eptesicus nilssoni centrasiaticus Bobrinski, loc. cit. (in part, as to Mongolian specimens).
Type specimen:—An adult male, skin and skull, No. 2135, Zoological
Museum of the Academy of Sciences, Leningrad, U. S. S: R., from Burchastei-
tala in the Gobi Altai.
Description:—A pallid desert race of the north European and Asiatic
E. nilssoniit. There is a slight amount of individual variation in color in a
series from the same locality, from nearly ‘‘ochraceous tawny’’ of Ridgway
to about “warm buff,” the fur everywhere dark blackish brown basally.
Below, the bases of the hairs are dark, ‘‘“mummy brown,” their tips white,
with an evident contrast of color along the sides of the neck where the buffy
upper surface gives place to whitish below.
The skull is smaller than that of E. serotinus, with somewhat smoother
and more rounded outlines, relatively broader interorbital region, and slightly
stouter proportions. The teeth are in general similar, though smaller, the
inner upper incisor less slender.
Measurements:—The external measurements of a series of adult females
from the Gobi, Mongolia, are taken from the collector’s record on the labels.
THE BATS 239
Head and
No. body Tail Hind foot Ear Locality
60422 65 45 10 10 Mongolia
60423 58 40 10 14 Mongolia
60427 61 40 10 10 Mongolia
60428 62 41 10 II Mongolia
60430 64. 42 10 14 Mongolia
60432 62 43 10 15 - Mongolia
60433 60 40 10 15 Mongolia
60434 58 43 10 13 Mongolia
60442 57 41 10 i Mongolia
60446 57 45 10 15 Mongolia
CRANIAL MEASUREMENTS OF EPTESICUS NILSSONII GOBIENSIS
Zygo- Width Upper Lower
Greatest Basal Palatal matic Mastoid across cheek cheek
No. length length length width width molars teeth teeth Locality
60423 16.3 14.0 8.0 10.4 9.0 7.0 5.7 6.2 Mongolia
60426 16.1 13.8 8.0 10.1 9.0 6.9 5:9 6.3 Mongolia
60427 16.2 14.0 7.9 10.3 9.0 7.0 5.8 6.5 Mongolia
60432 16.4 14.0 8.0 10.6 8.8 7.0 5.8 6.4 Mongolia
60437 16.2 13.9 8.0 10.2 9.0 6.6 5.7 6.4 Mongolia
Eptesicus nilssonii and its races are readily distinguished from those of
the E. serotinus group by their smaller size (forearm about 40 mm.) and the
strong contrast between the tips and bases of the upper fur, as well as by the
evident line of demarcation between the color of upper and lower surfaces
at the sides of the neck.
Occurrence and Habits:—The type locality of this pale desert form is
Burchasteitala at the eastern end of the Altai Mountains in the Gobi. Its
describer, Bobrinski (1926), in the same paper named as additional new
subspecies, E. n. centrasiaticus and E. n. kashgaricus, listing specimens of the
former in his later (1929) paper from the following localities in Mongolia and
northwestern China: two skins in the collection of the Russian Academy
from Orin Nor, Nanshan, collected by Przewalski; an alcoholic from near
Shachow, north of the Humboldt Mountains (Kozlov and Roborovski, col-
lectors) ; two others from the valley of Orok Nor, Sain Noin, central Mongolia
(Kozlov); and others obtained by Kozlov from Holt, northwestern Gobi, and
Huluetenkuduk, in the northern Gobi. It seems probable from the description
and from the localities given that these specimens listed as E. n. centrasiaticus
are indistinguishable from E. n. gobiensis, in which the color variations supposed
to separate the two forms are clearly present in the series from Kholobolchi
Nor, collected by Dr. Walter Granger of the Central Asiatic Expeditions in
the Gobi. These last were from a breeding colony of adult females, for a
single young one about a third grown was preserved with them. In addition,
240 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
the expedition secured three mummies and an extra skull at Ula Usu, Mongolia.
In his second paper of 1929, Bobrinski records as Eptesicus nilssoni two males
and two females from Suzukte, near Urga, in northern Mongolia, and Kast-
schenko mentions two females under the same name, taken by Manakin in
1898 on the western slope of the Great Khingan Mountains. It seems more
probable that these records refer to E. n. gobiensis as well, for the color dis-
tinctions on which the diagnosis chiefly rests can hardly be considered wholly
reliable, since three of the four specimens are in alcohol.
Specimens examined:—In all, thirty-one, as follows:
Mongolia: Kholobolchi Nor, 27; Ula Usu, 4 (3 mummies, 1 skull).
116. Eptesicus serotinus pallens Miller
Eptesicus serotinus pallens Miller, Proc. Biol. Soc. Washington, vol. 24, p. 53, February 24, I9II.
Vesperugo serotinus Buechner, Bull. Acad. Imp. Sci. St. Pétersbourg, vol. 34 (new ser., vol. 2), p. 106 (Mélanges
Biol., vol. 13, p. 152), 1892.
Eptesicus serotinus turcomanus Bobrinski, Annuaire Mus. Zool. Acad. Sci. URSS, vol. 30, p. 234, 1929 (in part,
as to eastern specimens).
Eptesicus serotinus pallidus Bobrinski, ibid., p. 235 (errorim for pallens).
Type specimen:—An adult male, skin and skull, No. 155156, U. S.
National Museum, from Chengyuanhsien, seventy miles west of Chingyangfu,
Kansu, China. Collected August 4, 1909, by Arthur de Carle Sowerby.
Description:—Similar to the typical European form but paler, especially
below, skull slightly smaller.
General color above a uniform olive brown, about ‘‘Dresden brown’’ of
Ridgway; the bases of the hairs slightly but not conspicuously darker for
the first third; below, very pale buffy, in strong contrast to the upper surface,
the basal half of the fur on the chest and upper belly with drab bases, that of
the throat and posterior abdomen clear.
The skull is hardly different from that of the European E. serotinus.
Measurements:—The type measured: head and body, 70 mm.; tail, 50;
hind foot, 13.8; ear, 19; forearm, 49; tibia, 22; third finger, 90. The forearms
of three other Chinese specimens from Shantung measure: 51, 52, 50, respec-
tively. The cranial measurements of the last two and of the type follow.
Upper Lower
Zygo- Mas- Width tooth tooth
Greatest Basal Palatal matic toid across row, row,
No. length length length width width molars c-m? c-m3 Locality
33133 210 Prsi8.! “013 14.4 105 90 7.5 84 £Shantung
25874 MCZ 18.8 15.5 8.7 1210) 10:07 S31 7.0 7.7. Shantung
155156 USNM (type) —_— —s —_-_ — +140 ~ ~+— — «7.2 «28.2 Kansu
THE BATS 241
Occurrence and Habits:—This is the form of the European serotine found
across northeastern Asia, intergrading westward undoubtedly with the typical
form. To it I have referred the specimens from Mongolia that Bobrinski
* (1929), who did not have access to Miller’s description of E. s. pallens, regarded
as probably identical with E. s. turcomanus of Eversmann. The latter,
however, as shown by specimens from the Caucasus region, is a somewhat
paler animal, and may be very pale indeed in the desert region of Transcaspia.
Bobrinski records nine specimens from the Mongolian desert, as follows:
four taken by Przewalski, August 18, 1880, in the southwestern foothills of
the Alashan Range; two from the Ucheten Gol Pass, west slope of the Alashan,
collected by Kozlov; two from the Uroti district of the southern Gobi, collected
by Przewalski; one from the Ordos Desert, Hwang Ho valley, collected by
Potanin. Buechner (1892) had previously recorded a specimen from the
Ordos, in the valley of the Chuanche not far from Chekou, in the summer of
1884. Sowerby secured two in Kansu in 1909, one at Chengyuanhsien (later
made the type of E. s. pallens), and one eighteen miles east of Kuyuanchow;
as well as two others in Shensi, eighty miles southwest of Yenanfu. These
were shot flying around his camp at dusk in the loess country, and all but one
are now in the U. S. National Museum. The latter collection also contains
two from Tientsin, Hopei, and ten from Tsingtao, Shantung (A. B. Howell,
1929, p. 18). Specimens from Chimo and Weihsien, Shantung, are in the
collection of the American Museum, and others from Tsinan in the same
province are in the Museum of Comparative Zodlogy.
Howell notes that a specimen from Hopei and an adult from Shantung
are somewhat darker below than the type from Kansu, but this may be merely
individual variation, for a considerable difference in degree of dark and light
is shown by the two specimens from Tsinan. Indeed, the lightest-colored
specimens are hardly distinguishable from some specimens of E. s. turcomanus
that I have seen, except perhaps by the slightly smaller size.
This is evidently a species that may occur in small numbers over a wide
extent of rather barren country as in the loess areas of Kansu and Shensi
or in the cleared and long-cultivated Shantung peninsula. It does not seem
to occur in South China where its place is taken by the much darker-colored
E. andersomt. Sowerby (1914, p. 54) writes that this is the commonest of
the North China bats and may be seen ‘‘everywhere during the warmer months,
but is most plentiful in the higher country westward from the border of Chihli.
It hides during the day in loess cliffs, coming out in the evenings to
feed, flying at comparatively great altitudes.”
Specimens examined:—In all, eight, as follows:
Shantung: Chimo, 5; Weihsien, 1; Tsinan, 2 (M.C.Z.).
242 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
117. Eptesicus alashanicus Bobrinski
Eptesicus alashanicus Bobrinski, Compt. Rend. Acad. Sci. URSS, 1926, ser. A, p. 98; Annuaire Mus. Zool.
Acad. Sci. URSS, vol. 30, p. 228, text-figs. 4, 5, 1929.
Cotypes:—A female, in alcohol, No. 13945, from the Pass of Hotin Gol,
near Dinyuanin, west slope of Alashan Range; and a male, skin, No. 2146,
from northern Alashan, on the border of the Uroti district; both in the Museum
of the Academy of Sciences, Leningrad, U.S. S.R.
Description:—Above ‘‘brownish,’’ the tips of the hairs pale, ‘‘vinaceous
buff,’’ the middle portion brown; below, like the back but paler, the concealed
bases of all the hairs dark brown; membranes black, the outer edge of the
wing with a sharply defined pale border.
Tragus somewhat narrower than in E. caucasicus with a somewhat better
defined basal lobe; tip of tail exserted from the membrane.
The skull of this bat differs from that of E. caucasicus, to which it seems
closely related, in its slightly greater size. The length of the upper outer
incisor, which reaches the same level as the inner instead of being much shorter,
distinguishes it at once from E. serotinus pallens and E. nilssonii gobiensis.
The skull in profile is shown in Bobrinski’s paper to have a slight convexity
above the interorbital region, and lacks any prominent overhang at the vertex.
Measurements:—The following measurements of the cotypes are given
by the describer, those of the alcoholic specimen first in each case. Forearm,
37-5, 36 mm.; third metacarpal, 32, 31; fifth metacarpal, 31, 30.5; tail from
anus, 39.5, —; lower leg, 15.1, —; foot without claw, 7.9, —; ear, 13, —;
tragus, 5:7, —.
Skull: total length, 14 mm., —; condylobasal length, 13.8, —; zygomatic
width, 9.2, —; width of brain case, 7, —; upper cheek teeth, 5.2, 5; lower
cheek teeth, 5.4, 5.1.
Occurrence and Habits:—The two cotypes of this bat are the only specimens
hitherto recorded, one from the Pass of Hotin Gol, west slope of the Alashan,
the other from the Uroti district, northern Alashan, indicating a desert habitat
for the species. Possibly, however, the specimens from Hunan mentioned by
A. B. Howell (1929, p. 18) as smaller and darker than E. serotinus pallens,
and which he did not definitely refer to any described form, may be this.
Judging from Bobrinski’s description, it is a darker bat than FE. serotinus,
and in addition to its smaller size is easily recognized by the long outer upper
incisor, whose tip extends to the tip of the inner incisor, instead of being mark-
edly shorter as in the other Chinese species. Bobrinski regards it as closely
related to E. caucasicus of southwestern Asia, but it is somewhat larger.
Additional specimens of this bat would be interesting to show its range and
relationships.
Specimens examined :—None.
THE BATS 243
118. Eptesicus andersoni (Dobson)
Vesperus andersoni Dobson, Proc. Asiatic Soc. Bengal, 1871, p. 211.
Vesperugo andersoni Dobson, Monograph Asiatic Chiroptera, p. 110, figs. a, b, c, 1876; Cat. Chiroptera Brit.
Mus., p. 195, 1878; in Anderson, J., Anat. and Zool. Researches Western Yunnan, p. 101, pl. 4, figs. 2, 6,
1879.
Vespertilio (Eptesicus) serotinus andersoni Trouessart, Cat. Mamm. Viv. Foss., p. 77, 1904.
Type specimen:—Dobson, writing in 1876, stated that the type was then
in the collection of the Indian Museum at Calcutta. It is one of two from
Momein or Tengyueh, in western Yunnan, taken by Dr. John Anderson in
the course of his Western Yunnan Expedition, probably in 1868.
Description:—Somewhat larger than E. serotinus, very dark brown above,
paler below; forearm about 53 mm.
In comparison with FE. serotinus, which this species at first sight resembles,
E. andersoni may be distinguished by its slightly wider ear, slightly larger
foot, longer forearm, and by the fact that the terminal vertebra only of the
tail is free instead of the two terminal ones. The color also is very different,
with the bases of the fur above and below darker. Above, the general color
is a very dark olive brown with a slightly paler appearance across the middle
of the back, due to very short pale tips to the hairs of this region. The fur of
the back is dark blackish brown for the basal half, and olive brown for the
terminal half, without a very noticeable contrast between the bases and tips;
below, the basal half of the hairs everywhere is dark slaty, the tips buffy
gray. The fur does not extend noticeably out on to the membranes.
The skull is slightly larger and notably more massive than that of E.
serotinus pallens, with a greater distance between the root of the squamosal
and the posterior border of the skull. The outer upper incisor is slightly
longer, extending half-way to the tip of the outer cusp of the inner incisor.
Otherwise the teeth of E. andersoni are not essentially different from those of
the latter.
Measurements:—The measurements of two specimens from the type
locality and others from eastern China are given below, those of the former
converted to metric units.
Head and
No. body Tail Foot Ear Forearm Locality
INDIAN MUS. 66.0 48.0 10.2 19.3 55:5 Yunnan
INDIAN MUS. 64.0 48.0 10.2 19.3 55-5 Yunnan
44645 75.0 52.0 12.0 18.0 54.0 Fukien
44654 82.0 49.0 13.0 18.0 57.0 Fukien
24254 MCZ 74.5 47.5 11.5 19.5 57-0 Chekiang
24239 MCZ 71.5 42.0 11.0 18.0 50.0imm. Chekiang
244 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
CRANIAL MEASUREMENTS OF EPTESICUS ANDERSONI
Zygo- Width Upper Lower
Greatest Basal Palatal matic Mastoid across cheek cheek
No. length length length width width molars teeth teeth Locality
44645 19.4 17.0 9.7 — 10.1 8.4 7.0 8.0 Fukien
44654 PAG] 18.5 10.1 14.5 11.6 9.5 7:9 8.6 Fukien
Occurrence and Habits:—This larger and darker Eptesicus seems to replace
the more northern E. serotinus pallens over South China. It was first dis-
covered by Dr. John Anderson in the course of his first Yunnan Expedition
in 1868, when he secured two specimens at Momein, now Tengyueh. These
specimens, in the Indian Museum at Calcutta, formed the basis of Dobson’s
description. Its range probably extends across the warmer parts of China
to the eastern coast in Fukien and northward to the mouth of the Yangtze.
The American Museum has a series of skins secured by Dr. Andrews and
Edmund Heller at Futsing and at Yenping in Fukien, and there are three in
the Museum of Comparative Zodlogy (without skulls) from Lanchi, Chekiang.
I have seen no specimens from intermediate localities, but its presence across
southern China cannot be doubted. Nothing has been recorded of its habits,
but it is evidently colonial, for the American Museum’s series of both sexes
was taken at the same time and place.
Specimens examined:—In all, twenty-six, as follows:
Chekiang: Lanchi, 3 (skins only, M.C.Z.).
Fukien: Futsing, 23 (10 skins and skulls, 2 skulls, 11 in alcohol).
Genus Vespertilio Linnzeus
Vespertilio Linnzus, Syst. Nat., ed. 10, vol. 1, p. 31, 1758.
The bats of this genus resemble in general those of the genus Eptesicus,
externally, except that the ear is proportionally shorter and broader, and in
coloration the fur is minutely white-tipped, giving a characteristic frosted
appearance, which is found rarely in Old World bats. The skull resembles
that of Eptesicus and has the same tooth formula. It differs, however, in the
much larger notch at the anterior end which dorsally extends back nearly half-
way to the interorbital constriction, while in palatal aspect it is so large as to
be distinctly wider than deep.
Of the old genus Vespertilio, in which Linnzus included all the bats known
to him, at the present time but a single species remains, V. murinus and its
subspecies V. m. superans. The range in general extends from western ©
Europe quite across Asia to China, in the temperate zone. It is a question
whether the typical form may not extend all the way to Manchuria, at least
A. B. Howell (1929) records a specimen from that country as indistinguishable
from European examples.
THE BATS 245
119. Vespertilio murinus murinus Linnzus
Vespertilio murinus Linnzus, Syst. Nat., ed. 10, vol. I, p. 32, 1758.
Type specimen:—Not known to exist; the type locality is assumed to be
Sweden.
Description:—About the size and proportions of the Serotine Bat of
Europe, but with a broader and shorter ear. Wings from the base of the
toes; calcar with a low keel; tragus bluntly rounded off at the tip. The fur
extends out on the interfemoral membrane as far as a line joining the first
third of the tibie.
General color above dark blackish brown, the tips of the hairs minutely
whitish, giving a hoary appearance to the entire back; on the under side, the
center of the chest and abdomen is similarly blackish brown but with longer
whitish tips to the hairs, while a band across the throat and on each side of
the body from the axilla to the anal region is whitish to the base (description
from Russian specimens).
Measurements:—Miller (1912) gives the following measurements of three
adults from Denmark:
Head and Third
body Tail Foot Tibia Ear Forearm finger
62 43 9.6 17.4 15.0 43-4 73
59 40 9.2 16.8 15.0 44.0 76
62 44 10.0 16.8 15.6 43.0 74
Miller (1912, p. 241) gives also the following dimensions of a skull from
Sweden: condylobasal length, 14.8 mm.; zygomatic width, 9.2; lachrymal
breadth, 6.2; breadth of brain case, 8.0; maxillary tooth row, 5.2; mandibular
tooth row, 5.6.
Occurrence and Habits:—There seems to be some evidence that the typical
form of this species extends quite across the continents of Europe and Asia
in the north temperate zone without obvious change. At all events, Thomas
(Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. 8, vol. 4, p. 500, 1909) so identified a specimen
from Manchuria, and A. B. Howell (1929, p. 19) has similarly determined a
second from Sansing, Manchuria, as well as a third from eighty-five miles
north of Lanchow, Kansu. Very likely the third specimen at least would be
found to be quite as near the subspecies V. m. superans as to the European
animal if sufficient comparable material were available, and the same may be
true of yet another record, namely, that of Bobrinski (1929, p. 235), of a speci-
men from Alyshkan, northern Alashan, taken by Kozlov, May 17, 1909. This
example is preserved in alcohol and hence may not be normal in appearance.
Bobrinski mentions other specimens of the typical form from Kashgaria.
Specimens examined:—None.
246 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
120. Vespertilio murinus superans Thomas
Vespertilio murinus superans Thomas, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1898, p. 770.
Vespertilio discolor superans De Winton and Styan, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1899, p. 573.
Type specimen:—A skin and skull, No. 97.4.21.1, British Museum,
said to be from Sesalin (but doubtless the same individual recorded from
Sasahu), Ichang, Hupeh, China. Collected by F. W. Styan.
Description:—This race is said to differ from the typical subspecies in
its slightly larger size, with a forearm from 4-9 mm. longer. In the series of
three at hand, however, there is a noticeable and constant difference in color
of the under side, which is uniformly dark brown at the bases of the hairs,
minutely tipped with gray, in contrast to two from Russia representing the
typical form, in which the throat and sides of the body are contrastingly pure
white to the roots of the hairs. In other words, the South China race is uni-
formly dark brown throughout, both above and below, with only the tips of
the hairs whitish and the upper side a trifle darker than the lower, whereas in
the European animal there is a contrasted white area on the throat and sides.
The skull is slightly larger than that of the European bat, but otherwise
similar.
Measurements:—The following measurements of Chinese specimens are
available:
Total
No. length Tail Foot Ear Forearm Locality
7513 MCz 117 46 10 — 46.0 Szechwan
7225 MCZ 99 37 10 —_ 50.0 Hupeh
19920 MCZ — — 10 — 48.0 Shansi
97.4.21.1 BM (type) — — — —_ 54.0 Hupeh
85204 — — 10 _ 49.5 Hopei
CRANIAL MEASUREMENTS OF VESPERTILIO MURINUS SUPERANS
Zygo- Width Upper Lower
Greatest Basal Palatal matic Mastoid across tooth tooth -
No. length length length width width molars TOW TOW Locality
7514 MCZ 17.3 15.5 8.7 10.8 9.8 7.4 6.8 7:3 Szechwan
7225 MCZ 17.6 15.5 8.7 11.3 10.0 7.1 6.6 7.4. Hupeh
85294 18.0 16.0 6.0 11.7 II.0 8.5 7.0 7.5 Hopei
Occurrence and Habits:—This bat seems to be fairly well distributed over
northern China, with much the same range as the serotine, and, though nowhere
common, may be looked for anywhere from the Yangtze valley, northward,
even in the more desert regions. It is easily recognized by its dark-chocolate
ground color above and below, everywhere frosted with the minute whitish
tips to the hairs. As already indicated, it possibly intergrades with the
typical form in the northern part of its range, as in Manchuria, but the Chinese
THE BATS 247
specimens that I have examined seem more uniform in their coloring below,
without the contrasting white throat and sides.
In the north, A. B. Howell (1929) records a specimen from Tientsin,
and the American Museum has one in alcohol from Peiping, Hopei; Bobrinski
(1929, p. 239) mentions three skins in the Museum at Leningrad, collected by
Przewalski in the north bend of the Hwang Ho, northern Ordos Desert; the
specimen from Kansu, referred by Howell to the typical form, may be nearer
this as well. Farther south, the type came from Ichang, Hupeh, and the
Museum of Comparative Zoology has a second specimen from there, and
another from still farther west at Kweichowfu, as well as a male that Dr.
F. R. Wulsin collected in Shansi, at Pashuiko, seventy miles southwest of Tai-
yuanfu. Four from Hunan, at Yochow, to the south of the Yangtze, are
recorded by A. B. Howell (1929, p. 19), while the most southern record of all
is that by Thomas (1898), who says that the La Touche collection from Kuatun,
northwestern Fukien, contains six specimens.
Specimens examined:—In all, four, as follows:
Hopei: Peiping, 1.
Hupeh: Ichang, 1 (M.C.Z.).
Eastern Szechwan: Kweichowfu, 1 (M.C.Z.).
Shansi: Pashuiko, 1 (M.C.Z.).
Genus Tylonycteris Peters
Tylonycteris Peters, Monatsb. Kon. Preuss. Akad. Wiss. Berlin, 1872, p. 703.
The bats of this genus are extremely small, of a general bright buffy
coloring darkened by the brown tips of the hairs; the ears are about as long
as the head, the tragus short and bluntly rounded at the tip. In fresh speci-
mens a fleshy pad is conspicuous at the base of the thumb and on the sole of
the hind foot, but in dried specimens these are less obvious. The striking
feature is the broad and very much flattened skull, whose depth through the
audital bulla is barely half the mastoid width. So flattened is the brain case
that the skull in profile hardly rises posteriorly. The rostrum is short and
wide, its length hardly as great as its breadth, and there is an inconspicuous
slight projection at the front edge of the orbit. The tooth formula is the
same as in Eptesicus, namely: i.} c.t pm.4 m.$=32. The teeth are not peculiar
except that the upper canine has a well-developed secondary cusp on its pos-
terior cutting edge.
The genus is tropical, occurring from India and southern subtropical
China to the East Indies and the Philippines. A puzzling diversity in size
is found among the otherwise nearly uniformly colored individuals even from
the same locality, for some are a trifle larger with longer forearm. Thomas
has named the latter T. robustula but it seems uncertain if these larger individu-
248 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
als really constitute a distinct species. The typical T. pachypus was described
from Java, and is the type of the genus, perhaps barely distinguishable from
the Indian form fulvidus which may be regarded as a subspecies.
121. Tylonycteris pachypus fulvidus (Blyth)
Scotophilus fulvidus Blyth, Journ. Asiatic Soc. Bengal, vol. 28, p. 293, 1859.
Tylonycteris pachypus Mell, Arch. f. Naturgesch., vol. 88, sect. A, no. 10, p. 14, 1922.
Type specimen:—The type came from Schwe Gyen, on the Sitang River,
Tenasserim. It is presumably in the Indian Museum at Calcutta.
Description:—Size very small, forearm 27 mm.; fur everywhere conspicu-
ously pale yellowish buff at the base, tipped with dark brown, which darkens
the general coloring, especially over the back and on the chest where the
dark tips are longest; on the ventral side the warm buff is yellower and nearly
pure across the throat. The wing membranes are from the base of the toes
and there is a long low keel on the calcar. The membranes are without fur.
The extraordinarily flattened skull and peculiar upper canines have been
mentioned under the generic characters.
Measurements:—A skin from Namting River, Yunnan, was measured by
the collector as follows: head and body, 35 mm.; tail, 29; hind foot, 6; ear, 9;
forearm, 28.
The skull of this specimen measures: greatest length, 11 mm.; basal
length, 10; palatal length, 5; zygomatic width, 8; mastoid width, 7; width
across molars, 5; upper maxillary teeth, canine to last molar, 4; lower tooth
row, incisor to back of last molar, 4.7. :
Occurrence and Habits:—This minute and delicately formed bat is found
in the tropical parts of eastern Asia, extending into the subtropical area, and
so just reaching the warmer parts of extreme South China. The only record
I have of it for eastern China is that of Mell (1922, p. 14), who says that in
the Canton region it is found in the mountain forests, chiefly in the bamboos
at from 600-900 meters altitude, in latitude 25° north. The usual hiding
place of this little bat during the day is in hollow bamboo stems, and Mell
records that he once took thirteen from a bamboo joint split on one side in
the midst of a forest, and had on four other occasions obtained from three to
five specimens in similar situations. Apparently the only record for south-
western China is furnished by three skins taken by Dr. R. C. Andrews and
Edmund Heller on the Namting River at the Burma border, southwestern
Yunnan, at an altitude of 1,700 feet, in February, 1917. No doubt further
search will eventually reveal the presence of this species here and there along
the extreme southern border of China. Its very much flattened head is per-
THE BATS 249
haps an adaptation allowing it to enter narrow cracks and so to obtain access
to the hollow interior of bamboo stalks, while the obvious pads under the
thumbs and soles of the hind feet perhaps are useful, as Dobson long ago sug-
gested, to enable it to cling to the smooth sides of such places.
Specimens examined:—In all, three, from the Namting River, Burma
border, Yunnan.
122. Tylonycteris robustula Thomas
Tylonycteris robustula Thomas, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. 8, vol. 15, p. 227, 1915.
Type specimen:—A female, skin and skull, No. 11.1.18.8, British Museum,
from Upper Sarawak, Borneo. Collected by Cecil J. Brooks.
Description:—Similar to T. p. fulvidus, but heavier of body with a stouter
skull; forearm not larger. The color is said to be dark brown, but little lighter
below.
Measurements:—Forearm, 26-28 mm.; head and body, 43; tail, 27.5;
foot, 6.3; ear, 10.
The skull measurements are given by Thomas as follows: greatest length,
12.5 mm.; breadth of brain case, 7.6; upper cheek teeth (c-m#), 4.2-4.4.
Occurrence and Habits:—The characters claimed as separating this from
the typical form are of somewhat doubtful value, and it may be that the heavier
skull and dark color are individual matters rather than specific, especially
as the two forms occur together in Java. A skin and two alcoholic specimens
from the Namting River, Burma border, Yunnan, collected at the same
locality with the typical specimens of T. p. fulvidus, seem a little heavier of.
skull, and are doubtfully referred to this form.
Specimens examined:—Three, from Namting River, Yunnan.
Genus Scotomanes Dobson
Scotomanes Dobson, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1875, p. 371 (subgenus of Scotophilus); Cat. Chiroptera Brit.
Mus., p. 258, 1878 (genus).
This is a monotypic genus containing the single species S. ornatus, with
its subspecies. It is of fairly large size, and has a characteristic pattern of -
white markings on a rich brown ground. In its tooth formula it resembles
Nycticeius, having one incisor only in each premaxilla, and hence showing a
reduction over the condition in Eptesicus and its relatives in which there are
two. The anterior palatal emargination is smaller than in any other member
of the family, its greatest depth scarcely more than half the distance between
the upper canines. The lachrymal region is somewhat expanded and the
_anterior edge of the orbit distinctly beaded and angular (Miller, 1907). Tooth
formula: 1.3 c.t pm.3 m.$ = 30.
250 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
The typical form of this species was from Darjeeling, India, and a dark
subspecies (imbrensis) has been described from the Khasi Hills, north of
Sylhet, Assam. The subspecies of eastern China is somewhat smaller, but
otherwise not very different.
123. Scotomanes ornatus sinensis Thomas
Scotomanes ornatus sinensis Thomas, Journ. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc., vol. 27, p. 772, 1921.
Scotophilus ornatus Dobson, Monograph Asiatic Chiroptera, p. 125, 1876. Thomas, Proc. Zool. Soc. London,
1898, p. 771. Shih, Bull. Dept. Biol., Sun Yatsen Univ., Canton, no. 4, p. 3, 1930.
Scotomanes ornatus Mell, Arch. f. Naturgesch., vol. 88, sect. A, no. 10, p. 15, 1922.
Type specimen:—A male, skin and skull, No. 97.9.3.1, British Museum,
from Kuatun, northwestern Fukien, China, August 21, by J. D. La Touche.
Description:—Size rather large, forearm 60 mm., color rich russet, with
conspicuous white markings.
Face from muzzle to ears nearly naked, but with minute dark hairs.
Top of head light russet brown, the bases of the hairs slaty, then with a broad
whitish area, minutely tipped with russet brown; back similar, but the brown
tips are darker and more éxtensive. A tuft of shining white hair at the middle
of the crown; a similar tuft at the front and one at the back of the shoulder,
and a white line down the middle of the back. Below, the sides of the body
along the membrane are dark rich brown from the front of the wing to the knee;
a broad median area of the same from the chin to the root of the tail and a
similarly colored transverse collar from the posterior base of the ear around to
the opposite side. This leaves a white area on each side of the chin and a broad
white stripe from the side of the neck to the base of the interfemoral membrane.
The distinctive characters of the skull have been mentioned in the account
of the generic characters.
Measurements:—This race averages smaller than the typical form of
eastern India or its dark subspecies of Assam. The forearm measurement
of the type is 60 mm., but in other specimens may be less, 50-55 mm.; hind
foot of type, 15.3.
CRANIAL MEASUREMENTS OF SCOTOMANES ORNATUS SINENSIS
Zygo- Mas- Width Upper Lower
Greatest Basal Palatal matic toid across cheek cheek
No. length length length width width molars teeth teeth Locality
84847 20.2 18.0 10.0 1I6(ca.) — 10.0 8.1 9.0 Fukien
Occurrence and Habits:—According to Thomas this Chinese race of the
Ornate Bat is distinguishable by its slightly smaller average size and richer,
deeper color (near tawny or ochraceous tawny) from the Indian forms. No
doubt, however, intergradation takes place, and it is quite likely that speci-
mens from western China may not easily be distinguished.
THE BATS 251
This bat was first discovered in China by J. D. La Touche, at Kuatun
in northwestern Fukien (Thomas, 1898, p. 771), and his specimen later became
the type of the eastern subspecies. Thomas (192Ib) also records other speci-
mens from Yenping in the same province, and from Chungking, eastern Szech-
wan. The American Museum Asiatic Expeditions secured two from Yenping
and a single one from Chunganhsien, northwestern Fukien. The most
northerly record is of one taken at Wanhsien, eastern Szechwan, by Dr.
Walter Granger. Evidently this is a species of the warmer parts of China
and should be looked for across the southern half of that country. A. B.
Howell (1929) records three from Yochow, Hunan. Shih (1930, p. 3) mentions
one (as Scotophilus ornatus) from a cave on a high cliff in the Yao Shan district,
Kwangsi, and notes that it is in the Municipal Museum at Canton. Mell,
writing from Canton (1922, p. 15), considers it not rare in the wooded moun-
tainous region of northern Kwangtung, at from 600 to 1,000 meters altitude.
By day, he says, it is often found in the branches of trees at a height of from
2 to 4 meters from the ground, a habit that might have been inferred from the
coloration of the animal, so that Shih’s specimen from a cave may have been in a
somewhat unusual situation. Mell adds that these bats occasionally flew
into his cabin in early evening, 7.30 to 9 P.M., apparently in pursuit of insects,
and when captured uttered a shrill note like that of other bats. He gives a good
colored figure of the species. Dobson (1876) mentions specimens from Nantin
and Sanda valley, Yunnan, under Scotophilus ornatus.
Specimens examined:—In all, four, as follows:
Fukien: Chunganhsien, 1; Yenping, 2.
Szechwan: Wanhsien, I.
Genus Scotophilus Leach
Scotophilus Leach, Trans. Linn. Soc. London, vol. 13, p. 69, 1821.
Pachyotus Gray, Zoological Miscellany, no. 1, p. 38, 1831 (part).
Externally the bats of this genus bear a close resemblance to Eptesicus
in their olive and brown type of coloration in some species, the rather heavy
body, and short, rounded ears. The tragus is somewhat crescent-shaped,
the feet fairly large, with a low keel on the calcar, the tail extending to the
edge of the interfemoral membrane. The skull, however, differs from that of
Eptesicus in its tooth formula, having but one upper incisor on each side,
namely: 13 c+ pm. m.3=30. The skull has the occiput prominently pro-
duced upward into a sort of helmet which slightly overhangs the posterior
face of the cranium. It is rather stoutly built and has a well-developed sagittal
crest. The chief distinguishing feature is the reduction of the mesostyles
of the upper molars so that the W-pattern of the cusps is considerably altered,
252 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
the outer central peak of the W exceeded by the two other styles. In the
lower molars the second triangle is noticeably smaller than the first.
Two species, a larger and a smaller, occur in the extreme southern parts
of China, with, probably, subspecies on Hainan, while a third species, inter-
mediate in size between these two, is also to be found, namely, S. kuhlit,
the type species of the genus, or a closely allied subspecies.
Key To CHINESE SPECIES OF Scotophilus
A. Size larger, forearm about 65 mm., color dark olive brown..... S. heathii insularis
B. Size smaller. :
a. Forearm 58-62 mm., color olive brown above, yellowish
IDelOwie 3 sesh. Bisa res EIS SRR ates RERS oath eer ee eee S. kuhlit
b. Forearm about 50 mm., paler below, buffy................ S. temminckui consobrinus
124. Scotophilus kuhlii Leach
Scotophilus kuhlii Leach, Trans. Linn. Soc. London, vol. 13, p. 70, 1821.
?Scotophilus heathii Swinhoe, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1870, p. 619. Mell, Arch. f. Naturgesch., vol. 88, sect. A,
no. 10, p. 14, 1922.
Type specimen:—The type was a specimen in the collection of D. Brookes,
described by Leach, but the locality was unknown. The description is ex-
tremely brief, but is evidently incorrect in stating that there are four upper
incisors. The specimen later came to the British Museum, where it was
studied by Dobson.
Description:—A large species, forearm about 58-62 mm. General color
above, a rich olive brown to dark brown, the bases of the hairs buffy; below,
a pale orange yellow, slightly more intense across the throat. Membranes dark.
Skull large and stoutly built, with the profile rising and the occiput slightly
overhanging, with a strong median crest.
Measurements:—Two skulls measure as follows:
CRANIAL MEASUREMENTS OF SCOTOPHILUS KUHLII
Zygo- Width Upper Lower
Greatest Basal Palatal matic Mastoid across cheek cheek
No. length length length width width molars teeth teeth Locality
44544 23-7 18.7 10.6 15.9 13.8 9.9 75 8.8° Yunnan
83449 23.0 18.8 10.9 15.9 13.5 9.9 7.9 9.9 India
Occurrence and Habits:—This large bat is a common house-haunting
species in parts of India, and is common throughout most of tropical and sub-
tropical southeastern Asia. Within the limits of China, it occurs in southern
Yunnan, whence the American Museum Asiatic Expeditions secured two
at Homushu, Salween River. Eastward of this, however, I have no certain
record, although it is to be looked for all along the southern subtropical border
THE BATS 253
to the coast. It is possible that Swinhoe (1870c) may have included this
under one of the species he mentions from Canton. Perhaps, too, this is the
bat recorded from the southwestern border of Hunan by Shih (1930b) as
Scotophilus emarginatus.
Specimens examined:—Two from Homushu, Salween River, Yunnan.
125. Scotophilus heathii insularis J. A. Allen
Scotophilus kuhlii insularis J. A. Allen, Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., vol. 22, p. 485, 1906.
Pachyotus kuhlit insularis A. B. Howell, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., vol. 75, art. I, p. 19, 1929.
Type specimen:—Adult male, skin and skull, No. 26786, American
Museum of Natural History, from Rintoi, island of Hainan, China. Collected
July 1, 1904.
Description:—Size large, forearm about 66 mm. Color above, uniform
olive brown; below, pale brownish buff, darker on the sides.
Measurements:—In three adults the forearm measures 67, 64, 67 mm.
respectively.
The available measurements of the skull of the type, as well as those of a
complete skull from Nodoa, Hainan, are here given:
Zygo- Width Upper Lower
Greatest Basal Palatal matic Mastoid across cheek cheek
No. length length length width width molars teeth teeth Locality
26786 (type) — — — — — 8.6 10 Hainan
85242 26 21 7.5 17.8 15 II 8.7 10 Hainan
Occurrence and Habits:—The status of this bat in China cannot be cleared
up without more material than at present seems available. Although described
as a subspecies of S. kuhlii on the basis of greater size, it is nevertheless true
that the measurements given appear to be those of the larger S. heathii, with
which until recently S. kuhlii has been more or less confused by most writers.
It, therefore, becomes a question whether after all the Hainan animal is really
different from that of India. Assuming that it is, however, I have continued
to use the name insularis, but as a subspecies of S. heathit. A. B. Howell
(1929) records this race from Kachek, Hainan, as well as from Amoy, Fukien,
on the basis of a specimen in alcohol from each locality in the U. S. National
Museum. He writes of the latter that it is indistinguishable from the insular
animal except for being somewhat paler.
Bats of this genus occur probably all across the southern border of China
in the subtropical area, but specimens seem to be few in collections from the
mainland, and the available records are indeterminate as to species. Thus
Mell (1922, p. 14), under the name of Scotophilus temminckii, mentions finding
a colony roosting among the leaf stalks of a fan palm (Livingstonia) at Szewui,
254 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
Kwangtung, while Shih (1930, p. 3) writes that it was first recorded frora South
China in 1824, and is abundant in Kwangtung, where he has observed large
colonies in Kweilin; he also secured specimens from Kutchen and Loshiang in
Kwangsi. It is not unlikely that these notes relate in part to S. kuhlii. Swin-
hoe (1870c, p. 619) records S. heathit as very common in Canton in April and
May.
Specimens examined:—One each from Nodoa and Rintoi, Hainan.
126. Scotophilus temminckii consobrinus J. A. Allen
Scotophilus castaneus consobrinus J. A. Allen, Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., vol. 22, p. 485, 1906.
Nycticejus(?) swinhoei Blyth, Journ. Asiatic Soc. Bengal, vol. 29, p. 88, 1860.
Type specimen:—An adult female, skin and skull, No. 26788, American
Museum of Natural History, from Rintoi, island of Hainan, China. Collected
July 1, 1904.
Description:—Size smaller, forearm about 50 to 55 mm., a nearly uniform
yellowish brown above, varying from slightly darker brown to paler yellowish "
brown; beneath much paler, nearly clear buffy on the sides and abdomen, and
tinged with drab in the center of the breast.
In general size and in the characters of the skull this bat is hardly to be
distinguished from typical S. temmincku of Java. The rostrum from above
is somewhat pentagonal in outline, with the peak of the pentagon formed by
two slightly defined ridges from the lachrymal region of each side to the inter-
orbital region, where they fuse to form the sagittal crest. The latter is low
but well marked, becoming higher at the occiput where it distinctly overhangs
as a small casque-like projection.
Measurements:—In the type series the forearm in nine adults ranged from
50-52 mm., average 51. No other fresh measurements are available. The
hind foot in well-made skins measures II mm.
CRANIAL MEASUREMENTS OF SCOTOPHILUS TEMMINCKII CONSOBRINUS
Zygo- Width Upper Lower Occi-
Greatest Basal Palatal matic Mastoid across cheek cheek pital
No. length length length width width molars teeth teeth depth Locality
58468 19.3 16.2 9.3 13.2 II.2 8.5 7.0 7.8 75 Hainan
58507 19.5 16.2 9.5 13.8 11.7 8.7 7.0 7.8 7.7 Hainan
58305 19.6 16.5 9.4 14.0 11.8 8.7 6.8 Gf 7.5 Hainan
58303 19.5 16.2 9.4 13.6 II.1 8.8 6.5 75 72 Hainan
58307 19.7 16.3 9.4 13.5 11.6 8.7 6.7 Gr 75 Hainan
58308 19.5 16.0 9.1 13.6 11.7 8.6 6.5 74 VhY Hainan
58309 19.8 16.7 9.4 13.2 11.6 8.8 7.0 8.0 75 Hainan
58310 19.8 16.5 9.6 13.6 11.5 8.6 6.7 7h | 75 Hainan
58355 19.8 16.6 9.5 13.6 11.5 8.7 6.8 Tel 7a Hainan
58353 20.0 16.5 9.7 13.5 11.6 8.7 7.0 79 Thy Hainan
Average 19.6 16.3 9.4 13.5 11.5 8.6 6.8 ed 75
THE BATS 255
Occurrence and Habits:—The type was one of seventeen specimens col-
lected at Rintoi July 2; and in 1923, Mr. Clifford H. Pope also collected a
series of 38 at Nodoa, Hainan. He writes that during the winter these were
occasionally brought in by the Chinese. Although he failed to find any in
various prospectors’ holes examined, he once secured one lodged between the
tiles and a supporting beam of the front porch. On April 18 a large number,
estimated at about one hundred, were found among the dead hanging leaves
of a palm tree in the mission compound; eighteen of them were shot and
all proved to be females. Later, on June 9, this colony was found to have
increased to large size and several hundred were killed. They had sought
refuge under the drooping leaves of the palm. All of those examined proved
to be adult females, most of them with young. Many of the latter were still
hairless but others were already well covered. In the half-grown young the
fur is short and darker than in adults. The milk teeth were all present, and
the permanent dentition was beginning to appear. The two upper milk
incisors are slender and long-rooted, the crowns with three practically equal
divisions. The milk canine also has a trifid crown, but the two lateral cusps
are smaller than the central one and lower, the innermost cusp less than the
outer. In the milk premolars this reduction of the lateral cusps is carried
still farther, so that they are almost wanting, but in one or two specimens the
cusps are distinctly indicated by minute points.
Although described as a subspecies of S. castaneus, it seems most probable
that the latter is but a form, perhaps distinct, of the older-named S. temminckii
of Java, which is a much darker olive brown than the Hainan bat, and has a
bright chestnut phase, which seems to be lacking in the latter. The skulls
of the two are not certainly to be distinguished. I have, therefore, used the
older specificname. The relationship with S. wroughtoni is undoubtedly close,
but the skull is a trifle less delicate than in that animal, though the color is
perhaps about the same. It should occur on the mainland of extreme southern
China, but no records are available, although the Museum of Comparative
Zodlogy has a skin from just across the border of French Indo-China, at Yen-
bey, Tongking, that is apparently identical with. S. wroughtoni, and it is quite
possible that Swinhoe’s (1870c) record of S. temminckii at Canton in April
and May, really refers to this. Perhaps, too, Blyth’s Nycticejus(?) swinhoet,
based on a specimen without ‘‘trace of upper incisors’’ sent him by Swinhoe,
presumably from Amoy, is the same as this. The description is unidentifiable,
and the type seems not to have been preserved.
Specimens examined:—In all, thirty-seven, from Nodoa, Hainan.
256 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
Genus Barbastella Gray
Barbastella Gray, London Medical Repository, vol. 15, p. 300, 1821.
Synotus Keyserling and Blasius, Arch. f. Naturgesch., vol. 5, pt. 1, p. 305, 1839.
Bats of this genus may be identified by their general dark color with
lighter yellowish tips to the dorsal hairs, the extension of the fur out on to the
interfemoral membrane to a line just below the head of the long tibia, and
nearly as far beyond along the median portion of the membrane each side of
the tail; in addition, the ears are rather short, not reaching the tip of the muzzle
when laid forward, but distinctly joined across the forehead, and the nostrils
open upward and outward behind a median pad. The brain case is relatively
long, the rostrum slender and slightly concave medially; the zygomata are
simple, without an expansion in the middle. The tooth formula shows a
reduction of the premolars above and below to two on each side of each jaw,
but otherwise the full number found in the less-reduced genera, as Myotis, is
present. Miller points out that the lower canine has the cingulum produced
into a noticeable anterior cusp; the anterior upper premolar is minute, crowded
into the angle between the canine and large premolar, the latter without an
interior cusp. The upper molars have a very large protocone but no hypocone.
The third upper molar is fairly large with a crown area more than half that
of the second or first. The relationships of the genus are regarded as with
Plecotus and its American allies Corynorhinus and Euderma, but it represents
a stage in which the ears and the audital bullz are still small, the zygomatic
arch simple, although in the reduction of the tooth row it is more progressive
in the loss of two instead of only one of the premolars. The tooth formula
is: ict pm.$m3=34. Two species are at present recognized, but it may
prove that they are more closely related than supposed; for the ranges so far
as known appear not to overlap, but rather to be continuous, the one (of
B. barbastellus, the genotype) covering central Europe and the Mediterranean
region, the other extending to eastern India and western China.
127. Barbastella darjelingensis (Hodgson)
Plecotus darjelingensis Hodgson, in Horsfield, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. 2, vol. 16, p. 103, 1855.
Barbastellus dargelinensis Dobson, Proc. Asiatic Soc. Bengal, 1875, p. 85.
Synotus dargelinensis Dobson, Monograph Asiatic Chiroptera, p. 86, 1876.
Barbastella darjelingensis Thomas, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1911, p. 160.
Type specimen:—This bat was described from a specimen collected by
Hodgson in Darjeeling, India, near the borders of Sikkim. It is presumably
this specimen that furnished the basis of the brief description, by Dobson, in
1876, and if so, it is perhaps still in the Indian Museum at Calcutta.
Description:—A rather small bat, uniformly dark brown above and below
from the bases of the hairs to near their tips, which are gray to buffy above
THE BATS 257
and whitish on the under side of the body. About the posterior end of the
body below, the fur along the edge of the interfemoral membrane is whitish.
This is slightly different in some of the characters of the ear from the
European species, B. barbastellus, with the ear slightly longer, so that when
laid forward it extends about 2 or 3 mm. beyond the nose. The ear is broadly
rounded off, not truncate, and with the tragus less attenuate above.
The characters of the teeth and skull have been mentioned under the
genus. There is apparently very little if any important difference in the skulls
of the two species.
Measurements:—Dobson (1876) gives the following measurements of a
specimen from India (converted into metric units): head and body, 51 mm.;
tail, 46; foot with claws, 8; ear, 19; tragus, 10; forearm, 41; second finger, 49.
CRANIAL MEASUREMENTS OF BARBASTELLA DARJELINGENSIS
Zygo- Width Upper Lower
Greatest Basal Palatal matic Mastoid across tooth tooth
No. length length length width width molars Tow TOW Locality
44562 14.3 12.0 5-7 75 T/ 5.7 4.6 5.2 Yunnan
Occurrence and Habits:—In China, as in India, this bat seems to be of
uncommon occurrence, chiefly at the higher levels, and so far as known, in
only the western parts of Yunnan, Szechwan, and Kansu. In Yunnan, the
American Museum Asiatic Expeditions secured a single specimen at Likiang;
and in the British Museum is a second from Weisi valley in the Yunnan high-
lands, taken by George Forrest. Still farther east, and north, Thomas (19114,
p. 160) records a single specimen secured at Omei Shan, Szechwan, and a
second taken by W. N. Fergusson at Yinchinwan, in the same province.
Finally, Buechner (1892) has mentioned a specimen secured by the Russian
explorer, Berezovski, at Choihsien, in southern Kansu. It will be seen that
these few records are all from the western highlands of China. To these may
now be added that of an interesting specimen secured by the Brooke Dolan
Expedition of 1931 at Shapai near Tsaopo, Szechwan, May 21, 1931, which
lacks the minute anterior premolar in the upper jaw on both sides, so that the
tooth formula is like that of Eptesicus. In other respects, however, and in
the characteristic coloring, with yellowish-tipped hairs on the dark fur of
the back, it is undoubtedly typical of this species. Its forearm is large, 44 mm.,
and the hind foot 9mm. The absence of the hypocones of the upper molars
is a noticeable feature of the species.
Specimens examined:—The following two:
Yunnan: Likiang, 1.
Szechwan: Shapai, near Tsaopo, 1 (M.C.Z.).
258 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
Genus Plecotus Geoffroy
Plecotus Geoffroy, Description de l’Egypte, vol. 2, p. 112, 1818.
This genus represents, in the development of its external ears, a consider-
able advance over Barbastella, for the conch is relatively enormous, considerably
longer than the head, with a proportionally long tragus. The ears are joined
by a fold of skin across the forehead. The nostrils are characteristic, opening
upward, and with a posterior slit-like prolongation. The legs and feet are
slender; the wing membrane arises from the base of the toes, and the tail,
which is about as long as the head and body, is enclosed entirely in the mem-
brane.
The tooth formula is less advanced in the process of reduction, retaining
one more lower premolar on each side than in Barbastella, namely: 1.5 c.t pm.3
m.$=36. The upper incisors have each a small secondary cusp; the inner
tooth is much smaller than the outer. The lower incisors form a convex row,
the anterior the smallest, and increasing in size posteriorly, their crowns trifid.
The lower canine has a small cingulum cusp at its anterior base. In the upper
jaw, there is a slight space between the two premolars. The upper molars
are short on the inner side, and lack the hypocone; the third molar is about
half the crown area of the second,-with a small but distinct metacone and third
commissure. The skull has a rather large rounded brain case, with slender
rostrum, and well-developed lachrymal ridges. The audital bull, in corre-
lation with the size of the external ears, are unusually large (see Miller, 1907,
p. 224). The type species is Plecotus auritus (Linnzus), and, although others
have been named from central Asia, it is doubtful if any are at most more
than subspecifically distinguishable. Three forms are recognized from China
' and Mongolia, but further collections may show that they are less distinct
than supposed. They may be recognized by the following key:
Kery To CHINESE AND MoNGOLIAN Forms oF Plecotus
A. Size smaller, forearm 39-42 mm., pale gray below.................... P. auritus auritus
B. Size larger, forearm about 44-46 mm.
am Coloriasinuby pica races elitr ewe tele oussahslic eters louse ores etetar eta’ ».... P. auritus kozlovi
b. Color darker, broccoli brown above, drab below...............+.-- P. auritus ariel
128. Plecotus auritus auritus (Linnzus)
Vespertilio auritus Linnzus, Syst. Nat., ed. 10, vol. 1, p. 32, 1758.
Plecotus auritus auritus Bobrinski, Annuaire Mus. Zool. Acad. Sci. URSS, vol. 30, p. 240, 1929.
Type specimen:—Not known to be in existence; the type locality is
assumed to be Sweden.
Description:—Form slender, ears very large, about as long as the forearm,
rather oval in form, their bases joined across the forehead, a prominent rib
THE BATS 259
on the inner side, parallel with the border, and a triangular pointed lobe at
the inner base. Tragus long, tapering rather abruptly at the end, and with a
lobe at the outer base. Wing from base of outer toe; foot about half the length
of tibia, its calcar not keeled.
General color above, nearly drab, slightly darkened by the scattered dull
smoky tips of the hairs; at the base of the hairs everywhere, the proximal half
or more is dark slaty. The lower side is gray with a buffy tinge, the basal
part of the hairs everywhere broadly slaty. On the upper side there is a
slightly tricolor effect produced by the slaty bases, the prominent drab subter-
minal band and the less obvious dark tips.
The skull is peculiar in its short narrow rostrum, the smooth rounded
brain case, the large auditory bulle, correlated with the large ears. The
teeth are in general normal, the number of premolars, however, reduced to
two above and three below on each side.
Measurements:—The external measurements of several specimens from
northern Mongolia are published by Bobrinski (1929, table), as follows, and
I have added for comparison those of a European example as given by Miller
(1912, p. 260).
EXTERNAL MEASUREMENTS OF PLECOTUS AURITUS
Head and
No. Forearm body Tail Foot Ear Tragus Locality
(MILLER, I9I2) 39.0 42 45 9.6 36.0 19.0 England
LENINGRAD
8830 42.0 — 45 8.0 32.0 14.0 Mongolia
13929 42.5 — 49 — 34.0 15.0 Mongolia
13925 40.5 — 46 9.5 34.0 15.0 Mongolia
13926 43.5 — 44 9.0 34.0 16.0 Mongolia
13927 40.0 — 44 8.0 33.0 15.5 Mongolia
13928 41.0 — 49 9.5 34.0 16.0 Mongolia
14185 40.1 — 47 8.5 32.5 14.5 Mongolia
5186 40.0 — — 8.5 B12 15.0 Mongolia
5189 40.5 — 44 7.5 31.0 15.0 Mongolia
13930 41.0 — 48 9.0 32.0 15.0 Kansu
13931 39.0 = 43 8.0 33.0 16.0 Kansu
CRANIAL MEASUREMENTS (from Bobrinski, 1929)
Condylo- Zygo- Width Upper Lower
Greatest basal matic of brain cheek cheek
No. length length width case teeth teeth Locality
13929 17.0 16.0 8.9 8.5 5.6 — Mongolia
13925 17.3 16.0 9.0 8.0 5.6 — Mongolia
13926 17.9 16.5 9.1 8.3 6.0 — Mongolia
13931 16.5 15.5 9.0 7.9 5.5 _— Kansu
260 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
Occurrence and Habits:—The long-eared bat, in its typical form, appears
to have a very wide range from the British Isles across northern Asia to the
Pacific coast, passing chiefly northward of the Gobi. In Japan it appears to
be very nearly the same, and, although I named the Japanese race Plecotus
sacrimontis, on the basis of slight differences in size and proportions, it is
quite possible that these will be found after all not very significant, so that
Bobrinski (1929) is very likely right in believing the name a synonym of
P. auritus. At all events, A. B. Howell (1929) regarded a series of nine speci-
mens from Hopei, at Wutingshan, as quite the same as Japanese specimens.
Jacobi (1922, p. 2) has also recorded the species from Hopei, on the basis of
two secured by the Weigold Expedition at Peiping. Thence the species
extends west along the northern edge of the Gobi in suitable localities. Radde
as long ago as 1863 found it on the border of northern Mongolia; he secured a
specimen on the east slopes of the Apple Ranges and another in July at a
boundary post, Kiri (Kirmski), which he was unable to distinguish from the
European form. More recently Bobrinski (1929) has added several records
for the northern edge of Mongolia, namely: middle River Khuakem, Uriankhai,
northwestern Mongolia, one; Suzukte, near Urga, five; Urga, one; Tintsa-intsa,
east of Dolon Nor, south end of the Great Khingan Range, four; Tzinganshan,
eastern Nanshan, Kansu, two. All these were taken in the months of June,
July, August, and September. The specimens from eastern Nan Shan Range,
across the border in Kansu, raise the presumption that the typical form may
occur along the southern part of the Gobi, as it does along the northern part,
but this is impossible to determine, because of the lack of specimens in localities
eastward.
Specimens examined:—None.
129. Plecotus auritus kozlovi Bobrinski
Plecotus auritus kozlovi Bobrinski, Compt. Rend. Acad. Sci. URSS, 1926, ser. A, p. 98; Annuaire Mus. Zool.
Acad. Sci. URSS, vol. 30, p. 243, 1929.
Plecotus auritus Buechner, Bull. Acad. Imp. Sci. St. Pétersbourg, vol. 34 (new ser., vol. 2), p. 106 (Mélanges
Biol., vol. 13, p. 152), 1892.
Type specimen:—A male in alcohol, No. 5880, Zodlogical Museum of the
Academy of Sciences, Leningrad, U.S. S. R., from Barun Zasak, eastern Tsai-
dam, Chinghai. Collected June 11, 1901, by Kozlov.
Description:—This bat appears to differ from the typical form in size
only. The forearm averages larger, from 44.2-46.5 mm., in a series from the
type locality, including eleven specimens. The color does not seem to be
different.
The skull, as might be expected, is a little larger in its measurements
THE BATS 261
than those from northern Mongolia, according to Bobrinski’s table, from
which the following dimensions are reproduced.
Measurements:—The tail measurements seem a little longer and the ears
a trifle greater than in northern specimens. The forearm is about a ninth
longer.
No. EXTERNAL MEASUREMENTS OF P. A. KOZLOVI
LENINGRAD Forearm Tail Foot Ear Tragus Locality
5880 (type) 46.0 52 8.0 36.0 18.0 Chinghai
5879 46.0 52 8.0 36.0 19.5 Chinghai
5306 46.0 46 8.0 36.5 17.5 Chinghai
5307 44.2 48 7.5 37.5 19.0 Chinghai
5308 44.5 50 9.0 34.5 18.0 Chinghai
13932 46.0 48 9.0 38.5 18.5 Central Gobi
14186 43.0 48 7.0 34.0 16.5 Central Gobi
14187 44.0 50 9.0 35.0 19.0 Central Gobi
The cranial dimensions of some of the series examined by Bobrinski
are given by him (1929) as follows:
CRANIAL MEASUREMENTS OF PLECOTUS AURITUS KOZLOVI
Condylo- Zygo- Width Upper
No. Greatest basal matic of brain cheek
LENINGRAD length length width case teeth Locality
5880 (type) 18.8 072 9.2 8.7 6.2 Chinghai
5879 18.8 17.6 9.8 9.1 6.5 Chinghai
5306 18.3 17.8 — 8.5 6.5 Chinghai
5311 17.8 16.7 9.3 8.7 6.0 Chinghai
5239 Ag) 16.8 9.0 8.7 6.2 Chinghai
13932 19.0 18.5 10.2 8.5 6.2 Central Gobi
14186 17.6 16.8 9.5 8.0 6.5 Central Gobi
14187 18.4 172 9.5 8.5 6.1 Central Gobi
Occurrence and Habits:—Specimens of the Long-eared Bat from the desert
regions of central Asia south and west of Mongolia seem to be decidedly larger
than the typical subspecies from north of Mongolia. The forearm is about
one-ninth longer and the skulls are proportionally a little bigger. It is difficult
to know just how such specimens should be treated, but until more representa-
tive series can be examined from various surrounding parts, it may be that
Bobrinski’s course is the best, that is, to regard it as a slightly larger desert
race, extending from the Koko Nor region eastward into the western part of
the central Gobi. Bobrinski points out that the specimen recorded by Buech-
ner from the valley of the Etsin River at Moming, southern Mongolia, may
be this. Since all but one of the series examined by Bobrinski were in alcohol,
a color comparison was not conclusive, but did not reveal any paler tint. The
two Gobi localities recorded by this author are: Khara Khoto (skin, June 15,
262 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
1909, and June 6, 1926, alcoholic) and Ikhe Bogdo, Gobi Altai, south of Orok
Nor. He doubts the validity of Thomas’s P. ariel, though it is of about equal
size.
Specimens examined:—None.
130. Plecotus auritus ariel Thomas
Plecotus ariel Thomas, Abstract Proc. Zool. Soc. London, February 14, 1911, p. 3; Proc. Zool. Soc. London,
IQII, p. 160. s
Plecotus areal Bobrinski, Annuaire Mus. Zool. Acad. Sci. URSS, vol. 30, p. 241, 1929.
Type specimen:—An adult female, skin and skull, No. 11.2.1.6, British
Museum, from Tatsienlu, Szechwan, China, 8,400 feet altitude. Collected
June 23, I9I0.
Description:—Size large, general color dark, a ‘‘broccoli brown,’’ the ends
of the hairs dull drab. Under surface paler drab, the bases of the hairs dark
slaty. Muzzle blackish.
“Skull large, with swollen brain-case and broad interorbital region.
Bulle large, only less than those of the Egyptian species’ (Thomas).
Measurements:—Forearm, 44 mm.; head and body, 53; tail, 57; ear, 43;
third finger, metacarpus, 39.5; first phalanx, 15.5; thumb, with claw and
exclusive of metacarpal, 9.2; lower leg and hind foot with claw, 31.
Skull: greatest length, 17.2 mm.; basi-sinual length, 13.2; zygomatic
width, 9; intertemporal constriction, 4; mastoid breadth, 9.4; front of canine
to back of m3, 5.6; greatest horizontal diameter of bullz, 4.6.
Occurrence and Habits:—The species is based on the single specimen from
Tatsienlu, Szechwan, but its describer believes that the dark coloration and
somewhat larger size will suffice to distinguish it. A. B. Howell (1929) lists
without comment a specimen in spirit from Sining, Kansu. Bobrinski (1929)
considers that the presence of the small typical form in western Kansu makes
the occurrence of a different species in Szechwan questionable; yet in the
same paper he describes as new Plecotus a. kozlovi from the adjacent desert
region, which seems to differ in much the same characters of slightly larger
size and dark color from the former. For the present, the exact relationships
of the named forms of eastern Asia must await the study of additional material.
Thomas himself makes the comment that ‘‘of the genus Plecotus, P. homochrous
(Nepal) and puck (Murree) (doubtfully distinct from each other) stand aside
from the rest owing to their narrow brain-case; auritus (Europe) has rounder
skull, small bullz, and short thumbs; christiei (Egypt) large brain-case and
very large bull; wardi (Ladak and Kashmir) large skull, rather large bulle,
long thumbs, and very pale color; sacrimontis (Japan) large skull, rather small
THE BATS 263
bull, and long thumbs; and finally the present species has large rounded
skull, large bullz, long thumbs, and dark color.”” It is perhaps best considered
a race of P. auritus.
Specimens examined:—None.
Genus Miniopterus Bonaparte
Miniopterus Bonaparte, Iconogr. d. Fauna Ital., vol. 1, pt. 20, 1837.
The bats of this genus may be recognized at once by their rather short
plush-like fur, low rounded ears, and by the very long second phalanx of the
third finger, nearly three times the length of the first phalanx. It is made a
distinct subfamily of the Vespertilionide by Miller (1907), who regards the
“presternum with median lobe enormously developed and forming the greater
part of the bone’’ and the straight and inwardly directed coracoid of the
scapula as highly peculiar in the family, the latter character found again in
the Molosside. The skull has a rather large globular brain case, with a
short upturned rostrum, in the center of which is a conspicuous groove. In
side view the fore part of the brain case is curiously swollen, causing a promi-
nent elevation in profile, succeeded by a slight hollow, then rising again to
the occiput. There is a low but distinct sagittal crest ending just back of the
interorbital area. The palate is slightly concave, both from front to rear and
from side to side. The small basisphenoid pits are confluent anteriorly. The
tooth formula is: 1.3 c.t pm. m.3=36. The upper incisors are in two pairs
with a space between the outer and the canine. The upper premolars are of
unequal size, the anterior much smaller than the posterior but of similar
pointed form. The last upper molar lacks the posterior commissure and the
metastyle. Of the lower premolars the two anterior are of nearly equal height,
but the second is broader; the third is high, slender in side view and nearly
twice the height of the first.
This genus is widespread in the warmer parts of the Old World from the
Mediterranean region and Africa to Australia. There is relatively little
difference in color, which is usually some shade of smoky brown. The number
of described forms, however, indicates considerable local variation, but the
relationships of some of these are not in all cases clear. Within the limits of
China, two types occur, a larger and a smaller. The type species of the genus
is M. schreibersit (Kuhl) of Europe, a representative of the larger forms.
Key To CHINESE SPECIES OF Miniopterus
A. Size larger, forearm about 47-50 mm.
a. Lower side obviously paler than the back.................. M. schreibersit chinensis
b. Lower side not obviously paler than the back......... eee: M. schreibersit parvipes
B. Size smaller, forearm about 4omm..........00..00..0500.0.000%. M. pusillus
264 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
131. Miniopterus schreibersii chinensis Thomas
Miniopterus schreibersi chinensis Thomas, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1908, p. 638.
Type specimen:—A skin and skull, female, No. 8.8.7.15, British Museum,
from a cave thirty miles west of Peiping, Hopei, China.
Description:—Color above, a uniform drab brown, almost smoky, without
tinge of russet; below, similar, but the tips of the hairs are drab, especially
under the throat and at the posterior part of the abdomen, which, therefore,
seem considerably paler than the center of the chest. Compared with the
European M. schreibersii, they are much darker, lacking the nearly uniform
drab appearance of the western animal.
Measurements:—In size this bat is not very different from the European
form, though if anything a very little larger. The forearm varies in length
between 47 and 50 mm., against 44 to 46 in the latter. A male from Tunglu,
Chekiang, was measured by J. T. Wright, the collector, as follows: total
length, 122 mm.; tail, 56; hind foot, 14; ear, 13. Its forearm measures 49 mm.
Occurrence and Habits:—This dark smoky-colored subspecies is found
apparently in no great numbers in North China. Thomas (1908f), in naming
it, mentions that it was common in the cave whence the original series came,
some thirty miles west of Peiping, Hopei, and was there associated with
Myotis pequinius. Of the series of fifteen preserved, he adds that all but two
were females. Two other specimens were secured by the American Museum
Asiatic Expeditions at Wanpinghsien, in the same province. These localities
may indicate in a general way its northward limit on the mainland, whence
it ranges southward to the Yangtze valley. The most southern record I
have is of a specimen in the Museum of Comparative Zodlogy, from Tunglu,
Chekiang, not far from the mouth of that river.
Specimens examined:—Three, as follows:
Hopei: Wanpinghsien, 2.
Chekiang: Tunglu, 1 (M.C.Z.).
132. Miniopterus schreibersii parvipes G. M. Allen
Miniopterus schreiberst parvipes G. M. Allen, Amer. Mus. Novitates, no. 85, p. 7, August 28, 1923.
Miniopterus blepotis Swinhoe, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1870, p. 616.
Miniopterus schreiberst J. A. Allen, Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., vol. 22, p. 485, 1906.
Pipistrellus blepotis Mell, Arch. f. Naturgesch., vol. 88, sect. A, no. 10, p. 14, 1922.
Type specimen:—Adult male, skin and skull, No. 44656, American
Museum of Natural History, from Yenping, Fukien, China. Collected
June 16, 1916, by Dr. Roy C. Andrews.
Description:—Similar in size and proportions to M. s. chinensis, but the
color is a uniform dark brown with a russet tinge, both above and below,
THE BATS 265
lacking the drab tint above, and the pronounced tipping of the fur of the lower
side with the same. The usual color is uniform dark cinnamon brown above,
nearly ‘‘Verona brown” of Ridgway, barely lighter below, about “snuff
brown.”’ The bases of the hairs on the upper side are not appreciably darker
than the tips, but on the lower surfaces are slightly deeper brown. Males
slightly darker than females, usually.
Measurements:—In the original description it is stated that the foot is
smaller than in the North China race, but this does not seem to hold true of
less-dried specimens. The following measurements are from the type skin:
forearm, 48 mm.; third metacarpal, 43.5; first phalanx, 10.5; second phalanx,
39; fourth metacarpal, 42; first phalanx, 8.5; second phalanx, 14; fifth meta-
carpal, 39; tibia, 17; foot, 9.5. In five other skins from the same place the
forearm varies between 47 and 48.8 mm., average 48; the hind foot varies
from 8.7 to 9.8, average of five, 9.3.
CRANIAL MEASUREMENTS OF MINIOPTERUS SCHREIBERSII PARVIPES
Zygo- Width Upper Lower
Greatest Basal Palatal matic Mastoid across tooth tooth
No. length length length width width molars TOW TOW Locality
44656 16.0 15.5 8.0 8.7 8.5 6.5 — — Fukien
60218 16.0 14.0 8.0 9.0 9.0 7.0 7.6 8.0 Fukien
60219 16.2 14.0 8.0 9.0 9.0 7.0 7.5 7.8 Fukien
60220 16.2 14.2 8.2 9.0 9.0 7.0 Fhe 8.0 Fukien
60221 15.7 rat 7.8 8.7 8.7 6.8 fee 7.8 Fukien
60222 16.6 14.0 8.0 9.2 9.0 6.8 7.8 7.6 Fukien
60223 16.0 13.6 8.0 8.8 9.0 7.0 7.6 8.0 Fukien
58483 16.5 14.3 8.5 9.8 9.6 75 8.0 8.5 Hainan
58394 17.2 14.7 8:7 9.8 9.6 7.5 8.3 8.7 Hainan
58460 16.4 14.4 8.2 9.5 9.2 FR 8.0 8.5 Hainan
58411 17.0 14.6 8.8 9.8 9.7 7.6 8.5 8.8 Hainan
58513 17.1 14.8 8.6 9.8 9.2 7-4 8.1 8.6 Hainan
58472 16.6 14.3 8.5 9.5 g.1 7.8 8.3 8.7 Hainan
58442 16.7 14.3 8.3 9.2 8.9 7.4 8.0 8.2 Hainan
58484 L7E2 14.9 8.7 9.8 9.5 ea 8.4 8.8 Hainan
58481 16.7 14.5 8.6 9.5 9.2 7-4 8.1 8.6 Hainan
58424 16.7 14.5 8.5 9.9 9.5 7.6 8.1 8.6 Hainan
58490 16.9 14.6 8.4 9.1 9.2 7 8.1 8.7 Hainan
58322 16.6 14.4 8.4 — 9.0 7.4 8.0 8.5 Hainan
58450 16.4 14.1 8.1 9.3 9.0 7.2 8.0 8.3 Hainan
Occurrence and Habits:—This darker form of southern China is less pale
below than that of northern China, with a more russet tone to the pelage.
All the larger eastern bats of this genus are very similar in size and general
coloration, so that it is difficult to know where to draw lines. It is not im-
possible that Temminck’s name, blepotis, applied to the Miniopterus of Java,
266 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
may finally be used for the larger of the two continental species. Specimens
from India, representing M. fuliginosus, are not very different from those of
eastern China, but lack the warm russet tint to the otherwise somber pelage.
I have, therefore, given the name M. s. parvipes to the latter, though it now
appears that the supposedly smaller foot is hardly diagnostic.
This bat is common over the warmer part of at least southeastern China,
from the Province of Fukien southward. A single specimen in alcohol, from
Yochow, Hunan, is referred to this, and I am also including a series from the
island of Hainan, which, although minutely larger in skull, seem otherwise
quite the same. Swinhoe (1870c, p. 616) says that at Amoy, Fukien, they
are common in summer, and are found with their young in caverns. Mell’s
(1922, p. 14) record of “‘Pipistrellus blepotis’’ from the Canton region also
probably relates to the same animal, a specimen from Fongtjuen, Kwangtung.
The collections of the American Museum include specimens from Futsing
and Yenping, Fukien, and a fine series from Hainan, as well as the specimen
from Hunan above mentioned. A. B. Howell (1929) records additional speci-
mens from Yenping in the U. S. National Museum. Mr. Clifford H. Pope,
who collected the Hainan series, at Nodoa, writes that on December 19, he
found a colony of hundreds of these bats ‘‘in a big hole under a pile of large
boulders. They were clustered together for the most part in one place, hanging
from the under surface of a large boulder which formed the ceiling. They
made a continuous squeaking that was very audible from without. Later on
another well-populated colony was found lodged between the tiles of the roof of
a Chinese temple just west of Nodoa.”” From Hainan it had previously been
recorded by J. A. Allen, as M. schretbersi. It is odd that Dr. Andrews and
Mr. Heller did not meet with this bat in southern Yunnan, nor has anyone else
apparently. Nevertheless it may occur in the warmer parts of that province
along the Burmese border or eastward.
Among the skins from Yenping is one that is partially albinistic, having
the entire chin and throat white as far as the base of the ears.
Specimens examined:—In all, seventy-two, as follows:
Fukien: Futsing, 3; Yenping, 11; Amoy, 1 (M.C.Z.).
Hunan: Yochow, I (in spirit).
Hainan: Nodoa, 56 (skins and spirit specimens).
133. Miniopterus pusillus Dobson
Miniopterus pusillus Dobson, Monograph Asiatic Chiroptera, p. 162, 1876. J. A. Allen, Bull. Amer. Mus.
Nat. Hist., vol. 22, p. 485, 1906.
Type specimens:—In his original description, Dobson did not designate
a type, but lists two specimens, one from the Nicobar Islands and one from
Madras, which may, therefore, be regarded as the cotypes. Later, in the same
THE BATS 267
work (Dobson, 1876, p. 220), he lists specimens in the Indian Museum, of
which there were two only, collected in the Nicobar Islands by Dr. Stoliczka,
an alcoholic and a skeleton. Presumably, therefore, the Madras specimen
is in the British Museum.
Description:—A smaller replica of the subspecies of M. schreibersii, from
which it differs in the uniformly dark brown coloring, above and below, the
hairs of the upper side not contrastingly different at the tips, while on the
lower side, the fur of the abdomen is faintly darker at the extreme base. There
is none of the russet tinge in the three specimens examined, and the males do
not seem to differ from females in size or coloring.
Measurements :—The smaller size of this species is evidenced by the shorter
forearm, which is nearly 10 mm. less than that of the larger species which
occurs with it in Hainan. Three skins show the following dimensions:
No. Forearm Tibia Foot
58330 41.5 16.6 7.0
58360 40.4. 16.6 7.6
58413 41.2 15.5 7.5
(cotype) 40.0 15.0 7.5
CRANIAL MEASUREMENTS OF MINIOPTERUS PUSILLUS
Zygo- Width Upper Lower
Greatest Basal Palatal matic Mastoid across tooth tooth
No. length length length width width molars TOW TOW Locality
58330 14.0 11.8 6.4 7.6 8.0 5.6 6.5 6.6 Hainan
58360 13.5 11.4 6.3 7.5 7.8 5.6 6.3 6.6 Hainan
58413 13.8 11.7 6.4 7.5 PET 5.6 6.2 6.5 Hainan
Occurrence and Habits:—In the warmer parts of India and southeastern |
Asia, as well as upon certain of the islands as far east as Australia, two species
of this genus occur together, a larger and a smaller. The larger is of the M.
schreibersit style; the smaller is typified by M. pusillus, originally described
from the Nicobars and from Madras. Wroughton has regarded the small
Indian species as identical with the latter, and J. A. Allen has referred to it
also thirteen specimens from Rintoi, island of Hainan. Three others collected
by Mr. Clifford H. Pope at Nodoa, on the same island, and in the same cave
apparently as that in which he took the large series of M. s. parvipes, represent
also this smaller species. It has not been taken in China northward of this
point, and may, therefore, have in general a more southerly range, subtropical.
It should be looked for at points on the mainland in extreme southern China.
Otherwise its habits are not known to differ essentially from those of its larger
relative.
Specimens examined:—Three, from Nodoa, Hainan.
268 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
Genus Kerivoula Gray
Kerivoula Gray, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. 1, vol. 10, p. 258, 1842.
The only genus of the subfamily Kerivouline known to occur in China is
Kerivoula itself, represented by two species of wide distribution in southeastern
Asia and the East Indies. Miller has distinguished the subfamily by its very
short sternum, with which four or five ribs only articulate. The tooth formula
is the same as that of Myotis, namely: i3 c.t pm.3m.$=38. The teeth, how-
ever, are less reduced than in that genus, the three lower premolars especially,
all of nearly the same size, the anterior two in the upper jaw likewise large,
fully in the tooth row, and subequal. There are no hypocones on the upper
molars. The skull is slender and delicate, resembling slightly that of a Myotis,
with smooth rounded brain case, lacking prominent sagittal or lambdoid
ridges. Externally the members of this genus are recognizable by their deli-
cate, funnel-shaped ears and long tragus, as well as by the dense, fine and almost
woolly-appearing fur.
The type species was fixed by Sclater as K. hardwickit (Horsfield) of
Java.
Key TO THE CHINESE SPECIES oF Kerivoula
A. Color orange and black, forearm about 39 mm................... K. picta bellissima
B. Color dull smoky brown, forearm about 34 mm.................. K. hardwickii depressa
134. Kerivoula picta bellissima Thomas
Kerivoula picta bellissima Thomas, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. 7, vol. 17, p. 423, 1906. Mell, Arch. f. Natur-
gesch., vol. 88, sect. A, no. 10, p. 14, 1922.
Type specimen:—A skin and skull, No. 6.1.13.1, British Museum, from
Pakhoi, southern Kwangtung, China. Collected by Dr. Hayley Bell.
Description:—Similar to the typical form from Java, but slightly larger
and the fur longer. Fur dense and somewhat crinkly, pale at the extreme
base, the distal half a beautiful orange-rufous, this color extending to the entire
ears, the entire interfemoral membrane, hind feet and legs above and below,
and out on to the wing membranes as far as a line just forward of the ankle to
a few millimeters out from the posterior border of the forearm, and in a narrow
stripe the length of each finger. The interspaces of the wing between the
third and fourth, the fourth and fifth fingers, and between the fifth finger and
posterior edge of forearm to ankle, excluding the free edge of the wing mem-
brane, contrastingly black. On the lower side, the fur is whitish at the base,
becoming delicate russet at the tips. The toes as well as the entire edge of
the interfemoral membrane are fringed with minute short hairs.
Measurements:—The type specimen had a forearm of 39 mm., and was
said to have but six caudal vertebre, but the single specimen from Hainan
THE BATS 269
has distinctly seven. In this specimen the fur is about 9.0 mm. long, against
7.0 in a Javanese example. The greater size is also shown in a comparison
of the metacarpal lengths in these two (the first measurement is in each case
from No. 54940, A.M.N.H., from Hainan, those in parenthesis of a Javanese
specimen of K. picta picta): third metacarpal, 37.5 mm. (31); fourth meta-
carpal, 36.5 (31); fifth metacarpal, 36 (30).
The length of the skull of the type was 15 mm.; length of palate in midline,
7; upper tooth row from front of incisor to back of last molar, 7.5. No other
cranial measurements are at present available.
Occurrence and Habits:—This very beautiful little bat, with its strongly
contrasting orange body and black-marked wings, is singularly like Myotis
formosus rufo-niger in its style of coloring, but is considerably smaller in size.
It is apparently uncommon, and confined to the warmer parts of extreme south-
ern China, for at present there are but two instances of its presence known:
that of the type from Pakhoi, southern Kwangtung, and a second, consisting
only of the skin mounted on celluloid, secured by the Central Asiatic Expedi-
tions in Hainan. As might have been guessed from its peculiar coloring, this
species is said to spend the day hanging among leaves, its pattern simulating
somewhat the tints of withered foliage.
Specimens examined:—One only, a skin from Hainan.
135. Kerivoula hardwickii depressa Miller
Kerivoula depressa Miller, Proc. Biol. Soc. Washington, vol. 19, p. 64, May 1, 1906.
Kerivoula hardwickit Shih, Bull. Dept. Biol., Sun Yatsen Univ., Canton, no. 4, p. 4, 1930.
Type specimen:—Adult female in alcohol, skull dry, No. 18533/38194,
U. S. National Museum, from Biapo, Carin Hills, northeast of Tounghoo,
southern Burma. Collected by L. Fea.
Description:—Fur of the back almost uniformly smoky brown, about
mummy brown (Ridgway), except on the forehead where the hairs are pale at
the base, minutely tipped with brown. Below, the fur is everywhere dark
fuscous at base, tipped with buffy gray. There seems to be little of the tri-
color effect mentioned in the case of the typical race and the type specimen.
The skull, though practically of the same size as that of K. hardwicki of
Java, has a much less globular brain case. It is instead obviously flattened.
Measurements:—The following measurements are from the dried skins.
Third First Fourth Fifth
No. Forearm metacarpal phalanx metacarpal metacarpal Tibia Foot
84832 34-5 36.7 15 35 33.8 15 7
84833 33.0 as 4 i aaa = i
The skulls of these two specimens seem a trifle larger than that of the
type from Burma, as recorded by its describer.
270 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
CRANIAL MEASUREMENTS OF KERIVOULA HARDWICKII DEPRESSA
Zygo- Width Upper Lower
Greatest Basal Palatal matic Mastoid across cheek cheek
No. length length length width width molars teeth teeth Locality
84832 14.7 12.0 Ofer 8.7 a5 5.5 5.6 6.0 Fukien
84833 15.0 12.3 7.8 8.5 7.7 5.6 5.8 6.3 Fukien
Occurrence and Habits:—Three skins from Chunganhsien, Fukien, seem
best referred to this continental race of the Javan K. hardwickii, notwithstand-
ing the slight discrepancies in size and color, which may be individual. Ap-
parently they are slightly darker, with more extensive sooty bases to the hairs,
thus almost or quite obliterating the tricolor pattern of the hairs. The cran-
ium is more flattened than that of the Javan form.
The extension of this species into Chinese territory was one of the dis-
coveries of the American Museum Asiatic Expeditions. In addition to three
specimens (in spirit) from Yenping, Fukien, three skins were secured in 1926
by Mr. Clifford H. Pope, at Chunganhsien, in the northwestern corner of the
same province. Since then, a specimen from Yao Shan, Kwangsi, has been
recorded by Shih (1930, p. 4) and one by Sanborn (1933, p. 56) from Yangcha-
shan, southeastern Szechwan. It may be looked for anywhere in the extreme
south of China, probably favoring the subtropical areas. Its small size,
long tragus, and tooth formula might at first cause it to be mistaken for a
Myotis, but the rather short, funnel-shaped ears are distinctive, as well as
the dense fur and more particularly the characters of the dentition with three
lower premolars of nearly equal size, and the two anterior upper ones relatively
large and subequal.
Specimens examined:—In all, six, as follows:
Fukien: Chunganhsien, 3; Yenping, 3 (in alcohol).
Genus Murina Gray
Murina Gray, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. 1, vol. 10, p. 258, 1842.
acre Nouv. Tableau Régne Anim., Mamm., p. 30, 1842 (part; preoccupied by Ocypetes Wagler,
The extraordinary tubular nostrils distinguish the members of this genus
from any other Chinese bats, while the essentially normal molars further
suffice to separate it from the genus Harpiocephalus, of the same subfamily,
Murinine, the occurrence of which in subtropical China may be looked for,
since it is found close to the border in Tongking. Otherwise the two genera
show no special external features to distinguish them from Myotis. The skull
is similarly delicate and slender as in the medium-sized species of that genus.
The teeth indicate, however, a curious specialization over the condition in
Myotis, in that there is one less premolar in each jaw, giving the formula:
i3 c.t pm. m.$=34. The upper incisors have no secondary cusps, and the
THE BATS 271
outer of each pair is larger than the inner. The anterior upper premolar is
unusually large, and stands fully in the tooth row filling the space between the
canine and the posterior premolar. The first and second upper molars are
nearly square in section, and lack the hypocone. On their outer edge the
parastyle is somewhat reduced, which distorts the regular W-pattern. The
third upper molar is fairly large» The type species is Vespertilio (= Murina)
suillus Temminck, of Java.
At present four species are recorded from the southern part of China, but
it is not impossible that the relationships of the two larger species may be
closer than now suspected.
Key To CHINESE SPECIES OF Murina
A. Forearm less than 35 mm.
a. Color above, golden yellow, forearm 28 mm....................... M. aurata
b. Color above bright ferruginous, forearm 33 mm................... M. cyclotis
B. Forearm more than 35 mm.
a. Forearm about 38 mm., color rufous brown above................. M. huttoni rubella
bs Horearm about 41 mm: colomsimilara:.- =... /22....-:-.ss2 0.5 ee M. leucogaster
136. Murina aurata Milne-Edwards
Murina aurata Milne-Edwards, Recherches pour servir a l’Hist. Nat. des Mammiféres, p. 250, pl. 37B, fig. 1;
pl. 37C, fig. 2, 1868-74 (1872).
Harpiocephalus auratus Dobson, Monograph Asiatic Chiroptera, p. 153, 1876.
Murina aurita Miller, Bull. U. S. Nat. Mus., no. 57, p. 230, 1907 (Japsus).
Type specimen:—The type is presumably still at the Muséum d’Histoire
Naturelle at Paris, having been sent by Pére Armand David, probably in 1871,
from the principality of Muping, Szechwan, China.
Description:—Size small, forearm 28 mm. Tubular nostrils long, well
detached from the muzzle, directed outward and slightly forward, and separated
from the upper lip by an enlarged lobe. Ears short, broadly rounded at their
tips, their posterior border unnotched. Wing membrane from the base of the
toes. Interfemoral membrane with scattered hairs.
Fur above, blackish at base, then golden yellow at the extremities; upper
surface of forearm with short yellowish hair; below, the fur is blackish at the
base, the tips grayish white.
The canine has a well-marked cingulum; first upper premolar is much
smaller than second, which about equals canine; three lower incisors small,
subequal, and with three-lobed crowns; lower canine hardly exceeding the
first premolar in height.
Measurements:—The following dimensions of the type specimen are given
by Milne-Edwards: total length, 62 mm.; tail from anus, 29; hind foot, 7.0;
ear, 10; forearm, 28; spread of wings, 190; tibia, 14. The forearm of a second
specimen measured 29 mm. (A. B. Howell, 1929, p. 20).
272 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
Occurrence and Habits:—This small species seems to be rare and has been
discovered in China but twice since Pére David sent back the original specimen
from Muping, in central Szechwan. The second Chinese record is afforded
by a specimen from the Likiang Range, Yunnan, in the U.S. National Museum,
mentioned by A. B. Howell (1929), while a third is in the Field Museum, taken
in Szechwan. Nothing is known of its habits. Its very small size and colora-
tion should be distinctive.
Specimens examined:—None.
137. Murina cyclotis Dobson
Murina cyclotis Dobson, Proc. Asiatic Soc. Bengal, 1872, p. 210; Journ. Asiatic Soc. Bengal, vol. 42, pt. 2,
p. 206, pl. 14, 1873.
Harpiocephalus cyclotis Dobson, Monograph Asiatic Chiroptera, p. 158, 1876.
Murinus cyclotis J. A. Allen, Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., vol. 22, p. 487, 1906.
Type specimen:—The type is said by Dobson to be an alcoholic female,
No. 692 in the collection of the Indian Museum at Calcutta. It was from an
unknown locality, doubtless from somewhere in eastern India.
Description:—Size small, forearm 33 mm. Nostrils tubular, diverging;
ears nearly circular, about as wide as long, with a slight convexity opposite
the tragus on the outer side; tragus tapering to a fine point; wing membrane
attached along the outer edge of the foot to the base of the claws; extreme tip
of tail free. Upper surface of interfemoral membrane hairy, especially at the
root of tail, along the tibie, and on the calcanea; backs of the feet thickly
covered with hair which projects beyond the toes.
Color above bright ferruginous, the hairs everywhere with dark-brown
bases; beneath paler brown throughout.
Upper incisors long and slender, the outer shorter than the inners first
and second premolars of upper jaw subequal, and about half the height of the
canine; last lower molar smaller than the one in front of it.
Measurements:—Dobson (1876, p. 160) gives the following dimensions
for an Indian specimen (reduced to metric units): head and body, 43.5 mm.;
tail, 38; foot with claws, 7.8; ear, 15; forearm, 33; tibia, 15. Forearm of the
Hainan specimen mentioned below, 33 mm.
Occurrence and Habits:—The only basis for the inclusion of this species
in the Chinese fauna is the record by J. A. Allen (1906, p. 487) of a female
from Youboi, island of Hainan, taken June 21, 1904, and now in the American
Museum of Natural History. He writes: ‘‘This specimen agrees satisfac-
torily in nearly all particulars with Dobson’s description and figures of M.
cyclotis from Darjiling, in the Himalaya. The fur, however, is not very dis-
tinctly bicolor, the bright rufous extending nearly the whole length of the hair
on the dorsal surface, only the extreme base showing a darker, brownish shade;
THE BATS 273
below a lighter, more brownish yellow to the base of the fur . . . there is a
close agreement in dentition, size, color, the hairiness of the interfemoral
membrane and feet, etc., notwithstanding the great geographical separation
of the two localities.”’
Specimens examined:—None.
138. Murina leucogaster Milne-Edwards
Murina leucogaster Milne-Edwards, Recherches pour servir a 1’Hist. Nat. des Mammiféres, p. 252, pl. 37A, fig. 2;
pl. 37C, fig. 3, 1868-74.
Murina leucogastra Thomas, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1898, p. 771.
Type specimen:—The type was sent, presumably in alcohol, to the Muséum
d’Histoire Naturelle at Paris by Pére Armand David, who collected it in the
Muping district, Szechwan, China, in October (1873).
Description:—A small tube-nosed bat, forearm 41 mm. Ears narrow,
shorter than the head, wing membrane from the tarsus. Feet and interfemoral
membrane hairy above. Pelage long and fine, in color chestnut brown above,
the hairs everywhere slaty gray at their bases. Throat, chest and abdomen
white, shading into brown at the sides.
Measurements:—The type measured as follows (Milne-Edwards, 1868-74,
Pp. 253): total length, 88 mm.; tail from anus to tip, 34; hind foot, 11; ear, 14;
forearm, 41; tibia, 17. No cranial measurements are available.
Occurrence and Habits:—Except for the original specimen from the princi-
pality of Muping that served Milne-Edwards as the type of this species, only
one other seems to have been taken in China, namely, one recorded by Thomas
(1898, p. 771) from Kuatun, northwestern Fukien. Dobson, however, has
recorded it from the northwestern Himalayas.
Specimens examined:—None.
139. Murina huttoni rubella Thomas
Murina huttoni rubella Thomas, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. 8, vol. 13, p. 440, 1914.
Type specimen:—An adult male, skin and skull, No. 8.8.11.6, British
Museum, from Kuatun, northwestern Fukien, China. Collected September
21, 1896, by F. W. Styan.
Description:—Resembling the Indian M. huttoni, but more rufous.
Color above dark rufous brown, rather warmer than ‘‘sayal brown’’ of Ridg-
way, the longer hairs glossy golden brown. Under surface rather paler than
the upper at the sides and still paler down the middle area but without strong
contrasts.
Measurements:—The forearm of the type measured 37.5 mm. Skull,
greatest length, 18.2 mm.; basi-sinual length, 13.7; upper cheek teeth, front
of canine to back of last molar, 6.2.
’
274 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
Occurrence and Habits:—Thomas, to whom we are indebted for all that
is known of this bat, states that it is readily distinguished from the typical
race of India by its darker, more rufous tint than the grayer animal to the west.
Seven specimens in all were collected by Messrs. F. W. Styan and J. D. La
Touche at Kuatun, Fukien, and presented by them to the British Museum,
in 1896. Dobson assigned M. huttoni to the synonymy of M. leucogaster,
but, as Thomas (1914a) states, the latter is larger with a forearm of 41 mm.,
skull 20 mm. in greatest length; nevertheless the two are perhaps only sub-
specifically related. The species must be wide-ranging, for Sowerby has
described a race, M. h. fuscus, from Manchuria.
Specimens examined:—None.
Family MOLOSSID®
MASTIFF BATS
The bats of this family may be recognized by their peculiar plush-like fur,
the thickened interfemoral membrane from which the terminal half or there-
abouts of the tail projects, the short, strong hind legs, the very narrow wing
in which the fifth finger is hardly longer than the metacarpal of the third, and
by the peculiar short ears with a decidedly angular tip, and thickened inner
edge which is extended as a ridge projecting from the inner border. The
tragus is usually very small, squarish or narrow. Miller (1907, p. 242) em-
phasizes the following additional family characters: humerus with the outer
supplementary head much larger than the inner; ulna less reduced than in the
Vespertilionide, its very slender shaft about half the length of the radius;
first phalanx of third finger, when at rest, folded on the upper side of the meta-
carpal; seventh neck vertebra fused with the first dorsal; fibula complete;
lumbar vertebrae not fused together; skull lacking postorbital processes.
The molossid bats are characteristic of the tropics and subtropics of
both the Old and the New Worlds. Many of them take readily to living under
the roofs of houses between the ceiling and the roofing, often causing much
annoyance by their musky odor and the deposit of droppings. Two genera
only occur in China, and probably in only the extreme southern part under
usual conditions. These may be identified by the following key:
Key To GENERA OF CHINESE MoLossip&
A. The palate without a conspicuous median notch...................+--0+- Cherephon
B. A conspicuous notch present at the front of the palate.................... Nyctinomus
Genus Cherephon Dobson
Cherephon Dobson, Journ. Asiatic Soc. Bengal, vol. 43, pt. 2, p. 144, 1874 (as a subgenus of Nyctinomus).
Andersen, Ann. Mus. Civ. Storia Nat., Genova, ser. 3, vol. 3, p. 35, 1907 (as a genus).
The wrinkle-lipped bats of this genus closely resemble in external charac-
ters the members of the genus Tadarida (Nyctinomus), but are distinguished
THE BATS 275
by the skull, in which the premaxillary bones are complete on the palatal side,
so that there is no deep notch extending back of the upper incisors, such as is
present in that genus. Usually the two premaxillaries are intimately fused
with the surrounding bones, leaving two small foramina at the end of the
palate, or a very small notch in front of the incisors. Externally, the half-free
tail, narrow wings, short tibiz, and lips with vertical wrinkles will distinguish
the genus from all except Tadarida and Nyctinomus. The tooth formula is
the same in both Cherephon and Nyctinomus, namely: 1.3 c.t pm.% m.3 = 30.
The genus is one of tropical and subtropical distribution in the Old World
only, and barely reaches southern China. The genotype is Nyctinomus
(= Cherephon) johorensis Dobson, of the Malay Peninsula. Only the follow-
ing species is as yet known from China.
140. Cherephon plicatus (Buchanan-Hamilton)
Vespertilio plicatus Buchanan-Hamilton, Trans. Linn. Soc. London, vol. 5, p. 261, pl. 13, 1800.
Nyctinomus plicatus J. A. Allen, Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., vol. 22, p. 482, 1906.
Cherephon plicatus Miller, Bull. U. S. Nat. Mus., no. 57, p. 245, 1907.
Type specimen:—A male, from Puttahaut, Bengal. The specimen has
apparently been lost sight of.
Description:—Size medium, forearm about 50 mm., ears joined at their
bases across the forehead, lips with conspicuous vertical wrinkles. General
color above, a rich dark brown; below, the bases of the hairs are dark brown,
their tips minutely paler; but in the middle region of the throat, chest and
abdomen they are broadly tipped with whitish.
In the skull, the muzzle is slightly depressed in side view, and there is a
conspicuous convexity of the outline just behind the level of the orbits. A
low but well-marked sagittal ridge extends forward from the strong lambdoid
crests to the interorbital constriction. The crowns of the upper incisors are
vertical, and almost in contact medially. At the anterior corner of the orbit
is a prominent bony knob.
Measurements :—The forearms in five specimens from Hainan range from
49.7—-50.4 mm.
The cranial measurements follow:
CRANIAL MEASUREMENTS OF CHZREPHON PLICATUS
Length,
vertex to Zygo- Width Upper Lower
front of Palatal matic outside tooth tooth Lower
No. incisors length width molars TOW TOW jaw Locality
26687 — — 9.5 9.7 9.0 14.5 Hainan
26688 — 8.6 oe 9.6 9.6 8.8 13.8 Hainan
26689 20.5 — 11.8 9.4 9.0 8.9 14.5 Hainan
26690 2107 8.7 12.6 9.2 9.4 8.6 14.4 Hainan
26691 21.6 8.8 12.1 9.5 9.6 9.0 14.6 Hainan
276 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
Occurrence and Habits:—This is a widely distributed species in the eastern
tropics from India to the East Indies. The only record of its occurrence
within the boundaries of China seems to be that of Dr. J. A. Allen (1906),
who had five adult males from Rintoi, island of Hainan, taken July 1, 1904.
These I have examined. No doubt the species will eventually be found at
other points along the extreme southern border of China.
Specimens examined:—Five, from Rintoi, Hainan.
Genus Nyctinomus E. Geoffroy
WRINKLE-LIPPED BATS
Nyctinomus E. Geoffroy, Description de 1’Egypte, vol. 2, p. 114, 1818. Thomas and Hinton, Proc. Zool. Soc.
London, 1923, p. 251-
The genus Nyctinomus is now regarded as valid, and distinct from Tadarida
of the New World in that there are only four instead of six lower incisors.
The type species of the genus is Nyctinomus egyptiacus E. Geoffroy, a large-
eared bat of northern Africa. A closely related species is found in southern
China.
141. Nyctinomus teniotis insignis Blyth
Nyctinomus insignis Blyth, Journ. Asiatic Soc. Bengal, vol. 30, p. 90, 1861; Cat. Mamm. Asiatic Soc. Bengal,
Pp. 29, 1863.
Dysopes (Molossus) rueppelli Swinhoe, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1870, p. 619.
Nyctinomus cestonii Dobson, Monograph Asiatic Chiroptera, pp. 179 (head of type of N. insignis figured), 180
(part), 202-203 (type listed), 1876.
Nyctinomus teniotis Trouessart, Cat. Mamm. Viv. Foss., p. 145, 1897 (in part; “ad Chinam’”’).
Tadarida latouchei Thomas, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. 9, vol. 5, p. 283, 1920.
Type specimen:—The type, a male in alcohol, is listed by Dobson (1876)
as in the collection of the Indian Museum, Calcutta, No. 180. It was sent to
Edward Blyth, then Curator, from Amoy, Fukien, China, by Consul Robert
Swinhoe in 1860.
Description:—Size large, forearm about 60 mm., ears large, broadly
rounded off in front, and with their anterior bases meeting in the middle of
the forehead by a wide inward extension, which is densely covered with short
hair. Lips ample, with some seven vertical grooves between the angle of the
mouth and the nostrils. The latter open at the outer corners of a truncate
pad, the upper rim of which is studded with minute horny projections. Wings
from the ankles, tail with its terminal half projecting. Borders of the feet
with a fringe of stiff projecting hairs, which are long on the outer border, and
short on the inner. Fur soft, fine and dense, extending ventrally a short dis-
tance out on the wing membrane at the sides.
Above, nearly clove brown, the hairs whitish at the base, their extreme
tips minutely frosted with grayish; below, nearly similar brown, the hair of
THE BATS 277
the throat uniformly colored, that of the chest and belly with longer light tips
than that of the back.
Measurements:—The following measurements of the type (reduced to
millimeters) are given by Blyth (1861): total length, 140 mm.; tail, 47; fore-
arm, 64; third finger, 114. Dobson’s (1876) measurements of the same speci-
men, however, are a little different: forearm, 58.2 mm.; head and body, 82.5;
tail, 53; foot and claws, 10; ear, 29.5 x 21.5; tibia, 16.6. These are very similar
to those of the type of T. latouchei as given by Thomas, namely: head and body,
76mm. ; tail, 43; ear, 23; forearm, 56.5; third metacarpal, 53; first phalanx, 20.5.
The skull of the immature specimen that served as type of JT. latouchei
measured: greatest length, 21.7 mm.; condylobasal length, 21.2; zygomatic
width, 12.2; mastoid width, 12; palato-sinual length, 7.1; upper cheek teeth, 8.
Doubtless the skull of a fully adult individual would show slightly greater di-
mensions.
Occurrence and Habits:—This large free-tailed bat seems to be uncommon
in the extreme south of China. The first record of its presence is based on
the specimen secured by Consul Robert Swinhoe at Amoy, Fukien. It was
sent with other specimens of mammals and birds to the Asiatic Society of
Bengal, in 1860, and was made the type of Nyctinomus insignis by Blyth.
His description seems to have been long overlooked, however, although Dobson
in 1876 made mention of the specimen and figured its head as that of Nyctino-
mus cestonit. Swinhoe (1870c) in his list of South China mammals again
mentions the specimen, under Dysopes rueppelli, and states that it was brought
in to him alive on November 25, 1859. The only other records for eastern
China are of one presented by J. D. La Touche to the British Museum that
was captured at sea in the Formosa channel; and a second, an immature male,
taken September 9, 1917, by the same collector, at Chinwangtao, on the sea-
coast of northeastern Hopei. This specimen, as remarked by Thomas (1920),
is by far the most northerly ever taken in Asia, and perhaps this fact led him
to describe it as Tadarida latouchei, despite its immaturity. But it seems so
far out of the normal range of the species, and its very slightly smaller size is
so probably due to its youth, that there can be hardly any doubt of its repre-
senting the same form of South China, and must have been either carried
north by a ship or blown by a storm, for no others have ever been found
within a thousand miles of Hopei (although Ognev includes Vladivostok in
its range). In extreme southwestern Yunnan, a single specimen taken in
1922 has been described by Thomas as a distinct race, differing in slightly
darker color, but it may eventually prove to be not very different. Without
having seen specimens, however, I can only add Thomas’s account of it.
Specimens examined:—None.
278 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
142. Nyctinomus teniotis coecata (Thomas)
Tadarida teniotis cecata Thomas, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. 9, vol. 10, p. 392, 1922.
Type specimen:—A skin and skull, No. 22.9.1.2, British Museum, from
the Mekong valley, Yunnan, China, in about 28° 20’ north latitude, at an
altitude of 7,000 feet. Collected by George Forrest.
Description:—Color above, ‘‘quite similar’ to that of T. teniotis of Europe
and the Mediterranean region, but much darker, a dark mummy brown above.
Measurements:—Thomas (1922b) gives the following measurements of
the type: head and body, 89 mm.; tail, 55; forearm, 60.
Total length of skull, 24.8.
Occurrence and Habits:—There is but the single record for this race,
namely, that of the type specimen taken in the Mekong valley, about 28° 20’
north, in northwestern Yunnan, by George Forrest. The species seems to be
in general rather solitary in habits, and nowhere common. The brief descrip-
tion given indicates its darker color than the European form, which it other-
wise resembles, even to the forearm measurement. The latter is possibly
slightly larger than in the race J. t. insignis of eastern China, so that, although
the distinction seems at present somewhat doubtful, it may for the present be
regarded as a valid subspecies.
Specimens examined:—None.
CHAPTER VI
ORDER PRIMATES
LEMURS AND MONKEYS
THE lemurs, monkeys, and apes undoubtedly are an arboreal offshoot of
some ancient insectivore group. They have retained many generalized char-
acters of body and skeleton, such as the nearly equal development of the limbs,
the full five fingers and toes in most species, the independence of radius and
ulna, and of tibia and fibula, with the freely rotating forearm. As an arboreal
adaptation they have an opposable thumb, the fingers usually with flattened
nails; the tail is usually long in the more agile species, serving as a balancer,
but in some of the baboons, which are partly ground-livers, and in some of
the slow-moving lemurs, the tail is much reduced. In the skull the orbit
faces more or less forward, and in the lemurs it is enclosed by a bony ring,
while in the more typical monkeys the eye is completely shut off from the
temporal fossa by a wall of bone, formed in part by an extension of the frontal
and jugal bones. The lemurs are now regarded as forming a suborder, Lemu-
roidea, distinguished by many anatomical peculiarities from the Anthropoidea,
which includes monkeys, the great apes, and man. Most obvious of the exter-
nal characters of the lemurs are the widely opposable thumbs and great toes,
the clawed second toe of the hind foot and in some the reduction of the second
digit of the hand to a mere stump. In the skull the lachrymalfo ramen
is without the edge of the orbit in the lemurs, just within it in the Anthro-
poidea. The teeth of the lemurs depart less from the primitive insectivorous
type than in most of the Anthropoidea, for the upper molars usually show the
primitive W-pattern of cusps fairly well marked. The incisors, however, are
very different, those of the upper jaw with a tendency to reduction, and the
development of a space between the two pairs of opposite sides, while in the
lower jaw they are proclivous, projecting forward as sharp-pointed and com-
pressed teeth, in close contact with each other, and with the lower canines,
which have become like them in form and function, so that their places are
taken by the first lower premolars. The brain of the lemurs is less highly
specialized in size and convolutions of the cerebrum, indicating their lower
279
280 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
intelligence. The lemurs are at present confined to Africa and the forests of
southeastern Asia, with one species only apparently occurring on the very
most southern border of China. Of the Anthropoidea, or typical monkeys,
the Gibbon is found in Yunnan and Hainan; two species of small macaques
and one of the stump-tail group are also found in southern China, while one
genus, the large and handsome langur-like Rhinopithecus, is practically con-
fined to the mountains of southwestern China.
Key To THE GENERA OF CHINESE PRIMATES
A. Hands with the index finger reduced to a stump, the second hind toe with a
Claw’ (leniigodes). 54.2.0 cetera amisiese mits makes trotei cou ee aoe Nycticebus
B. Hands and feet with digits normally developed, and provided with flat nails
(Anthropoidea).
a. Tail considerably longer than hind foot.
a’. Tail exceeding head and body.
Bice DBS TAG rah rg td ace phe ac her ae oak alee eee Ae REE Pithecus
b’’. Nose produced as a fleshy, upturned rim...................-- Rhinopithecus
b’. Tail less than length of head and body..............0.00e0ceeuees Macaca
b. Tail less than length of hind foot or wanting.
a’. Fore and hind limbs of about equal length.................0.0005 Lyssodes
b’. Fore limbs much exceeding hind; tailless...............00.-000008 Hylobates
Family LORISID
SLOW LEMURS AND GALAGOS
This family comprises the so-called Slow Lemurs, represented in African
forests by the Pottos (Perodicticus and Arctocebus) and in the southeastern
part of Asia by the Lorises. They are tailless or nearly so, slow of movement,
and with slender limbs. Two genera are found in tropical Asia, Loris and
Nycticebus, of which the latter apparently just crosses the Chinese border in
extreme southwestern Yunnan and probably in the eastern provinces.
Genus Nycticebus E. Geoffroy
Nycticebus E. Geoffroy, Ann. Mus. d’Hist. Nat., Paris, vol. 19, p. 162, 1812.
The Slow Loris is distinguished generically from its relative the Slender
Loris by its stouter, shorter limbs, and by the characters of the skull, in which
the anterior edge of the premaxillaries barely projects beyond the incisors,
instead of being distinctly extended; the molar row of the upper jaw extends
back of the level of the posterior nares; the inner pair of upper incisors is much
larger than the outer, which are mere spicules and sometimes lacking. The
first upper and first lower premolars are longer than those succeeding them,
the former separated from the canine by a distinct space, the latter caniniform,
closing behind the true canine. The upper molars have the paracone and meta-
cone on the outer edge well developed, but rather blunt, the protocone larger,
THE PRIMATES 281
with a small hypocone behind it. The tooth formula is: 1.% c.+ pm.3 m.3 = 36.
The type species is N. coucang (Boddaert) of Bengal.
One species seems to reach the tropical edge of China.
143. Nycticebus coucang cinereus Milne-Edwards
Nycticebus cinereus Milne-Edwards, Ann. Mus. d’Hist. Nat., Paris, vol. 7, p. 161, 1867. Anderson, Anat. and
Zool. Researches Western Yunnan, p. 103, 1879.
Nycticebus tardigradus var. cinerea J. Anderson, Cat. Mammals Indian Mus., Calcutta, pt. 1, p. 96, 1881.
Type specimen:—The type specimen is a mounted skin in the Muséum
d’Histoire Naturelle at Paris, so faded from exposure to light that ‘‘there is
not much more than a trace of the original coloring left’’ (Elliot). It came
from “‘Siam.”’
Description:—Anderson describes a specimen from the borders of western
Yunnan as having the eyes surrounded by brown, while below the brown area
a white band passes from the ear, joining the central white area of the face
above and below. Elsewhere the general color is a clear gray with a reddish
tinge on the sides of the body, the shoulders, and outer side of the limbs.
There is a median dorsal line of dark reddish chestnut extending from the
center of the head totherump. Ears rufous; under parts grayish white.
Measurements:—The measurements of a specimen in the British Museum
are given by Elliot (1913) as follows: total length of skin, about 370 mm.
Skull: occipito-nasal length, 61 mm.; basilar length, 53; palatal length, 21;
zygomatic width, 43; width of brain case, 30; upper molar series, 18; length of
mandible, 39; lower molar series, 15. Anderson’s Bhamo specimen measured:
muzzle to vent, 13.2 inches (336 mm.); tail, 0.75 inches (19 mm.).
Occurrence and Habits:—Undoubtedly this species reaches the Chinese
border in extreme southwestern Yunnan, for Anderson (1879) states that it
is found in the Kakhyen Hills to the east of Bhamo, which would be on the
border. He briefly remarks on a specimen he secured there. The only other
record seems to be that of Swinhoe (1870c, p. 615), who bought a living one
in the Canton Market in 1863, that was said to have come from the Province
of Kwangsi, in the southwestern part, a statement which, in view of the animal’s
occurrence in the Kakhyen Hills, seems extremely probable. Mell (1922, p.11),
who resided for several years in Canton, writes that he can add nothing to
Swinhoe’s record.
Specimens examined:—None.
Family CERCOPITHECID/
BABOONS AND GUENONS
This family contains the macaques, baboons, and guenon monkeys of
the Old World, and usually the langurs are included with them, but their
282 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
anatomical structure is somewhat different, correlated with their leaf-feeding
habits, so that they are either regarded as a subfamily or given family rank.
I have followed the latter course. The macaques and baboons agree in having
the tail usually somewhat shortened, although in their African relatives,
the guenons and mangabeys, this member is longer, for these are tree-livers
chiefly, while the former are partly terrestrial in habits. The baboons have
the facial portion of the skull elongated, the canines long and powerful in the
males. The thumb is fairly well developed, the stomach not sacculated.
Two genera, Macaca and Lyssodes, the former including the Rhesus
Monkey, the latter the Stump-tailed Macaque, occur in Chinese territory.
Key To GENERA OF CHINESE CERCOPITHECIDA
A. Tail moderately, long, exceeding hindifoot. +. ..245senb.4. tibet de oats Macaca
B..[ail a,mere stump; shorter, than hind fo0ts.6..\e-r.cge ick mis te Ore catered ee Lyssodes
Genus Macaca Lacépéde
Macaca Lacépéde, Tableau des Mammiféres, p. 4, 1799; Nouv. Tabl. Meth., Mamm., in Mém. de 1’Inst. Paris»
vol. 3, p. 490, 1801.
Macacus Desmarest, Mammalogie, vol. I, p. 63, 1820.
Pithecus Geoffroy and Cuvier, Mag. Encyclopédique, vol. 3, p. 462, 1795 (part). Elliot, Review of the Pri-
mates, vol. 2, p. 176, 1913.
Rhesus Lesson, Revue Zool., 1840, pp. 49, 95.
These are rather heavy-bodied monkeys, with short, stout limbs, and
variable tails, usually less than the length of head and body, but sometimes
reduced to a mere stump. The nostrils open slit-like and downward. There
is a pair of conspicuous callosities on the buttocks. These monkeys have
cheek pouches in which food may be temporarily stored. The eyebrow ridges
in the skull are very heavy, giving the face a beetling brow; the canines in
the males are long, sharp, and strong with a groove on the outer face. The
first and second lower molars show four cusps each in two transverse rows,
while the third lower molar has a fifth posterior cusp. The tooth formula,
as characteristic of the family, is: i3 c+ pm. m$=32. The genotype is
the Barbary Ape (Simia [= Macaca] inuus Linneus).
Two species of this genus are here recognized as occurring in China, one
the widespread and familiar Rhesus Monkey, the other an allied species found
in western Yunnan and the adjacent parts of Burma.
KEY TO THE CHINESE SPECIES OF Macaca
A. General hue of pelage orange or yellowish above.............---.+-+00 M. mulatta
5B, Pelace nearly uniformibrowiabove-t ance date: erates ereterterat M. assamensts
144. Macaca assamensis (McClelland)
Macacus assamensis McClelland, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1839, p. 148. Anderson, Anat. and Zool. Researches
Western Yunnan, p. 64, 1879.
Macacus (Pithex) pelops Hodgson, Journ. Asiatic Soc. Bengal, vol. 9, p. 1213, 1840.
THE PRIMATES 283
Macacus problematicus Gray, Cat. Monkeys Brit. Mus., p. 128, 1870.
Macacus rhesus, var., Anderson, Anat. and Zool. Researches Western Yunnan, p. 57, pl. 3, 1879.
Pithecus assamensis Elliot, Review of the Primates, vol. 2, p. 209, 1913 (with synonymy). Anderson, Proc,
Zool. Soc. London, 1872, p. 529, fig.
Macaca assamensis Hinton and Wroughton, Journ. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc., vol. 27, p. 669, 1921 (with syn-
onymy).
Type specimen:—The type specimen is said by Anderson, who examined
it, to have been in the ‘‘Indian Museum”’ at London. It was an adult male,
mounted, and lacked the skull. According to Elliot (1913), it is not to be
found in the British Museum, to which the types in the Museum of the
Honourable East-India Company were supposed to have been transferred.
The type locality is Assam, probably in the Garo Hills region.
Description:—Similar in general size and proportions to the Rhesus
Monkey, but of a uniform brown with a slight yellowish tinge above.
The fur above is a nearly uniform olive or faintly yellowish brown from
the head to tip of tail, including the forearms and the hind limbs all around.
On the cheeks and bordering the forehead, the long hairs are black-tipped.
Rest of lower surface pale gray or drab. There is a ‘“‘cowlick”’ in the center
of the crown, from which the hair radiates in all directions, that with a forward
slope meeting the black-tipped hairs of the forehead in a slight ridge.
According to Hinton and Wroughton (1921) this species is slightly more
heavy of build than the Rhesus, and may weigh up to 28 pounds.
Measurements:—The above authors give 575 mm. as the maximum length
of head and body, or very slightly more than for the Rhesus.
Cranial characters differentiating these two are summarized by Hinton
and Wroughton as follows: skull larger and more massive, brain case relatively
shorter and narrower; occipital crest and temporal ridges strongly developed,
the latter in adults fusing to form a strong sagittal crest, whereas this is never
the case in the Rhesus; supraorbital ridges noticeably more thickened ; mandible
relatively longer and narrower between the condyles and tooth rows. The
canines are much larger, those of the upper jaw deeply grooved anteriorly,
while the cheek teeth are relatively weaker.
CRANIAL MEASUREMENTS OF MACACA ASSAMENSIS
e
s E é
s 3 n g o b b
bo oO a=] Me} a = J
B Sens I ° rs} ra
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43088 112.5 83.5 42.5 35 7I 62 = 59.5 36.5 62°) —— ~=— / Yunnan
284 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
Of the two available Chinese specimens whose skull measurements are
given in the table above, the first is an adult female, the second a subadult
of the same sex, whose last molars are not yet erupted. The worn milk
premolars are still in place and a very small milk canine; the second molar,
however, is unusually large and well in place. Old males may be considerably
larger. Of measurements given by Hinton and Wroughton for a large male
from Sikkim, the following are sufficient to indicate this: occipito-basilar length,
140.3 mm.; zygomatic width, 92; cranial width, 62.7; orbital width, 72.8;
upper cheek teeth, 42.7.
In the skull the posterior border of the frontal is evenly convex backward
in the Rhesus but in M. assamensis is much more narrowed, U- or V-shaped.
Occurrence and Habits:—This monkey seems to have a somewhat restricted
range from the Sunderbuns of India to the Naga Hills, Sikkim and Nepal
at the higher elevations, eastward to the borders of Yunnan. Anderson
(1879) reported its presence on the western frontier of Yunnan below Bhamo,
Burma, on the Irrawaddy. Here lived a large colony below a huge limestone
cliff and persons passing in boats threw them rice and fruits. The total length
of a female secured here was 26.75 inches (680 mm.); tail, 9.25 inches (235 mm.).
The first definite record of it for China is based on the three specimens secured
by Dr. R. C. Andrews on the Namting River, not far from the Burma border,
on March 3, 4, 1917. It may readily be told from the Rhesus, which it some-
what resembles, by the uniform brown of the upper surface, lacking the bright
orange and ochery tints.
Specimens examined:—Three, from Namting River, southwestern Yunnan.
:
145. Macaca mulatta (Zimmermann)
RHESUS MONKEY
Cercopithecus mulatta Zimmermann, Geogr. Geschichte Menschen u. vierftiss. Thiere, vol. 2, p. 195, 1780.
Simia rhesus Audebert, Hist. Nat. des Singes et Makis, family 2, p. 5, 1789.
Simia erythrea Shaw, Gen. Zoology, vol. I, p. 33, 1800.
Inuus sancti-johannis Swinhoe, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1866, p. 556.
Macacus lasiotus Gray, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1868, p. 60, pl. 6. Sclater, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1871,
p. 221.
Macacus tcheliensis Milne-Edwards, Recherches pour servir a l'Hist. Nat. des Mammiféres, p. 227, pls. 32, 33,
1868-74 (1870).
Macacus erythreus Swinhoe, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1870, p. 226.
Macacus sancti-johannis Swinhoe, ibid., p. 615. Mell, Arch. f. Naturgesch., vol. 88, sect. A, no. 10, p. 10, 1922.
Macacus lasiotis Anderson, Anat. and Zool. Researches Western Yunnan, p. 85, 1879 (synonymy; type skull
figured).
Macacus rhesus Trouessart, Cat. Mamm. Viv. Foss., p. 27, 1897. Thomas, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1898,
p.770. J. A. Allen, Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., vol. 22, p. 488, 1906; zbid., vol. 26, p. 242, 1909.
THE PRIMATES 285
Macacus lasiotis tcheliensis Trouessart, Cat. Mamm. Viv. Foss., p. 27, 1897.
Pithecus littoralis Elliot, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. 8, vol. 4, p. 250, 1909; Review of the Primates, vol. 2,
p. 201, 1913.
Pithecus brachyurus Elliot, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. 8, vol. 4, p. 251, 1909 (not of H. Smith).
Pithecus sancti-johannis Elliot, Review of the Primates, vol. 2, p. 198, 1913.
Pithecus lasiotis Elliot, loc. cit.
Pithecus brevicaudus Elliot, ibid., p. 216, pl. 23 (in place of P. brachyurus, preoccupied).
Macaca mulatta Hinton and Wroughton, Journ. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc., vol. 27, p. 668, 192I.
Macacus brevicaudus Mell, Arch. f. Naturgesch., vol. 88, sect. A, no. 10, p. II, 1922.
Hainan.
Type specimen:—The name is based on Pennant’s description (not his
figure) of a Tawny Monkey in a Mr. Brook’s menagerie, seen presumably
at London, about 1770. The specimen was doubtless never preserved.
Description:—A medium-sized macaque with tail less than the head and
body length. The general color above is tawny, becoming brighter fulvous
over the lower back and upper parts of the hind limbs. About the shoulders
the hair is longest, 70 mm., or more, ashy gray at the basal half or so, this
color showing through and giving a grayish tinge to the shoulders. The hairs
of the upper side usually show very narrow annulations of ochraceous and
black. The sides of the face and a narrow band across the forehead are
sparsely clothed with black hairs. Feet and lower parts of the limbs drab
gray, with a slight ochraceous wash. Lower surface pale grayish white.
Tail about half the body length, colored at the base like the back, buffy gray
below.
The skull is somewhat less massive than that of M. assamensis, the facial
portion relatively short. The temporal ridges do not, even in adults, join
to form a sagittal crest, and the supraorbital ridges are less prominent, so
that the central part of the frontal area bulges upward as seen in profile, in a
somewhat characteristic way. The posterior border of the frontal is usually
evenly convex backward, forming nearly a semicircle.
Measurements:—No fresh measurements of Chinese specimens are at
hand. Hinton and Wroughton (1921), however, give the following for a
large male: head and body, 540-560; tail, 225-250. Fora nearly adult female,
Milne-Edwards gives the total length, following the curves of the back, as
580 mm., of which the tail is 150; hind foot, 145 (type of his Macacus tcheliensis).
A still younger female collected by W. R. Zappey at Nagchuka, Szechwan,
measured: total length, 515 mm.; tail, 156; hind foot, 125. A large male
from Kuatun measured: total length, 810 mm.; tail, imperfect, 200.
Mr. Clifford H. Pope says that according to the Chinese of Hainan, this
monkey may weigh when full grown as much as twenty pounds, while an even
larger figure, up to 23 or 24 pounds, is given by Hinton and Wroughton, hence
not so large as the maximum for M. assamensis.
286 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
CRANIAL MEASUREMENTS OF MACACA MULATTA
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I999I MCZ I18.0 95.0 47.3 38.0 82.6 69.0 67.5 39.0 43.5 47.0 o Kwangtung
57039 125.0 99.0 50.4 44.0 82.6 68.0 68.3 38.0 40.0 43.0 o& ?
60083 106.5 85.0 43.0 34.0 74.5 61.5 60.0 35.3 40.0 42.3 o Hainan
59986 102.0 77.0 38.0 32.5 70.0 60.5 61.0 34.5 ——- —— @ Hainan
60038 104.5 82.4 41.0 35.5 70.0 62.0 59.0 36.0 35.0 37-5 9 Hainan
59987 102.0 87.2 39.0 33.0 69.0 60.5 58.0 33.6 36.2 39.5 9 Hainan
43085 112.0 87.0 44.5 38.0 73.0 61.0 56.0 360 40.3 43.0 9 Yunnan
43086 103.0 82.0 38.0 30.6. 70.5 58.5 57.0 32.5 36.1 39.0 9? Yunnan
57111 121.5 91.0 48.0 45.5 74.6 66.0 63.2 39.5 400 444 Q ?
Occurrence and Habits:—This monkey is at once recognized by its gray
and golden to orange-rufous dorsal coloring, combined with the comparatively
short tail. Hinton and Wroughton (1921) have shown that the specific
name rhesus, so long in familiar use for this monkey of India and southeastern
Asia, is antedated by Zimmermann’s mulatia, which must, therefore, be taken
as the valid name, based on Pennant’s account of the tawny monkey of India.
In addition to various synonyms, applied mainly to specimens from India,
several have also been bestowed upon Chinese individuals, all of which seem,
however, to represent essentially the same animal. Among the first of these
is Gray’s Macacus lasiotus, founded on an animal said to have come from
Szechwan, and sent to the Zoological Society at London. It lived in the
Society’s Gardens for some time, and after its death it was found that the
extremely short tail, which was the chief character distinguishing it, was
due to the fact that this member had been amputated at some early period.
This is a common practice among the Chinese when they keep captive monkeys,
for it is said that the tail is considered to bear a resemblance to their own long
braid of hair, and such a mockery is displeasing. Swinhoe (1866) had shortly
before described as Inuus sancti-johannis a very young individual, supposed
to have been about four months old, that was taken by Commander St. John
of H.M.S. ‘‘Opossum” on the little island of North Lena, near Hongkong.
It had been captured alive and sent later to the Zoological Gardens at London.
Sclater (1871) doubted its distinctness, and in this was unquestionably correct,
for the South China Rhesus seems quite the same throughout its range in
that country. Nevertheless, Milne-Edwards (1868-74 [1870]) named as a
THE PRIMATES 287
new species, Macacus tcheliensis, a Rhesus Monkey sent from the region of the
Eastern Tombs, Hopei, to the Paris Museum. Elliot, who apparently ex-
amined the type in that institution, states (1913, vol. 2, p. 200) that it is un-
doubtedly the same as M. lasiotus, a conclusion with which, after comparing
specimens from both Szechwan and the Eastern Tombs, I can heartily agree.
Later, Elliot named specimens from Kuatun, Fukien, Pithecus littoralis, on
the avowed ground that, notwithstanding the resemblance in coloring to
“P. lasiotis,”’ ‘‘the great distance intervening between the habitats . . . does
not permit the supposition that they are of the same species.’’ They are
nevertheless, so far as material at hand shows, quite the same with due allow-
ance for individual variation. Elliot also described as a distinct species, the
Rhesus occurring on Hainan, which had been in the same year identified
by J. A. Allen with the Indian Rhesus. Elliot gave it the name Pithecus
brachyurus, later changing this to P. brevicaudus on account of the previous
use of the former name for another species. After an examination of a series
from this island, however, I fail to see any really distinctive characters,
although Pocock (1932) admits this with others as valid forms.
The range of the Rhesus Monkey, therefore, extends from India and Nepal,
eastward to the Pacific, including all of South China from the Yangtze valley
southward. Its presence in Hopei, in the vicinity of the Eastern Tombs,
seems to be anomalous, as the locality is far north of the general range, and
the winters are often severe, with the thermometer going below zero Fahren-
heit at times. I feel sure that this colony is the result of introduction by man
at some time in the past, for the Chinese emperors were wont to bring various
animals to their hunting preserves and turn them loose. This suggestion was
first made by Mollendorff (1876), though he himself doubted its correctness.
He adds that tame ones are often brought to Peiping from Szechwan. It is
true that the colony seems to flourish in spite of the latitude. As long ago
as 1880, Dr. S. W. Bushell sent a pair from this locality to the London Zoological
Gardens, and again in 1886 a second pair (see P. L. Sclater in Proc. Zool.
Soc. London, 1886, p. 417). On leaving China in 1900, Dr. Bushell sent a
third pair, and Sclater remarks (ibid., 1900, p. 181) that at that time the male of
the pair sent in 1880 was still alive and in good health, after twenty years. Pocock
(Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1906, p. 567) has recorded the case of one that lived
in captivity for twenty-eight years. No doubt, as Dr. Bushell remarked, the
long thick fur fits the monkey to endure the cold of North China, but its coat
does not appear to be really thicker than that of southern specimens at a com-
parable season. Indeed, Milne-Edwards himself was later inclined to regard
his M. tcheliensis as the same as M. lasiotus. Six specimens from the
Eastern Tombs were secured by the American Museum Asiatic Expeditions.
Excepting, then, the Hopei colony, as due to a successful introduction,
288 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
the natural range of the Rhesus Monkey in China seems to extend from the
latitude of the Yangtze valley southward. I have no records for the lower
part of the valley, but a large dark-gray monkey briefly seen by Steward
(1925) in the Hwang Shan of south-central Anhwei was probably this. It
occurs at Fukien, as at Kuatun (type locality of Elliot’s P. littoralis). A. B.
Howell (1929) has recorded three specimens from Shanghai, Kiangsu, but it
is likely that they were not wild-killed specimens in such a populous district,
as he himself implies. Pope secured specimens in northwestern Fukien, at
Chunganhsien, where, he writes, this monkey is very difficult to approach.
“Old hunters say that about two score years ago before the acquisition of
foreign guns, the monkeys were so abundant and bold that they frequently
ravaged crops, having become accustomed to the old slow-firing muzzle-
loaders then in use.’”’ This monkey is found at many places in southern and
central Szechwan. Thus Weigold secured a male and an immature female at
Wanhsien (Jacobi, 1922, p. 1) and he writes that they are said to occur in
Wassuland and at Maochow, upper Min valley, in the north of the same prov-
ince. Howell mentions specimens in the U. S. National Museum from Mount
Omei, Giakeoho, and Suifu in central Szechwan, and Zappey secured it at
Nagchuka, at 10,000 feet altitude (G. M. Allen, 1912, p. 245). A ‘“‘Simia sp.”
from the mountains thirty miles southwest of Kiatingfu, recorded by Thomas
(1912e, p. 128), may have been the same. South of these localities, this
monkey occurs more commonly, especially in rocky places or on cliffs along
streams. It seems distinctly a rock-haunting species, as various authors
have noticed. Swinhoe speaks of it as present on most of the small islands in
the bay of Hongkong, mentioning specifically North Lena Island. It is said
to occur also on Lofau Heights near Canton (800-1,000 meters) where small
bands are often seen among the stranded logs along the river shore (Mell,
1922, p. 11). They are often brought to the market at Canton, as no doubt
elsewhere, to be sold as pets. Swinhoe (1870c) mentions its use in medicine.
The Chinese split the dried body, and the skeleton is used also in the drug
stores. He adds that, according to the Chinese Gazetteer, the Chinese work
“‘She-show”’ (or Notes on Animals) states that this monkey has no stomach
but digests its food by jumping about! On the island of Hainan, it is well
known to be common. Mr. Clifford H. Pope found it in numbers in the
forest west and south of Nodoa, where large troops were said to be frequently
seen. Here they live in high trees and are difficult to secure by shooting,
although the Chinese catch many alive to be sold as pets, or else for manu-
facture into ‘monkey paste,’’ which is made of the entire animal, and eaten
as atonic. In some places in the island he was shown where they had pulled
vines and destroyed potatoes in the gardens. Doubtless the Rhesus Monkey
will be found all along the southern provinces of China, but precise records
THE PRIMATES 289
are lacking. In Yunnan the American Museum Asiatic Expeditions secured
specimens from Tengyueh and the Namting River along the southwest border,
and A. B. Howell (1929) notes specimens in the U. S. National Museum from
Ashi. Very likely this is the monkey referred to by Du Halde (1738) as found
in Kwangsi, ‘‘a kind of Apes, with yellow Hair, which by their Shape, and
Shrilness of their Yell, have a great Resemblance of Dogs’’!
There possibly should be added to the list of synonyms Macacus vestitus
of Milne-Edwards, a long-haired Rhesus-like monkey, described from Tengri
Nor, Tibet, but said to occur eastward to Batang in extreme western Szechwan
(now Hsikang).
Specimens examined:—In all, thirty-three, as follows:
Hopei: Eastern Tombs, 6.
Fukien: Chunganhsien, 2.
Kwangsi: (?), I.
Hainan: Nodoa, 5; Namfong, 2.
Yunnan: Namting River, 1; Tengyueh, 3.
“South China,” 5.
No definite locality, 7.
Szechwan: Nagchuka, 1 (M.C.Z.).
Genus Lyssodes Gistel
Lyssodes Gistel, Naturgesch. Thierreichs f. hdhere Schulen, p. ix, 1848. Pocock, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. 9,
vol. 7, p. 229, 1921.
Macacus Milne-Edwards, Recherches pour servir a 1’Hist. Nat. des Mammiféres, p. 244, 1868-74 (in part).
Pithecus Elliot, Review of the Primates, vol. 2, p. 176, 1913.
Although the Stump-tailed Macaques have usually been placed in the
same genus as the Rhesus Monkey, the Crab-eating Macaque, and others,
they seem distinct enough by their very short tail, limbs of about equal length,
and especially by the characters of the penis, which, as Pocock (1921) has
pointed out, is structurally very different from that of the other macaques.
This was first noted by Anderson (Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1872, p. 203)
and further insisted upon by Pocock on the basis of his own work. In Lyssodes
the glans penis is very long and tapering instead of short, rounded and subovate
as in Macaca. Moreover, it is strengthened by a baculum or penis bone of
slightly sigmoid shape, which in Pocock’s specimen of L. speciosus was 42 mm.
long. In Lyssodes the urethral opening is in the median line on the ventral
side, beneath the apex of the baculum, whereas in Macaca it is a vertical ter-
minal slit, slightly eccentric, to the right of the apex of the short baculum.
The type species of the genus is Macacus (=Lyssodes) speciosus, which
was described by Cuvier on the basis of a drawing made by Duvaucel. It is
not known, however, whence the latter’s specimen came. Several subspecies
have been described, the status of which is quite doubtful, though two are
here considered as valid. The Japanese Macaque is a closely related species.
290 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
146. Lyssodes speciosus thibetanus (Milne-Edwards)
Macacus thibetanus Milne-Edwards, Compt. Rend. Acad. Sci., Paris, vol. 70, p. 341, 1870.
Macacus tibetanus Milne-Edwards, Recherches pour servir a l’Hist. Nat. des Mammiféres, p. 244, pls. 34, 35,
1868-74.
Macacus brunneus Anderson, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1871, p. 628; ibid., 1872, p. 203, pl. 12; tbid., 1874, p. 652.
Macacus arctoides Anderson, Anat. and Zool. Researches Western Yunnan, p. 45, pls. 1, 2, 1879 (in part).
Macacus arctoides tibetanus Trouessart, Cat. Mamma. Viv. Foss., p. 27, 1897.
Pithecus thibetanum Elliot, Review of the Primates, vol. 2, p. 196, pl. 21, 1913.
Type specimen:—The type specimen is still in the Muséum d’Histoire
Naturelle at Paris, to which it was sent by the collector, Pére Armand David,
from the district of Muping, central Szechwan, China.
Description:—A large brown monkey with very short tail. The colora-
tion is described by Elliot from the type in the Paris Museum, as follows:
“top of head and nape pale brown; face, whiskers, inner sides of limbs and under
parts whitish gray; upper parts and sides of body, arms, hands, thighs and
feet, blackish brown tinged with chestnut; legs from knees to ankles whitish
gray, tinged with brown.”’ The face may be bright red, but in other individuals
is more flesh-colored. The hair of the shoulders is long, up to 90 mm. and in
adults shows a minutely annulated appearance, especially over the fore part
of the body.
A. B. Howell (1929, p. 34) describes a male from Mount Omei, Szechwan,
as ‘‘aimost black above, smoky brown below, and there is much gray grizzling
about the face.’’ A female from the same locality is browner and lacks the
grizzling.
Measurements:—Milne-Edwards records the length of the head and
body in the type (adult male) as about 800 mm. following the curves of the
back; Elliot gives its tail measurement as 99.06 mm., but no doubt the .06
must have been added inadvertently! In the original account the tail is said
to be 100 mm. including the hair. The female is smaller, about 600 mm.
from muzzle to end of tail; the tail, hardly 60 mm.
The type and the female described by Milne-Edwards gave the following
measurements of skull:
CRANIAL MEASUREMENTS OF LYSSODES S. THIBETANUS
Male Female
Greatestilenotint se. 48): Sie eT, ee 164 mm. 140 mm.
Palatalilengthe wits 9.3. maser: Sed dee SMe oe oes 74 57
Occipito-incisive Jengti. zy. ct entail 121 98
ZY COMAIC WIGiiin aren a eee 107 94
WHCtHAOUTSICe OLbits. crates nin tenet tence 79 71
WHGtPACKOSS CanInesamtse stn ma eter sere 33 33
Uppertmolanseriess tt ely eee eae 39 39
Lowermmolar/series; ne Seid. SO ee 50 47
THE PRIMATES 291
Occurrence and Habits:—It may be doubted whether the Stump-tailed
Macaque of western China is really very different from the typical form of the
species, which unfortunately cannot be assigned a definite type locality,
since the specimen from which Cuvier’s figure was made was in a menagerie
at Barrackpore, India, fifteen miles from Calcutta. Anderson (1879, p. 50)
suggested that the animal may have come originally from somewhere in Assam
or Cachar, for during the time he was in Calcutta, three or four others had
come into the Calcutta market, and all from the districts mentioned. The
range of the species in general extends from those regions eastward to Yunnan
and the Pacific coast of South China, thence southward in suitable localities
to Indo-China. Anderson, who found it in the Kakhyen Hills on the border
of southwestern Yunnan and Burma, says that it ‘‘seems to be essentially
a hill or mountain form—that is, occurring only in the mountainous regions
of Cachar, absent in the valley of the Irawady, but stretching round it into
Yunnan from Upper Assam, being doubtless distributed over the mountainous
region that intervenes between the Irawady and Cochin-China.”” He named
specimens from the Yunnan border, Macacus brunneus, but later regarded
them as identical with L. speciosus. His account of the anatomy, in the ‘‘Ana-
tomical and Zoological Researches,’’ gives a summary of the history of the
species and something of the structure. Howell, who had occasion to compare
skins of this macaque from Mount Omei, central Szechwan, regards it as
different from the coastal form. In China the range of this macaque extends
from the border of western Yunnan northwestward into central Szechwan, to
the principality of Muping, whence the specimens described by Milne-Edwards
are supposed to have come. Except for the three from Mount Omei in the
same province (Howell, 1929), no others seem to have been recorded.
Specimens examined :—None.
147. Lyssodes speciosus melli (Matschie)
Macacus (Magus) arctoides melli Matschie, Sitzungsb. Ges. Naturf. Freunde, Berlin, 1912, p. 308. Mell, Arch.
f. Naturgesch., vol. 88, sect. A, no. 10, p. 10, 1922.
Macacus arctoides Trouessart, Cat. Mamm. Viv. Foss., p. 27, 1897 (in part).
Macacus (Magus) arctoides esau Matschie, Sitzungsb. Ges. Naturf. Freunde, Berlin, 1912, p. 309.
Pithecus pullus A. B. Howell, Proc. Biol. Soc. Washington, vol. 41, p. 41, 1928; Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., vol. 75,
art. I, p. 34, 1929.
Type specimen:—The type is a male, skin and skull, No. 15925, in the
Berlin Museum. The specimen came originally from the mountains west of
Lochangho, western borders of Kwangtung. This animal, as well as the one
that formed the type of Matschie’s Macacus arctoides esau, was sent from Can-
ton to the Berlin Zodlogical Gardens by Mell. On the death of the animals,
they both were sent to the Museum.
292 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
Description:—Similar to the typical form, but ‘‘uniformly of a chocolate
color with the suggestion of a golden sheen” (Howell). The general color is
chocolate brown above, including the tail and outside of limbs; below and on
the sides of the head, grayish. On the shoulders the hair is gray at the base;
then comes a broad brown ring, and a tendency to have an indistinct sub-
terminal gold band and a blackish tip. In none of five specimens was the
annulation of the hairs seen such as is described in adults of the race L. s.
thibetanus. The face in the type was scarlet, but in the second specimen the
naked skin was said to be flesh-colored. Evidently the height of color is an
individual matter, depending perhaps on the age, condition, or individual
nature of the specimen. Yet it was on this difference that the name esau
was proposed!
According to Howell, the skull has the posterior nares narrow and high,
as characteristic of the monkeys of this genus, but this character is less marked
than in L. s. thibetanus, and the bulle are less prominent.
Measurements:—The measurements of a male, not fully adult, are given
by A. B. Howell (1928) as follows: head and body, 605 mm.; tail, 66; hind
foot, 181; ear, 38 (collector’s field measurements). A slightly larger male
collected by Clifford H. Pope at Chunganhsien, measured 613 mm. in length;
tail, 55; an adult female from the same place, 507 and 56 mm. for the same
dimensions.
CRANIAL MEASUREMENTS OF LYSSODES SPECIOSUS MELLI
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60160 149 120 64.0 55.0 103 78 76.0 69 47.5 51.0 56 o Fukien
84471 150 114 58.0 54.5 100 77 73.00 69 45.5 53.0 58 o Fukien
84472 163 127 66.5 60.0 107 78 79.0. 68 460 500. 57 (o Hulten
84473 126 94 46.0 38.0° 82 65 64.00 70 400 41.5 46 Q Fukien
84474 133 100 54.0 44.0 2) 5 (69) 17355 70 40.0 41.5 46 Q Fukien
Occurrence and Habits:—So far as present records go, this macaque is
known from the mountainous district of northwestern Fukien southward
along the coast region of China, and in the Provinces of Kwangtung and
Kwangsi. Mell (1922) writes that his hunters brought him a live male from
the mountains northwest of Lihnshan which would be on the southern borders
of Hunan. He purchased a second male in the market at Canton that was
said to have come from Kwangsi. He was told also of a red-faced rock ape
THE PRIMATES 293
found in the Bakshan (North Mountains) north and northeast of the city of
Chichin, Kwangsi. The individual that served as the type of Matschie’s
Macacus arctoides esau was a male from the mountains west of Lochangho.
‘ These mountains (113° East, 25° North), in northern Kwangtung, are difficult
of travel, hard to reach, and thinly peopled. Here, at about 2,000 meters
altitude, these monkeys are said to be not rare. Mell saw them only singly
and on rocky mountains, rather than in woods. Red-faced animals and those
with flesh-colored faces occurred together. Mell mentions a tame albino in
the house of a Chinese, and speaks of an animal in captivity that in a few
weeks’ time became bald. The occurrence of this species at Kuatun, north-
western Fukien, was noticed by A. B. Howell (1929), who described as Pithecus
pullus a splendid specimen sent to the U. S. National Museum by Arthur de
C. Sowerby. There seems to be little doubt, however, that this is the same as
the form named by Matschie from Kwangtung. The American Museum
Asiatic Expeditions secured a small series at Chungan in northwestern Fukien.
Further research may prove the presence of the Stump-tailed Macaque quite
across southern China, and thence southward, where it no doubt intergrades
with Lyssodes speciosus, if indeed it is really very different from that animal,
or from L. harmandi described from the mountains between Cambodia and
Siam.
Mr. Clifford H. Pope, who secured several at Chunganhsien, writes
that they prefer the more rugged precipitous sections. He adds that monkeys
are certainly to be found in the border region between Futsing and Yungtai,
in eastern Fukien. The Chinese name for this species is ‘‘ching-p’i-hou.”’
Specimens examined:—Five skins and three odd skulls, all from Chung-
anhsien, Fukien.
Family COLOBIDZ
LANGUR MONKEYS
The langurs and the snub-nosed monkeys appear to represent in Asia
the same group of leaf-eating species as the Colobus Monkeys do in Africa.
In correlation with these habits of diet, the stomach is enlarged by being
thrown into a number of sacculations. The fore and hind limbs are subequal
and the tail very long. Some of the species have an erect peaked crest of
stiff hairs on the head, but in others this is lacking.
Two genera are found in China, the typical langurs of the genus Pithecus,
and the so-called Golden Monkeys of the genus Rhinopithecus. These may be
distinguished as follows:
Key To GENERA OF CHINESE COLOBIDZ
AC NGSemMoriuals without expansions of Skin’ s..+.. sss sees ese ae eens anne. Pithecus
Bee Noseexpandedtand tupturnedic, ster eae «cs vied hee oes eee eae Rhinopithecus
294 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
Genus Pithecus Geoffroy and Cuvier
LANGURS
Pithecus Geoffroy and Cuvier, Mag. Encyclopédique, vol. 3, p. 462, 1795.
Pygathrix Geoffroy, Ann. Mus. d’Hist. Nat., Paris, vol. 19, p. 90, 1812.
Presbytis Eschscholtz, Kotzebue’s Entdeckungs-Reise Sud See und nach Berings-Strasse, vol. 3, p. 196, pl., 1821.
Semnopithecus F. Cuvier, Dents des Mammifeéres, p. 247 (14, 16, pl. 4), 1825.
The langurs differ in many details from the macaques and their relatives
the baboons. They are essentially tree-living monkeys, with leaf-eating
habits, for which their large sacculated stomach is adapted, in order to give
additional absorptive surface. They are slender-bodied, with relatively long
limbs, long tails,.small thumbs, and small naked ischial callosities. The
hair of the head is sometimes elongated to form a crest. Cheek pouches are
absent. The first and second lower molars have each four cusps, the third an
additional posterior one. The muzzle is shortened and weak. The genus is
confined to the southeastern part of Asia and the East Indies, at least two
species barely reaching the borders of subtropical China in Yunnan and
Kwangsi, with a third slightly aberrant species on Hainan. The correct
application of the generic name Pithecus has been a subject of much contro-
versy, but as pointed out by Thomas, it should pertain to the langurs, with
Simia veter of Linnzeus as the type. This name is based on one of two species
of Ceylonese langurs, but just which is held to be indeterminate. Since
both are congeneric, the standing of the name Pithecus is not affected.
The following key will identify the forms hitherto known from China.
Key To CHINESE SPECIES OF Pithecus
A. General coloration blackish to dark gray.
a. Rump and anal region dark like the back.
a’. General color silvery gray, without a white cheek patch from
motth'tosDase Of CAL: «1... =: semua state SELLER Boe slcue b nious tole Pee P. obscurus barber
b’. General color black, with a white band from mouth to base of ear. . P. frangoisi
b. Rump and anal region contrastingly white....................... P. nemeus
148. Pithecus obscurus barbei (Blyth)
BARBE’S LANGUR
Presbytis barbei Blyth, Journ. Asiatic Soc. Bengal, vol. 16, p. 734, 1847.
Semnopithecus barbet Anderson, Anat. and Zool. Researches Western Yunnan, p. 12, 1879.
Pygathrix barbet Elliot, Review of the Primates, vol. 3, p. 48, 1913.
Type specimen:—The original specimen on which this species is based
was said by Elliot (1913) to be preserved in good condition in the Indian
Museum at Calcutta. It was supposed to be from the Province of Ye, Tenas-
serim, southeastern India, but Anderson showed that it came from the Tippera
Hills, in eastern India.
THE PRIMATES 295
Kweiyong
Fic. 13. Distribution Map.
Pithecus
1. P. obscurus barbet 3. P. nemeus
2. P. frangoisi
Description:—General coloration silvery gray with blackish face and
forehead, adults of both sexes similar. Across the forehead is a fringe of
long black hairs; those of the sides of the head and crown do not form a crest
but are directed backward. The color becomes drab gray on the crown,
paler buffy gray on the nape, and silvery gray on the back, flanks and upper
parts of the limbs and the tail, faintly washed across the shoulders with pale
buff. Most of the forearm and the hands and feet are contrastingly dark,
almost blackish. Chin and a few hairs on the upper lip medially, whitish.
Lower surface of the body and of the upper arms pale silvery gray. Tail
silvery gray, darkening slightly at the tip. Face covered with short, scattered
black hairs: Individuals show some variation in the amount of buffy wash
across the upper back.
Young individuals are contrastingly different in color from the adults.
A very young one taken March 6 is entirely fulvous, except the tail which is
slightly darkened with dusky hairs. A somewhat older animal, hardly larger,
has lost this youthful coat and is a uniform dusky gray with blackish feet,
though the tail still retains a considerable fulvous tinge.
In the skull the lambdoid ridges of old males develop as little flanges
along the occipital edge; the temporal ridges meet only in fully adult or old
296 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
males, but are usually barely indicated ridges of lyrate outline. The canines
become much worn on the front face in adults, and have sharp cutting edges.
Characteristic of the skull are the short broad nasals, truncate across both
above and below.
Measurements:—This is a rather small species, and, although no flesh
measurements are at hand, a tanned skin is 1,410 mm. long, of which the tail
is 760.
CRANIAL MEASUREMENTS OF PITHECUS OBSCURUS BARBEI
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43075 III.3 90.0 39.0 31 79.0 65 36.0 68.5 34.0 38.0 Ad. @ Yunnan
43078) O80 8G:00 41-5 0) S3e te 37.0 —— 35.0 39.5 o Yunnan
43071 102.0 83.0 35.0 29 768 62 35.4 59.6 32.5 38.0 Q Yunnan
43076 103.0 83.7 36.0 29 71.0 61 34.0 65.0 34.5 39.0 Q Yunnan
43079 98.0 80.5 33:0 25 74.0 61 35.3 61.0 33.5 38.0 Q@ Yunnan
Occurrence and Habits:—Although obviously a member of the P. obscurus
group, with crestless head, generally dark-gray body, and blackish feet,
and having a fulvous coat in the baby stage, there is nevertheless some un-
certainty as to which of the published names should be used for this monkey.
It seems to agree closely with the description of P. barbet, to which I have
therefore referred the specimens from extreme southwestern Yunnan, on the
Namting River, secured by the American Museum Asiatic Expeditions.
Elliot’s P. melamera, type locality of which is Bhamo, not far away over the
border in Burma, is said to differ by having the legs uniformly sooty, but it
seems likely that this character is variable, and that P. melamera is really the
same as P. barbei, to which in 1879, Anderson had referred specimens from
the Kakhyen Hills. The present record of specimens from the Chinese
side of the Yunnan border, at the Namting River and Homushu Pass, seems
to be the first definite one for the country.
Specimens examined:—lIn all, thirteen, as follows:
Yunnan: Namting River, 6; Homushu Pass, 3; no exact locality, probably one of these, 4.
THE PRIMATES 297
149. Pithecus francoisi (Pousargues)
FRANCOIS’S LANGUR
Semnopithecus frangoisi Pousargues, Bull. Mus. d’Hist. Nat., Paris, vol. 4, no. 7, p. 319, 1898. Trouessart,
Nouv. Arch. Mus. d’Hist. Nat. Paris, ser. 5, vol. 4, pt. 2, p. 273, pl. 2, 1912.
Pygathrix francoisit Elliot, Review of the Primates, vol. 3, p. 68, 1913.
Type specimen:—The type is in the Muséum d'Histoire Naturelle at
Paris. It came from the Province of Kwangsi, China, just across the border
from Tongking. According to Trouessart, it is No. 116a of the Galeries de
Zoologie in the Museum.
Description:—The type is described as black, except for a white band from
the angle of the mouth across the cheeks to the ears; the head has a slight crest.
Measurements:—Elliot (1913), who examined the type in Paris, gives
its measurements as follows: total length, 1,231.9 mm.; tail, 748.7; hind foot,
139.7.
Skull: total length, 97 mm.; occipito-nasal length, 83; Hensel, 64; zygo-
matic width, 76; intertemporal width, 48; palatal length, 28; width of brain
case, 60; median length of nasals, 11; upper molar series, 26; lower molar
series, 31; length of mandible, 63.
Occurrence and Habits:—This is another of those subtropical species that
just reach the southern edge of China. Little seems to be known of it. It
was first brought to notice by M. Francois, the French Consul at Lungchow,
Kwangsi, China, who secured specimens on the great cliffs along the River
Longkiang or Sikiang, near that place. Mell (1922, p. 11) quotes Dewall
(‘‘Reiseberichte durch Kuangsi’’), who mentions flocks of small black monkeys
with long tails and white heads, seen on rocky shores between Nanning and
Kuohua. Dewall’s best Chinese collectors were unable to secure any, how-
ever. He adds that the native name is ‘“‘wu-yuen”. Thomas (Proc. Zool. Soc.
London, 1928, p. 142) records additional specimens secured by the Delacour
Expedition to Indo-China, carrying the range southward into that country;
these are a male from Bac-kan, and a male and a female from Langson, Tong-
king. Its rock-loving habits were noted by the collector. Thomas states
that it is a species closely allied to his P. laotum, which is fond of similar situa-
tions. A colored figure of the animal is published by Trouessart (1912, pl. 2)
taken from the type.
Specimens examined:—None.
150. Pithecus nemzus (Linnzus)
Simia nemeus Linneus, Mantissa Plantarum, p. 521, 1771.
Pygathrix nemeus Geoffroy, Ann. Mus. d’Hist. Nat., Paris, vol. 19, p. 90, 1812. Thomas, Proc. Zool. Soc.
London, IgII, p. 127; tbid., 1927, p. 43. Elliot, Review of the Primates, vol. 3, p. 98, 1913.
298 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
Semnopithecus nemeus A. B. Meyer, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1892, p. 665. J. A. Allen, Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat.
Hist., vol. 22, p. 489, 1906.
Type specimen:—Not known to be in existence. The type locality is
Cochin China, based on Pennant’s Cochin China Monkey.
Description:—Fore part of the head, the shoulders and a band across
the chest, the inner side of the elbows and thighs, the hands and feet, black;
back of head to the rump, the flanks and arms to below the elbows, iron gray;
outer side of forearms yellowish white; legs maroon; a broad ochraceous-
rufous collar on the chest above the black bar passes around the neck to
above the shoulders; whiskers and throat, the rump, anal region, tail and thighs
beneath, white; under parts of body yellowish brown speckled with white
(Elliot). The head is not crested.
The sexes are alike in color and the very young individuals are similar to
their parents.
Measurements:—No measurements of the Hainan animal are available.
Elliot states that the total length is 1,230 mm.; tail, 610; hind foot about 180.
Occurrence and Habits:—This monkey occurs in Hainan, and on the ad-
jacent mainland of northeastern Cochin China, affording another example of
the many close similarities between the faunz of these two areas, which,
though now separated by a narrow stretch of sea, may once have been united,
No doubt it grades into P. nigripes of Saigon, farther to the south, the form
occurring about the mouth of the Mekong. It is a species of peculiar color
pattern, with its conspicuous white rump and tail, a pattern and coloring,
morevoer, that are present in the very young animals as well. In view of
these peculiarities and the fact that the basal axis of the cranium is far more
strongly inclined, making a greater angle with the bones of the face than in
most members of Pithecus, causing the posterior nares to assume a much greater
height, Thomas would regard these two monkeys as constituting a separate
genus Pygathrix Geoffroy, 1812, of which P. neme@us is the type species.
The validity of these characters as generic distinctions is denied by Elliot
and by Pocock, though the former makes P. nemeus and its relative nigripes
members of a special subgenus, Pygathrix.
The present species was first recorded from Hainan, apparently, by A. B.
Meyer (1892), on the basis of a male received from that island by the Royal
Zoological, Anthropological and Ethnographical Museum of Dresden. It
must be rare there, for no one before or since appears to have mentioned it or
secured specimens from Hainan.
Specimens examined:—None.
THE PRIMATES 299
Fic. 14. Distribution Map.
Rhinopithecus
1. R. roxellane 3. R. brelicht
2. R. bieti
Genus Rhinopithecus Milne-Edwards
SNUB-NOSED MONKEYS
Rhinopithecus Milne-Edwards, Recherches pour servir a l’Hist. Nat. des Mammiféres, p. 233, 1868-74.
Semnopithecus Milne-Edwards, Compt. Rend. Acad. Sci., Paris, vol. 70, p. 341, 1870.
For the remarkable Snub-nosed Monkeys of western China, Milne-
Edwards proposed the genus Rhinopithecus, of which the type species is the
animal described by him as Semnopithecus roxellana. The genus is close to
Pithecus, lacking cheek pouches, and having presumably the sacculated stomach
of that group. The characters upon which the genus was based, however,
are the peculiar upturned and prominent nose, and the proportions of the
limbs and body. For the limbs are much less slender than in the Langur
Monkeys, the hind limbs more nearly equal to the fore, in which the humerus
is longer than the forearm, instead of shorter. The trunk, too, is thick-set,
and less slender than in the related genera, the tail relatively shorter.
The skull is peculiar in its smoothly rounded brain case, the great reduc-
300 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
tion of the nasal bones, and in the large size of the nasal aperture. The teeth
are somewhat broader proportionally than in Pithecus.
Three species are known from China, all inhabitants of the high country
of the western part. A fourth species, first described as Rhinopithecus avun-
culus, from Tongking, and later made the type of a special genus, Presbytiscus,
may eventually be found to occur on the extreme southern edge of China.
The three Chinese species may be known by the following characters,
given by Elliot (1913) in his key to the genus.
Key TO THE CHINESE SPECIES OF Rhinopithecus
A. No light patch between the shoulders.
a. Heidesiof face, chest and) hindVlegs mufous. {22 :tcismc ales os els etidee ace R. roxellane
b. Sides of face white, center of chest brown................--+eeceeeces R. bieti
Bs Avlight patch between the shoulderss. 3.2%, bc jatyae' siaicl> te waeisote tras actin seers R. brelichi
151. Rhinopithecus roxellane (Milne-Edwards)
GOLDEN MONKEY
Semnopithecus roxellana Milne-Edwards, Compt. Rend. Acad. Sci., Paris, vol, 70, p. 341, 1870.
Rhinopithecus roxellane Milne-Edwards, Recherches pour servir a l'Hist. Nat. des Mammiféres, p. 233, pls.
36, 37, 1868-74. Elliot, Review of the Primates, vol. 3, p. 102, col. pl. 3, crania, pl. X, 1913.
Semnopithecus (nasalis) roxellane Anderson, Anat. and Zool. Researches Western Yunnan, p. 43, 1879.
Type specimen:—The type is a mounted specimen in the Muséum
d’Histoire Naturelle at Paris, but ‘‘so faded from exposure to light’’ that
Elliot (1913) regarded its color characters as wholly unreliable. It was one
of the discoveries of Pére Armand David in the principality of Muping, central
Szechwan, China.
Description:—Coloring bright and handsome in the male. The top of the
head, nape, shoulders, upper parts of the arms, back and tail, grayish black,
the back more or less overlain with long silvery hairs; tail tip whitish; forehead,
sides of the head to and including the ears, and sides of neck, and under surface
of body and limbs, ochraceous rufous, this color extending to the hands and
feet, and the outer and inner borders of the hind leg.
The female is similar, but the head and upper parts, and the outer side
of the limbs are brownish black, the rufous tints less deep, and a patch on the
upper part of the thigh and the anal region whitish (Elliot, 1913).
Measurements:—The total length of the type specimen, an adult male,
was 1,320 mm., of which the tail was 610; Elliot gives 1,270 and 700 respectively
for the same dimensions from a skin in the British Museum. Milne-Edwards
(1868-74, p. 241 f.) gives a table of various measurements of his largest specimen.
The cranial dimensions of an adult male and a female as given by this
THE PRIMATES 301
author, as well as those of a skull in the British Museum by Elliot, are as
follows:
CRANIAL MEASUREMENTS OF RHINOPITHECUS ROXELLANE
Occipito- Zygo- Width Upper Lower
Total nasal Palatal matic outside molar molar
length length length width orbits series series Sex
PARIS 119 — 45 — 76 33 40 (Milne-Edwards) of
PARIS 116 _ 45 — 76 33 39 (Milne-Edwards) 92
LONDON 129 96 46 99 go 33 40 (Elliot) og?
Occurrence and Habits:—The beautiful Golden Monkey was one of the
many remarkable mammals first brought to the notice of Europeans by Pére
Armand David, whose hunters secured an adult male and female and a younger
animal in the principality of Muping, central Szechwan. A brief account
of these specimens was given by Milne-Edwards in 1870, under the name of
Semnopithecus roxellana, but in his later work (1868-74) he founded for it
the new genus Rhinopithecus and corrected the spelling of the specific name
to roxellane. His account of the skeleton and the colored plate of the ex-
terior, as well as De Winton’s colored figure (in De Winton and Styan, 1899,
pl. 31), reproduced by Elliot together with figures of the skull, give a fair idea
of the peculiarities of the animal.
The Golden Monkey ranges through the high mountain forests of western
Szechwan (district of Yaochi) to the borders of Tibet and north into southern
Kansu. Thus, as Milne-Edwards wrote, it is undoubtedly one of the most
resistant of all monkeys to cold, living as it does in areas where snow covers
the ground during more than half the year. According to the hunters em-
ployed by David, these monkeys live in large troops among the bigger trees,
subsisting on fruits, buds, or at times on leaves or the young shoots of bamboo.
Williston (1926), while at Longanfu, western Szechwan, had eleven skins
brought in to him by local tribesmen. He adds that it is the most valuable
of the furs to be obtained there, for it is believed to keep off rheumatism (as
Pére David also was told) and formerly might be worn only by Manchu
officials. The animals are hard to capture, as they live in country where the
snow is deep, and, though keeping chiefly to trees, come to the ground for
water. The Russian explorer Berezovski secured a skull of an adult and the
skins and skulls of two other males not far from Ssigu, in southern Kansu,
thus considerably extending its known range from Muping. It was rare
there, however, but to the westward, in the country inhabited by the Tebbu,
it is more common, going in large bands of a hundred or more, chiefly in the
pine woods at ten thousand feet or so in summer, but descending in winter to
the lower cultivated levels. Berezovski’s notes, as quoted by Buechner (1892),
add that the bare skin about the eyes is pale bluish in life and that the nose
302 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
turns up nearer the forehead than is indicated in Milne-Edwards’s figure.
The Chinese, whose name for this monkey is ‘‘ssian-shun,’”’ bring in many
skins of it yearly to Chengtufu, the chief city of Szechwan, and obtain a high
price for them. Fergusson (1911, p. 124) writes that when he was in the vicinity
of Yinhsiuwan, northwest of Chengtu, a hunter brought in two that had
just been shot. They were carefully skinned and sent to the British Museum,
where one is now mounted on exhibition. ‘‘These monkeys. . . have
bright blue faces and dark brown eyes; their nose looks as if a bright blue
butterfly was sitting with its wings open in the middle of their face . . . At
Kwanhsien I saw a skin with hair eighteen inches long and valued at £12 15s.”
It was in nearly this same region, near the town of Luchingsha, some twenty
miles north of Muping, that the brothers Theodore and Kermit Roosevelt
(1929) came upon a troop of these monkeys in high forest at an altitude of
about 8,000 feet, and secured nine adults, while their hunters on a neighboring
slope killed another and a “‘new-born” young about March 20, 1929. These
specimens are in the Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago. De Winton
and Styan (1899) record a male and a female secured at Yangliupa, in western
_ Szechwan, and figure the former in colors. Sowerby notes that the fur is often
seen on sale in Shanghai markets. Except for these meager notes, nothing seems
to have been recorded of its habits, and few specimens have found their way
into museums.
Specimens examined:—One, mounted, from Yinhsiuwan, Szechwan (B. M.)
152. Rhinopithecus bieti Milne-Edwards
Rhinopithecus bieti Milne-Edwards, Bull. Mus. d’Hist. Nat., Paris, vol. 3, p. 157, text-fig., 1897. Milne-
Edwards and Pousargues, Nouv. Arch. Mus. d’Hist. Nat. Paris, ser. 3, vol. 10, p. 121, pls. 9-12, 1898.
Type specimen:—No type was designated in the original description, but,
of the seven specimens mentioned, the ‘‘male trés adulte’’ might be selected
as the type. It came with the others from Kiape, a day’s journey from
Atuntze, northwestern Yunnan, China. It is probably this specimen, the
measurements of which are given by Elliot, that he regarded as the ‘‘type.””
Description:—The color pattern is much like that of R. roxellane, but
the grayish black of the back is replaced by light brown and the golden of the
under parts, sides of the head and the back of the haunches is replaced by
white. The head has a median crest, beginning just behind the brow, almost
black, with longer hair in front, curving over the brows. The back of the
head is gray, with darker eyebrows, and a border of longer hairs, white at
their base and black at the tip, surrounding the face. On the upper lip scat-
tered black hairs form a slight mustache. Upper surface of body, flanks,
outer side of arms, and front of the thighs, hands, feet and tail, black, with a
THE PRIMATES 303
brownish tinge, the hands especially deep black. The longest hair of the
shoulders and back may reach a length of 150 mm. The inside of the arms,
the throat, sides of the neck, and the buttocks and posterior part of the thighs
are contrastingly white. In the adult female the crest is less obvious and the
white areas less clear, but tinted somewhat with drab or brownish. The very
young animal is white, with blackish areas at the occiput, along the middle
of the back, and on the outer side of the limbs.
Measurements:—Milne-Edwards gives the following dimensions of an
old male, an adult and a subadult male, and an adult female.
Old J Ad. o Ad. 9 Subad. o
Length from end of muzzle to root of tail.......... 820 830 740 610
Length of tail....... Be ery Root Ooo GDRs G . Cees 720 680 510 520
OOH CECE TOE) aces ayn rayn auauars seerenateteie Cuaron se alse 231 — — —
CRANIAL MEASUREMENTS OF RHINOPITHECUS BIETI
Old | Ado Ad. 9 Subad. o
GroatestHlenptite ts seta. cette er attns ceteiis cies 135 120 117 88
Zygomatic width (fide Elliot),..................005. 103 — —_
Length from foramen magnum to incisive border.... —— 82 78 48
[PARA eialeadalec aompeee neta e tf cs. lon cio ele Homie 54 47 45 26
Upper molar series (fide Elliot).................... 34 — — =
Lower molar series (fide Elliot)...............+..- 43 — == a
Occurrence and Habits:—The range of this fine species is apparently to
the west and south of the area where the Golden Monkey is found. The
first knowledge of it is perhaps due to the indefatigable Pére Armand David,
who, while in central Szechwan, in 1871, wrote that the Chinese who have
traveled to the south of the Yangtze told him of having seen there, in summer,
large black monkeys with long tails, in the country of the Miaotze of the South.
He was, however, unable to secure any specimens, nor were Prince Henri
d’Orléans and M. Bonvalot, who in 1890 saw them in the forest country be-
tween Tengri Nor and Batang, any more successful. On a later journey,
Prince Henri left ammunition and guns with R. P. Soulié, who was to stay
in the western country of Yunnan in order to secure this monkey when the
winter conditions should ‘make hunting easier. With the assistance of Mon-
seigneur Biet, in charge of the mission work of the district, organized hunts
were made in the forests covering the western slope of a mountain range that
separates the valley of the Mekong from that of the Yangtze. These efforts
finally succeeded in procuring for the Paris Museum seven specimens of this
monkey, representing all ages. A preliminary account with a figure was
published by Milne-Edwards in 1897, followed in 1898 by a fuller description
with beautiful plates of the adult and young, the skull and dentition. This
304 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
is a larger species than R. roxellane and strikingly different in color, though
with a similar pattern of coloration.
Since no one seems to have observed or taken this monkey since the orig-
inal series was captured, it may be best to give the localities in full from
Milne-Edwards and Pousargues’s account. Their very old male and a sub-
adult male were collected at Kiapé, a day’s journey from Atuntze, on the left
bank of the Mekong River, in extreme northwestern Yunnan; and a third
male, adult, was killed near Atuntze, again on the left bank of the river. The
four other specimens, including an adult female, two young males, and a very
young specimen of undetermined sex, were from Djra-gniéra, not far from
Tsikou, left bank of the Mekong. Here, in a high, mountainous country
covered with forests of conifers and rhododendron thickets, these monkeys
seem to have a very restricted range. The native name is said to be ‘‘tchru-
tchra,”’ meaning Snow Monkey. Milne-Edwards supposes that in summer they
range across the dividing ridge of mountains to the eastern side and into the
. Yangtze basin, while in winter they may move back to the western slopes of
the Mekong drainage.
Specimens examined:—None.
153. Rhinopithecus brelichi Thomas
Rhinopithecus brelichi Thomas, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1903, vol. 1, p. 224, pl. 21. Elliot, Review of the
Primates, vol. 3, p. 105, 1913.
Type specimen:—The type is a hunter’s skin without skull, female,
No. 3.3.14.1, British Museum, from an unknown locality, but probably from
northern Kweichow, China. Collected by Henry Brelich.
Description:—A very large monkey, apparently attaining a larger size
than either of the two other species of the genus and hence the largest living
species outside the anthropoids. Fur longest on the flanks, where it attains
a length of about 90 mm. Fur of the back to the roots of the hairs, slaty
gray, with shining tips, except that in the midline between the shoulders
is a large oval patch of white, the hairs white to their roots. Crown suffused
with yellowish, its hair yellow at the base, whitening terminally, but broadly
tipped with black; cheeks similar; nape brownish with black tips. Ears
contrastingly white. Front of shoulders and inner side of forearms deep
yellow, shading into whitish along their under sides; wrists black (hands
missing in the type specimen). Hind limbs light grayish, more or less suffused
with yellow behind and blackish in front. Belly uniformly gray. Tail very
long, its hairs curiously parted and curving from the center line downward,
its color black throughout, with a very short white tip. A small yellow patch
on each side of the root of the tail.
THE PRIMATES 305
Measurements:—The skin, as made up, measures: head and body, 730
mm.; tail, 970 (with hairs 1,040).
Occurrence and Habits:—The type and only known specimen of this large
monkey was secured by Henry Brelich from a native hunter, and considerably
extends the range eastward of the genus Rhinopithecus. So far as could be
gathered by Mr. Brelich, ‘‘this monkey inhabits a range of mountains known
as the Van Gin Shan Range, about 108° E., 29° N., in the north of the Province
of Kwei-chow.”” Nothing further is known of it. Obviously in its dark dorsal
surface and yellow shades on the inner sides of the arms and legs, it bears a
slight resemblance to R. roxellane. The male, when it is known, no doubt
will prove to be more brightly colored.
Specimens examined:—None.
Family HYLOBATIDZ
GIBBONS
The gibbons, including the siamang of Sumatra and the Malay Peninsula,
are commonly associated with the anthropoid apes but as a distinct family.
Their extremely long arms are adapted for their peculiar method of progression
by ‘‘brachiation,’’ swinging or hurling themselves from limb to limb, through
the forest, passing ‘‘with incredible speed . . . from bough to bough, and
tree to tree, in many a graceful swing and curve, rivalling in its swift flight
that of the feathered inhabitants of its leafy abode’ (Elliot, 1913, vol. 3, p.
149). The forearm is longer than the humerus, and the hand with its long
thumb exceeds the foot. The tail is lacking, a feature correlated perhaps with
its modes of progression, and there are small ischial callosities. Miller (Journ.
Mammalogy, vol. 14, p. 158, 1933), the latest to review the superspecific
relationships of the species, places them in four subgenera, of which two occur
in southern China, namely, the Black Gibbon of Hainan (subgenus Nomascus
Miller) and the Hoolock Gibbon, type of the typical subgenus Hylobates.
The former is distinguished among other characters by the hair of the vertex
being directed upward, and by having the profile nearly straight from the
front of the nasals to the upper margin of the orbits; the latter has the hair
of the vertex directed backward and the skull profile strongly curved (often
double curved) from the front of nasals to upper margins of the orbits.
Genus Hylobates Illiger
Hylobates Iliger, Prodromus Syst. Mamm. et Avium, p. 67, 1811.
The type of the genus is the Homo lar of Linnzus, the gibbon of the south-
eastern corner of India and the Malay Peninsula. The striking characters,
in addition to the disproportionately long fore limbs, small ischial callosities,
306 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
and lack of external tail, are the rather smoothly rounded skull with its large
brain case, the prominent eyebrow ridges, well-developed canines, very slightly
convergent tooth rows, and the arrangement of the tooth cusps of the molars
in such a way that in the upper teeth they do not form two transverse rows
as in the macaques and baboons, but instead they alternate slightly, with the
two inner cusps (protocone and hypocone) standing each a little behind the
transverse level of the two outer ones. The last lower molar has no fifth or
posterior cusp as it has in the Cercopithecide, but the tooth formula is the
same: 1.3 C.t pM.¢ M.3 = 32. f
Two species occur in China, the Hoolock of India, which reaches the
western edge of Yunnan, and the Black Gibbon of the island of Hainan and
adjacent mainland. The adult males are usually black and adult females
usually pale, more or less whitish or yellowish white. The two forms hitherto
known from Chinese territory may be identified by the following key:
Key TO THE CHINESE SPECIES OF Hylobates
A. Males black with a white brow band; hair of the crown directed backward;
female with clitoris not elongated...................--- MP res tet cr e243 H. hoolock
B. Males black, without a white brow band; hair of crown forming an erect mat;
females with clitoris so elongate as to be peniform.....................200- H. concolor
154. Hylobates hoolock (Harlan)
THE HOOLOCK
Simia hoolock Harlan, Trans. Amer. Phil. Soc., new ser., vol. 4, p. 52, pl. 2, 1834.
Hylobates hoolock Waterhouse, Cat. Mamm. Mus. Zool. Soc. London, ed. 2, p. 3, 1838. Anderson, Anat. and
Zool. Researches Western Yunnan, p. 1, 1879. Elliot, Review of the Primates, vol. 3, p. 156, 1913.
Pocock, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1927, p. 719.
Type specimen:—The type was a skin and skull of an adult male that
came from the Garo Hills, near Goalpara, Assam, and was one of three that
had lived for some time in the possession of Dr. M. Burrough, about 1830.
The specimen is possibly still in Philadelphia.
Description:—Hair of the crown directed smoothly backward, not forming
an erect mat. The adult male is typically a brownish black, more intense on
the lower limbs and feet; the under side deep chocolate brown; a white band
is present across the brow, narrowly interrupted in the median line. Rarely
the coloration is pale whitish or yellowish white as in the female. The adult
female is contrastingly pale in color. The hair on the face and surrounding
it is nearly clear white with a few stiff black hairs over the eyes; the chin,
hands, feet and upper chest are also white. The rest of the body is soiled
white tinged with pale brown, with some range of variation in which the body
may be darker, nearly drab brown on body and limbs, with pale head and
PLATE VIII
Hoolock Gibbon (Hylobates hoolock), female, killed near the Burma border, Yunnan. Profile view
Front view of the same
THE PRIMATES 307
neck. Rarely the female may be ‘‘black faintly tinged with brown”’ (Pocock,
1927).
While the above description gives briefly the general coloration, there is
much difference in individuals, as the following notes on a series secured on the
southwestern borders of Yunnan by Dr. Andrews, indicate.
Male, subadult, No. 43067: entirely sooty above and on arms and legs;
middle part of the throat, chest, and belly sooty brown; a narrow brow band,
interrupted between the eyes; cheeks black.
Male, subadult, No. 43064: this specimen is the male specially mentioned
in Dr. Andrews’s book (R. C. and Y. B. Andrews, 1918, p. 254) as in the yellow-
ish pelage, quite like a female in color, with chin, hands, feet and upper chest
nearly white, the rest of the body soiled white, with a pale brown tinge; hair
of the face nearly white with a few stiff black hairs over the eyes. This
perhaps represents a retention of the immature condition, for, as Delacour
has reported, the young of the Hainan Gibbon may be “‘yellow,”’ in both sexes.
Male, subadult, No. 43068: slightly larger. Black tinged with sooty
brown across the shoulders and nape. Cheeks black. Eyebrow band as
before. Chest dark brown, lower abdomen blackish. ©
Female, large adult, No. 43065: in an intermediate coloring. Crown
and nape soiled white, back and limbs grayish white, much tinged with sooty
or drab brown; cheeks dark brown; throat, chest and belly and inside of legs
dark brown. Eyes surrounded by a ring of white hair.
Female, subadult, No. 43090: hair of face nearly white with a few stiff
black hairs-over eyes; chin, hands, feet and upper chest nearly white; rest of
body pale soiled white or gray, tinged with pale brown; top of head similar.
Measurements:—No measurements of the series from Yunnan were made
in the flesh. Elliot (1913, vol. 3, p. 158) gives the following dimensions:
head and body, 520 mm.; hind foot, 150.
In the skulls of the Yunnan series, none has the complete dentition in
place, since the last molar has not yet reached the tooth line in any of them.
The two largest skulls show the dimensions given below.
= n
‘g S g is Ee a
ee habitants ni Raina te
b 5 5 Ce < 5 : E 3
q A iz 3 E iS a S 6 Yo
a S = € 2 a 9 g a 5
Q vo bo ‘Ss Ge Oo 3 3 ao)
a7 2 er ° ie te} 3 te) a b>
Sie ert eons nek Glia hove lndeont bet amt g
Soy CS ys 3 6 Bo 8 z g 3 5
20) Sigs & Sing = 5 = 4 = 4
43063 93 75.5 32.0 20.5 — 60.5 55-5 32.0. 63.5 10.0 Yunnan
43067 96 78.0 37.3 24.0 59 60.5 53.0 31.5 64.5 9.4 Yunnan
308 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
Occurrence and Habits:—This is the Gibbon of Upper Burma and Assam,
but although Pocock (1927) has recently reviewed the group in the light of
available material, it does not seem clear whether or not it should be re-
garded as a northern subspecies of the H. lar of Lower Burma and Siam,
as seems most likely, or whether it is a wholly distinct species. Pending
further study, however, he recognizes the two as separate species. The
coloration of the gibbons is notoriously variable, so that many names have
been bestowed from time to time upon them, but Pocock believes that only
three continental species can be made out. As long ago as 1879, J. Anderson
gave an account of his observations on gibbons seen in the Kakhyen Hills
of eastern Upper Burma on the borders of Yunnan. Here while “passing
through the magnificent defile of the Irawady, below Bhamo, where the river
is enclosed by high hills, covered with dense forest . . . the air was resonant
with the loud calls of this gibbon; large troops were answering each other
from the opposite banks, and the hills echoed and reechoed the sound. The
Hoolock is also common on the Kakhyen Hills, on the eastern frontier of
Yunnan; and there, too, my attention was called to them at daybreak when
they passed up from their sheltered sleeping-ground in the deep and warm
valleys to heights of about 4,000 feet. We, in the middle distance, first
caught a faint murmur of voices; but every minute it became more and more
distinct, till at last the whole troop rushed past in a storm of sound, vociferating
‘whoko’! ‘whoko’! and in a few more minutes their cry was heard far up the
mountain-side. Considering that their progress is almost exclusively arboreal,
the rapidity with which they make their ascent is wonderful.’’ Apparently
Dr. R. C. Andrews was the first actually to secure specimens from within the
borders of China, for in March and April, 1917, he succeeded in collecting a
series on the Namting River and at Homushu Pass, in western Yunnan.
At the former locality they were found feeding on a kind of large green bean.
When pursued they ‘‘soon became extremely wild. Although the same troop
could usually be found in the valley where we had first discovered them,
they chose hillsides where it was almost impossible to stalk them because
of the thorny jungle. Usually when they called, it was from the upper
branches of a dead tree where they could not only scan every inch of ground
below, but were almost beyond the range of a shotgun. . . . We went for-
ward only when the calls were echoing through the jungle, and stood motionless
as the wailing ceased. But in spite of all our care they would see or hear us.
Then in sudden silence there would be a tremor of the branches, splash after
splash of leaves, and the herd would swing away through the trackless tree-
tops. . . . The gibbons were exceedingly difficult to kill and would never
drop until stone dead. . . . Instead of running the animals would some-
times disappear as completely as though they had vanished in the air. After
THE PRIMATES 309
being fooled several times we learned to conceal ourselves in the bushes where
we could watch the trees, and sooner or later the monkeys would try to steal
away” (R. C. and Y. B. Andrews, 1918). On another occasion, at Homushu
Pass on the Salween River, gibbons were again found, but their habits seemed
somewhat different. ‘‘Instead of sitting quietly in the top of a dead tree to call
to their neighbors across the jungle for an hour or two, the hoolocks howl for
about twenty minutes as they swing through the branches and are silent
during the remainder of the day. They called more frequently on bright
mornings and we seldom heard them during cloudy weather. Apparently
they had regular feeding grounds, which were visited every day, but the herds
seemed to cover a great deal of territory. Like the gibbons of the Namting
River, the hoolocks traveled through the tree tops at almost unbelievable
speed, and one of the most amazing things which I have ever witnessed was
the way in which they could throw themselves from one tree to another with
unerring precision’”’ (R. C. and Y. B. Andrews, 1918). On several occasions
Dr. Andrews found the gibbons most adept at hiding among thick leaves
instead of making off. The food of the gibbon is said to be in part leaves, and
in part animals, such as insects, or birds and their eggs. The gibbon, unlike
many monkeys, is quite unable to swim, as Candler (Proc. Zool. Soc. London,
1903, vol. I, pp. 187-190) proved experimentally by dropping one into a tank
of water ten feet deep, in which it struggled helplessly and would have drowned
had it not been rescued. No doubt the more nearly upright posture that is
naturally assumed, as in the case of man, is not a favorable one for keeping
afloat.
Whether or not gibbons are to be found elsewhere along the extreme
southern edge of China, is still uncertain, though they have been killed so
near the northern borders of Tongking that it can hardly be doubted they
occasionally cross into southeastern Yunnan or western Kwangsi.
Specimens examined:—In all, seven, namely:
Yunnan: Homushu Pass, 3; Namting River, 3; no exact locality, 1.
155. Hylobates concolor concolor (Harlan)
BLACK GIBBON
Simia concolor Harlan, Journ. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, ser. 1, vol. 5, part 2, p. 231, pls. 9, 10, 1826.
Hylobates harlani Lesson, Ferrusac’s Bull. des Sci. Nat., vol. 13, p. 111, 1827.
Hylobates concolor Schlegel, Essai sur la Physion. des Serpens, Partie Gén., p. 237, 1837. Pocock, Proc. Zool.
Soc. London, 1927, p. 719 ff. ‘
Hylobates pileatus Swinhoe, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1870, p. 224 (in part).
Hylobates hainanus Thomas, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. 6, vol. 9, p. 145, 1892. Pocock, Proc. Zool. Soc.
London, 1905, vol. 2, p. 169, pl. 5.
Type specimen:—The type specimen is not known to be in existence.
Harlan’s name was based upon a female “‘lately’’ (that is, about 1826) living
310 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
in Philadelphia, said to have been imported from Borneo. On account of
the latter statement, the type locality has been taken as Borneo, and the name
assigned to the Hylobates of that island. Pocock (1927) has shown, however,
that the anatomical features of the genitalia, illustrated by Harlan’s plate,
pertain to the all-black gibbon of Hainan and the adjacent mainland of Indo-
China, whence the individual may thus have originally come. The name
concolor is, therefore, transferred to the Black Gibbon.
Description:—The male is entirely black, lacking the white brow band
of the other species, in the adult stage. The very young of both sexes are said
to be pale or ‘‘yellow,”’ soon turning black, the males remaining so the rest of
their lives, but the females becoming pale again when grown. These changes,
first announced by Delacour, have been confirmed by Pocock through observa-
tions of captive specimens in the Zodlogical Gardens at London. A young
female, supposed to be about seven months old, was then blackish, or rather,
smoky gray then blackish. At about seven years of age, when sexually mature,
she became gray then pale. In the pale phase the color is buff, ochraceous buff,
or grayish buff with a patch of black or dusky on the crown, extending on to
the neck.
The skull of H. concolor, as pointed out by Pocock, has a different shape
from that of H. hoolock, with the interorbital septum making no definite
angle with the forehead, but rather lying in the same slope; the brow ridges
do not form a continuous raised line across the forehead as they do in H.
hoolock, but their inner portions are bent ventrally in over the base of the nose.
Measurements:—No measurements of Hainan specimens are available.
Pocock gives the following skull measurements of a male: total length, 113
mm.; basal length, 80; palatal length, 43; zygomatic width, 78; width across
orbits, 67; upper molars, 27.
Occurrence and Habits:—The Black Gibbon has long been known from
Hainan. Its existence was reported there in 1735 by Du Halde in his ‘‘De-
scription de la Chine.’ He writes (1738, English ed., p. 118): “This Island
breeds a curious kind of great black Apes, whose Physiognomy very nearly
resembles the Human, so distinct are the Features; but this species is scarce.
There are others of a grey Colour, which are very ugly and common.”’ Swinhoe
(1870c), although himself unable to procure specimens, said it was well known
to the natives who distinguished as different kinds, the yellow and the black,
as well as the yellow with black face. Harlan, who described a female speci-
men, was the first to figure the unusually long clitoris, which is grooved longi-
tudinally below, and depends like the penis of the male. He believed the
individual to be for these reasons an hermaphrodite, but it is now known that
these peculiarities are characteristic of the species, as has been more fully
THE PRIMATES 311
described by Pocock (1905) on the basis of a female that lived for some time
at the Zodlogical Gardens in London. An excellent plate accompanying this
paper gives a good idea of the coloring. Few Europeans seem to have seen
this gibbon in its natural haunts, but Malcolm A. Smith (1923) reports hearing
them in the forest about Five-finger Mountain (Wuchih) in the early morning.
This species offers an interesting parallel in its distribution to Pithecus
nemeus, which occurs not only on Hainan, but also in the adjacent portions
of Tongking on the opposite mainland. The Black Gibbon of Tongking has
been described as a separate species, distinguished by its white cheek patches
even in the otherwise black males, whence its name, H. leucogenys. Pocock
(1927) regards it as a subspecies of the Hainan animal, while the species de-
scribed by Pousargues as H. henrict is really the female of it. It seems quite
likely that this form will eventually be found to occur in extreme southern
Kwangsi or Yunnan, for the localities whence the Tongking specimens came
are very close to the Chinese border. Indeed, Swinhoe (1870¢c, p. 615) records
that a black gibbon is said to occur in the mountains west of Canton, but no
specimens have been received by European museums, nor did Mell, who
spent several years in the region, report it.
Dr. F. D. Welch (1911), who studied living specimens in the London
Zo6dlogical Gardens, concluded that the form of this gibbon is slenderer than
that of H. hoolock and H. lar, and that the cry also differs, a ‘‘hoo hoo hoo,”
etc., while that of the Hoolock he represents by “‘hah hoo hah hoo,”’ repeated
a number of times.
Specimens examined:—None.
CHAPTER VII
ORDER CARNIVORA
CARNIVORES
THIS group comprises mammals whose habits are typically flesh-eating,
although many to a greater or less degree subsist on vegetation, as in the bear
family or in the case of the Giant Panda. They are often highly modified as
compared with the primitive marsupial group or with the Insectivora. Some,
as the dogs and wolves, retain nearly the full number of teeth characteristic
of placental mammals, while in others, as the cats, the maxillary teeth are
reduced in number and function. Some are cursorial, others arboreal, others
again aquatic in their habits. Structurally the order lacks the specialization
of the incisor teeth seen in the Insectivora, but instead these teeth form a
transverse row between the canines and are typically three in number on each
side of each jaw, the median ones smaller than the outer; the canines are
usually enlarged, the cheek teeth sharp-cusped. A peculiarity is the develop-
ment of the last upper premolar and the first lower molar to act together in
a shearing fashion to cut up the food. This is brought about by a narrowing
of these teeth from side to side and the enlargement of especially the anterior
cusps. Unlike the Insectivora, the first digit of the hand and foot is usually
much reduced or absent. As a primitive feature, many retain the entepicon-
dylar foramen in the humerus, while as a matter of specialization, the cats
have the last phalanx of the fingers and toes retractile, lifting the claw off
the ground. The radius and ulna of the forearm are always separate, the
former with usually the power of a certain amount of rotation, while in the
hind leg the tibia and fibula are again always separate, as in the arboreal
mammals.
Six or seven different families of Carnivora occur in China, of which the
bear-like animals are the most primitive, the cats perhaps the most specialized.
They may be identified by the following brief key:
KEY TO THE FAMILIES OF CHINESE AND MONGOLIAN CARNIVORA
A. Form stout, five well-developed toes on each foot.
a. Tail more than half the body length; size not large; molars 3, the upper only
slightly wider than long (Panda, Raccoons, etc.)...............0e.eeee Procyonidz
312
THE CARNIVORES 313
b. Tail very short; last upper molar with its least width about half the greatest
length.
a’. Muzzle short, the distance from its tip to the orbit less than half the
greatest zygomatic width (Giant Panda) ......................--- Ailuropodidz
b’. Muzzle longer, the distance from its tip to the orbit more than half the
ZY COMAIC WAGE (SCATS) eh tsrctae: stelcicecteks [creme is eratsleaslalxaioracavetehaletey ate terseyaye Urside
B. Form slender, hind foot usually with four toes only.
a. Limbs short, body disproportionally long.
a’. Molars 3, the upper transverse, with the inner lobe wider than the outer
edgen(Weasels; Martens; Otters)ory. co... oc ceo sce eee erences nue Mustelidz
b’. Molars 2 (or 4), the upper transverse, with the inner lobe narrower than
the outer edge; cusps of lower carnassial of about equal height, forming
antmangle: (Civets, Mun gOOses) bas rcyjeyh-ia cpg sieueielee rd accession eualettea Viverridze
b. Limbs longer.
a’. Molars 2 (or 3), the upper with well-defined tubercular cusps; lower
carnassial compressed, blade-like, with a small inner cusp and a distinct
posterior heel (Dogsy Wolves, Foxes): -s-+..--5.0.5++scecertesebees Canidz
b’. Molars 4, the upper vestigial, without well-defined cusps; lower carnas-
sial blade-like, without inner cusp or posterior heel (Cats)............ Felide
Family PROCYONID®
RACCOONS AND THEIR KIN
The raccoons and their relatives are among the least specialized of the
Carnivora. They retain all five toes on each foot in a nearly unmodified
condition; the hind feet are completely plantigrade, so that in walking the
entire sole is applied to the ground. The body is rather plump and short and
the tail at least equal to one-half its length. The molars, which do not exceed
two above and below on each side, have the four usual cusps in the upper
series, and these upper teeth are roughly of equal diameter transversely and
longitudinally. There is a tendency for the last upper premolar to become
like the first molar in the development of similar cusps.
This family at the present day is typical of the warmer parts of America,
and is represented in North America by the Raccoon of the temperate parts,
and various arboreal genera in the more tropical areas, such as the coatis
(Nasua), kinkajous (Potos), and the aberrant cacomistles (Bassariscus). It
is, therefore, especially interesting that there should be a related genus in
the Old World, Ailurus, which occurs from the Himalayan region of eastern
India to the highlands of western China. It perhaps represents a survivor
here of a once more numerous and widely spread group of forest-living species.
Pocock (1921a) has advocated the relegation of the genus to a separate
family, Ailuridz, distinct from the American Procyonide, but this course
has the disadvantage of obscuring the, evident affinity between the Asiatic
and American genera, and at the same time necessitates the erection of a
314 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
separate subfamily for each of the American genera of Procyonidz, in order
to accord as nearly as possible equal consideration of the differences and
likenesses. Hollister’s course, as being the more conservative and perhaps
more illuminating, is here followed.
Genus Ailurus F. Cuvier
THE PANDA
Ailurus F. Cuvier, in Geoffroy and Cuvier, Hist. Nat. des Mammiféres, vol. 3, pt. 50, pl. and 3 pp. text, 1825.
Arctelurus Gloger, Gemeinn. Hand- u. Hilfsb. Naturg., vol. 1, pp. xxviii, 55, 1841.
lurus L. Agassiz, Nomenclator Zool., Index, p. 9, 1846.
The chief diagnostic characters of this genus are set forth by Hollister
(1915) as follows: head roundish, ears large, erect, and pointed; tail long
and nonprehensile; claws semiretractile; soles of the feet almost entirely
haired; os penis small (23 mm. long), not bilobed anteriorly.
“Skull short, high, and rounded . . . zygomata without distinct post-
orbital processes; sagittal crest well developed. Palate highly arched, grooved
medially, and extending only little beyond plane of last molar . . . alisphenoid
canal present [absent in other genera of the family]; . . . audital bulle very
small, inflated only on inner side, the external auditory meatus a long and
narrow tube. Mandible short, greatly rounded; ascending ramus high, wide,
and curved backward; condyles very large.”
“Incisors weak. Canine ovate in section at cingulum, grooved on outer
and inner surfaces. Each upper premolar with more than one cusp; pm? with
well developed protocone and hypocone; pm‘ six-cusped, the protocone and
hypocone with the prominent supplementary inner cusp forming more than one-
half the tooth; pm, minute and deciduous; permanent lower premolars all long
and narrow. Upper molars usually with numerous accessory cusplets on out-
side and on the strongly developed: 1 inner fngulum shelf; lower, molars with
numerous accessory cusplets.’’
The tooth formula is: i1.$ c.+ pm. m.3 =38. But asingle species is known,
with one Chinese race.
156. Ailurus fulgens styani Thomas
STYAN’S PANDA
Ailurus fulgens styani Thomas, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. 7, vol. 10, p. 251, 1902.
Ailurus refulgens Milne-Edwards, Recherches pour servir a 1’Hist. Nat. des Mammiféres, pp. 380, 387, 1868-74
(lapsus calami).
Ailurus fulgens Jacobi, Abh. u. Ber. Mus. f. Tier- u. Vélkerk., Dresden, vol, 16, no. I, p. 3, 1922.
Ailurus styani Thomas, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. 9, vol. 10, p..396, 1922.
Type specimen:—The type is an old male, skin and skull, No. 2.6.10.41,
British Museum, collected at Yanglitpa, northwestern Szechwan, China,
June, 1897, by F. W. Styan.
THE. CARNIVORES | 315
Description:—In size and form somewhat like a raccoon, but the hind
quarters less elevated, the hind legs proportionally shorter. A small eye-
patch, and the entire dorsal surface of the body a rusty fulvous to deep chest-
nut, deepest from the crown to the middle of the back, and becoming less
dark red over the lower back and tail. The tail has about nine faintly indicated
buffy rings and a short black tip. The muzzle, lips, a submental spot, a spot
of larger size over each eye, the cheeks immediately behind the eye-spot,
Fic. 15. Distribution Map.
Ailurus
A. fulgens styant
316 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
the inner side and the outer edges of the ears white, the ears with a conspicuous
tuft of longer hairs at their outer base; backs of the ears, the fore and hind
legs, and the under surface deep black.
There is some variation in the depth of the rufous on the back; in Yunnan
specimens as mentioned by Thomas (1922b), and in another from Washin,
Szechwan, described by A. B. Howell (1929), the shoulders are heavily black-
ened, so as to form an almost blackish belt in this region, with the rest of the
back a deep ferruginous.
The main peculiarities of the skull have been mentioned under the generic
description. The characters distinguishing A. f. styani from the typical
A. f. fulgens of the Himalayan region are said to be the larger size and especially
the very much more swollen forehead, obvious in profile, so that the depth
measured from the palate to the convexity of the forehead was in the type
46 mm. against 37 for the same measurement in the Himalayan form. The
outline of the brain case from above is more swollen and parallel-sided an-
teriorly, the zygomata stouter and more spreading, and with a better-developed
wide ledge at their posterior end above the ear. These distinctions may be
partly a matter of age, since none of the Himalayan specimens available to
the author of the species was quite so aged, but in a later paper, Thomas
(1922b, p. 396) mentions two other specimens since obtained in Yunnan,
that confirm the characters given, so that he even goes so far as to regard the
Chinese Panda as a distinct species. Nevertheless, the differences are hardly
those separating species, and the one is obviously the ‘‘representative form’”’
of the other, with the same type of coloring.
Measurements:—The type skin and skull showed the following measure-
ments as recorded by its describer: skin, head and body, 610 mm.; tail, 405;
foot, I12; ear, 60.
Skull: greatest length, 115 mm.; basal length, 98; palate from gnathion,
54; zygomatic width, 88; interorbital width, 31; breadth of posterior palate,
13.3; lower jaw, top of coronoid process to lower side of angular process, 55;
combined breadth of upper incisors, 15; upper cheek teeth, 37. No other
measurements of Chinese specimens are available.
Occurrence and Habits:—The Panda is found in China in only the western
highlands, from the higher parts of eastern Szechwan westward in Yunnan
to the borders of Burma. In addition to the type from northwestern Szechwan,
it has been taken in the mountains near Mau, in the upper Min valley of the
northern part of the same province (Jacobi, 1922), and Weigold (1923, p. 72)
saw one in the flesh at Wa Shan, but it was held at too high a price for him to
purchase. He mentions also two skins brought in from the Wassu region.
Zappey secured a skin from this general region, in the Chinchiang valley, but
THE CARNIVORES | 317
the skull was unfortunately lost (G. M. Allen, 1912). The American Museum
Asiatic Expeditions secured a number of trade skins in Likiang, Yunnan,
and Mell (1922) writes that it is one of the commoner furs in the fur market
at Talifu in the same province. He believed that most of these came from
Weisi. The skins seemed to be little valued, and the tails are used in Talifu
and Canton as brushes or dusters. Among fifty trade skins, Mell saw two
that were conspicuously white-marked. No doubt the range extends from
northeastern Szechwan south to near central Yunnan and thence westward,
in the evergreen forests of the high country. According to Prince Henri
d’Orléans, it is commoner on the borders of Yunnan and Burma than in the
Himalayas (Pousargues, 1896a, p. 2 of separate).
Very little seems to be known of the habits in a wild state, in China.
Captive specimens have frequently reached the zodlogical gardens of Europe,
chiefly by way of India, and so represent the Himalayan form, whose habits
are doubtless much the same. One of the animals was alive in the London
Gardens in 1869 and formed the subject of remarks on its habits by the keeper
Bartlett (1870) and on the anatomy after its subsequent demise, by W. H.
Flower (1870). Other captive specimens have been the subject of brief
communications by Trouessart (1922), Sokolowsky (1919), and Lénnberg
(1907). Wall (Journ. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc., 1908, vol. 18, p. 903) writes
of a captive animal that gave birth to two young on July 7. Their eyes did
not open for nearly a month, August 6 following, and a similar long delay in
this respect has been noticed by others. J. Anderson (1869) found them in
their actions ‘‘wonderfully like raccoons. Every movement is bear-like;
they sit up on their hind quarters and strike with their paws in the same way
as the bear, climb like the bear, and when irritated make the sudden rush of
that animal and emit a nearly similar cry; the bushy barred tail .. . is
carried straight out or nearly so. They are very fond of milk, bamboo-leaves,
and grass.’’ He found that they liked sugar too. Sokolowsky pointed out
that, although believed to be chiefly vegetarian in diet, as indicated by the
short cusps and broad crushing surfaces of their molars, as well as by the lack
of well-developed carnassial action, they nevertheless appreciate an occasional
bird or mouse given them.
Specimens examined:—In all, eight, lacking skulls, namely:
Yunnan: Likiang, 6. ,
Szechwan: Chinchiang valley, 1 (M.C.Z.); Ketsung, 1 (A.N.S.P.).
Family AILUROPODID&
THE GIANT PANDA
The relationships of the Giant Panda have been the subject of considerable
discussion. It was first supposed, by its discoverer, David, to be a new bear,
318 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
but Milne-Edwards recognized its position as nearer the Panda (Ailurus),
though standing in a somewhat intermediate relation, with even a feline
appearance in its wide, strong zygomata. He regarded its teeth as less carnivo-
rous in type than those of bears, and suggested a resemblance to the extinct
Arctotherium. Flower and Lydekker definitely referred the genus to the
Urside, and in this they have been followed by most subsequent writers.
Pocock (1929), however, after a careful consideration of the external characters,
believes it should better stand as a distinct family, intermediate in some
respects between the bears and the small panda. In this course, he has been
supported by Dr. W. H. Osgood, and this disposition of the genus seems the
most satisfactory. The important distinguishing features are, externally:
the poorly developed facial vibrissze as in bears, though the usual tufts are
present; the granular-skinned rhinarium with a well-developed philtrum con-
necting the nose-pad with the upper lip; and the presence of a vertical groove
from the margin of the lip nearly to the nostrils, unlike bears; in the feet a
web of skin binds the toes together up to the proximal toe-pads; the hind feet
are approximately equal in length to the fore; the plantar pad of the fore foot
has on its inner border a peculiar lengthwise expansion; metatarsal pads lack-
ing, the posterior plantar pad wide and narrow; tail very short. In the skull
the wide and powerful zygomata, high sagittal crest, and short muzzle are
striking features, the anterior roots of the zygomatic arches coming off about
at the level of the second molar instead of more posteriorly as in the bears; the
-mesopterygoid fossa extends forward as far as the hind edge of the last molar
instead of ending far posterior to that point; the alisphenoid canal is lacking.
In the remarkably broad upper molars with their low cusps, the Giant
Panda differs from all its allies. Pocock points out further that in the cusps
of the fourth upper premolar, this animal stands quite by itself. This tooth
has none of the sectorial character of the carnivores, but is characterized by
three outer and two inner cusps, while the third premolar is much like it; the
last lower premolar is long and tricuspid, its inner root not fused with the
posterior as it is in most bears.
The single genus and species of this family constitute its only known
representative.
Genus Ailuropoda Milne-Edwards
Ailuropoda Milne-Edwards, Ann. des Sci. Nat., Zool., ser. 5, vol. 13, art. 10, I p., 1870.
Ursus David, Nouv. Arch. Mus. d’Hist. Nat. Paris, vol. 5, Bull., p. 13, 1869 (not of Linnzus).
Pandarctos Gervais, Nouv. Arch. Mus. d’Hist. Nat. Paris, vol. 6, p. 161, footnote, and explanation of pls., 1870.
Ailuropus Milne-Edwards, in David, Nouv. Arch. Mus. d’Hist. Nat. Paris, vol. 7, Bull., p. 92, 1871. Milne-
Edwards, Rceherches pour servir a 1’Hist. Nat. des Mammiféres, p. 321, 1868-74.
The characters distinguishing this remarkable and aberrant genus are
mainly given under the discussion of the family affinities. The general bear-
THE CARNIVORES 319
like form and striking coloration of the fur will serve to identify it at once.
Of its various characters many are no doubt highly adaptive. As in bears,
the nearly equal length of the fore and hind feet is due, according to Pocock,
to the shortening of the latter, and may be correlated with the partially arboreal
habits; similarly, the broad-crowned molars with their many low cusps and the
wide zygomata indicating powerful jaw muscles, are no doubt adaptive modi-
fications, suiting the jaws to handle the bamboo shoots, which form the ani-
mal’s particular diet. The nature of the foot-pads has been illustrated by
Pocock (1929a), and the general characters of the teeth and skull, as well as
of the exterior, are beautifully shown in Milne-Edwards’s plates. The tooth
formula differs from that of bears in lacking the first lower premolar, namely:
i.% C.t pm. m.=40. The large size of the anterior premolars in comparison
with bears, the lack of a carnassial, and the length and many-cusped nature
of the first lower molar are striking features.
Although first described as a bear (Ursus), it was at once seen by Milne-
Edwards to be of a wholly distinct type, to which he in a preliminary notice
gave the name Ailuropoda, but later he changed it to Ailuropus.
157. Ailuropoda melanoleucus (David)
Ursus melanoleucus David, Nouv. Arch. Mus. d’Hist. Nat. Paris, vol. 5, Bull., p. 13, 1869.
Ailuropoda melanoleucus Milne-Edwards, Ann. des Sci. Nat., Zool., ser. 5, vol. 13, art. 10, I p., 1870.
Ailuropus melanoleucus Milne-Edwards, in David, Nouv. Arch. Mus. d’Hist. Nat. Paris, vol. 7, Bull., p. 92,
1871. Milne-Edwards, Recherches pour servir a l'Hist. Nat. des Mammiféres, p. 321, pls. 50-56, 1868-74.
Type specimens:—The two original skins and skulls (cotypes) are presum-
ably still in the Muséum d’Histoire Naturelle, at Paris, whither they were
sent by Pére Armand David, from the principality of Muping in 1869.
Description:—The form is like that of a small bear, stout, with a rounded
head and moderate ears. The tailis very short. In color the black and white
pattern is very striking, but, as pointed out by Pocock (19214), not essentially
different from that of the Panda, in which a dark eye-mark, black ears and limbs
are also found. The ears throughout, a rounded spot encircling each eye, the’
entire fore leg and shoulder to the spine and the hind leg from about the knee
down, are black, the rest of the body and head yellowish white, sometimes
washed with brownish or even reddish (Jacobi, 1922). The black of the fore
legs extends to the back, forming a black belt, narrower dorsally.
The characters of the skull, with its powerful, spreading zygomatic arches,
strong sagittal crest, lack of alisphenoid canal, and generally shortened appear-
ance, have been already described and are well illustrated by Milne-Edwards’s
plates. The forward extent of the mesopterygoid fossa and the length of the
first lower molar are striking points of difference in comparison with the bears,
Measurements:—The type specimen measured some 1,500 mm. in total
320 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
length from the muzzle to base of tail, following the curves of the back. The
height at the shoulder is given as 660 mm. These figures are doubtless not
maximum, for of the skins brought back by the Weigold Expedition (Jacobi,
1922, p. 3), that of the largest male was 1,800 mm., of the next largest 1,610
mm. in length, while that of an adult female was 1,720 mm. Possibly these
are to be discounted as from skins that may stretch in preparation.
Of the skull of the type, Milne-Edwards has given (1868-74, p. 337) a
detailed list of measurements, in addition to which the only others published
seem to be those of two in Jacobi’s (1922) paper. The essential measurements
of these follow:
CRANIAL MEASUREMENTS OF AILUROPODA MELANOLEUCUS
Z : chip's
8 g & &
o . -
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“a Bey Stave ghuantecsta,, uit E son gelitintwid S
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PARIS 290.0 .— — 128 207. — === AOS"
PARIS 265.0 (——, »——, 132. . 185, — — 1AG: On Os
DRESDEN A nO — 5)... —
DRESDEN B 288.00 — 256 —— 211 61 — 110 ——
O71 3) BM 278-5 237) 2) Sl 9200) j-— 93:8 .132.5 —— —— 1462
29678'MGz) §290:0 5275 9285. —— 238, 160 91.7 139.0 — 34.5 155.0
ANSP 200.0’ 243° 260! 135 =~ 203) :—« ‘Go 88.0 133.0" DIG) 32:3
Occurrence and Habits:—The Giant Panda, since it was first made known
to Europeans through its discovery in the high mountains of Muping, central
Szechwan, by Pére Armand David, has continued to be one of the most elusive
of the large mammals of the globe. It appears to be confined exclusively to
the bamboo forests of the high mountains in central and western Szechwan,
north to the range of mountains forming the boundary between that province
and Kansu. David’s hunters were successful in procuring for him an adult
and a younger specimen, whose skins and skulls are described in much detail
by Milne-Edwards (1868-74). According to his informants, it inhabits only
the most inaccessible mountains, never coming down into the lower country,
and subsists chiefly on roots of bamboo and other plants. Following its dis-
covery in 1869, nothing more was heard of the species until 1892, when Buech-
ner reported it among the specimens brought back by the Russian explorer
Berezovski from northern Szechwan. Coming into its habitat from the north,
Berezovski reports that it is unknown to the people along the Ssigu River, nor
is it found in the Tan Shan, Kansu, but is first met with in the mountain range
THE CARNIVORES 321
forming the boundary between Kansu and Szechwan, which thus makes its
northern and western limit. The expedition secured a beautiful skin here
from native hunters, who state that it keeps preferably to the bamboo thickets
at from 10,000 to 12,000 feet, and that its chief food’ is the bamboo. The
natives declare that it does not hibernate and that if pursued by dogs it may
take to a tree. The Chinese name for it is “‘pei-hsiung’’ (White Bear) or ‘‘hua-
hsiung”’ (Speckled Bear). Of several specimens secured by Berezovski and Po-
tanin, one eventually found its way to the British Museum and another to
the Tring Museum, while the others were said to be at the Irkutsk Museum.
The British Museum also secured a second specimen, a male, captured by
F. W. Styan’s native hunters at Yangliupa, northwestern Szechwan (De Winton
and Styan, 1899). The British Museum’s two specimens are mounted, but
later a flat skin was received from the widow of J. W. Brooke, who had pur-
chased it in Szechwan, and Lydekker (1910, p. 987) mentions one ‘‘lately”’
sent from Szechwan by W. N. Fergusson. It was on these specimens that
Pocock (1929a) based his studies. Bardenfleth (1914) had published on its
affinities some years earlier. Pére Heude also (1894b, p. 243) mentions ‘“‘un
bel exemple’”’ given him by Bishop Pinchon, who obtained it in western Szech-
Fic. 16. Distribution Map.
Ailuropoda
A. melanoleucus
322 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
wan. Perhaps the first European to see the animal in life was J. H. Edgar,
whose letter to Sowerby the latter quotes (Sowerby, 1924e). Edgar in 1903
had received a credible report of a Giant Panda seen in Takiu, on the upper
Tung River, opposite the classic country of Muping. In 1916, half-way
between Batang and Derze, in wild country not far from Kinsha, Edgar himself
saw a large white animal curled up in a great ball, asleep in the forks of a high
oak tree. He was unarmed and approached no nearer than about one hundred
yards. Sowerby believes that the animal could have been none other than
the Giant Panda. Inalater communication, Edgar (1929) states that Herbert
Stevens, in 1929, saw a family consisting of an adult pair with a cub. He
adds (Edgar, 1930) that in ancient times this animal was included in the
tribute of Yu, from Liangchow, Szechwan, more than four thousand years
ago. To this day the skins are said sometimes to be used as rugs in China,
for E. H. Wilson (1913, vol. 2, p. 183) speaks of seeing several fine examples in
the possession of Europeans at Chengtu, Szechwan. ‘The skins are occasionally
offered for sale in that city and command a high price. When Wilson and
Zappey were in the vicinity of Wawushan and southwest of Tatsienlu, west-
central Szechwan, they saw “evident signs’ of the animal. It is in general
solitary and makes beaten tracks through the forest, “frequenting the same
haunts for long periods, as is evident from the large heaps of its dung which
are often met with in the Bamboo jungle.’”’ According to information from
the natives, Wilson states that the “‘pei hsiung’’ hibernates ‘‘for the six or
seven months in hollow trees, rocky hollows, and caves,’’ a statement which is
contrary to the testimony reported by others. Wilson says further that the
range extends from the ‘‘vicinity of Wa shan westwards to the forests beyond
Tachienlu, northwards to Sungpan, and thence eastwards ... to the vicinity of
Lungan Fu. It is essentially a denizen of the Bamboo jungles between 6,000
and 11,000 feet, feeding on the young shoots of these plants. The natives
declare that it eats nothing else . . . Throughout the large area encompassed
within the above boundaries, Bamboo jungles are a characteristic feature,
forming well-marked zones. In the sparsely timbered belts and in open Silver
Fir forests, Bamboo forms absolutely impenetrable thickets. The culms are
slender and grow some 10 to 12 feet tall. These plants are impatient of shade
from above and grow so thickly together as to starve out all undergrowth
and rival shrubs. The young shoots which continue to spring up from June
to end of September, according to altitude and species, are white within and
excellent eating. The Giant Panda shows Bood taste in confining his diet
mainly to this excellent vegetable!”
Dr. Hugo Weigold, who hunted this animal in central Szechwan in 1916,
writes (1923) that in the Sifan region he followed it in the same impenetrable
bamboo thickets, which often are compacted by the winter’s snows, so that
THE CARNIVORES 323
the trails followed run tunnel-like through them and vary in height from one
and a half to five meters. They are used by other large mammals as well,
the Black Bear, Leopard, Takin and Wild Pigs. Its food seems to be ex-
clusively the bamboo sprouts, not only the young shoots but also the larger
ones as thick as a man’s finger. He contradicts the testimony of the natives
as quoted by Wilson, for the local hunters do not believe that it hibernates,
since they find fresh droppings on the snow, and he himself saw similar signs
in early January. The composition of these is exclusively of bamboo fibers,
often an inch long, thoroughly crushed. In conversation, Dr. Weigold told
me that the native method of hunting is to set dogs on a fresh trail, and then
to follow as fast as possible, without a halt, until the animal is overtaken and
a shot obtained. He had on several occasions accompanied the hunters,
and though an athletic person, found the chase a most arduous one, up and
down over the roughest country and through tunnel-like trails in the dense
thickets, a pursuit calling for long and strenuous exertion. In much hunting,
the nearest he had come to a sight of the game was the appearance of waving
bushes as they closed behind a fleeing animal on the opposite side of a small
opening. The only living specimen seen was a suckling brought in by the
native hunters, but it was later killed. Notwithstanding his lack of success
in personally seeing the Giant Panda, Weigold secured several specimens
which are listed by Jacobi (1922, p. 3) as follows: (a) an adult male, Wassu
Mountains, skin and fore part of the skull; (b) an adult male from the moun-
tains east of the Min valley, skin and complete skull; (c) an adult male from
the Wassu Mountains, purchased, with the tip of the skull; (d) a skin only,
from the mountains near Min; (e) an adult female in thick winter pelage,
with skull, slightly injured at the occiput; (f) an immature skin from the
mountains east of the Min valley. Both these last had the white of the back
strongly tinged with reddish.
Apparently the first white hunter to secure a specimen is Col. Theodore
Roosevelt, who, with his brother Kermit, came upon the track of one in the
snow, followed it up, and finally overtook and shot the animal. This specimen
and a second obtained from the local hunters, now form a splendid group in
the Field Museum of Natural History at Chicago. A brief account of this
was published with a photographic illustration by Osgood (1931), and the
Roosevelt brothers have also, in their book (1929) describing their journey,
given an interesting picture of the experience. In a briefer account, Kermit
Roosevelt (1930) tells of the habits and recounts their successful hunt, in
which the specimen was secured at a place in the Lolo country, near Yehli,
some two hundred miles northwest of Ningyuan (not far distant from Tat-
sienlu).
All these accounts agree in limiting the distribution of the species to the
324 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
central parts of Szechwan, at high altitudes in the bamboo forest. The balance
of evidence is against its hibernating; but it apparently lives throughout the
year on bamboo shoots which its powerful jaws and broad, flattened teeth are
admirably adapted for crushing. It is altogether one of the rarest and most
interesting of the larger carnivores, although now represented in most of the
larger museums. Quite recently, the Brooke Dolan Expedition secured three
for the Academy of Natural Sciences at Philadelphia, to form an exhibition
group, and there is a mounted specimen in the new public museum at Shanghai.
Again, in the latter part of 1934, an expedition led by Mr. and Mrs. Dean
Sage, Jr., shot a fine specimen for the American Museum of Natural History,
and were able to preserve not only the skin and skeleton but portions of the
soft parts as well, so that ere long the anatomy should be better known.
They hunted in an area west of Tsochow on the Min River, Szechwan. [Since
the foregoing account was written, a paper on the soft parts of this specimen
has been published by H. C. Raven (1936), in which he shows that they re-
semble the corresponding structures of the Small Panda (Ailurus) rather than
those of bears. In addition, W. G. Sheldon (1937), a member of the Sages’
expedition, has published a brief account of its habits as gathered from his
hunting experiences. |
Specimens examined:—In addition to two mounted specimens in the Field
Museum, two mounted and one skull (Min River) in the British Museum,
and one mounted in the Tring Museum, all from Szechwan, I have more
particularly examined a skin and skull from Hotzegou, and another from west
of Chengtu, Szechwan (M.C.Z.), and a skull in the museum of the Academy of
Natural Sciences of Philadelphia.
Family URSIDA
BEARS ~
With the elimination of the Giant Panda from the bear family, the group
is a fairly homogeneous one, characterized externally by the stocky form,
very short tail, the rather lengthened muzzle, and the presence of five strongly
clawed digits on each foot. The hind feet are plantigrade, the fore and hind
limbs both rather short and stout. In the skeleton, the bones of the forearm
are free as are those of the lower hind leg, and there is considerable power of
rotation in the forearm. The teeth, especially the posterior ones, are modified
for crushing by their broad and nearly flat crowns in which the cusps are
without cutting edges. There is no specialization of the last upper premolar
and first lower molar as sectorial teeth.
This family is rather typical of the Palearctic region, with an aberrant
member in the Andes of South America, and one or two others as the Sun
Bear (Melursus) and the little Malayan Bear (Helarctos) in the tropics of
THE CARNIVORES 325
southern Asia. They are rather variable in the skull characters, according
to age, sex, and individual, these differences often being noticeable in specimens
from the same region, and due perhaps to individual peculiarities in growth.
There has been a recent tendency to exaggerate these and to recognize as
distinct species, animals that in life would not be distinguishable by charac-
ters of an obvious nature. Bears are animals that can travel far and readily,
so that it seems unreasonable to believe that they break up into very local
races in small areas. No doubt it will be long before a general agreement is
reached as to the generic and specific limits of the described forms, but a con-
servative treatment is here adopted, and only four different species of bears
are recognized as occurring within the limits of China and Mongolia. These
represent three genera which may be known from the following key:
KeEy TO THE GENERA OF CHINESE AND MONGOLIAN URSID&
A. Muzzle lengthened, the length of the nasals exceeding the width across the first
MONET O LATS wSIZEMATOCSL a sereye- sabe ete b Al -\-.celeicyenalsavact ake shovels v7 i) a i S Me re) . a 3
a. 2 ey $ =A g 2 2 BE = 3
: Bn. area aA A sLaacheoh, SMe § Bap Ne 8
3 S) Ss) a a 8 = Ee OF s es
“N. CHINA’ (type) 408 378 198 — 245 202 52.0 78 37.0x20.0 90
MONGOLIA 2370 eI SSeia LZ eeio! ee 48.8 75 35-3x18.5 82.5
TATSIENLU (type of
U. macneillt) —_— —-—-_— $s —':S - — «258 ~2— -.— 66 33.0x18.0 —
Nomenclature:—Lénnberg is doubtless correct in assigning Gray’s name
U. lasiotus to the larger black bear that occurs in western China and Mongolia.
While from time to time various names have been applied to these and other
eastern bears, very little critical work with comparable specimens has been
done to see if more than one race is represented, but instead ‘‘new’’ forms have
been named on very slight basis, and so inadequately described that it is
difficult to tell what animal is meant or what the real characters are. Sowerby
(1920a) regards U. lasiotus as unidentifiable, but since the type is still in the
British Museum, this should hardly be the case. Loénnberg has shown that
this large black bear is to be considered distinct from the paler Kamchatkan
bears, U. piscator, while Sowerby has even urged its generic distinctness, on
the ground of the long narrow skull with high forehead, assigning to it the
name Speleus Brookes. Heude (1901) erected the new genus Melanarctos
for what is apparently a bear of the same type from Manchuria. Sowerby has
given a good description of one of these bears, under Heude’s specific name
M. cavifrons, shot at a locality in northern Kirin, a very large specimen, the
skull of which was 16 inches long (404 mm.). The animal was estimated to
weigh 600 pounds. I would refer to the same species the bear named by
Lydekker (1909b) Ursus torquatus macneilli, on the basis of a skin and skull
from the mountains of Szechwan, regarded by him as part of Tibet. The
330 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
description is somewhat unfortunate, in that the letters designating the skulls
are transposed and the comparative notes refer to the wrong skulls. The
skull as shown with two of the Euwarctos type, is long and slender, while the
figures of the teeth have unequivocally the extra cusp in the inner valley of
m, and the two posterior cusps in the same transverse row. The large size
of the teeth as compared with Euarctos thibetanus, the broad rounded heel
of the upper posterior molar, and the narrowness of the muzzle across the
first upper molar, all go to show that instead of being a large male of the
E. thibetanus type, this specimen was an immature of the U. lasiotus group,
in which the basal suture is still widely open. No doubt Lydekker was misled
by the close similarity in the black pelt with brown nose, although he especially
mentions that the skin ‘‘which is in winter coat, differs from that of any
Himalayan specimens of U. torquatus that have since come under my notice—
and I have handled a good many—by the greater length and softness of the
hair.”’ [Since the foregoing note was written, Pocock (1932a) has independ-
ently reached the same conclusion, that U. lasiotus is a race of U. arctos. He,
however, states that Ursus macneilli is a synonym of E. thibetanus mupinensis,
a conclusion somewhat different from my own, but possibly the correct one.]
Occurrence and Habits:—This larger black bear no doubt once had a wider
range than now, probably over much of the wooded part of North China to
Szechwan. Gray’s specimen, taken about sixty-five years ago in northern
China, may well have come from somewhere in Hopei; and the specimen de-
scribed by Lydekker as U. t. macneilli may represent nearly the southward
bounds of the present-day range, some distance to the westward of Tatsienlu,
Szechwan. Sowerby has hunted what is doubtless the same animal in northern
Manchuria, while to the north of the Gobi, Lénnberg records a more recent
specimen from ‘Northern Mongolia.” Perhaps this is the “Horse Bear’
of Chinese literature and tradition. Sowerby says that it is fiercer in disposi-
tion than the smaller black bear, and prone to attack a man at sight. He
even relates an instance in which a hunter was killed and partly devoured by
a bear of what he regards as ‘‘Speleus cavifrons,”” but which may really be
only this same species occurring in the Manchurian forests.
Specimens examined:—One (B. M., the type), from “North China.”
Genus Euarctos Gray
Euarctos Gray, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1864, p. 692 (as subgenus of Ursus). Merriam, Proc. Biol. Soc.
Washington, vol. 10, p. 65, 1896 (as subgenus of Ursus). Pocock, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. 9, vol. 1,
p. 384, 1918 (as a genus).
Ursus Linnzus, Syst. Nat., ed. 10, vol. 1, p. 47, 1758 (in part).
Selenarctos Heude, Mém. concern. 1’Hist. Nat. de 1l’Emp. Chin., vol. 5, pt. I, p. 2, 1901.
Tremarctos Pocock, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1914, p. 932 (in part).
Arcticonus Pocock, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. 8, vol. 20, p. 129, 1917.
There has been much confusion in regard to the characters and species
THE CARNIVORES 331
of the Black Bear groups of Asia and America. Gray was apparently the
first to subdivide the genus Ursus into subgenera, and in 1864 erected for the
American Black Bears the subgenus Euarctos, type Ursus americanus, briefly
characterizing the group as follows: ‘Fur short, uniform. Front claws
moderate, not much longer than the hind ones. Hind feet short. Upper
tubercular moderately long, narrowed behind.’’ These characters Merriam
(1896) further elaborated in his preliminary synopsis of American bears, by
pointing out the more important differences in the teeth, namely: (1) the
form of the first lower molar (m;) in which there is ‘‘a broad, open, flat space
or step on the inner side between the middle and posterior cusps (metaconid
and entoconid), which is never present in the Brown and Grizzly bears,”
in which this notch is occupied by one or more smaller cusps; (2) the posterior
cusps (hypoconid and entoconid) of this tooth ‘‘are nearly opposite,” 7. e.,
in the same transverse plane, in the Grizzlies and ‘‘very oblique” in the Black
Bears; (3) the last lower premolar (pm,) lacks any accessory cusps on its inner
side, lacks any median sulcus on its posterior face, has no ‘‘inner limiting ridge,
and is uniformly much smaller’; (4) the last upper premolar (pm‘) lacks
all trace of a posterior accessory cusp; and (5) the last upper molar (m?) is
abruptly narrowed on the outer side behind the second outer cusp. In Igor,
Pére Heude again took up the matter of dividing the genus Ursus, and pro-
posed for the Asiatic Black Bears related to U. thibetanus, the generic title
Selenarctos, of which he at the same time named two additional ‘‘species.”’
Sowerby (1920a) formally designated as the type of this genus, Ursus thibetanus.
Meanwhile, Pocock (1914), approaching the subject from the point of view
of the external characters, divided the bears into five genera, and included in
the genus Tremarctos, the Asiatic Black Bears and the Spectacled Bear of the
South American Andes, and placed the Euvarctos group in Ursus. Three years
later, however, he receded from this position and erected the genus Arcticonus
for Ursus thibetanus, the chief characters of which are said to be that the area
between the digital and palmar pads is overgrown with hair except behind
digits 1 and 5, where the naked area is continuous with the palmar pad and
the latter itself is confluent with the carpal pad by means of an area of thinner
hairless skin. He states that Ewvarctos has the essential characters of rhinarium,
lips and ears as in Arcticonus, though the ears are smaller, while the feet in the
former are less specialized in having the carpal pad small and separate from
the palmar, and the deep hairy indentation in the plantar pad of the hind foot
is more marked. I have carefully compared specimens of the American Black
Bear with those of the E. thibetanus group and find that the supposed naked-
ness of the skin connecting the palmar pad with the digital pads of the first
and fifth digits does not hold, for the usual condition in both bears is to have
the bases of all the fingers haired. The absolute identity of the tooth structure
332 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
in the two as compared with the Brown and Grizzly Bears leaves only the
matter of size differences and the more advanced state of the development
of the pads for specific characters. The confluence of the carpal and palmar
pads in the E. thibetanus group and their separateness in the American Black
Bear, may indicate that the former is in a more advanced condition of de-
velopment and that the American species is more primitive; or possibly the
larger size of the pad, through the confluence of these two elements, is in part
a result of the greater size and weight of the Asiatic species, tending to the
development of a larger area of support with more ground-living habits.
Another point in which the Asiatic Black Bear resembles the American, and
differs from the Brown and Grizzly groups, is in the shortened muzzle. This
character, which has not apparently been emphasized heretofore, is well
brought out by measuring the median length of the nasal bones and comparing
this distance with the width across the outer sides of the first upper molars.
In the American Black Bear and the Asiatic E. thibetanus, the distance from
the anterior end of the nasals to their posterior median termination is about
equal to the width outside the front end of the first upper molars, whereas
in the Brown and Grizzly Bears the nasal length is much greater than this
distance, indicating a relatively longer and narrower rostrum, a difference that
may not always strike the unaided eye, on account of the difference in size
and zygomatic width in bears of different ages. This short-snouted character
will, however, serve to separate the two groups easily, so far as the series of
skulls I have examined may show.
Since there is, therefore, perfect resemblance in every important detail
of tooth structure and of external appearance, except in the greater develop-
ment of the palmar pad in the Asiatic species, I cannot see any course but to
regard the bears of the thibetanus group as congeneric with Euarctos. To
place them in different genera is to rely on characters that separate them
specifically only, as well as to obscure very obvious relationships that are of
value in tracing the derivation of the faunal elements of northern Asia and
North America. It is, therefore, clear that Euarctos should include as well the
Asiatic species, E. thibetanus. No doubt a considerable amount of confusion
has resulted from the fact that Asia is likewise the home of other black bears
of the typical genus Ursus, but these, although superficially like the Euarctos
group, may be recognized easily by the tooth characters as well as by the fact
that the nasal length much exceeds the width across the front of the first
upper molars.
It is still a question how many recognizable races of this bear occur in
China. Of those described, the characters given for most do not seem to be
distinctive, and so far as the specimens I have seen go, there are no good
grounds for recognizing more than the two races here described.
THE CARNIVORES 333
160. Euarctos thibetanus thibetanus (G. Cuvier)
TIBETAN BLACK BEAR
Ursus thibetanus G. Cuvier, Ossemens Foss., vol. 4, p. 325, 1823.
Ursus tibetanus F. Cuvier, in Geoffroy and Cuvier, Hist. Nat. des Mammiféres, vol. 3, pt. 41, pl. and 2 pp. text,
1824. Swinhoe, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1870, p. 621.
Ursus torquatus Wagner, in Schreber, Saugthiere, Suppl., vol. 2, p. 144, pl. 141D, 1841. Lydekker, Proc. Zool.
Soc. London, 1909, p. 610.
Selenarctos mupinensis Heude, Mém. concern. l’Hist. Nat. de 1’Emp. Chin., vol. 5, pt. 1, p. 2, 1901. Sowerby,
Journ. Mammalogy, vol. I, p. 219, 1920.
Selenarctos leuconyx Heude, Mém. concern. l’Hist. Nat. de 1’Emp. Chin., vol. 5, pt. 1, p. 2, 1901.
Ursus thibetanus macnetlli G. M. Allen, Mem. Mus. Comp. Zool., vol. 40, p. 239, 1912 (not Ursus macneilli
Lydekker).
Tremarctos thibetanus Pocock, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1914, p. 932.
Arcticonus thibetanus Pocock, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. 8, vol. 20, p. 129, 1917.
Selenarctos thibetanus Sowerby, Journ. Mammalogy, vol. 1, p. 218, 1920.
Ursus clarki Sowerby, ibid., p. 226 (based on Selenarctos leuconyx Heude).
Selenarctos thibetanus wulsint A. B. Howell, Proc. Biol. Soc. Washington, vol. 41, p. 115, 1928.
Selenarctos thibetanus mupinensis A. B. Howell, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., vol. 75, art. I, p. 21, 1929. Pocock,
Journ. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc., vol. 36, p. 121, 1932.
Selenarctos thibetanus thibetanus Pocock, tbid., p. 111.
Type specimen:—The name Ursus thibetanus is based on the quoted
account of a Black Bear of intermediate size between the small Helarctos
malayanus and the Sloth Bear, transmitted to the Cuviers by Duvaucel, who
states that it was first found by Wallich in Nepal, and later by Duvaucel
himself in Sylhet. This bear was figured by F. Cuvier in livraison 41 of the
“Mammiféres’”’ bearing date May, 1824, under the title ‘“Ours du Thibet,’’
but the name was published by his brother Georges the year before. The
type locality may then be taken as Nepal, at that time regarded as an outlying
portion of the Tibetan country. There is, therefore, no type specimen as such.
Description:—Hair of neck and shoulders longer than on body, forming
a sort of ruff. In the fore feet the carpal pad is broadly united with the
palmar, the digital pads separated from the latter by hairy areas; in the hind
feet there is no hairy reéntrant on the inner side of the plantar pad which
broadly covers the sole behind the digits. Color of the upper lip and muzzle
about as far back as the eyes, dull tan; a prominent white crescentic mark of
variable extent on the fore part of the chest, and a variable amount of white
at the chin; sometimes a tuft of whitish hair on the feet at the front edge of
the main pad. Elsewhere shining black.
The skull of the Himalayan Black Bear is readily distinguished from that
of other Asiatic bears by the shortened rostrum, so that the length of nasals
taken with dividers on the median line is practically the same as the width
across the outer sides of the first upper molars, at their front end. The skull
differs from that of the American Black Bear in that the occipital part is
slightly more developed with heavier paroccipital processes. If the alveolar
line from canine to last upper molar is projected backward, it cuts the upper
334 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
edge of the glenoid cavity and the middle of the paroccipital process, whereas
in the American species it passes through the middle of the glenoid fossa and
usually falls below the level of the latter process. The peculiarities of the tooth
structure distinguishing these bears have been mentioned under generic
characters.
Measurements :—No flesh measurements or records of weight are at present
available for Chinese bears known to be of this species.
The cranial dimensions are from specimens in the American Museum repre-
senting the bear described as S. t. ‘‘wulsini,”’ as well as from others from locali-
ties to the west and south.
CRANIAL MEASUREMENTS OF EUARCTOS THIBETANUS
Width
across : 4
Condylo- Zygo- Mas- first Length Upper Lower
basal Basal Palatal matic toid upper. of tooth tooth
No. length length length width width molars nasals row Tow Locality
45292 150.0 190.0 110.0 126.5 Hopei
45293 248.0 233.0 136:0 145.0 115.0 —— —— _ 94.0 109.0 Hopei
57074 266.0 253.0 147.0 173.0 138.0 66.0 65.0 105.0 Hopei
57075 275.0 147.0 168.0 136.0 +~—— —— 102.0 117.0 Hopei
57076 258.0 243.0 135.0 170.0 134.0 —— ——_ 98.0 109.0 Hopei
11770 MCZ 263.0 150.0 195.0 164.0 67.0 63.0 108.0 120.3 Hupeh
5073 MCz 289.0 269.0 155.0 210.0? 155.0 71.0 69.0? 104.0 120.5 India
9.7.10.1 BM 274.5 249.0 139.0 175.0 144.0 65.8 60.5 95.0! 107.5!Szechwan
96.11.4.1 BM 244.5 218.5 120.5 134.5 117.5 61.0 57.6 90.5! 100.5!Szechwan
1 Front of canine to back of last molar.
Nomenclature:—The name Ursus torquatus is sometimes used for this bear,
following Blanford, who argued that since it was not known to occur in Tibet,
the name E. thibetanus was inappropriate, and should be replaced by the later
one. This, however, is inadmissible, and at the time the name was given, Tibet
was loosely used to include the bordering parts of India and China. The
original spelling is with the ‘‘h,’’ but this was omitted by F. Cuvier. In 1901,
Pére Heude, in a brief article on the bears of China, believed he could dis-
criminate four species of black bear related to E. thibetanus, occurring in eastern
Asia, and gave them new names with figures of the teeth but very meager
descriptions. One of these was Selenarctos mupinensis, from Muping, Szech-
wan, believed to be distinguished by the lack of the usual white chin spot, a
character that is so variable (as shown by the five skins from one locality in
Hopei secured by Dr. R. C. Andrews) that little reliance can be placed upon it.
Pocock, however, tentatively admits it as a subspecies. A second ‘‘species”’
Heude named Selenarctos leuconyx, based on a skull and the fore paws of a bear
from northern Shensi. The claws of these feet were white and the hair sur-
rounding them, as well as that on the under side of the digits, instead of blackish
THE CARNIVORES 335
brown as usual. The figures of the teeth given (Heude, 1901, pl. 2, figs. 3, 4, 8)
leave no doubt whatever that they pertain to the E. thibetanus type, and since
there is in these bears more or less white hair about the base of the toes, it is
most likely that the individual in question was more albinistic than usual,
which accounts for the saving of its fore paws. Nevertheless, Sowerby (1920,
p. 225), in reviewing Pére Heude’s work, referred the skull in question to typical
Ursus, and since Ursus leuconyx is preoccupied through its use in 1873 by
Severtzov for a large Altai species, he proposed the new name Ursus clarkt.
In 1928, A. B. Howell, acting perhaps on the suggestion of Sowerby that the
Black Bear of Hopei would prove to be an undescribed form, named as Selen-
arctos thibetanus wulsini a specimen from the Eastern Tombs, Hopei. After
careful comparison of the available material and descriptions, I am, however,
unable to find reliable marks of distinction, for the skulls of bears vary so much
in certain characters, as ‘‘somewhat broader”’ or in height or convexity of skull,
that these cannot be used as criteria. The amount of white on chest or chin, or
even on the feet is also inconstant, as often with white markings. Moreover,
bears are mammals that travel over a considerable area and probably do not
divide into geographical races as readily as do smaller or more sedentary species.
Until more reliable differences of a geographic nature are pointed out, it does
not seem advisable to recognize more than the one species in China. In his
recent review of the bears of Asia, Pocock (1932a) tentatively uses the name
ussuricus of Heude in a subspecific sense to include the black bear of North
China.
Occurrence and Habits:—Speaking broadly, the Himalayan Black Bear ex-
tends over the rough wooded country of China from Hopei and Shansi south to
perhaps the Yangtze basin and west to the borders of Kansu and Tibet. In
southern China, there is evidence that it is represented by a smaller subspecies.
No doubt in former times its range was nearly uninterrupted over this wide
area, but at the present time, through human occupation and the destruction of
forests, it is much restricted. Its presence in the forests of the Tungling
region was reported by Sowerby in 1920 and later confirmed by the securing of
specimens from there by Dr. R. C. Andrews and Dr. F. R. Wulsin. The same
or a closely allied animal is common in parts of Manchuria and Korea (whence
the Museum of Comparative Zoélogy has specimens indistinguishable from
Chinese examples). With the rapid destruction in recent years of the forests
in the old Imperial Hunting Grounds of the Eastern Tombs area, the Hopei
bears may ere long be exterminated. Heude has recorded this species from
northern Shensi, but Sowerby (1920a, p. 215) has pointed out that the locality
whence came the specimen he named Selenarctos leuconyx (Paoki or Paochi) is
not as he supposed in northern Shensi, but to the west of Sianfu; at the foot
of the Taipai Shan, in the Tsingling Range. The specimen is still in the
336 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
Sikawei Museum at Shanghai. Dr. R. C. Andrews also secured a specimen
here in November, 1921, a subadult female, but quite typical of E. thibetanus.
This bear also occurs to the south, for W. R. Zappey secured a skull in Hupeh,
in 1907-8, that is now in the Museum of Comparative Zodlogy. Bears must be
very rare in the more thickly settled parts of North China, but Swinhoe (1870c,
p. 621) procured a specimen at Chefoo, Shantung, supposed to have come from
that vicinity, and Sowerby (1920a, p. 215) is authority for its presence in
Chekiang. It occurs in the mountain forests of southern Kansu, and south-
ward over Szechwan and westward to the borders of Tibet. How far south it
may go remains to be shown, but A. B. Howell (1929, p. 21) records the skin
and skull of a cub from Suifu, Szechwan, referring it ‘‘on geographic grounds”’
to the supposed subspecies mupinensis, and there is a specimen in the British
Museum from Mekong valley, Siam. Weigold (1923) writes that on the bor-
ders of Tibet, about Batang, in western Szechwan, the people distinguish two
kinds of Black Bear, a larger and a smaller. No doubt the latter is the present
species, the former a species of true Ursus (probably pruinosus). He says that
they are found everywhere, in the mountain forests, from 1,300 to 3,400 meters
altitude, to the upper limit of timber, but not quite so high in the vicinity of
Sungpan, where he saw a young one the size of a spitz-dog; a second in Wassu-
. land; a female in September in the Min valley above Kwanhsien. Others were
seen by missionaries near Tatsienlu, again near Batang, in the valley of the
upper Yangtze, and in thick forest near Samando. The native method of
hunting is with dogs. This bear is said to hibernate, but very little seems to be
definitely known of its habits. According to native report (Wallace, 1913,
p- 195), mating takes place after coming from hibernation; in western China,
they go into winter quarters in September after the first fall of snow, and the
young are born, as with the American Black Bear, in winter, the mother on
emerging in spring being accompanied by a cub two or three months old.
Specimens examined:—Nine, as follows:
China:
Hopei: Eastern Tombs, 4.
Shensi: base of Taipai Shan, I.
Hupeh: 1, skull (M.C.Z.).
Szechwan: Lunganfu, 1 (B.M.); loc.? 1 (B.M.).
Siam: Mekong valley, 1 (B.M.).
161. Euarctos thibetanus melli (Matschie)
HAINAN BLACK BEAR
Selenarctos melli Matschie, in Mell, Arch. f. Naturgesch., vol. 88, sect. A, no. 10, p. 34,1922. Mell, zbid., p. 16,
pl. 2, fig. 3.
Ursus tibetanus Swinhoe, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1870, p. 231 (in part).
THE CARNIVORES 337
Selenarctos thibetanus melli G. M. Allen, Amer. Mus. Novitates, no. 360, p. 3, 1929.
Type specimen:—In the brief description the number of the type is given
as 1549, probably the original number in R. Mell’s collection. No locality is
given by the describer, but, according to Mell’s account, the specimen was
taken in the Five-finger Mountains (Wuchih) of Hainan, and was said to have
been born in March, 1915. Mell acquired it when it was nine months old, and
it was killed at the age of three years and eight months. It was a male, now
presumably in the Berlin Museum.
Description:—This is apparently a smaller race of the Himalayan Black
Bear, but the original diagnosis gives no critical details, beyond the fact that
the color is black, and there is the usual white horseshoe mark on the chest.
The total length of the skin was 900 mm. I have regarded the South China
Black Bear as identical with that of Hainan, and have examined the skin and
skull of an old male with teeth much worn and sutures of the skull obliterated,
secured in Fukien by Mr. C. H. Pope. This skull is so much smaller than
those from northern and western China that it suggests a distinct race, pre-
sumably identical with the Hainan Black Bear. The skin, taken in April, is
shorter-haired than the winter skins from Hopei.
The skull is characteristic of the group, but is as small as that of an adult
female of the typical E. thibetanus. Its measurements are given herewith:
condylobasal length, 260 mm.; basal length, 243; palatal length, 128; zygo-
matic width, 176; mastoid width, 133; across front of first molars, 59.5; length
of nasals, 58.5; least interorbital width, 71.5; upper tooth row, 97; lower tooth
row, 114; last upper molar, 29 by 16.5; vertical width of jugal, 13.
Occurrence and Habits:—As long ago as 1870, Swinhoe (1870a, p. 231) re-
corded that he was shown in Hainan a shaggy black bear skin said to have been
killed on the island. He adds that bears are said to be shot with poisoned
arrows by the wild tribes of the mountains, and quotes a few paragraphs from
the Hainan Gazetteer on the curious beliefs of the natives as to their sucking
their paws, their eating of children, and the supposed seasonal migration of
the gall bladder to different parts of the body. ‘“‘About its heart there is
white fat like jade, the taste of which is extremely fine. . . . In winter the
bear lies torpid and does not eat.’’ Mell (1922) says of the specimen he had,
the one that later formed the type of this race, that it came as a cub from the
Five-finger Mountains (Wuchih) of Hainan, and was said to have been born
in March, 1915. He acquired it when it was nine months old and kept it alive,
during his residence in Canton, for nearly three years. During this time it
grew very little, and seemed to be stunted, as a result perhaps of captivity.
A photograph shows it tethered by a chain. It is very interesting to find a
representative of this northern group on Hainan, but it is in line with the
338 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
presence there of a mole (Mogera hainana), also a northern type of mammal.
A very young black bear cub was secured by Mr. Clifford H. Pope near Nam-
fong, Hainan, as well, thus proving conclusively that the species is still to be
found there. On the adjacent mainland, Black Bears cannot be very plentiful.
Mell (1922, p. 16) states that the Chinese and the missionaries agree that these
bears occur in the mountainous country west of Logdsong, a report which he
would have discredited had he not been told by La Touche of a freshly killed
black bear being taken through the streets of Foochow. The fine adult male
secured by Mr. C. H. Pope at Chunganhsien in Fukien Province further
confirms its presence in the wilder parts of southeastern China. Indeed, I
have recognized the subspecies on the basis of this specimen, which, in spite of
its age, with all cranial sutures obliterated, is yet much smaller than the more
northern males, and the fur is less thick. No adult specimen actually killed in
Hainan has been examined critically, so that the identity of the island animal
with that of the neighboring mainland is conjectural merely, though, judging
from the close similarity obtaining in island and mainland individuals of other
species, it is very probable that such identity will be confirmed in the case of
the bear.
Mr. Pope sends the following note: ‘‘Bears are by no means rare about
Kuatun, even though they are not often killed. The native hunters declare that
each range has its bear. . They are frequently guilty of damaging patches of
corn and are most often killed by guns or bows and arrows set over night at
openings in the bamboo fences constructed around corn patches. Almost un-
doubtedly bears occur around Yenping but there seems to be no specimen avail-
able by way of definite proof. The bear is universally called ‘hsiung’ in China.
Two kinds are generally mentioned, the ‘chu hsiung’ or pig bear, and the ‘kou
hsiung’ or dog bear. In the minds of most Chinese there is no definite dis-
tinction and the names have probably come down through literature. Some
of the Kuatun hunters, however, insist that the badger is meant by the latter
term. The ‘jin hsiung’ or man bear is often mentioned along with the others.”’
The specimen Mr. Pope secured in Hainan was brought in by the Loi hunters,
who seem to be the only ones to obtain them, for he was unable to find any
Chinese who had successfully hunted them in the island.
[Since the above account was prepared, Pocock’s excellent review of the
Old World bears has appeared. He is doubtful if the bear of South China is
really distinct from that of western China and suggests that if the small size
proves to be constant, it should be the same as formosanus of Formosa. He
erroneously gives the type locality of E. t. melli as Kwangtung, China.]
Specimens examined:—Two, as follows:
Fukien: Chunganhsien, 1.
Hainan: Namfong, 1 (cub).
THE CARNIVORES 339
Genus Helarctos Horsfield
Helarctos Horsfield, Zool. Journ., vol. 2, p. 221, pl. 7, 1825 (as subgenus of Ursus). Pocock, Ann. Mag. Nat.
Hist., ser. 8, vol. 20, p. 129, 1917.
Helarctus Gloger, Hand- u. Hilfsbuch Naturgesch., pp. xxviii, 53, 1841.
Ursus of authors (in part).
The great shortening of the snout in this bear is characteristic, resulting in
a contraction of the upper tooth row, and the loss of one of the small upper
premolars, apparently the second, so that the first is closely applied against the
postero-internal base of the canine, with its socket continuous with that of the
canine and not separated by a wall of bone (in the specimen available for com-
parison); the small pm? is lost, and pm? fills the space between the larger first
premolar and the still larger pm‘. A similar loss has taken place in the lower
jaw. Canines extremely stout and powerful, with a narrow compressed ridge
on their postero-external border. First upper molar nearly square, with its
two outer cusps subequal and much higher than the two inner. Last upper
molar slightly longer, with a contracted posterior heel. Zygomatic arch wide
but the jugal slender; a distinct sagittal crest present in old animals; paroc-
cipital process large, blunt, and produced downward; upper alveolar line if
extended backward cuts upper part of glenoid cavity and upper edge of audi-
tory meatus. Carpal pad wide, as in Black Bears, but ear shorter, narrower
and simpler, less expanded in upper part, its height from the supratragus to the
summit less than the greatest width. Rhinarium extending to the upper lip,
its lateral portions projecting beyond and concealing the septum in side view
(Pocock, 1917).
The small size, shortened snout, broad zygomata, steeply convex frontal
profile, enormous canines, and the reduced tooth formula (i. c.t pm.3 m.% = 38)
are distinctive of this well-marked genus, as well as the characters of the rhin-
arium pointed out by Pocock. It is peculiar also in its tropical habitat. A
single species inhabits southeastern Asia, perhaps barely reaching southern
Yunnan.
162. Helarctos malayanus wardi (Lydekker)
BRUANG
Ursus malayanus wardi Lydekker, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, for 1906, p. 997, text fig., 1907.
Helarctos malayanus Pocock, Journ. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc., vol. 36, p. 132, 1932.
Type specimen:—The type is specifically stated by Lydekker to be the
skull described and figured by him in the place above mentioned. The speci-
men was received from Rowland Ward, Ltd., of London, but no precise locality
was given. Presumably it came from southwestern Yunnan or Szechwan. It
is No. 6.12.16.1, British Museum. ~-
340 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
Description:—The distinguishing character of this race of the Bruang is
said to be its much longer hair than that of the Malayan animal. The skin
of a specimen from the same source was said to be wholly black, except for
the nose, which is ferruginous, the chin, which is grayish white, and the usual
patch at the throat of acream color. There is a possibility that the skin was,
however, not of the same specimen as the first of Lydekker’s two skulls.
The skull is said to be quite indistinguishable from that of the typical form.
Measurements:—The measurements of the type skull are: greatest length,
255.8 mm.; basal length, 220.5; palatal length, 127; zygomatic width, 201;
mastoid width, 171; width outside molars, 71.8; upper cheek teeth, 85.3; lower
cheek teeth, 99.
Occurrence and Habits :—The inclusion of this species in the Chinese fauna
rests perhaps upon somewhat insecure grounds. Lydekker in his original
account says that about 1905 a skull of a Bruang was received by the British
Museum from Rowland Ward, Ltd., of London, from some locality in eastern
Tibet or the northwestern provinces of China and that the skin of this specimen
had been mounted and sent to the Bergen Museum, Norway, by the same firm.
Later a second skull was received at the British Museum from the same
region, which Lydekker now states as Szechwan (1909b, p. 610). This second
skull was made the type (1907) of the new subspecies U. m. wardi, but, since
the skull characters are quite the same as those of the typical H. malayanus,
the sole differentiating trait lies in the longer hair, and even this Lydekker
thinks may be an error, for the description of the skin at Bergen seemed to
him possibly applicable to ‘‘Ursus torquatus’’ instead, implying that the skull
and mounted skin may not really be from the same animal! Nevertheless, he
gives the second skull the distinction of a new name, omitting to mention its
number or exact origin! Very likely the subspecies is not worthy of recogni-
tion. If these two specimens were from Szechwan, as Lydekker supposed,
then the distributional area must also include southern Yunnan in suitable
places. It certainly occurs in Tongking just south of the southern Yunnan
border, as Mr. H. J. Coolidge, Jr., tells me. Should more specimens confirm
the distinction of this bear from typical H. malayanus, it would still be neces-
sary to consider the earlier name given by Heude, H. annamiticus, whose
claims to recognition have yet to be shown.
More recently, Pocock (1932a), in reviewing the whole matter, sees very
little reason to suppose the skulls in question came from China, and places
H. m. wardi in the synonymy of Helarctos malayanus, a course which seems
quite justifiable, but in the lack of additional facts, the case may for the present
await more information.
Specimens examined:—One, the type, said to be from Szechwan (B. M.).
THE CARNIVORES 341
Family CANID
WOLVES, DOGS, AND FOXES
The Canidz comprise a number of carnivorous genera, in which the body
is adapted for running through its lightness and slenderness of limb, the
digitigrade feet, with rather strong but non-retractile claws, and the loss of the
entepicondylar foramen in the humerus. The tail is usually of moderate length
only, and heavily haired or bushy. The skull has a long muzzle; the canines are
well developed, though rather blunt, and the sectorial teeth, consisting of the
last upper premolar and the first lower molar, are adapted for shearing by the
enlargement of their main cusp and the compressed form of the blade. The
upper molars and the second and third lower molars are provided with tuber-
cular cusps for crushing, so that the complete set of teeth is decidedly heter-
odont, fitted for various functions. In the general structure of the skull, the
rounded bullz are conspicuous features as contrasted with the bears, and there
is usually present an alisphenoid canal. The appendix is of rather charac-
teristic form, attached to the side of the intestine, and more or less closely
coiled.
Five genera of Canidze are found in the Mongolian and Chinese area,
including wolf, fox, raccoon dog and wild red dog. These may be distinguished
by the following key:
KeryY TO THE GENERA OF CHINESE AND MONGOLIAN CANID
A. Lower molars, 3.
a. Size large, skull over 200 mm. long, teeth rather blunt.................. Cants
b. Size smaller, skull less than 200 mm.
a’. Muzzle slender, the distance from antorbital foramen to tip of incisors
much exceeding width across molars.
a’. Larger, skull length exceeding 125 mm......................05- Vulpes
b”-Smallers skullilengthilessithan w25imminc. 4% 6). ct ele bee Cynalopex
b’. Muzzle shorter, the distance from antorbital foramen to tip of incisors _
equaling. the widthiacrossjmolarstjis: 6 sate: tayatee «leas cle tata teens Nyctereutes
Be Lowermolars v2. form dog-like: color Ted), \.)2.ie er e+.
3 5. 48) ose E) .d.lpEsth eases
N. procyonoides procyonoides
38326 117.0 I12.0 61.0 66.0 41.5 42.4 40.0 36.3 47.0 54.0 o Kiangsu
57113 113.5 106.0 58.0 63.0 41.0 41.5 41.0 36.0 44.0 51.0 o Shansi
57115 114.0 109.0 58.5 62.0 40.0 40.5 38.5 35.0 47.2 52.0 o Szechwan
60193 108.5 103.3 56.0 59.0 41.5 39.0 38.0 34.6 43.2 50.0 co Fukien
84434 114.0 109.0 58.0 64.0 41.5 40.5 36.6 35.5 46.0 52.0 o Fukien
84435 108.0 103.0 57.0? 58.0 39.0 39.3 —— 34.3 44.0 50.0 co Fukien
84437 III.0 104.8 58.0 68.5 41.0 41.5 37.7. 37:0 45.5 52.0 oc Fukien
84438 III.5 106.0 57.8 62.3 38.5 39.5 38.0 34.0 43.4 50.0 co Fukien
59323 106.0 56.5 62.3 41.5 43.0 41.3 34.3 41.3 51.8 co Fukien
. Average 112.2 106.5 57-7 62.7 40.6 408 38.8 35.2 44.9 51.4
43140 110.0 104.3 55.8 63.0 43.0 41.6 38.0 35.0 44.0 51.0 @ Fukien
45333 106.3 I01.0 52.2 59.0 39.3 38.5 34.8 35.0 42.6 48.6 92 Fukien
59322 104.0 98.0 52.0 59.5 39.0 39.0 32.5 33.0 41.0 47.0 @ Fukien
58370 113.0 107.0 58.2 64.3 42.0 39.6 40.0 35.2 45.3 52.3 9 Szechwan
60123 110.0 105.0 57-5 63.0 41.8 41.2 39.6 34.5 44.2 47.3 9 Fukien
84342 110.0 104.5 57-4 60.0 39.5 40.6 38.3 34.5 45.5 51.2 9 Szechwan
84436 109.0 106.0 58.0 65.7 41.7 42.0 39.5 33.8 43.5 49.5 @ Fukien
57340 106.2 101.3 55.4 61.0 38.0 38.3 39.0 33.5 44.5 49.5 @ Hunan
Average 108.0 103.3 55.8 61.9 40.5 40.1 37.7 34.3 43-8 49.5
N. procyonoides orestes’
43142 106.0 100.5 53.0 57.0 38.0 32.0 36.8 360 41.0 48.7. co Yunnan
43143 108.5 102.6 56.3 58.0 40.0 32.5 40.2 36.0 43.2 48.5 92 Yunnan
348 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
Nomenclature:—Nyctereutes is nearly allied to Alopex, the Arctic Fox, but
the tail is shorter, muzzle less elongate, the four anterior upper incisors in a
nearly transverse row, the two outer incisors separated by a slight space and
set posterior to the others. The brain case is more roughened. Brass, in 1904,
named as JN. sinensis the Nyctereutes of the Yangtze valley, but Matschie very
properly considered this a synonym of N. procyonoides, though at the same
time naming JV. stegmanni from a specimen from Chinkiang, on the ground
of slightly larger size and certain color differences, which are, however, indi-
vidual rather than specific. With more abundant material than Matschie had,
I do not see any way in which the Yangtze or other specimens from southern
China can be subdivided, a conclusion previously reached by Jacobi (1922).
Whether or not those from North China are slightly different has not yet been
ascertained because of lack of specimens, but it may be that they are inter-
mediate in size or other characters between the animal of southern China,
typical NV. p. procyonoides, and the one to which Matschie has given the name
N. ussuriensis. There is a very wide range in color among individuals of this
species from the same general locality, with even albinistic and melanotic
or often wholly yellowish specimens, so that subdivision into local races on
skin characters alone is difficult.
Occurrence and Habits:—This is a common animal in parts of China, par-
ticularly in Chekiang, Kiangsu, and Kiangsi, in the eastern part, as well as
farther south in Fukien. According to Brass, his experience as a fur dealer
led him to the conclusion that those from the three provinces first named are
better furred than those from higher up the Yangtze valley in Hunan, Hupeh,
or Anhwei. It is much used in fur. Mell, writing in 1922, states that until
1914 it was common in the Canton markets, and wild individuals even came
to the edge of the city, but that since then he had not seen any, perhaps as a
result of frequent and disastrous floods. It seems to be of less common occur-
rence in northern China. Sowerby (1923g, p. 47) writes that it is less an
animal of the forest than of the grassy and willow-grown flats bordering the
larger rivers, and that it is found in the Tungling region east of Peiping. Large
numbers are exported for fur through Tientsin, that have been trapped farther
north in Amur or Manchuria. In addition to specimens from Fukien, Che-
kiang, and Kiangsu, the American Museum Asiatic Expeditions obtained it in
the Yangtze valley on the borders of Szechwan near Wanhsien, and A. B.
Howell (1929) has recorded two skins in the U. S. National Museum from
Suifu, in that province. The skin and skull from Lingcheng River, Shansi,
brought back by Dr. R. C. Andrews, is interesting for the locality, perhaps near
the northwestern bounds of the range. Mr. Clifford H. Pope, who secured
THE CARNIVORES 349
specimens near Futsing, Fukien, writes that it is not common there. He suc-
ceeding in digging out two from a hole in a thicket where a stream crossed a
thickly settled plain. The native name was given as ‘‘t’u kou” (ground dog).
Little seems to have been recorded of the habits of this species. Mell
(1922) corroborates Sowerby’s statement that it lives in thickets near water,
and adds that it feeds to some extent at least on fish, for he found fish in the
stomach of a dead specimen, and this food is taken readily by captive animals.
An animal in the London Zodélogical Gardens gave birth to a litter of seven
young on May 2, 1877 (Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1877, p. 530). Garrod (1878)
has published some account of the visceral anatomy.
Specimens examined:—In all, twenty-two, as follows:
Chekiang: Tunglu, 1.
Fukien: Futsing, 11; Foochow, 1; Yenping, 1 (skull).
Hunan: Yochow, 1 (skull).
Kiangsu: Chinkiang, I.
Shansi: Lingcheng River, 1.
Szechwan: Wanhsien, 3; Suifu, 1.
No exact locality, 1.
165. Nyctereutes procyonoides orestes Thomas
Nyctereutes procyonoides orestes Thomas, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. 9, vol. 11, p. 657, 1923.
Type specimen:—The type is a skin and skull of a female, No. 23.4.1.20,
British Museum, shot in the forest at about 10,000-12,000 feet, on the north-
west flank of the Likiang Range, Yunnan, China, by George Forrest.
Description:—A slightly paler race, very similar to that of southeastern
China, but differing chiefly in the gray instead of buffy tone to the paler por-
tions of the longer hairs, though there may be in some specimens a very slight
suffusion of buffy. The throat and feet are described as black in the type, but
in four other skins examined are brownish.
The skull of the type was said to differ in the nearly parallel condition of
the zygomatic arches, but this must have been somewhat abnormal, and an
individual aberration, since two skulls from the same area are indistinguishable
from those of the typical race.
Measurements:—The measurements of these two skulls are given in the
table under N. procyonoides. Thomas mentions also that the type specimen
had a third upper molar on the right side, a condition previously mentioned in
a specimen of the typical race from Fukien.
Occurrence and Habits:—This is a very slightly characterized form, if
350 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
indeed it may not eventually prove to be altogether indistinguishable from the
lowland animal of the east. The four skins from Likiang obtained by the
American Museum Asiatic Expeditions, however, agree in having a somewhat
grayer, less buffy general tone, and I have, therefore, regarded the form as pro-
visionally entitled to recognition. A.B. Howell (1929) has recorded a skin in
the U. S. National Museum from the Likiang plain. The range of the race is
thus far known to be only the Likiang region of western Yunnan.
Specimens examined :—Four, two with skulls, from Likiang, Yunnan.
Genus Vulpes Oken
RED FOXES
Vulpes Oken, Lehrbuch d. Naturgesch., vol. 3, pt. 2, p. 1033, 1816,
The typical foxes are slenderly built, graceful animals, with fairly large
ears, and long, thickly furred tail forming a “‘brush.’’ The chief characters
of the skull are the long and slender muzzle, in which the distance from the
antorbital notch to the tip is considerably more than the width across the
molars. The dorsal profile of the skull shows very little inflation of the sinuses
of the forehead, which is flattened and slopes gently to the lower plane of the
nasal region. The postorbital processes are low and flattened, slightly ex-
cavated above, their posterior corner continuous with the temporal ridges.
The interpterygoid fossa extends forward at least to the level of the last molars.
The upper incisors form a slightly curved row; the upper canines are very long
and slender, their tips reaching the level of the ventral border of the jaw when
the latter is closed. The premolar teeth are slightly more narrow and tren-
chant than in Canis, but the tooth formula is the same.
The Red Foxes are of wide distribution quite across the temperate regions
of Europe, Asia, and North America. Although a great number of local races
have been named over this vast area, it is nevertheless true that there is much
purely individual variation in color, so that characters of this sort are more
difficult to evaluate. In general, however, there is likely to be found a certain
correlation between paleness and aridity, richness of color and humidity, or
other differences with widespread factors of climate.
The type species is Canis ( = Vulpes) vulpes Linnzeus of Europe, represented
by closely allied subspecies in Mongolia and China.
166. Vulpes vulpes hoole Swinhoe
SOUTH CHINA RED FOX
Vulpes hoole Swinhoe, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1870, p. 631.
Vulpes lineiventer Swinhoe, ibid., p. 632. ‘
THE CARNIVORES 351
Vulpes alopex Buechner, Bull. Acad. Imp. Sci. St. Pétersbourg, vol. 34 (new ser., vol. 2), p. 102 (Mélanges
Biol., vol. 13, p. 148), 1892.
Vulpes aurantioluteus Matschie, Wiss. Ergebn. d. Exped. Filchner nach China u. Tibet 1903-05, vol. 10, pt. 1
p. 168, 1908.
Vulpes ferrilatus eckloni Jacobi, Abh. u. Ber. Mus. f. Tier- u. Vélkerk., Dresden, vol. 16, no. I, p. 6, 1922.
Vulpes huli Sowerby, Naturalist in Manchuria, vol. 2, p. 44, 1923.
Vulpes vulpes aurantioluteus A. B. Howell, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., vol. 75, art. I, p. 24, 1929.
Type specimen:—The type skin of Swinhoe’s Vulpes hoole as well as that
of his V. lineiventer are both preserved in the British Museum. The former,
No. 62.12.24.6, is from the plains country near Amoy, Fukien, China, and the
latter from the hills at no great distance from the same locality. They repre-
sent color variations of the same species, and since V. hoole is first in his list of
names, it is given precedence.
Description:—In general color, this fox much resembles the European
species, but the sides and especially the thighs are more mixed with gray and
the fore feet usually have less black, while the red tones are less fulvous but
duller chestnut; the tail has the chestnut more confined to the upper surface,
while the lower side is buffy white, the long hairs tipped with black. Color
below, white to gray or even with a decided pinkish tinge. Asa rule the clear
chestnut area is confined to a rather narrow median stripe with ill-defined
boundaries, becoming more rufous on the tail. The flanks are bright och-
raceous, frosted with gray-tipped hairs which especially predominate on the
sides of the haunches. A blackish area on the sides of the muzzle may be well
developed, or very indistinct, or again wanting altogether; the black stripe on
the front of the fore leg is usually narrow, bordered by rufous, but may be
broad enough to cover the entire front of the leg and extend up on the shoulders.
In dark specimens the throat and belly are suffused with slaty where the dark
bases of the hairs show through, and in one skin the wearing away of the white
tips of the hairs results in an indistinct blackish collar. Usually a narrow line
of clear bright ochraceous runs along the sides bordering the paler color of the
belly, which is usually white with grayish under fur. Occasionally the whole
under side of the body is pinkish buff. The opposite variation is seen in speci-
mens in which the whole belly is blackish, but this is less common. It was a
specimen of this sort that formed the type of Swinhoe’s V. lineiventer. A skin
from Yunnan (Likiang) is slightly melanistic, in that the fore and hind feet are
black and the entire tail is much darkened with the same; the back is deeper
fulvous than usual.
Measurements:—Few measurements of fresh specimens are available. A
female from Maitaichao, Shansi, measured in the flesh as follows: total length,
1,003 mm.; tail, 387; hind foot, 150; ear, 94.
352 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
CRANIAL MEASUREMENTS OF VULPES VULPES HOOLE
Upper Lower
Condylo- Pala- Zygo- Mas- Width cheek cheek
basal Basal tal matic toid across teeth teeth
No. length length length width width molars c-m? c-m3 Sex Locality
59312 127.0 120.5 67.0 70.5 43.5 37-6 59.5 67.8 9 Fukien
59313 127:0 “'122:0° 67:5 "70.0 44:8 -'97.5 -'§9:.0* '67-0°"9 Hulden
59314 131.5 125.0 70.0 73.0 46.5 40.0 61.5 69.0 o& Fukien
60130 132.0... 127-3. 370.2, 77.0. AZO. 414, 61.38, 69.0. .¢' (Pubien
84400 69.0 70.2 — 39.5 62.0 70.2 2 Fukien
84401 129.5 125.0 68.5 73.0 45.0 39.0 60.5 68.2 92 Fukien
84402 140.0 134.0 74.0 —— 485 40.5 64.5 73.0 o Fukien
84404 138.0 75.0 78.5 47-5 41-5 64.0 73.5 co Fukien
57071 136.5 131.0 75.7 78.0 45.5 40.5 63.2 70.00 — Hunan
60098 136.0 130.0 72.0 69.0 44.0 36.0 63.8 71.5 — Szechwan
62.12.24.6 BM (type) 132.5 123.5 66.2 75.8 46.5 40.5 59.7 66.2 — Fukien
From the above measurements, it is seen that the males in the series from
Fukien (Futsing) average a few millimeters larger than the females.
Occurrence and Habits:—The Red Fox is found over the greater part of
China, but becomes rare and finally absent in the southern portions. Swinhoe
found it common about the bare granitic hills near Amoy. When pursued they
escape by springing from rock to rock with such agility as easily to out-
distance a greyhound, but on the plains they are more readily run down.
Swinhoe states that he has seen foxes on the island of Hongkong as well.
South of this general area they seem to be fewer or absent. Mell, writing
from Canton, does not mention their presence near there. Mr. Clifford H.
Pope secured a series at Futsing, in northern Fukien, and writes that they are
common here on the plains and among the open grassy hills and low mountains
of Futsinghsien, boldly roaming over the hills and through fields in the nu-
merous villages. These villages are commonly located at the base of the grassy
hills just above the irrigated plains where rice is grown, and the foxes come
down at night to prowl around in search of food. Specimens were easily ob-
tained by stationing men with guns in ravines above the villages and driving
the foxes with dogs back toward the hills. Inland from eastern China, the
Red Fox seems to be less common, though generally distributed. Dr. J. A.
Allen (1909a) recorded a specimen from Taipai Shan, Yumonko. Jacobi (1922)
mentions a skin secured at Ichang and another at Batang on the western
border. Matschie (1908) made a skin from Tatsienlu the basis of his Vulpes
aurantioluteus, but it does not appear to be sufficiently distinct for recognition,
A. B. Howell (1929) refers to it, however, a skin in the U. S. National Museum
from Suifu, Szechwan, and a second from the Min Shan of southern Kansu.
Weigold (1923) mentions seeing a Red Fox at Wa Shan, Szechwan, and
THE CARNIVORES 353
‘Thomas (1911d) has recorded a specimen secured near Sihohsien, southern
Kansu, the relationship of which he regards as “‘not clear.”’
Fox skins are in much demand for fur and many are sold in the markets.
It was from such a source that the type of Matschie’s V. aurantioluteus came,
so that it may not be possible to tell its exact locality. Mell speaks of ob-
taining a skin in Talifu, Yunnan, and apparently the handsome specimen
previously mentioned from Likiang was a native skin.
Little definite information seems to be on record as to the habits of the
Chinese Red Fox. It apparently thrives in close proximity to man, even in
country long cultivated, as about Tientsin and Futsing, possibly finding life
easier in such places than in the less-settled areas. Two very small pups were
secured at Futsing on January 5, 1926.
Specimens examined :—In all, twenty-five, as follows:
Chekiang: Tunglu, 1.
Fukien: Futsing, 16; Yuki, 1; Amoy, 1 (B.M. type); Foochow, 2 (B.M.).
Hunan: Yochow, I.
Szechwan: Wanhsien, Yenchingkou, 1.
Yunnan: Likiang, I.
No definite locality, I.
167. Vulpes vulpes tschiliensis Matschie
NORTH CHINA RED FOX
Vulpes tschiliensis Matschie, Wiss. Ergebn. d. Exped. Filchner nach China u. Tibet 1903-05, vol. 10, pt. 1,
Vulpes Tere Jacobi, Abh. u. Ber. Mus. f. Tier- u. Volkerk., Dresden, vol. 16, no. 1, p. 6, 1922.
Type specimen:—The type is a mounted skin, No. 5660, in the Berlin
Museum, in which the essential point of difference emphasized by the describer
was that the ears are dark brown instead of black. The specimen came from
Peiping, Hopei, China. A second skin from the same locality, Matschie
described as having the ears black as usual, so that the peculiarity of the type
may be an individual one, or the specimen may have become faded through
exposure to light. Nevertheless, although the color differences are admittedly
none, as compared with V. v. hoole, the skull seems to be larger, and on that
ground the race is here recognized.
Description:—Similar in color characters to the fox of South China,
Vulpes v. hoole, but size slightly larger as shown by the greater size of the skull.
Jacobi (1922) records a skin from Peiping as corresponding in all particulars
to the description of Matschie, but whether this implies brown ears or black
ears is not clear.
The skull of Chinese foxes is slightly smaller than in typical V. vulpes of
Sweden and the teeth are a trifle less in size. The large skulls of V. v. tschilien-
sis, however, seem to equal those of Europe.
354 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
Measurements:—Comparative measurements of the North China Fox are
not available except for those of the skull.
CRANIAL MEASUREMENTS OF VULPES VULPES TSCHILIENSIS
Upper Lower
Condylo- Zygo- Mas- Width cheek cheek
basal Basal Palatal matic toid across teeth teeth
No. length length length width width molars c-m? c-M3 Sex Locality
57070 159.0 , 154.0 (85.5 83:0, ‘50:0. 425. 72:5.) 80:0 — Hopei
MATSCHIE 157.0 — 84.9 48.8 421 — — — _ Hopei
MATSCHIE 156.0 m—- — 82.9 47.3 42.3 — — — _ Hopei
90.7.8.3 BM 150.5! 76.0 75.88 — 41.4 70.0 88.8 — Hopei
II.11.1.7 BM 157-5 146.5 79.1 84.1 50.0 44.5 69.7. 77.9 o& Shensi
II.11.1.8 BM 161.3 149.2 82.4 86.8 52.0 44.2 71.5 80.0 — Shensi
11.6.1.4 BM 149.0 140.5 74.8 81.5 49.5 41.0 68.8 75.5 o' Shensi
11.2.1.83 BM 148.5 137.0 75.0 75.7 48.0 40.5 66.5 75.5 9. Kansu
1 In this and the four following, this measurement is “‘greatest length,’’ which is about the same.
Occurrence and Habits:—The Red Fox of the vicinity of Peiping seems so
consistently larger of skull than that of South China, that Matschie was prob-
ably justified in separating it as a distinct form, though doubtless of subspecific
rather than specific rank. The dimensions of two skulls that he had from
Peiping agree with those of a third secured by Dr. Roy C. Andrews from the
same region. Jacobi (1922) has also recorded a Peiping specimen, but gives no
details beyond the statement that it corresponds with the original description,
except in having the tail a strong reddish brown or chestnut brown above with
a black ring about the basal fourth. That the species still persists about so
thickly settled and well-cleared a region as Peiping speaks again for the clever-
ness of the Red Fox. I have found little to indicate how far it extends to the
west and north, or if it occurs in any numbers, but Thomas (1908e) quotes the
observation of M. P. Anderson who noticed a family of foxes near Tabool, on
the edge of the Mongolian plateau: “‘they were evidently very shy, for on
seeing us one day they forsook the place and did not return.”’
On the basis of slightly greater size, as shown in the ‘‘condylobasal length”
measurement and others, the foxes of North China are tentatively referred to
this race, although the differences are not always very obvious, especially
when the sex and age of the specimen are unknown.
The records show that the range extends across northern China, through
at least southern Shansi and Shensi to southern Kansu (Thomas, IgI1Te, p. 688,
from Si Ho; Buechner, 1892, from Ssigu, Kansu). All these and others are
probably to be referred to V. v. tschiliensis, which is in turn so similar to the
European Red Fox that it is barely distinguishable. Indeed, Thomas (1908f)
refers three from Taiyuenfu, Shansi, to the typical form, while Hilzheimer
(1906), in recording a skin from Szechwan and two from Pingshiang, in the
THE CARNIVORES 355
Strassburg Museum, says that the skulls are hardly different from those of the
latter. Cabrera (1922) pointed out that the South China Fox is a very little
smaller and the dentition slightly weaker. Nevertheless, the differences are
so inconsequential that it is difficult if not almost impossible to separate
Chinese skins from European when placed together in the same series.
Specimens examined:—Ten, as follows:
Hopei: Eastern Tombs, 1; Peiping, 1 (B.M.).
Shensi: Fengsiang, 2, plus 3 (B.M.).
Kansu: north of Sihohsien, 1 (B.M.).
Shansi: Maitaichao, 2.
168. Vulpes vulpes ?karagan (Erxleben)
DESERT RED FOX
Canis karagan Erxleben, Syst. Regni Animalis, Mammalia, p. 566, 1777.
Vulpes vulpes karagan Satunin, Conspectus Mammalium Imp. Ross., p. 139, 1914.
Type specimen:—The name seems to have been based on Pallas’s descrip-
tion of the Karagan of the Kirghiz steppes, rather than on any specimen. As
Ognev points out, Mivart and others seem to have confused this with the
Corsac.
Description:—This is a pallid, desert form of the Red Fox, of a straw yellow
with rusty on the back, neck and shoulders, the paws straw yellow, with or
without black marking. The dark spot on the side of the nose may be hardly
defined, but instead rusty yellow. Ears black as usual.
CRANIAL MEASUREMENTS OF VULPES VULPES KARAGAN
Condylo- Zygo- Mas- Width Upper Lower
basal Basal Palatal matic toid across cheek cheek
No. length length length width width molars teeth teeth Sex Locality
57335 148 139 78.7 78 48.5 41.3 69 78.4 o Mongolia
Nomenclature:—The type locality of this fox is western Siberia, in the
Kirghiz steppes, obviously a long distance from Mongolia, yet on account of
the apparent similarity, so far as can be judged from descriptions, I have pro-
visionally referred the Red Foxes of the Gobi to this same race. Ognev, in
his recent (1926) review of the foxes of the Russian Empire, mentions a skin
collected by Kozlov hear Kiakhta and another from the steppes of southern
Transbaikalia that appear to be the same, at least he so regards them pending
more ample data to the contrary. The additional forms that he names,
V. v. ochroxantha from the Tian Shan, and V. v. jakutensis from south of
Yakutsk, do not seem to be very different.
Occurrence and Habits:—This is a pallid desert-living fox of the Gobi of
Mongolia. It is unfortunate that the few specimens taken are either so young
356 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
or in such a condition of wear that the characters are not well ascertainable.
The feet and noses of the adults, however, seem to be much paler in color than
in the foxes of South China.
Dr. R. C. Andrews writes that these foxes are not rare in the general
region about Loh. He saw two in ‘‘bad land’’ ravines, and at Tsagan Nor
shot one of two that evidently was stalking some ducks in the tall grass by
the water’s edge. No doubt, like so many other mammals of the Gobi, the
range extends to the westward through the dry country to western Siberia.
Specimens examined:—In all, four, as follows:
Mongolia: Tsagan Nor, 1 (adult skin and skull); Tsetsen Wang, 2 (immature); Loh, 1
(skull).
Genus Cynalopex Hamilton Smith
Cynalopex Hamilton Smith, Jardine’s Naturalist’s Library, Mammals, vol. 9, p. 222, 1839. Thomas, Proc.
Zool. Soc. London, 1929, p. 105.
Canis Radde, Reisen im Siiden von Ost-Sibirien, vol. 1, p. 67, pl. 3, figs. 2-7, 1862 (in part).
Vulpes Ognev, Ann. Mus. Nat. Hungarici, Budapest, vol. 23, p. 203, 1926 (in part).
The genus Cynalopex is not very sharply marked off from Vulpes, but, as
Thomas (loc. cit.) says, includes the Corsac and certain other small Asiatic
species as well as all the smaller foxes of Africa except the Big-eared Foxes
(Otocyon) and the Fennec (Fennecus). In its general build it is slender with
a tail proportionately long as in the Red Foxes (Vulpes), but the species are
all much smaller, with ears short and bullz large, the interorbital space rela-
tively broader and less concave, the temporal ridges in the adult uniting
posteriorly but extending forward in lyrate form; the muzzle is slender, the
distance from front of middle incisor to back edge of antorbital foramen
exceeding the width across the molars, but it is less elongate than in the Red
Foxes. In the upper incisors the lateral cusps are practically absent; the outer
incisor is separated by a slight space from the others and set somewhat posterior
to their line.
In giving the name Cynalopex, Hamilton Smith proposed it as a section of
Chaon, a subgenus of Canis. Thomas, in regarding it as of generic rank, did
not give any diagnostic characters, but named as genotype Canis corsac
Linnzus.
A single species occurs in the Gobi westward into the steppe country of
central and western Asia.
169. Cynalopex corsac (Linnzus)
CORSAC FOX
Canis corsac Linnzus, Syst. Nat., ed. 12, vol. 3, appendix, p. 223, 1768. Hamilton Smith, Jardine’s Naturalist’s
Library, Mammals, vol. 9, p. 222, pls. 16-18, 1839.
Vulpes corsac Ognev, Ann. Mus. Nat. Hungarici, Budapest, vol. 23, p. 203, 1926.
THE CARNIVORES 357
Cynalopex corsac Thomas, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1929, p. 105.
Type specimen:—None in existence. The type locality is taken as the
“steppes between the Ural and the Irtish’’ (Ognev, 1926).
Description:—Radde says that the coloration in winter coat is fairly
constant, the tips of the hairs over the back varying from pale rusty brown to
dull smoke brown on a ground color that may be slightly more reddish or more
brownish gray. Slightly longer hairs with pale tips are interspersed. Dark
mark at the side of the snout absent or only faintly indicated. Backs of ears
like the back instead of being black as in the Red Foxes, their inner side well
clothed with long white hairs. The outer sides of the limbs are rusty, their
inner surface, the side of the muzzle, throat, and belly white. Basal part of
tail like the back, the terminal half gray; the caudal gland is marked by a spot
of black near the middle of the tail, and there is no white tip.
Measurements:—Ognev quotes from Dinnick the following measurements:
total length, 750-950 mm. ; tail, 250-350; ear, 80; height at shoulders, 30.5.
CRANIAL MEASUREMENTS OF CYNALOPEX CORSAC
Condylo- Pala- Zygo- Mas- Width Upper Lower Orbit
basal Basal tal matic toid across cheek cheek to
No. length length length width width molars’ teeth teeth snout Locality
85021 118.0 113 — — 42.3 35-5 55.8 61.4 51. Gobi
RADDE 117.5 108 — 66 —_> Ss —_—-_—/- —_-_—- —_—_ — __— Gobi
Occurrence and Habits:—This little fox is an animal of the open steppes and
semidesert country from southern Transbaikalia westward to the Ural region.
Mollendorff (1876) says that it is common in Mongolia and occurs as far east
as the northwestern part of Hopei. Evidently, however, it is difficult to secure
in this area, for the Central Asiatic'Expeditions succeeded in procuring only a
skin and skull of a young individual at Shara Murun, and a picked-up skull in
the Gobi. At the northeastern edge of the Desert, Radde found it in the Tarei
Nor region and middle Onon valley, becoming rarer on the east and west
slopes of the Kentai and Apple Mountains. In the northern parts of its range
he says that it is partly migratory, moving south in winter, often in large
numbers. It is seldom seen by day, but spends that time sleeping in disused
marmot holes. In times of snow, the hunters track them to such burrows,
and set a snare at its mouth, which catches the fox when it emerges. Old
animals, however, may be so shy that on perceiving the snare they retire again
into the burrow rather than come out, and in some cases actually starve to
death, to be dug out next spring. Again, after a week or nine days, they will
often be forced out by hunger, and so are snared. Their food is said to be
chiefly small species of microtines and the mouse-hares (Ochotona).
Specimens examined:—Two only, a skull from the Gobi, and a juvenile
skin and skull from Shara Murun, Inner Mongolia.
358 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
Genus Cuon Hodgson
WILD RED DOGS
Cuon Hodgson, Ann. Nat. Hist., vol. 1, p. 152, 1838.
Cyon Agassiz, Nomenclator Zool., p. 113, 1846.
Anurocyon Heude, Mém. concern. l’Hist. Nat. de l'Emp. Chin., vol. 2, pt. 2, p. 102, footnote, 1892.
The Red Dogs are well characterized by their shortened muzzle, in which
the distance from front of incisors to outer edge of the antorbital foramen is
less than the width across the molars; by the incisor teeth forming a continuous
transverse row; while the lower molars are modified through the loss of the
third and great reduction of the second molar, whose crown area hardly equals
that of the heel of the first molar. The tail is relatively shorter than in Camis,
and the forehead hardly elevated. The second and third upper premolars
have each a small posterior cusp at the base in addition to the cingulum cusp.
The posterior upper molar is a small tooth with a crown area about as large
as that of the metacone of the molar in front, and of about equal size with the
posterior lower molar. j
There is some uncertainty as to the number of species of this genus
occurring in Asia. The latest authority, Wroughton, recognizes two in India,
but admits that they may grade into each other. For the present, I have
regarded the Wild Dogs of China as of a single species. The genotype is
Cants ( = Cuon) primevus Hodgson of Nepal, India.
170. Cuon javanicus lepturus Heude
Cuon lepturus Heude, Mém. concern. l’Hist. Nat. de l’Emp. Chin., vol. 2, pt. 2, p. 102, footnote, 1892.
Anurocyon clamitans Heude, loc. cit.
Canis aff. dukhunensis Mell, Arch. f. Naturgesch., vol. 88, sect. A, no. 10, p. 22, 1922.
Cuon alpinus Jacobi, Abh. u. Ber. Mus. f. Tier- u. Vélkerk., Dresden, vol. 16, no. I, p. 7, 1922.
Cuon primevus A. B. Howell, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., vol. 75, art. I, p. 24, 1929.
Lycaon pictus Shih, Bull. Dept. Biol., Sun Yatsen Univ., Canton, no. 8, p. I, 1930.
Type specimen:—Not known to be in existence. The type locality is
Poyang, south of the Yangtze, Kiangsi, China.
Description:—Size of a small wolf; color bright rusty rufous, the tail
slightly blackened and with a black tip; belly, throat and edge of upper lip
usually white, though in some specimens there is a slight suffusion of reddish
extending over the belly.
Four skins, two from western Yunnan and two from Fukien, are prac-
tically alike, of a deep rufous, paling on the belly, which is white in the center
in two of the specimens and in the others suffused with ochraceous rufous.
The tails are colored like the back, except that they are darkened by the black
terminal portions of the longer hairs which tend to form a black tip. The
feet are ochraceous rufous. The upper lip is narrowly white in three, but in
THE CARNIVORES 359
the fourth, which is an unusually dark-red animal, the lips, too, are dark
reddish, the throat only a little marked with white, and the belly rufous.
Measurements:—No flesh measurements are available. The dimensions of
skulls are given below.
CRANIAL MEASUREMENTS OF CUON
Greatest
length, Con-
occiput dylo- Pala- Zygo- Mas- Orbit Upper Lower
to basal Basal tal matic toid to cheek cheek
No. incisors length length length width width incisors teeth teeth Locality
43144 L7Ay 4 10455. $1504) =" LOIS) 464.0) ||, 67:05, 73-319 78:0) S¥annan
19566 Mcz C77 a Ul. Ou nn LOA O72) eLOONNG0.0 |) 73-0) e 74. Ome 7 O10) a unidia:
30382 MCZ 1079 163.0) ——— 53) 104.0) 58:5) 70:3) 70:8 77-2 Zech Wan
Nomenclature:—No one yet seems to have studied the Wild Red Dogs of
eastern Asia with sufficient material to determine how many forms are really
valid of those described and named. A pallid form with long fur is found in
Tibet and southern Siberia, Cuon alpinus, but is not known to reach China;
Blanford distinguished the Red Dog of the Himalaya region and the Indian
peninsula as Cuon dukhunensis (of Sykes, 1831), characterized by its large
size, long hair with woolly under fur, and skull about 171-178 mm. in length;
while the Red Dog of eastern India, with shorter coat, no under fur,-and of
smaller size, skull about 158 mm. long, he regarded as distinct under the name
of rutilans (S. Miller, 1839).
[Since the foregoing account was written, Pocock, in 1936, has reviewed
the Wild Red Dogs on the basis of the material available at the British
Museum. He shows that all may be considered as races of a single species, for
which the oldest name is Cuon javanicus Desmarest; type locality, Java. The
number of races occurring in China he leaves still in doubt, but inclines to
recognize C. j. lepturus of the Yangtze basin, for which, however, no very
definite characters are given beyond the white upper lip. At the same time he
describes from “‘western Szechwan” a new race, C. j. fumosus, based on a single
skin in which the color is a yellower red, the pelage is thicker, and the mus-
tachial bristles are black. Other races may enter the northern and north-
western borders of China and Mongolia. |
Occurrence and Habits:—The Wild Red Dog ranges across southern China
from Fukien to Yunnan, and in western China seems to occur in southwestern
Szechwan as well, for A. B. Howell (1929, p. 24) mentions a specimen in the
U. S. National Museum from Tsiojiakeo in that province that was very red
like the Wild Dog of India. Jacobi (1922) mentions also that Weigold pur-
chased skins of adult and young in Sungpan, northern Szechwan, that were
darker than Altai specimens representing Cuon alpinus, of a fiery red with
darker tail, the young white-chinned. These skins of course may have been
360 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
sent in from some locality to the south and west. Weigold (1923) adds that
the skin of a female was bought in Batang as well. E. H. Wilson (1913,
vol. 2, p. 189) writes: ‘Wild dogs (Tsai Gho) haunt parts of western Szechwan
and quickly drive or kill out all game animals. One afternoon, in 1908, when
after pheasants, I saw eight or ten of these beasts within a mile of the hamlet
of Tatienchih, situated at the foot of Wa shan. There were three or four
together and very brazen, allowing me to approach within 100 yards of them
before they slowly moved off. Wild pigs are common in this neighbourhood,
and on one occasion Mr. Zappey saw a pig attacked and partly devoured in a
few minutes by three of these Wild Dogs. ‘This animal is rather larger than a
Fox and decidedly lanky in appearance.” In Yunnan, the American Museum
Asiatic Expeditions succeeded in procuring a skin and skull at Shafun, and a
second skin was purchased on the Namting River.
In southeastern China, the Red Dog still occurs in some numbers in the
wilder parts. Pére Heude, writing in 1892, said that he recognized two types
on the right bank of the Yangtze: a uniformly red one with long, thin tail, to
which he gave the new name Cuon lepturus, and a similar one with paler flanks
and a shorter thicker tail for which he erected a new genus, naming it Anurocyon
clamitans. A specimen of the former he had from Poyang, northern Kiangsi,
and one of the latter from Taihu (Great Lake), near the mouth of the Yangtze.
Probably the short-tailed condition of the animal he named Anurocyon was a
result of some accident, for no doubt both forms are representatives of the same
species. Sowerby (1929) notes that Wild Dogs are found still in Fukien, and
the American Museum Asiatic Expeditions succeeded in obtaining two skins
without skulls from near Yenping, where there is plenty of mountainous
country. In the extreme south of China, Mell (1922) says that the Wild Dog
is uncommon in the northern part of Kwangtung, among rocky and broken
mountains. He hada large male killed at ‘‘Dragon’s Head.” On one occasion
in the early morning a muntjac came bounding into a village (Tsogokwahn).
The villagers say that when the muntjac seeks the refuge of a village, it is being
pursued by some animal, so they waited expectantly, when presently a Wild
Red Dog came bounding along on the muntjac’s trail and was shot. Another
was shot at the place called in the local dialect ‘“‘Dragon’s Head,” as it was
pursuing an Elaphodus. Two more were killed at Yuyuen, while attacking a
tame water buffalo peacefully grazing. They had already wounded the animal
badly before it could be rescued. Shih (1930a) has recorded the capture of
two Lycaon pictus at Yao Shan, Kwangtung, doubtless intending this animal,
whose English name, Hunting Dog, led him to apply the name of the African
species inadvertently. Many stories are told of the ferocity and daring of
these wild dogs. Few species of game seem immune from their attacks. They
usually hunt in packs of a few to ten individuals. In India the young are said
THE CARNIVORES 361
to be born in the early part of the year, January to March, and vary in number
from two to six in a litter. Very little seems to be recorded of their habits
in China.
Wild Dogs were found, formerly at least, in parts of northeastern China,
though in most eastern regions probably now exterminated. Mo6llendorff,
writing in 1876, says they were then known to occur in northern Hopei, Kalgan,
and Suanhwafu.
Specimens examined :—Five, including but two skulls, namely:
Fukien: Yenping, 2, skins only.
Yunnan: Shafun, 1; Namting River, 1 (skin only).
Szechwan: no exact locality, 1 skull (M.C.Z.).
Family MUSTELIDZ
MARTENS, WEASELS, BADGERS, OTTERS
The Weasel family includes a number of carnivorous species, which typi-
cally are long-bodied, short-limbed and well-furred mammals, adapted to a
northern climate, and abounding particularly in the northern hemisphere.
Some of their members, as the badgers, have become modified for digging,
through the development of stout, strong-clawed limbs, and heavy-muscled
bodies. Others, still, as the otters, are partly aquatic, pursuing fish. They
are provided with some sort of scent gland having a powerful musky odor,
the location of which is usually in the anal region. With few exceptions, the
entepicondylar foramen is retained at the inner distal end of the humerus;
the five clawed digits are present on both fore and hind feet, but in the otters
the claws are relatively weak, and the feet are webbed for swimming.
In the skull the bony palate is usually produced backward well beyond the
tooth rows, and the latter are reduced by the loss of (usually) two molars
above and one below, so that the molar formula is }. The upper molar is
usually of characteristic form, with a broad inner lobe that is longer in the
antero-posterior axis than the secant part at the outer edge of the tooth.
Pocock (1921b) has lately given an excellent summary account of the im-
portant external characters of the family. It has been found that in this
family, in which, as in the Canidze and the Urside, a bone or baculum is
present in the penis of the male, useful generic characters are afforded by this
structure which have been emphasized by Thomas and by Pocock; other
obvious adaptive characters of feet and teeth are made use of in the following
key, which is based partly on the work of Pocock and of Miller. It includes
nine genera whose occurrence is recognized in China and Mongolia; and these,
following Pocock, constitute no fewer than five subfamilies.
In addition to these genera, it seems probable that Gulo, the wolverene,
will also eventually be found to reach the forest and mountain countrygof
362
THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
northern Mongolia, for Sowerby (1923g) mentions that he once saw a skin of
one, said to have come from the “‘Urga district,’’ and it occurs also in the forests
of Manchuria.
included it here.
Nevertheless, in the lack of more definite evidence, I have not
Key To THE GENERA OF CHINESE AND MONGOLIAN MUSTELID2
A. Crown of upper carnassial (pm‘*) somewhat Y-shaped with
a long outer portion and an antero-internal lobe; upper
molar wider than long.
a.
Upper carnassial with a single small antero-internal
lobe; feet non-fossorial, furred below, the pads small and
claws short and curved for climbing or ground-living.
a’. With 4 premolars . Pek LMC EI acter Dane
1. Color varied black and petnate oe upper lip
not divided iby ajeraoves. +. 2a). <6 pee. ies
2. Color brown above, upper lip with a distinct
vertical groove...... age Qi e A Ter 4h
b’. With 3 3 premolars. . ; ine
1. Color brown pate eee. ica et
(m,) without metaconid; hamular process of
pterygoid widely separated from auditory bulla.
2. Color above, spotted brown, on a yellowish-
white ground; lower carnassial with a distinct
metaconid; hamular process in contact with the
. Upper carnassial with a broad, bicuspid, inner lobe; feet
fossorial, naked below, the claws long and slender......
al Dipvorabaculumiytrihid= ss eae ieisejae te seisch- is oi okeys
. Crown of upper carnassial obviously triangular in outline,
the upper molar longer than wide.
aa
Feet fossorial, heavily clawed, toes not webbed; tail
short, less than half the body length............ oon
a’. Nose-pad separated from upper lip by a hairy area;
auditory bulle swollen, projecting; upper molar
Neatly, rectangular i OUtINe.. ©). esse
b’. Nose-pad continuing to upper lip as a naked area;
auditory bulle flattened, only slightly projecting;
upper molar rhombic in outline................-.
. Feet natatorial, the toes webbed, claws Sensi tail
strong, more than half the body length..............
a’. Toes with well developed claws, premolars four
Martine (Martens)
Charronia
Martes
Musteline (Weasels, Stoats)
. Mustela
Vormela
Helictidine (Ferret-badgers)
Helictis
Melinz (Badgers)
Meles
Arctonyx
Lutrine (Otters)
Lutra
Micraonyx
THE CARNIVORES 363
Genus Charronia Gray
Charronia Gray, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1865, p. 108 (subgenus of Martes). Pocock, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist.,
ser. 9, vol. I, p. 308, 1918.
Mustela Thomas, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1898, p. 771; and others.
Martes Thomas, ibid., for 1908, p. 967, 1909; and others.
Lamprogale Ognev, Mém. Sect. Zool., Amis des Sci. Nat., Anthrop. et Ethnogr., Moscow, no. 2, pp. 26, 30, 1928.
This is one of the largest of the martens, with a long heavy body, long .
cylindrical tail, and a striking coloration of yellow and black. In most
external characters it does not otherwise differ greatly from the more typical
martens, but as shown by Pocock (1918) the structure of the baculum is
highly characteristic. For, whereas in typical Martes it bends gradually
upward in its distal third, with an expanded tip that ends in two short branches,
a lower that is nearly straight, and an upper that arises on the right side of
the base of the lower and curves obliquely forward to the left, in Charronia
the bone is long, and at its tip curls abruptly upward to a nearly vertical posi-
tion, and the extreme tip divides into four short processes. There are also
slight differences in the lips, for the naked nose-pad is divided by a vertical
groove in Martes, but in Charronia this division is not so obvious, so that the
lips are less mobile. With Martes, this genus shares the unreduced number of
premolars, four in each jaw; the molars, however, are reduced in number as
in all the family, and consist of one above and two below (of which the second
is very small), so that the tooth formula is: i3 c1 pm.4 m.4=38. The
fourth upper premolar is trenchant, with an outer lengthwise blade whose
main cusp is sharp and situated slightly ahead of the middle, while the inner
anterior portion is reduced to a rounded cusp, low but distinct. The upper
molar is about one and one-half times as wide as long, somewhat dumbbell-
shaped, rounded at the inner and outer sides, with a slight constriction in the
middle.
Ognev has lately proposed the generic name Lamprogale as a substitute
for Charronia, on the ground that the latter is preoccupied by the earlier name
Charonia, a genus of mollusks. A strict adherence to the ‘‘one-letter rule,”
however, would seem to render such a course unnecessary. There is apparently
but a single well-defined form in the area under consideration, although from
time to time various authors have sought to erect subspecies. This is the
type species of the genus as well.
171. Charronia flavigula flavigula (Boddaert)
YELLOW-THROATED MARTEN
Mustela flavigula Boddaert, Elenchus Animalium, vol. 1, p. 88, 1785.
Mustela flavigula kuatunensis Bonhote, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. 7, vol. 7, p. 348, 1901.
364 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
Martes flavigula borealis Thomas, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, for 1908, p. 967, 1909 (part). G. M. Allen, Mem.
Mus. Comp. Zool., vol. 40, p. 238, 1912 (not of Radde).
Mustela flavigula szetchuensis Hilzheimer, Zool. Anzeiger, vol. 35, p. 310, I910.
Charronia flavigula Pocock, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. 9, vol. 1, p. 309, fig., 1918. Thomas, Ann. Mag. Nat.
Hist., ser. 9, vol. 10, p. 395, 1922.
Mustela flavigula borealis Jacobi, Abh. u. Ber. Mus. f. Tier- u. Volkerk., Dresden, vol. 16, no. 1, p. 4, 1922 (part).
Charronia flavigula kuatunensis Cabrera, Bol. Real Soc. Esp. Hist. Nat., Madrid, vol. 22, p. 164, 1922. A. B-
Howell, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., vol. 75, art. 1, p. 25, 1929.
Charronia melli Matschie, in Mell, Arch. f. Naturgesch., vol. 88, sect. A, no. 10, pp. 17, 35, 1922.
Charronia yuenshanensis Shih, Bull. Dept. Biol., Sun Yatsen Univ., Canton, no. 9, p. 3, 1930.
Type specimen:—Not known to exist. The name is supposed to be based
on the animal of Nepal.
Description:—A large species, as big as a full-grown house cat, but with
legs proportionally shorter; the tail about as long as the trunk, cylindrical
and not very thick. Color in winter: head from the muzzle to the outer
base of the ears, the nape, forearms, fore feet, hind legs and tail brownish
black; body above golden on the shoulders, passing into brown and black on
the rump; chin to ears white, throat yellow, belly brownish gray. In summer
slightly darker above and on the body below.
In a series of specimens, considerable variation is shown. The golden
hue of the throat may vary in intensity, and an area of gold-tipped hairs may
extend forward medially on the dark nape patch to the crown, making a
clearer median area and dividing the patch. The posterior dark area usually
extends forward as an ill-defined median stripe, which, especially in summer
pelage, may be practically continuous from the nape or broken at the shoulders.
A March skin from Szechwan is bright golden or ochraceous over the shoulders
with a median stripe indicated by gold-tipped hairs with dark bases. A
Tsingling skin has the yellow areas very pale, the middle dark ring of the
shoulder hairs reduced. One from Szechwan has the longer hairs of the belly
lightly tinged with brown, the head more intense black than brown. In sum-
mer skins from Fukien, and one from the western border of China, the colora-
tion is darker, with smoky under fur above and the dorsal hairs generally
darker with less of the clear yellow of winter, since this tint is confined to a
small terminal portion; the belly, too, is less yellow, but pale brown or drab.
In an unusually bright specimen taken in April in Fukien, the belly is golden
and the shoulder area and sides an intense ochraceous.
Measurements:—An adult female from Fukien measured: head and body,
477 mm.; tail, 375; hind foot, 90; ear, 40.. Sowerby gives the corresponding
dimensions of an old male from southwestern Shensi as 577, 440, 103, 49.
Although but few measurements are available, adult males are probably
on the average slightly larger than females and have heavier skulls.
THE CARNIVORES 365
CRANIAL MEASUREMENTS OF CHARRONIA FLAVIGULA FLAVIGULA
% @
n } 2
is << q
3 2 3 3
= 2 eared seks ae
a s SP Es ta Ce ESS eg ae
a to Bh dae Ea Be Sal fee
rn 8 = Sw a 3 3 ‘ b
3 = Cs ol cee i |
: o Q | i) a 9g a. E 9
Z i deal ual a aA al
38331 100.7. 95.0 47.5 56.0 45.0 34.0 34.0 40.0 co Fukien
43148 99.0 91.7 48.0 55.5 44.5 31.8 32.8 38.7. of Yunnan
57046 99.5 90.5 45.5 58.7 46.0 36.8 32.4 39.0 co Shensi
g.1.1.16 BM II0.I 102.0 51.8 —— 47.3 36.0 36.3 —— oc Shensi
43147 91.5 84.5 42.7 48.5 43.0 30.3 30.8 35.7. @ Yunnan
43149 O42) | 87.8. 44.4 5510 432 32:0) 32:2.37.2 9) Yunnan
59317 89.2 82.0 40.6 52.2 39.7 29.0 29.1 34.5 @ Fukien
84445 92.4 86.2 42.5 53.5 42.0 29.3 30.2 35.1 @ Fukien
84447 91.3 50.4 65.0 48.2 34.0 34.8 40.0 @ Fukien
84894 96.0 87.3 45.0 52.7 41.5 30.0 32.2 36.4 9? Szechwan
98.11.1.7 BM 91-7. 84.7. 41.6 51.3 42.1 29.0 30.3 35.9 @ Fukien
(type of C.f. kuatunensis)
2.6.10.27 BM 99.6 92.4 46.7 63.0 46.0 33.1 32.9 —— co Fukien
Nomenclature:—There seems to be a considerable amount of variation in
color of an individual as well as of a seasonal nature, even in skins from the
same area. This has led to the naming of several supposed races, which,
however, appear to be quite indistinguishable from the typical race of the
eastern Himalayas. Thence the range extends southeastward at least to
Siam, where the race C. f. indochinensis was named, but Thomas has since
shown that this is, after all, indistinguishable. The rather strikingly darker
coloring of summer skins has undoubtedly led to the naming of at least two
additional supposed forms. Thus Bonhote based his Mustela flavigula kua-
tunensis on a specimen taken in northwestern Fukien on May 6, and his
description is that of the usual summer pelage with darker lower parts; winter
skins from the same region are now available and are quite the same as those
from Yunnan. The ‘‘darker underparts” also form the chief basis for Shih’s
Charronia yuenshanensis, based on a native skin from Yuen Shan, Hunan.
Another native skin bought in Sungpanting was described by Hilzheimer as
Mustela flavigula szetchuensis, on the ground that the pale brown of the head
is paler, and the dark brown darker, almost black, as contrasted with C. f.
“borealis” (=C. f. aterrima Pallas), the race of Amurland. The color differ-
ences are probably all individual or seasonal, and no doubt Jacobi (1922)
is correct in regarding this as a synonym of typical C. f. flavigula, especially
since other specimens from Szechwan are not separable. Likewise, Matschie’s
366 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
C. melli from Kwangtung is apparently not different. It is a question
whether or not C. f. aterrima, typical in Amurland, northeastern Siberia,
should be included in the Chinese fauna. Sowerby (1923g) regards his
Manchurian specimen as of that race, and different from animals seen in
North China. A careful comparison of skins from the latter area with typical
material from Amur is needed before this can be decided. A skin from the
Tsingling Range, Shensi, which is rather pale in tint, is possibly tending
toward the northern form. A. B. Howell (1929, p. 25) finds that two Man-
churian pelts differ from each other fully as much as they do from Shensi
individuals; one from Shansi is not greatly different from another from Fukien;
a third from Yunnan is very dull, while a fourth from Szechwan is very bright.
It seems very doubtful whether color characters can be found for the recogni-
tion of any but the typical form in China, although Howell suggests that a
sufficient series of skulls might show that the Yellow-throated Martens of
North and West China are separable into two forms. For the present, how-
ever, I have regarded all as of one race.
In a recent paper, Heptner (Folia Zool. et Hydrobiol., vol. 6, p. 24, 1934)
has shown that the form of Amurland should be called Charronia f. aterrima
(Pallas). This name was based on specimens of this species from between
Uth and Amur Rivers, and was first published in Pallas’s ‘‘Zoographia”’, vol. 1,
p. 71, 1811, thus long antedating Radde’s borealis, of 1862.
Occurrence and Habits:—In general the Yellow-throated Marten is an
animal of wooded mountainous country, fairly well distributed over most of
southern and central China south of the Gobi. I have no definite records of
its occurrence in Hopei, where, perhaps, the country is.too well cleared to
attract it. To the southwest, however, it is common in the mountains as well
as in the loess country of Shensi and Shansi, where Sowerby says it inhabits
the deep ravines. A specimen from Taipai Shan, Shensi, was secured by
Dr. Roy C. Andrews. In parts of Szechwan it must be fairly plentiful.
Jacobi records specimens under Mustela f. borealis from the Wassu Mountains,
Taukwan, and the mountains near Wanhsien in that province. In extreme
western China, J. F. Rock secured a specimen for the Museum of Compara-
tive Zodlogy, from Na Tebbuland, where it inhabits dense forests of poplar,
maple, linden, spruces and firs. Southward it ranges throughout the forests
of Yunnan, as at the Namting River, Burma border, and Likiang, whence the
American Museum Asiatic Expeditions brought back a series. Others were
secured in Fukien at the opposite eastern portion of China, by the Central
Asiatic Expeditions, as well as by La Touche for the British Museum. Shih
has recorded it from Hunan, and Mell regards it as not common in the wooded
mountains of extreme southern China in Kwangtung. It is not known to
occur in Hainan.
THE CARNIVORES 367
Mell (1922, p. 17), writing of Kwangtung, tells of two that were shot on
the edge of an opening in the woods in early morning as they were snapping
at bees going in and out of a hive; their stomachs contained the bees they had
already caught. A male shot October 15 in a high tree in a village wood at
Fungwahn, also had honey bees in its stomach, so that these are evidently a
favorite food. Indeed, Sowerby (1923g) states that it is known in Manchuria
as ‘‘mi-kou’’ or Honey Dog, although in Shansi and Shensi the Chinese call
it “hwangyao” (Yellow Marten), in reference to its yellow color. A writer
in the Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society (1916, vol. 24, p. 589)
has mentioned its fondness for nectar, and another speaks of its running down
fawns of the Barking Deer. Evidently its predaceous habits of diet are modi-
fied by a liking for sweets, but of its special animal food there seems to be
little recorded for China.
Specimens examined:—In all, nineteen, as follows:
Fukien: Chunganhsien, 4; Futsing, 1; Yenping, 1; Kuatun, 2, including type of kuatunensis
B.M.).
ere I en :
Shensi: Taipai Shan, 1; Yenanfu, 1 (B.M.).
Kansu: Na Tebbuland, 1 (M.C.Z.).
Szechwan: Wanhsien, 1; no locality, I.
Yunnan: Likiang, 1; Namting River, Burma border, 4.
Genus Martes Pinel
MARTENS
Maries Pinel, Actes Soc. d’Hist. Nat. Paris, vol. 1, p. 55, 1792.
The genus Martes contains the sables and true martens, valuable fur-
bearers of the northern hemisphere. They are short-limbed with well-
developed ears and have fairly long tails, about half the length of head and
body, which are full and almost bushy. The claws are rather slender, sharp
and curved, adapted for tree-climbing. The colors are prevailingly rich brown
with paler head and chest. The baculum is characteristically different from
that of Charronia, in that it is gradually upturned in its terminal sixth, without
the extraordinary sigmoid curvature observed in the Charronia baculum, and
its tip, instead of being four-parted, is bifid. Probably two species occur
sparingly along the northern border of Mongolia and northern China, the Sable
and the Stone Marten. Possibly the Pine Marten also occurs, but positive
information is lacking.
KEY TO THE CHINESE AND MONGOLIAN SPECIES OF Martes
A. Color brown; fore neck and throat colored like the body; tail
halbastonoras headtandenodye cern: = ee cee ca eis ae Martes zibellina sajanensis
B. Color slate brown with light under fur; tail two-thirds the length
omheddvandibodyaear: -() shes shee ce ene cate eiee acne M. foina
368 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
172. Martes zibellina sajanensis Ognev
SAIANSK SABLE
Martes zibellina sajanensis Ognev, Journ. Mammalogy, vol. 6, p. 278, 1925.
Martes zibellina Thomas, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. 8, vol. 9, p. 392, 1912.
Type specimen:—A skin and skull, No. 9705, Zodlogical Museum of the
Academy of Sciences, Leningrad, U.S.S.R., from the Orsyba River, northern
part of the Sajan Mountains, Siberia.
Description:—The describer states that this animal has a markedly
shorter skull than that from the Krasnojarsk district. The general color of
the most common type is dark brown, the under fur of a light yellowish color.
The throat patch varies in tint; in some specimens it is dusky, not differing
markedly from the sides; in others it is brilliant salmon color.
The shortness of the skull is supposed to be the main diagnostic character.
Measurements:—The describer gives no external measurements. The
skulls measure: total length, 83.2-84 mm. (males), 74 (females); zygomatic
width, 47.5-50.2 (males), 43.6 (female); breadth of brain case, 36.2-37.4
(males), 33.5 (female).
Occurrence and Habits:—It is probably this form, slightly differentiated
though it seems to be, that occurs in the mountain forests of northwestern
Mongolia. Thomas (1912a, p. 392) records that Carruthers brought back two
skulls from a fur-hunter’s hut in the Tapsa Mountains in northwestern Mon-
golia. A sable occurs in Manchuria, but does not seem to extend much
farther south.
Specimens examined:—None.
173. Martes foina foina (Erxleben)
STONE MARTEN
Mustela foina Erxleben, Syst. Regni Animalis, Mammalia, p. 458, 1777.
Type specimen:—Not known to be in existence. The type locality is
taken as Germany.
Description:—Somewhat similar to the Sable, but the fur usually has a
slaty cast, a light under fur and a white throat patch, varying to buffy. The
relatively longer tail, about two-thirds the head and body, also serves to dis-
tinguish it.
Measurements:—No measurements of Chinese specimens are available.
Miller (1912) gives the following for European specimens: adult male, head
and body, 453 mm.; tail, 260; hind foot, 85; ear, 34. Skull: male, condylo-
THE CARNIVORES 369
basal length, 84 mm.; zygomatic width, 52; mastoid width, 39; maxillary
tooth row, 30; mandibular tooth row, 35.
Occurrence and Habits:—Little is recorded of this species in China and
Mongolia. It probably occurs in evergreen forests and rocky country of
Mongolia along the northern border of the Gobi, and in similar country
“through Northern Chihli, Shansi, and into West China” (Sowerby, 1923g,
vol. 2, p. 66). Sowerby states that he has seen large consignments of skins from
northern Shansi and from Mukden, and can detect no difference between them.
Jacobi (1922) mentions a summer skin, half-grown, obtained by the Weigold
Expedition in Sungpan in which the white chin was reduced to a small mark
on the lower jaw. How far south its range extends is not clear, but probably
not much beyond the broken country of northern Shansi, and northern Szech-
wan.
It is not clear whether the eastern Stone Marten is subspecifically different
from that of Europe. Possibly it is the same as M. f. kozlovi Ognev.
Specimens examined:—None.
Genus Mustela Linnzus
Mustela Linnzus, Syst. Nat., ed. 10, vol. 1, p. 45, 1758.
The members of this genus agree in having a slender body, short legs,
and the tooth formula: i$ c.t pm.$ m.+=34, that is, with one less premolar
in each jaw than the martens, with which formerly they were associated.
The lower carnassial tooth (m,) is more specialized than in the tiger weasels
(Vormela), in that the metacone is entirely lost, and the tooth, therefore, more
knife-like in its sharp blade for shearing against the inner edge of the last
upper premolar. The snout is much shortened, so that the distance from the
orbit to tip of muzzle in the skull is less than the distance across the antorbital
foramina. The genus contains a number of species, most of which are of
boreal distribution. Several distinct types are represented, to which from
time to time various generic or subgeneric names have been given, but the
conservative usage seems to be to regard these as constituting subgenera.
Of the species occurring in China and Mongolia, the typical subgenus Mustela
is represented by the stoats with black tail-tufts (of which the European Stoat,
M. erminea, is the type), and the dwarf weasels, sometimes placed in a separate
subgenus, characterized by the very short tail, and lack of a black tail-tuft;
for the eastern weasels without black tail-tuft, the subgenus Kolonokus has
been proposed; the polecats or ferrets are larger and more heavily built, with
angular mastoid region, and constitute the subgenus Putorius, characteristic
of rather open steppe country. The true minks are modified in the character
of the fur for a partly aquatic life and have a rather broad, flattened brain
370 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
case; they constitute the subgenus Lutreola, which, however, is not known to
occur in the area here considered.
Fic. 17. Distribution Map.
Mustela
1. M. sibirica fontaniertt 3. M. sibirica moupinensis
2. M. sibirica davidiana
Key To CHINESE AND MoNGOLIAN SPECIES OF Mustela
A. Color of under side not sharply contrasted with that of back.
a. Tip of tail usually not darker.
2) ,Colompalen mulyOusi. .nete ca aris ike oe eae M. sibirica fontanierit
b’. Color darker and richer, ochraceous-orange.............. M. sibirica davidiana
pb. biptoitanidarker,ssmokysbrowns--t se se em treeiee-) oee M. sibirica moupinensis
THE CARNIVORES 371
B. Color of under side contrastingly different from that of back.
a. Tip of tail not black.
a’. Tail at least three times longer than hind foot.
a’. Paler, lower side pinkish, toes whitish.............. M. altaica altaica
b’’. Darker, lower side yellow, toes dark. . SOOO TERE M. altaica kathiah
b’. Tail much less than three times longer (oen nica toon.
”
a’’. Very small, white below, tail about equaling hind foot
AIWIEN OEM ate Tees PEO DE Lalas xh epoeloute cena lielee nia M. rixosa pygmea
b’’. Yellow below, tail about twice the hind foot......... M. russelliana
b. Tail tip conspicuously black. .
a’. Feet brown like back in summer, in winter white........ M. erminea mongolica
bie beet blacks contrasting, with) Dacki.... see oc ses oele = M. eversmanni tiarata
In 1911 the Russian zoologist Satunin gave the subgeneric name Kolonokus
to the eastern weasels of the Mustela sibirica group, and Ognev has later
(1931) placed those of the altaica series in the same group, after which he
proceeds to use the name in a generic sense. Very likely the two species
with their various races are to be considered as thus closely allied, and at
least the separation seems more natural than that usually followed of placing
them in the mink group, as Lutreola. These weasels are lacking in modifica-
tion of the coat for aquatic habits, and the long tails are without the black
tip seen in the typical stoats, which they resemble in habits.
174. Mustela sibirica fontanierii (Milne-Edwards)
Putorius fontanierii Milne-Edwards, Recherches pour servir a l’Hist. Nat. des Mammifeéres, p. 205, pl. 61, fig. 1,
1868-74.
Mustela sibirica Swinhoe, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1870, pp. 238, 624 (in part).
Arctogale fontanteri Matschie, Wiss. Ergebn. d. Exped. Filchner nach China u. Tibet 1903-05, vol. 10, pt. 1,
P- 147, 1908.
Lutreola stegmanni Matschie, ibid., p. 150.
Lutreola sibirica Thomas, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1911, p. 688.
Mustela sibirica fontanieri G. M. Allen, Amer. Mus. Novitates, no. 358, p. 3, 1929.
Mustela sibirica sibirica A. B. Howell, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., vol. 75, art. 1, p. 26, 1929.
Type specimen:—This race was described as a full species on the basis
of a skin, without skull, sent to the Muséum d’Histoire Naturelle at Paris,
from Peiping, by M. Fontanier, the French honorary consul stationed there.
It is figured in color by Milne-Edwards, and is presumably still in Paris.
Description:—Form weasel-like, with long body and short limbs, the tail
rather bushy and about two-fifths the length of head and body. Color a
uniform pale fulvous, slightly paler below; forehead and muzzle pale brown,
the upper lip around the nose-pad, and the chin, white. There are often
white marks in the center of the throat and neck, sometimes ill-defined and
of varying extent. In fresh winter pelage, the body color is very pale, about
pinkish cinnamon of Ridgway above, paling to cinnamon buff below, the tail
slightly more intense in color, about orange cinnamon. The Yellow Weasel
of eastern China, although of light coloration, is markedly darker than two
372 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
winter skins assumed to represent typical sibirica, from near Lake Baikal
(type locality, near the Yenessei River, Siberia). Radde (1862) also mentions
that specimens from the Amur region are larger and darker than Baikal
animals. It seems certain, therefore, that the race of eastern China is quite
distinct, and is obviously the one figured and named by Milne-Edwards.
His description applies well to a female in pale winter pelage, while the dimen-
sions of the specimen as given are nearly identical with those of a female from
Shansi.
Measurements :—Males are somewhat larger than females, as the following
collectors’ data show.
No. Head and body Tail Hind foot Ear Sex Locality
32264 310 180 52 28 roe Shensi
32266 320 200 61 25 fof Shensi
45350 380 225 68 28 fof Shensi
32265 260 179 48 22 fe) Shensi
45353 290 170 54 20 Q Shansi
45354 280 198 55 20 Q Shansi
CRANIAL MEASUREMENTS OF MUSTELA SIBIRICA FONTANIERII
Condylo- Zygo- Mas- Width Upper Lower
basal Basal Palatal matic toid across cheek cheek
No. length length length width width molars’ teeth teeth Sex Locality
32264 OL 5t iS 7-Oee 2 oe ly SO; 5 wwe 7- Oro 2aadeshGld | ge2210 Ges ohensr
32266 61.855 '57-2511) 280m 32:4) oy 28,2: O85) Pan TO: 5 ag 2O:0)e Lact wa ohenst
32267 6033), 1) /50:0), 927.0) 31.6) 27:0 18.5 18.0 21.3 o& = Shensi
45350 68.3 63.2 SU See 30s 30D 20.5 18.1 23.5 3 Shansi
60095 65.0 600 29.0 35.0 29.5 188 180 20.6 o'? ?
19895 MCz 66:4" 63:0) 30:0) 7135'S: 93:2) 9) 2053 5 19010) 8 22:0.) ot | hanss
32265 BAO) | AG:6 Sao") aeo )oa:8 | orGio ae) nes Q Shensi
45353 EGiOb 9952.0) |) 2a5s eee.) 124.5 alle 16.0 ‘19.1 Q Shansi
45354 55 5Lc7y 8 24:0) M2q2) 2407 17.6 15.8 19.2 @ Shansi
2.6.10.30 BM 54.3 51.0 24.1 27.3 24.3 17.0 16.9 19.1 Q Kiangsu
No. 45353 from Kweihwacheng, Shansi, has the tip of the tail indistinctly
darker, as does also No. 32265 from Fengsiangfu, Shensi, showing thus a certain
intergradation in this character between the typical condition and that of
M. s. moupinensis with the decidedly dark-tipped tail. Other specimens from
the same localities do not have the dark tip.
Occurrence and Habits:—As a species this weasel is widely distributed from
Siberia and the Amur region, southward to the latitude of Amoy and westward
into the highlands of the eastern Altai, except in the Gobi. It seems to break
up readily into geographic races, that of the cold northern part of the range
representing typical M. sibirica, with paler coloring and longer, thicker fur
in winter than the darker race of North China, M. s. fontanierii. In western
China a well-defined race of still darker coloring and a contrasting dark tail-
THE CARNIVORES 373
tip is represented by M. s. moupinensis, while in response to warmer climatic
conditions, the race of southeastern China is still brighter, M. s. davidiana.
Sowerby (1923g) writes that the Manchurian form is different from that of
North China, with longer fur and a grayer face (M. sibirica manchurica accord-
ing to A. B. Howell). He adds that they occur everywhere, ‘‘in towns, in
marshes, on dry plains, and in the forest.’’ On his expedition with Clark to
western Shensi, he trapped two in a drain of a temple yard at Liutsun, fifteen
miles south of Hsianfu, and regards them as common all over North China,
especially in large towns where they seem to thrive on the abundance of rats
and vermin. They come boldly into houses, pursuing the rats inside the walls.
A specimen was killed chasing chickens at Fengsiangfu, Shensi, by one of the
members of the Central Asiatic Expeditions. The native name is ‘‘huang shu
lang”’ or Yellow Rat Wolf. The American Museum Asiatic Expeditions secured
specimens from various localities in North China that seem to represent but
a single form, from Chimo, Shantung, westward as far as Shensi, about forty-
five miles south of Fengsiangfu. Southward it probably occurs as far as the
Yangtze basin before intergrading with the southeastern race.
Matschie (1908) gave the name Lutreola stegmanni to four summer skins
sent from the vicinity of Tsingtao, Shantung, stating that, although they
agreed strikingly with Milne-Edwards’s figure of P. fontanierii, the tail was
colored like the back, and the white marking on the chin was small. There
can be no doubt, however; that these are matters of individual variation and
that the Shantung specimens are inseparable from M. s. fontanierit.
Specimens examined:—In all, eighteen, as follows:
Shantung: Chimo, I.
Shansi: Kweihwacheng, 5; Taipai Shan, 2 (skulls); Taiyuanfu, 2.
Shensi: forty-five miles south of Fengsiangfu, 4; Shangchow district, 1 (B.M.); Singanfu,
1 (B.M.).
vs oe at 2 (B.M.).
175. Mustela sibirica davidiana (Milne-Edwards)
Putorius davidianus Milne-Edwards, in David, Nouv. Arch. Mus. d’Hist. Nat. Paris, vol. 7, Bull., p. 92, foot-
note, 1871. Milne-Edwards, Recherches pour servir a l’'Hist. Nat. des Mammiféres, p. 343, pl. 59, fig. 1;
pl. 60, fig. 2; 1868-74.
Mustela sibirica Swinhoe, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1870, pp. 238, 624 (in part).
Putorius sibiricus noctis Barrett-Hamilton, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. 7, vol. 13, p. 390, 1904.
Lutreola davidiana J. A. Allen, Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., vol. 26, p. 430, 1909.
Lutreola melli Matschie, in Mell, Arch. f. Naturgesch., vol. 88, sect. A, no. 10, p. 35, 1922.
Mustela sibirica davidana (sic) G. M. Allen, Amer. Mus. Novitates, no. 358, p. 4, 1929.
Type specimen:—The type of Milne-Edwards’s Putorius davidianus was
a female specimen with skull, sent from Kiangsi, southern China, by Pére
Armand David. It is presumably still in the Muséum d’Histoire Naturelle at
Paris.
Description:—The Yellow Weasel of southeastern China is much more
374 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
intense in its coloration than that of northern China (M. s. fontanieriz), almost
“ochraceous orange’ of Ridgway (1912) in fresh winter pelage, the tail of
the same tint as the back. In summer pelage the central area of the back
is slightly darker, having a wash of reddish brown. The lower side is only
slightly paler than the back. The forehead and muzzle as far back as the
eyes are dark blackish brown, the fore feet tinged with the same. A varying
amount of white includes the edge of the upper lip at the side of the nose-
pad, the lower lips and chin, or the entire interramal area, and extends as a
narrow and more or less broken median line on to the throat.
The skull is not distinguishable from that of the North China race,
' although Milne-Edwards, in describing the race P. davidianus, based it chiefly
on differences in size as compared with a skull representing the same animal
from Amoy! Milne-Edwards apparently was quite unaware of the sexual
difference in size and evidently compared his female skull with that of a male
from Amoy. The more swollen forehead was perhaps due to the presence of
filarie in the frontal sinuses, an infection often found in weasels.
Measurements:—The available measurements of specimens in the flesh are:
No. Head and body Tail Hind foot Ear Sex Locality
44574 370 105 55.0 = of Fukien
85035 304 204. 62.5 32 ou Fukien
7104 MCZ 365 200 70.0 — rofl Hupeh
7105 MCZ 390 195 65.0 _ ron Hupeh
7107 MCZ 400 200 70.0 _— of Hupeh
44573 325 115 45.0 2 Fukien
7106 MCz 323 172 50.0 — 9 Hupeh
PARIS (type) 290 160 — — 9 Kiangsi
CRANIAL MEASUREMENTS OF MUSTELA SIBIRICA DAVIDIANA
bre a
bo | a sc
2 iM ieveiNy cd ar Sag ie
g s = 5 cs g “4 “4
ih earn oe athe E a 3 3
Sais UE brawn Mae Bede ra pa lhtcl bie 2
: ec ae Ung tae Ble tee eae 8
3 Se Con aie ene eee aM
45501 60:3) 5610" 926.2" 30:3) 8 2615) S1Str 1773) 21-0 rot Fukien
85035 6230458:0), 28:2) (25-0) 926:5;, 18:30 818.0) (25.5 o Fukien
7104 MCz 65:5) J60:7 6290.0 {347 GOWN 21.0) (19:00 22'0)) ictaastiupel
7105 MCZ 66.0 65.5. 30.2 34.3 30:7 190.5 186 — of ° Hupeh
94.9.1.4 BM 62.66 — 28.5 32.4 27.2 194 185 216 o Fukien
44573 51.0 —— 22.6 25.5 —— 15.8 14.8 17.5 Q Fukien
PARIS (type) 52.0 — — — — — — — 8 Fukien
7106 MCz 55-5 51-5 24.4 27.0 23.5 165 15.5 18.4 fe) Hupeh
99.3.1.11 BM (type of .
P. s. noctis) 60.2 —— 26.0 31.5 26.7 186 17.8 21.1 oo Fukien
8.7.25.15 BM 5555 —— 23.9 28.0 23.7 16.3 15.8 18.5 Q Fukien
THE CARNIVORES 375
Nomenclature:—Milne-Edwards, after some hesitation, described this
as a distinct species, comparing the cranium of his female specimen, from
Kiangsi, with a skull, evidently of a male, sent him from Amoy, in the neigh-
boring province of Fukien, and taken to represent typical M. sibirica. Never-
theless, his colored plate shows well the bright coloring and uniform tail of
the subspecies of southeastern China. The race described by Barrett-Hamilton
as Putorius sibiricus noctis from ‘‘Sanyentze’”’ or Sanyuen, in central Fukien, ©
is obviously the same, nor does it seem that Matschie’s Lutreola melli, based on
a specimen from ‘“‘Tsahpei,’”’ in the Canton region, is really different, its chief
diagnostic character, according to its describer, being the possession of a longer
tail. But this member varies more or less, as may be seen by the table of
measurements.
Occurrence and Habits:—As elsewhere, this is a common species about
towns, in southeastern China, pursuing rats even in the walls of the houses.
~ Swinhoe says it also kills and eats snakes, while according to Mell (1922) it is
said to prey upon birds at times. He found it in the flat rolling country about
Canton, where it is rocky and sparsely covered with bushes. Mr. Clifford H.
Pope, however, found it uncommon about Futsing in 1925, for with much
- hunting on the surrounding plains, only one was seen and secured. Heller
and Dr. Andrews nevertheless-secured a small series there in 1916.
The range is extensive, from about the latitude of Shanghai westward
up the Yangtze valley to the Ichang Gorges and the eastern edge of the high-
lands, thence over the low country of southeastern China at least to Canton
and Kwangsi Province. It does not reach Hainan, nor apparently does it
extend quite to the southern border of the mainland provinces neighboring.
Howell (1929) has recorded specimens in the U. S. National Museum from
Shanghai, Kiangsu; Taipingfu, Anhwei, as well as from Yochow, Hunan.
There are typical specimens in the Museum of Comparative Zodlogy from the
neighborhood of Ichang, Hupeh, and Shih (1930b) has reported it from the
southwestern border of Hunan. Dr. J. A. Allen (1909a, p. 430) recorded a
male from ‘‘Si-Taipa-Shiang” in southern Shensi, which perhaps marks nearly
the northwestern boundary of its range, and the meeting place with the race
M. s. fontanierii of North China and the western subspecies M. s. moupinensis.
Specimens examined:—In all, twenty, as follows:
Fukien: Futsing, 7; Foochow, 2 (B.M.).
Hupeh: Ichang, 4 (M.C.Z.); Ching River, 1; Changyang, 1 (B.M.).
Kiangsi: Hokou, I.
Kiangsu: Soochow, 1; Nanking, 2 (Univ. Mich.); 1 (Univ. Mich.).
176. Mustela sibirica moupinensis (Milne-Edwards)
Putorius moupinensis Milne-Edwards, Recherches pour servir a l’'Hist. Nat. des Mammiféres, p. 347, pl. 59,
fig. 2; pl. 60, fig. 4; 1868-74 (1872).
376 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
Lutreola moupinensis J. A. Allen, Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., vol. 26, p. 430, 1909.
Lutreola major Hilzheimer, Zool. Anzeiger, vol. 35, p. 310, 1910.
Lutreola tafeli Hilzheimer, loc. cit.
Lutreola sibirica moupinensis Thomas, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. 9, vol. 10, p. 395, 1922.
Type specimen:—The original specimen was sent to the Paris Museum’
by Pére Armand David, who obtained it in the mountains of Muping, west-
central Szechwan.
Description:—This is a subspecies of the western Chinese highlands. It
differs from the others previously treated in its darker color and a contrasting
dark tail-tip. The latter character is sometimes indistinctly seen in M. s.
fontanierii, but is better developed in the present race, in which it forms a
well-defined terminal blackish area a half-inch or more long. The general
color of the body and tail is fulvous in winter, slightly paler below, and the
brown mask on the face indistinct and confined mostly to the muzzle in front
of the eyes. In summer pelage the general color is much darker, the entire
dorsal surface of the body browner, and the facial mask darker, blackish brown,
this color extending back over the mid-dorsal area, and passing into a more
fulvous tint at the sides.
The skull and teeth are essentially as in the other races, the female being
slightly smaller.
A skeleton has fourteen pairs of ribs, of which ten or eleven articulate
directly with the sternum; there are six lumbar, three sacral, and twenty-two
caudal vertebra. The tip of the baculum is hooked in a characteristic manner
in this genus, with the end bent upward sharply.
Measurements:—The following collectors’ measurements seem to show
about the same size variations as in the other races.
No. Head and body Tail Hind foot Ear Sex Locality
58277 356 193 65 28 rot Szechwan
58278 345 195 62 27 rot Szechwan
56939 335 215 60 26 fou Szechwan
7834 MCZ 345 198 59 — ou Szechwan
43171 235 135 43 23 9 Yunnan
7835 MCZ 272 156 37 — Q Szechwan
7836 MCZ 265 167 49 = Q Szechwan
CRANIAL MEASUREMENTS OF MUSTELA SIBIRICA MOUPINENSIS
Condylo- Zygo- Mas- Width Upper Lower
basal Basal Palatal matic toid across cheek cheek
No. length length length width width molars’ teeth teeth Sex Locality
56939 61.7 5716... 29107 | 31:85 428:3 18.2 17.2 21.0 oy Szechwan
58278 62:25) 58101) 127:206 32-0) e20;0m) als Omen lS 45) 220mg, Szechwan
7834 MCZ 63.7 58.0 27.9 33.6 30.5 19.0 19.0 22.8 rol Szechwan
23261 MCZ —— 47.0 23.0 27.0 23.0 16.2 14.7 17.4 Q Kansu
28088 Mcz ——- —— 25.3 30.5 266 # 17.3 16.2 19.8 fot Yunnan
THE CARNIVORES 377
Nomenclature:—This is a well-marked race, with dark color corresponding
to the cooler, moister habitat in western China. There is no doubt that the
names Lutreola major and L. tafeli proposed by Hilzheimer on the basis of
trade skins bought at Sungpan, northern Szechwan, are synonyms. He states
that, in both, the tail tip is dark blackish brown (the main point of distinction
for L. tafeli), and the description shows that the type of L. major was probably
a male in the paler winter pelage.
Occurrence and Habits:—This darker race with the contrasting blackish
to blackish-brown tail-tip is found over western Chinese highlands from the
eastern borders of Szechwan westward into eastern Tibet (Weigold, 1923) and
southward probably to the Burmese frontier in the hill country. It may be
questioned if Thomas’s M. hamptoni, from Imaw Bum, northern Burma, is
really different, for as Thomas himself later admits, it should have been com-
pared with this weasel rather than with M. subhemachalana as was originally
done. A perfectly typical specimen from Lieuhoa Shan, in spruce forest at
10,000 feet, is the only one I have seen from southern Kansu (in the Museum
of Comparative Zodlogy). From northern Szechwan it has been recorded by
Hilzheimer (as Lutreola major and L. tafeli) from near Sungpan, and A. B.
Howell mentions skins in the U. S. National Museum from there as well as from
Suifu in the Yangtze valley of the southeastern part of the province. Dr. J. A.
Allen (1909a, p. 430) identified as of this race. two specimens from Yumonko,
at the foot of Taipai Shan on the borders of Szechwan and Shensi. These
points seem to mark about the northern and eastern limits of the race, but to
the southwestward it has been recorded by Thomas, from Yunnan, in the
Mekong valley, 7,000 feet, and from the Likiang Range, 27° 30’ north, at an
altitude of from 11,000-14,000 feet.
Howell mentions that among the skins in the U. S. National Museum those
from October to December are of the dark summer type, but possibly there was
a mistake in recording the date of purchase as that of capture. At all events,
skins in the collections I have examined show summer pelage September 20
and 17 (Wa Shan and Tachiao, Szechwan) and winter pelage in the case of
two taken respectively October 28 (Wa Shan) and February 17 (Wanhsien).
A specimen taken on the Likiang Range had the remains of a Microtus
in its stomach.
Specimens examined:—In all, twenty, as follows:
Szechwan: Wanhsien, 6; Wa Shan, 2 (M.C.Z.); Tachiao, 1 (M.C.Z.); Merge, 1 (A.N.S.P.);
Tatsienlu, 1 (A.N.S.P.); Wenchwan, 1 (A.N.S.P.); no exact locality, 2 (A.N.S.P.).
Yunnan: Likiang Range, 2 (B.M.); 12,000 feet, 1; 7,800 feet, 1 (M.C.Z.); Talifu, 1.
Kansu: Lieuhoa Shan, 10,000 feet, 1 (M.C.Z.).
378 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
177. Mustela altaica altaica Pallas
ALPINE WEASEL
Mustela altaica Pallas, Zoographia Rosso-Asiatica, vol. I, p. 98, 1811; vol. 1, p. 98, 1831 ed.
Mustela alpina Gebler, Mém. Soc. Imp. Naturalistes, Moscow, vol. 6, p. 212, 1823.
Putorius alpinus Trouessart, Cat. Mamm. Viv. Foss., p. 277, 1897.
Mustela astuta Thomas, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. 8, vol. 10, p. 400, 1912.
Kolonocus alpinus Satunin, Conspectus Mammalium Imp. Ross., p. 126, 1914.
Kolonocus alpinus alpinus Ognev, Mammals of Eastern Europe and Northern Asia, vol. 2, p. 728, 1931 (in
Russian).
Type specimen:—The type is probably in Moscow and was from the Altai
Mountains, Siberia. Gebler’s name, Mustela alpina, usually employed for
this weasel, proves to be antedated by M. altaica of the 1811 printing of
Pallas’s work quoted above.
Description:—The adult male of this weasel is about the size of a female
M. sibirica, but is at once distinguished by its lower surface being contrastingly
paler than, the back, with a sharp line of demarcation.
In winter pelage, the entire upper parts from the nose to the ears and
including the entire back and basal half of the tail are cream buff, slightly
darkened with pale brown on the forehead and mid-dorsal area, paling on the
sides of the body and terminal half of the tail to clearer cream buff. Cheeks
tawny-ochraceous. Upper lip, chin and upper throat white, with a small
dash-like mark of tawny ochraceous just behind the angle of the mouth.
Fore feet all around to the wrist, and the backs of the hind feet, to a varying
amount, clear white. Throat, chest and entire under parts of the body and
the under side of the humerus and of hind legs to the ankle, pale straw yellow,
slightly deeper in tint at the throat, and mixed with longer all-white hairs at
the axilla, the entire area of yellow rather clearly defined along the sides of
the throat and body. Tail of nearly uniform color all around, but slightly
paler tawny ochraceous at the tip and below. In summer, the coat is much
darker, a nearly uniform clear tawny above, very slightly darker on the fore-
head and in the mid-dorsal area. The upper lip, chin and upper throat are
white, with the usual dark spot on each side behind the angle of the mouth.
The legs are a little browner than the back, this color extending to the backs
of the feet, but the toes and inner side of the wrists of the fore feet are white, as
are also the toes of the hind feet. The remainder of the under side from upper
throat to anus and inside of the limbs is pale orange or ochraceous buff some-
what mixed with longer white hairs. The amount of white on the feet varies
even on opposite sides of the same specimen, but is usually more extensive on
the fore feet, involving the inner side of the wrists nearly to the elbow, while
in the hind feet the tips only of the toes may be white or this may extend along
the side of the foot to the heel.
The skull is smaller than that of M. sibirica, but rather similar.
THE CARNIVORES 379
Measurements:—Few flesh measurements are available. The following
include, however, those of an adult female from the Altai which is thus a
virtual topotype, as well as those of two in the British Museum from Kansu.
No, Head and body Tail Hind foot Ear Locality
25963 MCz 249 103.5 36 — Mongolia
12.8.5.24 BM 235 135.0 42 23 Kansu
12.8.5.25 BM 239 145.0 44 23 Kansu
Males are slightly larger than females. The two from Kansu, whose
dimensions are given above, are both males.
CRANIAL MEASUREMENTS OF MUSTELA ALTAICA ALTAICA
Zygo- Mas- Width Upper Lower
Greatest Basal Palatal matic toid across cheek cheek
No. length length length width width molars’ teeth teeth Locality
25963 MCZ 45.0 42.0 19.6 22.5, 20:5, )14.0. (13:8 / 15:3) Mongolia
23262 MCZ = 46.0 22.3 2405 22.2 14.8 15.2 17.5 Kansu
23912 MCZ 47.0 43-5 20.5 —_ — 13.5 14.3 16.2 Kansu
12.8.5.24 BM 49.6 46.1 21.6 2375 20.1 14.8 14.8 17.0 Kansu
12.8.5.25 BM 50.0 46.8 22.0 — 210 — _ 15.0 17.3 Kansu
Occurrence and Habits:—The Alpine Weasel is a species of the eastern parts
of Tibet and the Altai region, ranging into western China from the moun-
tainous parts of Kansu, eastward as far at least as western and central Shansi
where Sowerby (1923g) has taken it, seventy miles northwest of Taiyuanfu.
Possibly it extends still farther along the southern border of the Gobi, or
passes to the northward, for Radde found it common in Transbaikalia, and
Thomas in 1909 recorded it from the Khingan Mountains of western Manchuria.
Two specimens in the Museum of Comparative Zodlogy seem indistinguish-
able from a third taken in the Altai region, on the Kainda River. All three
are in the pale winter pelage, which may perhaps be assumed rather early in
the season, for one is dated (? late) ‘‘August,”’ from the Lieuhoa Shan, southern
Kansu, 10,000 feet altitude, a second in November from the Richthofen Range,
9,000 feet. Three others are in the darker summer coat, one from the Min
Shan, 11,000 feet, in August, a second from Na Tebbuland in September, and
a third from the Richthofen Range in October. These specimens are from
high country, ranging from 9,000 to 12,000 feet above the sea. The females
are obviously smaller in body than the males, but unfortunately the available
skulls are not sufficiently comparable to bring out this contrast. From the
lack of specimens in various collecting areas, one may infer that this weasel
does not occur in the Gobi, although perhaps reaching the western edge of
that region in the mountains. J. F. Rock secured specimens from the Richt-
hofen Range in northwestern Kansu, in 1925, and traced it thence southeast-
380 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
ward into the mountains of southern Kansu near Choni, where also it has been
found by the missionary Robert B. Ekvall. Except for Sowerby’s record from
western Shansi, no one seems to have found it in North China or in Mongolia.
One was secured near Sungpan, northwestern Szechwan, by the Brooke Dolan
Expedition, 1931. To the southward, in the more saturate highlands of Szech-
wan, it merges into the darker race, which apparently should be called M. a.
kathiah. Milne-Edwards (1868-74, p. 345) suggests that it may be a race of
his Putorius fontanierit, but overlooks its close relationship to his P. astutus,
described on the same page, from Muping. No doubt it is this weasel that
Buechner (1892) intended by Putorius subhemachalanus, applied by him to
skins bought’ in the fur market at Ssigu, Kansu, by Berezovski. The latter
said that it was a species of the undergrowth of the alpine zone, at times
descending to the tree zone on the mountains. Probably Hilzheimer’s Arctogale
tsaidamensis from the Tsaidam Mountains, western Koko Nor, is the same.
Mention should also be made of Ognev’s Kolonocus alpinus raddei, type from
near the lake, Tarei Nor, just across the northeastern boundary of Mongolia,
in southeastern Transbaikalia. It is said to be distinctly brighter in winter,
and of a darker brown tint in summer, than true M. a. altaica. No doubt it
will be found eventually to extend across the border into Mongolia.
Little seems to be recorded of the habits of this weasel. Probably it
lives in part upon the mouse-hares of the alpine heights, as the southern form
issaidtodo. J. F. Rock found them not only at the higher altitudes, but also
in forest country as low as 8,500 feet.
The specimen secured by Sowerby northwest of Taiyuanfu, Shansi, and
now in the U. S. National Museum, is a skin without skull, perhaps of native
preparation. It is a yellower brown along the sides than the average of M.
altaica, but is quite closely matched by a skin in the Museum of Comparative
Zoology from western Kansu, itself differing from other Kansu specimens
in the same way. Apparently the yellower tint is, therefore, an individual
peculiarity.
Anderson notes on the label of one of the specimens he secured near
Taochow, Kansu, that it was seen chasing a pheasant, which it killed, and was
shortly after itself trapped, the pheasant’s head being used as bait. The
locality was among growing crops.
Specimens examined:—In all, fifteen, as follows:
Kansu: Choni, 3 (M.C.Z.); Lieuhoa Shan, between Taochow and Titoa, 1 (M.C.Z.); Min
Shan, 1 (M.C.Z.); Richthofen Range, 2 (M.C.Z.); Na Tebbuland, 2 (M.C.Z.); forty
miles west of Sining, 1 (U.S.N.M.); southeast of Taochow, 2 (B.M.).
Shansi: seventy miles north-northwest of Taiyuanfu, 1 (U.S.N.M.).
Szechwan: Sungpan, 1 (A.N.S.P.); no locality, 1 (A.N.S.P.).
THE CARNIVORES 381
178. Mustela altaica kathiah Hodgson
YELLOW-BELLIED WEASEL
Mustela (Putorius) kathiah Hodgson, Journ. Asiatic Soc. Bengal, vol. 4, p. 702, 1835.
Putorius astutus Milne-Edwards, in David, Nouv. Arch. Mus. d’Hist. Nat. Paris, vol. 7, Bull., p. 92, footnote,
1871. Milne-Edwards, Recherches pour servir a l'Hist. Nat. des Mammiferes, p. 345, pl. 61, fig. 2; pl. 60,
fig. 3, 1868-74.
Putorius auriventer Trouessart, Bull. Mus. d’Hist. Nat., Paris, vol. 1, p. 235, 1895.
Putorius dorsalis Trouessart, zbid., p. 236.
Ictis kathiah Jacobi, Abh. u. Ber. Mus. f. Tier- u. Vélkerk., Dresden, vol. 16, no. I, p. 6, 1922.
Arctogale melli Matschie, in Mell, Arch. f. Naturgesch., vol. 88, sect. A, no. 10, pp. 17, 35, 1922.
Mustela kathiah Weigold, Abh. u. Ber. Mus. f. Tier- u. Volkerk., Dresden, vol. 16, no. 2, p. 73, 1923-
Kolonocus alpinus astutus Ognev, Mammals Eastern Europe and Northern Asia, vol. 2, p. 735, 1931 (in Russian).
Type specimen:—Hodgson described this species from Nepal, and his type
is in the British Museum.
Description:—Similar in proportions to typical M. a. altaica, the tail
slightly more than half the length of head and body. Color in summer, a
uniform dark brown, nearly chocolate brown, above including the tail all
around, lacking the slight yellowish tinge of the northern race, M. a. altaica.
Upper lip narrowly bordered with white, the anterior part of the chin white;
throat and entire under surface of the body, including the inner sides of the
fore legs to the wrists and of the hind legs to the ankles, ochraceous, without
the pinkish tinge seen in M. a. altaica. Fore feet with the toes and sides of the
wrist sometimes white, the hind toes the same. The winter pelage similar but
slightly paler.
Measurements :—Two males from Fukien measured, respectively, head and
body, 260, 270 mm. ; tail, 136, 170; hind foot, 20, —.
CRANIAL MEASUREMENTS OF MUSTELA ALTAICA KATHIAH
Condy- Zygo- Mas- Width Upper Lower
lobasal Basal Palatal matic toid across cheek cheek
No. length length length width width molars teeth teeth Sex Locality
44711 52:5) 40.0) p22:8)'.27.5 (23-4) 35.00 015-3 17-7a Cua bukien
44575 51.8 48.4 22.0 —— 22.2 15.5 15.2 17.5 o Fukien
60195 550), 50:4 2410) 28:0 23:4) 16:3) 16.0) 615-7. oe ukien
85036 51.0 47.5 21.3 26.0 ape -rgs “t5.e Ie gS iakien
43172 Arai) Wa8ionl 16:8)! 2r!0) 20994 12°20 112:21 1318S) imnan
43171 A9.4 1)846:0 B2T25)9 25:3010 22.210 5g 5.0 725) ie een
45502 52.5!) \ 48.4). 22.6. 26.0 (22.2, ,160) 15.0 T8007 80) Bakdien,
43.1.12.14 BM (type) 47.0 42.9 19.8 —— 21.5 14.2 14.5 —— — Nepal
The skull differs from that of M. erminea in the much narrower and more
parallel-sided post-dental portion of the palate. The shape of the interptery-
goid fossa is also slightly different, narrowing forward almost in a V-shape,
instead of a U-shape. In the skull of an adult male there is a very low sagittal
ridge.
382 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
Nomenclature:—There seems to be no doubt that Milne-Edwards’s Pu-
torius astutus from the high mountains of Muping, Szechwan, is the same as
Hodgson’s M. kathiah, or at most an intermediate between that and typical
M. a. altaica. He mentions that its fore feet are white on their upper surface
and so figures them in his plate, but in two specimens from Yunnan this is
not the case, nor apparently is it in Nepalese specimens, though Hodgson
mentions one from western India that had partly whitish feet. This character
seems more typical of true M. a. altaica. No doubt there may be a slight
variation in this matter. For the reason that the Yunnan and Nepalese
weasels seem to be at least usually without white on the feet, I have regarded
Matschie’s Arctogale melli of southeastern China, type from Kwangtung, as a
synonym of M. a. kathiah. A series from Fukien likewise shows no white
markings on the feet. Trouessart (1895) considered Fukien specimens to repre-
sent Putorius auriventer (=kathiah), but others sent by M. Biet from Tatsienlu,
Szechwan (Hsikang), presumed to be winter skins, he thinks sufficiently differ-
ent to be given the rank of a separate species or race, which he named P.
dorsalis, apparently not realizing that P. astutus was the same thing, described
twenty years before. ;
Occurrence and Habits:—The distribution of this weasel arid its’ races
parallels in a way that of M.-sibirica, regarded by Ognev as closely related.
Both range over eastern Asia from the Altai and Transbaikalian country south
to subtropical conditions in southeastern China, and west into the eastern
edge of the Himalayas. The chief difference seems to be the apparent absence
of a representative of M. a. altaica in northeastern China.
No doubt intergradation takes place between the typical race of M. a.
altaica and M. a. kathiah somewhere in northern Szechwan. Jacobi (1922, p. 6)
records two specimens from Sungpan, northern Szechwan, as representing the
latter, as well as a third from Batang. Weigold, who secured these specimens,
says it lives in the dwarf-tree zone at 3,800 to 4,500 meters altitude, where
boulder-strewn slopes are covered with rhododendron; it preys upon alpine
mice and mouse-hares. The American Museum Asiatic Expedition secured
a single specimen at 9,000 feet on the Likiang Range in northern Yunnan.
Eastward the species seems to extend across South China in mountainous
country, to Fukien and Kwangtung. It may eventually prove that the south-
eastern animal is really separable, and that Matschie’s name A. melli will apply
to it in a subspecific sense, but the available specimens from Yunnan and
Fukien seem identical. Mell (1922) writes that it occurs in the mountainous
region of the northern part of Kwangtung in thin woods with much loose
rock at altitudes of 700-850 meters. One that he saw killed a chicken in mid-
afternoon on the edge of a village. Shih (1930) has also recorded the animal
THE CARNIVORES 383
from the Yaoshan area of Kwangtung, and Pope found it common in the
mountains of Futsing.
Specimens examined:—In addition to a series in the British Museum from
Nepal, fifteen, as follows:
Fukien: Futsing, 5; Yenping, 5.
Yunnan: Likiang, 9,000 feet, 1; Milati, near Mengtsz, 1 (B.M.).
Hupeh: Chingfengling, 1 (B.M.).
No definite locality, 2.
179. Mustela rixosa pygmza (J. A. Allen)
PYGMY WEASEL
Putorius (Arctogale) pygmaeus J. A. Allen, Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., vol. 19, p. 176, 1903.
Mustela nivalis pygmaeus Sowerby, Naturalist in Manchuria, vol. 2, p. 70, 1923.
Mustela rix(o)sa pygmea Mori, Journ. Chosen Nat. Hist. Soc., no. 5, p. I, 1927.
Type specimen:—An adult female, skin and skull, No. 18322, American
Museum of Natural History, from Gichiga, west coast of Okhotsk Sea, Siberia,
October 2, 1900. Collected by N. G. Buxton.
Description:—A very small, short-tailed weasel, the length of the tail about
equaling that of the hind foot, but not exceeding it.
Color above, from the posterior part of the upper lip back on a line passing
below the eye to the base of the ear, to and including the entire tail, a light
chocolate brown. This color extends on the upper surface of the fore leg
nearly to the wrist and on the outer side of the hind foot to the metatarsals
and the sole. The toes of the fore feet, as far back on the dorsal side as the
metacarpals or even to the wrist, as well as the soles of the fore feet, the entire
_ under side of the body from the chin to anus, the inner edge of the hind foot,
the hind toes on their dorsal surface only, white. Ears very narrowly edged
with white. There is no brown rictal spot. Occasionally there may be a few
small irregular brown spots in the center of the chest. In winter the entire
pelage is white.
There is a slight amount of individual variation in the amount of white
on the foot; in some, the white of the inner side of the hind leg is continuous
with the white of the side of the ankle and top of the toes; in some the ankle
all around is brown, separating the white of the upper side of the toes.
The skull is a minute replica of that of the common European Weasel, with
a long, narrow brain case, very short rostrum, and delicate teeth.
Measurements:—The field measurements of two specimens from near
Urga, are: total length, male, 157 mm., female, 141; tail, male, 20, female, 17;
hind foot, male, 24, female, 20; ear, male, 16, female, Io.
The skull of a subadult female from near Urga, Mongolia, measures:
greatest length, 28.0 mm.; basal length, 26.0; palatal length, 10.8; zygomatic
384 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
width, 13.0; mastoid width, 13.1; width across molars, 8.6; upper tooth row,
8.2; lower tooth row, 8.6.
Occurrence and Habits:—This very small weasel is at once distinguished
from the larger M. nivalis of Europe by its color pattern, which lacks the brown
rictal spot of M. nivalis, and in addition has the toes of fore and hind feet
white in summer pelage, with the soles of the hind feet brown.
The capture of three specimens of this weasel at distances from fifteen to
forty-five miles north and northeast of Urga extended the recorded range
southward and westward into northern Mongolia. One of the specimens is a
subadult female with ten mammez. The three agree in essential details with
the description of the type from Gichiga, on the Okhotsk Sea. As a species,
this weasel apparently extends into the Japanese archipelago, whence Kuroda
has lately named a specimen from Hondo Mustela rixosa namiyei, thus recog-
nizing the very close relationship to the North American M. rixosa, the type
locality of which is Osler, Saskatchewan. No doubt, as with the American
forms, this weasel lives largely on mice which it pursues in their burrows and
runways.
Sowerby (1923g, vol. 2, p. 71) has recorded the capture of a specimen by
him in central Manchuria, at Imienpo, and remarks that the Chinese hunters
there regard it as not uncommon in the forests.
As I have elsewhere shown, the Pygmy Weasel extends its range westward
quite across Siberia to northern Europe (Norway).
Specimens examined:—Three, from near Urga, Mongolia.
180. Mustela russelliana Thomas
DUKE OF BEDFORD’S PYGMY WEASEL
Mustela russelliana Thomas, Abstract Proc. Zool. Soc. London, February 14, 1911, p. 4; Proc. Zool. Soc. London,
I9QII, p. 168.
Type specimen:—A female, adult, skin and skull, No. 11.2.1.86, British
Museum, from Tatsienlu, Szechwan (Hsikang), China. Collected July 1,
1910, by Malcolm P. Anderson.
Description:—Thomas describes the type in summer pelage, as follows.
Size extremely small, colors of upper and lower surfaces sharply contrasted.
Upper surface uniform dark brown, rather less rich and more drabby than in
M. kathiah. No darker markings on face or ears. Under surface a beautiful
pinkish buff, turning into white anteriorly on the chin, inter-ramia, and lips.
A dark rictal spot is present. Line of demarcation very sharply marked,
running from upper lip to ankle. Arms brown externally, and buffy on the
inner aspect; palms and soles densely hairy. Tail proportionally shorter than
THE CARNIVORES 385
in M. kathiah, slender, not tufted, uniformly brown, the tip not noticeably
darker.
The skull is distinguished by its very small size from that of allied forms.
Measurements:—The following are from Thomas’s account of the species.
Head and body Tail Hind foot Ear Sex Locality
(type) 133 54 22 II 9 Szechwan
(topotype) 138 54 24 — fol Szechwan
Cranial measurements of the type are given as follows: condylobasal
length, 29.3 mm.; basal length, 27.2; zygomatic breadth, 15.2; interorbital
breadth, 6.2; breadth of brain case, 14; palatal length, 11; front of canine to
back of molar, 8; p‘ on outer edge, 2.9 (3.1 in a male).
Occurrence and Habits:—Malcolm P. Anderson, collecting for the British
Museum on the Duke of Bedford’s Expedition in 1910, captured five specimens
of this weasel at Tatsienlu, in central Szechwan (now Hsikang). Nothing
further has been published about it, beyond the bare facts of capture contained
in Thomas’s original account. At first sight one would be inclined to think it
closely allied to the Pygmy Weasel, M. rixosa pygme@a, but the tail is much
longer in proportion, and all the series have the throat white, but the remaining
under parts contrastingly pale orange buff; there is also a small rictal spot
present, brown as usual. All these traits are quite different from those that
characterize the other small species, from which it is no doubt distinct.
Possibly it is allied to Mustela stoliczkana of Yarkand, an animal of rather
similar proportions and appearance, but paler.
The type and three other specimens were all taken at the same locality,
Tatsienlu, and within two days, June 30 and July 1, 1910, and since the type,
a female, is the only adult among them, it seems evident that Anderson secured
part of a single family, for the skulls of the others show that, though perhaps
about full-grown, they are still immature, with the more globular, inflated
brain cases of youth.
Specimens examined:—Four, including the type, from Tatsienlu, Szechwan
(Hsikang), in the British Museum.
181. Mustela erminea mongolica Ognev
MONGOLIAN STOAT
Mustela erminea mongolica Ognev, Mém. Sect. Zool., Amis des Sci. Nat., Anthrop. et Ethnogr., Moscow, no. 2,
pp. 18, 29, 1928.
Type specimen:—A male, skin and skull, No. 9934, Zoological Museum of
the Academy of Sciences, Leningrad, from Dunde Saikhan, Mongolian Altai.
Description:—The color of the summer pelage is described as very pale
386 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
yellow with a rusty tint; tail-tip black; lower side of body as in M. erminea.
The winter pelage is doubtless pure white except for the black tail-tip.
The skull is said to differ from that of the typical race in the “extremely
raised and swelled brain capsule and a broad setting of the zygomatic arches.”
Measurements:—Not available.
Occurrence and Habits:—It is strange that the ermine does not seem to
penetrate far into Mongolia and North China. The only available record of it
within the area here considered is that of Ognev, who has named a specimen
from the Mongolian Altai, as noted above. As a species, it seems to occur
quite across Siberia to Amurland, and Sowerby speaks of it as being well
known to the hunters in central Manchuria. The Altai race described by
Ognev cannot be very different from the typical race, nor, perhaps, from his
M. e. transbaikalica, from Bargusin, Siberia.
Specimens examined;—None.
182. Mustela eversmanni tiarata Hollister
Mustela tiarata Hollister, Proc. Biol. Soc. Washington, vol. 26, p. 20, 1913.
Mustela larvata Sowerby, in Clark and Sowerby, Through Shén-kan, p. 174, 1912.
Mustela larvata tiarata G. M. Allen, Amer. Mus. Novitates, no. 358, p. 2, 1929.
Type specimen:—An immature male, skin and skull, No. 155160, U. S.
National Museum, from Chiuningchow, one hundred and fifty miles east of
Lanchow, Kansu, China, 5,500 feet altitude. Collected July 24, 1909, by
Arthur de Carle Sowerby.
Description:—A large weasel, with face and forehead dark brown; neck,
back, and basal. two-thirds of tail light fulvous with short white under fur,
the back darkened by long black-tipped hairs. Terminal third of the tail,
the throat, chest, and fore legs, also the hind legs and the area between them,
as well as a median line connecting the chest-patch with the abdominal patch,
black to blackish brown. Sides of the belly buff. Winter pelage paler on
body, with forehead and crown as well as sides of face white instead of brown,
the nape nearly white with a yellowish wash.
The skull is heavy for a weasel, developing a low sagittal ridge with age.
The long upper canines when the jaws are closed extend just ventral to the
alveoli of the lower canines. Muzzle short and square; its width at the antor-
bital foramina equals the width across the postorbital processes. In some
specimens the postglenoid portion of the jaw socket is so turned forward that
the jaw cannot be disarticulated.
Measurements:—The following table gives the measurements of the type
as recorded by Hollister and those of three specimens collected by the American
Museum Asiatic Expeditions.
THE CARNIVORES 387
No. Head and body Tail Hind foot Ear Sex Locality
155160 USNM 390 150 93 33 ro Kansu
45604 395 150 63 25 g Mongolia
45605 395 170 67 24 g Mongolia
45606 400 157 63 27 Q Mongolia
- CRANIAL MEASUREMENTS OF MUSTELA EVERSMANNI TIARATA
; Least
Condy- Zygo- Mas- Width _post- Upper Lower
lobasal Basal Palatal matic toid across orbital cheek cheek
No. length length length width width molars’ width teeth teeth Locality
45604 (Sihey (eyby eI ibe Moy eee) 12.7. 21.5 25.7 Mongolia
45605 70:0. 166,0) (934.0) | A210) 46.0 23.4 4.1.3 20.8 26.0 Mongolia
45606 GSiAvay G4tOM 33:2) | ATOM Ns55y 12355 10.5 21.9 25.4 Mongolia
60102 75.01) 69:5) 4g8tO - 1440) 4142.2) 2457, 14.5 23.2 28.0 Mongolia
19893 MCZ 72.3 680 362 46.5 40.8 25.5 0756 ob 2300 27.5 Shansi
60054 750i. 70rd. 30:2) | 50:50 842-405 8 2525 VSOu 22,5270 ?
Nomenclature:—This large weasel is a member of the subgenus Putorius,
or polecats, a group which includes as its only American representative, the
Black-footed Weasel of the western plains, a species rather closely similar to
the Asiatic animal. The subgenus is distinguished from the more typical
weasels by its stouter form, more bushy tail, different color pattern in which
the chest and legs are black, the prominent mastoid processes that project in
nearly a right angle at the back of the zygomatic arches, the distinctly tri-
angular outline of the auditory bull, and by the slightly less sharply cutting
crowns of the premolar teeth.
Described as a distinct species by Hollister, this Masked Polecat of
western China is undoubtedly a very close relative of M. larvata of southern
Tibet, from which it differs mainly in having the blackish facial mask con-
tinuous with the dark brown of the forehead, instead of being separated by a
distinct white area, and in having the terminal part only of the tail black
instead of its entire length. In specimens examined, this last character is
variable to the extent that in four skins the black terminal portion is different
in each, varying from one-quarter to a third or a half of the taillength. I have
regarded it as only subspecifically distinct.
Apparently Hollister’s M. lineiventer from the Little Altai is a paler race
of this same species with the facial mask distinct, while the weasel described
by Kastschenko from northwestern Mongolia as M. michnot, is, as Hollister
suggested, probably a race of M. eversmanni, so far as may be judged from
descriptions, and Ognev (1931) has so treated it in his work on ‘‘Mammals of
Eastern Europe and Northern Asia.” A. B. Howell (1929) has recorded
M. lineiventer from Shansi, while admitting that it is doubtless only subspecific-
ally different from M. larvata; but it may be that these lighter-colored examples
388 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
were in winter pelage. At all events, the Shansi specimens I have seen appear
to be M. e. tiarata.
[Since the present account was written, Pocock (Proc. Zool. Soc. London,
1936, pp. 691-723, 2 pls.) has reviewed the Old World polecats, which he
regards as constituting a valid genus, Putorius. Notwithstanding that in
eastern Europe both P. putorius and P. eversmanni may occur side by side, he
includes all the forms as geographic races of the former and places Hollister’s
Mustela lineiventer as a synonym of P. p. michnoi. In addition he describes
as new, P. p. admiratus, a pale race from Chihfeng, northern Hopei.]
Occurrence and Habits:—This large Masked Polecat replaces M. eversmannt
of western Siberia in Tibet and Mongolia. It probably occurs over most
of the Gobi where the country is suitable for marmots, and ranges south
into Shansi, central Kansu, and northwestern Szechwan. In addition to
the type and two other immature animals from one hundred and fifty miles
east of Lanchow, Kansu, Hollister (1929) records specimens in the U. S.
National Museum from ten miles west of Sining and one hundred and twenty
miles south of Lanchow in the same province. The American Museum Asiatic
Expeditions secured others at a place eighty miles south of Urga in the Gobi,
and from Paotow and Maitaichao, forty-three miles east of that place, in Shansi.
Howell mentions two other skins from Shansi (one from Wutsai, the other
from an unknown place) that ‘‘match very well the type series of lineiventer,”’
but may be identical with this same race. The habits of this ferret are very
likely similar to those of our American species, for its seems to frequent marmot
colonies, doubtless preying upon these animals or upon ground squirrels. One
of the Gobi specimens was taken in a marmot burrow at Tsetsen Wang, and
two from the plains southeast of Urga were trapped in similar situations. Dr.
Andrews writes.of them: ‘‘I think they were after the marmots without doubt.
I have never seen such an incarnation of fury as these beasts showed when
trapped. The musky odor is very strong.’’ The number of young must be
fairly large, for one specimen shows distinctly five pairs of mamme, another
six pairs, all close together at the posterior portion of the abdomen.
An interesting specimen is a skin secured in the market at Sungpan, in
northwestern Szechwan, near the border of the Tibetan plateau, by the Brooke
Dolan Expedition of 1931. It was said to have been locally taken and is now
in the collection of the Academy of Natural Sciences at Philadelphia. It
was captured in June, and has apparently shed some of the fur over the rump,
or still retains some of the paler winter coat, for this region nearly lacks the
usual warm buffy wash, while the long black hairs of the lower back seem more
abundant than usual. The distal two-thirds of the tail is black. This seems
to be the most southern record for the species.
THE CARNIVORES 389
Thomas (1912a) has recorded two male polecats, under the name Putorius
larvatus michnoi Kastschenko, from the Kunderlun plateau, Achit Nor,
northwestern Mongolia, an identification in which Pocock concurs, so far as
concerns the subspecies.
Specimens examined:—In all, eight, as follows:
Mongolia: eighty miles southeast of Urga, 3; Tsetsen Wang, I.
China:
Shansi: Paotow, 1; Maitaichao, forty-three miles east of Paotow, 1; one hundred
miles northwest of Taiyuanfu, 1.
Szechwan: Sungpan, 1 (A.N.S.P.).
Genus Vormela W. Blasius
TIGER WEASELS
Vormela W. Biasius, Bericht d. Naturf. Gesellsch. in Bemberg, vol. 13, p. 9, 1884 (subgenus). Miller, Mamm.
Western Europe, p. 428, 1912 (genus).
Formerly this genus was associated with the polecats (subgenus Putorius
of Mustela), which it resembles in its heavier build, general proportions and.
in the blackish feet, facial mask, and under side. As Miller has pointed out,
however, its curious combination of characters seems to entitle it to generic
rank. The peculiar broken and mottled color pattern of the upper surface
seems to be a highly specialized one. The claws are long, and very little
curved on the fore feet, indicating their use for digging. The skull is heavy
and somewhat shorter in proportion than in Mustela, with triangular audital
bullz, whose anterior internal points are in contact with the hamular processes
of the pterygoids. The tooth formula is the same as in Mustela, namely:
i3 ct pm.3 m.4, but the teeth are stouter, the canines of the upper jaw un-
usually long, the inner lobe of the upper carnassial larger, the upper molar
set at an angle to the tooth row with its outer end anterior to the inner. In
the lower jaw the specialization of the carnassial has not proceeded so far as
in Mustela, for there is still a distinct metaconid present as a small point on
the inner side of the summit of the main cusp, a conid that has been eliminated
in Mustela to enhance the cutting action of the tooth.
The Tiger Weasels seem to be dwellers in steppe country, and occur from
Roumania and eastern Hungary eastward across the Russian steppes into the
Gobi, where the Russian V. peregusna is represented by a paler subspecies.
The type species is Mustela sarmatica = Vormela peregusna (Gueldenstadt).
183. Vormela peregusna negans Miller
EASTERN TIGER WEASEL
Vormela negans Miller, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., vol. 38, p. 385, pl. 17, 1910.
Type specimen:—A skin without skull, adult male, No. 155001, U. S.
National Museum, from the Ordos Desert, about one hundred miles north of
Yulinfu, Shensi, China.
390 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
Description:—This desert race differs from the European form in the still
greater reduction of the brown on the dorsal area, leaving a larger amount of
yellowish background, a peculiarity of pattern recalling that of a coach dog
or a domestic rabbit of the ‘“‘English” type. A very dark brown facial mask
extends from the upper edge of the rhinarium to the upper eyelid, and thence
as a narrow line downward and backward to join the black of the throat; a
similar but darker-brown patch of triangular shape covers the forehead between
the ears and extends back from the outer corner of the ear to join the black
of the throat. There is thus a white ring which includes the chin and both
lips separated by the first dark patch from a second white ring passing back
of the eyes and below the ears but not quite complete ventrally. Nape and
shoulders nearly clear buffy white, the rest of the back to root of tail mostly
buffy, mottled with dark brown. Upper part of fore limbs dark yellowish
brown, passing into blackish on the forearms and feet. Throat, chest, belly,
hind legs and feet, and base of tail ventrally, black. ail whitish in general —
‘appearance for the basal two-thirds, the long hairs having buffy bases, then a
broad ring of brown and the terminal third whitish. The tip of the tail is
blackish brown all around.
The skull of the type was missing, but one from Mongolia secured by the
Central Asiatic Expeditions is not very different from a skull from Russia,
with upper canine longer than depth of rostrum above its root and the inner
lobe of the carnassial as wide as the outer.
Measurements:—The type skin as made up, measured approximately,
head and body, 340 mm. ; tail, 210.
A skull of this weasel from P’angkiang, Mongolia, though broken, shows
the following dimensions: length of upper canine, 10.5 mm.; depth of rostrum
above it, 9.6; upper tooth row, canine to molar, 18; orbit to gnathion, 15;
gnathion to posterior rim of glenoid fossa, 35.6; width outside fourth premolar,
21; width of rostrum, 15.5; lower tooth row, 23.5. The skeleton has eleven
pairs of ribs.
Occurrence and Habits:—The two skins that served as the basis of Miller’s ©
description were obtained by natives in the Ordos Desert, about one hundred
miles north of Yulinfu, Shensi. The only other record seems to be the skeleton
secured by the Central Asiatic Expeditions in April, 1922, at P’angkiang,
Mongolia. Sowerby, who brought back the first two skins, says that the
species seems to be not at all common and frequents spots where there are
trees, in which it climbs freely. Its native name ‘‘ma-nai-hou’”’ he suggests
may indicate this habit, since ‘‘hou”’ signifies monkey.
Specimens examined:—One, a skeleton, from P’angkiang, Mongolia.
THE CARNIVORES 391
Genus Helictis Gray
FERRET-BADGERS
Helictis Gray, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1831, pt. I, p. 94.
The Ferret-badgers are somewhat more heavily built than the weasels,
with less slender bodies, strong fore claws, greatly developed cartilaginous
snout, and are characteristically colored a brownish gray above, more or less
hoary, with white facial markings on forehead, cheeks, and ears, and often
with a varying amount of white in the midline of the nape and foreshoulders.
It is an interesting fact that the several species of eastern Asia, though ex-
ternally very similar, are very different in their cranial characters. Thomas
(1922a) has lately reviewed the group and recognizes three genera for the
ferret-badgers of China, India, and North Borneo, but in view of the quanti-
tative nature of the characters described, it may be better to regard these
divisions as of subgeneric value only, for the species are obviously closely
allied. For the Indian Helictis personata, Thomas erects the genus Melogale,
distinguished by its heavy teeth, the lower second premolar disproportionately
larger than the first, and the upper carnassial with its external border convex
instead of nearly straight. There is a smaller race of this species that Thomas
has described from Tongking, Helictis (Melogale) personata tonquinia, that
very likely will be found to occur across the border in Yunnan as so many
other tropical species do, but hitherto no specimens have been taken within
Chinese territory. Thomas has pointed out a further distinction between the
Indian and Siamese subgenus in the character of the baculum or penis bone,
which in Melogale is bifid terminally, with the prongs thickened, one of them
forming a curved crest, whereas in the Chinese H. moschata the tip is trifid
with the slightly thickened terminal prongs set in a triangle. This difference,
however, is less sharp than might appear, for in a baculum of H. p. tonquinia in
the Museum of Comparative Zodlogy, there is a third prong present, though
small. It is obviously the ventral prong of the three in typical Helictis. An
additional peculiarity of Melogale as contrasted with Helictis proper is that
the prominent temporal ridges are heavier and more nearly medial, curving
strongly inward from the supraorbital processes, so that their point of closest
approximation is about the diameter of the orbit behind these processes, and
from there back the ridges diverge slightly. In Helictis of the moschata
group, the ridges are less heavy, much wider apart, and either parallel or slightly
bowed outward over the brain case, occasionally converging at their posterior
ends. The close similarity in size and general appearance of these two species
makes it seem likely that their geographic ranges are mutually exclusive or
nearly so. Anderson (1879) long ago recorded Helictis moschata from western
Yunnan, but it is possible that the specimen is referable to the species that
392 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
Thomas has since discriminated as H. millsi, type locality, Assam. There are
four inguinal mamme.
In its tooth characters, Helictis is peculiar in the development of the large
fourth upper premolar, whose internal lobe is very wide with a strong erect
cusp, standing nearly in the middle of a wide platform formed by the rest of
the lobe. The upper molar is nearly a parallelogram in outline, with the outer
border about equaling the inner, and the entire tooth is set at a slight angle, with
its outer end a little forward of the inner. The lower carnassial (m,) has the an-
terior trigon well developed, the three cusps (protoconid, paraconid, and meta-
conid) of about equal size, while the heel consists of a somewhat basin-like
portion with a sharp-edged rim not showing definite cusps. The tooth formula
is: i$ c.tpm.4m.}=38. The last lower molar is a very small tooth, round in
cross-section, with an outer and an inner cusp, distinct but small. The type
species is H. moschata.
Two species of Ferret-badgers occur in southeastern China, which though
externally rather similar in general appearance may be distinguished by the
characters given in the key following. The group is chiefly a subtropical and
tropical one, extending into southeastern China to the Yangtze valley.
Key TO THE CHINESE SPECIES OF Helictis
A. Size larger, hind foot 60-65 mm., a brown rictal spot present.
a. Greatest length of skull averaging 77 mm. in males, under parts
usually more buffy, bases of dorsal hairs paler................ H. moschata moschata
b. Greatest length of skull averaging 80 mm. in males, under parts
usually whiter, bases of dorsal hairs hardly paler.............. H. m. ferreo-grisea
B. Size smaller, hind foot 45 mm., no rictal spot present............ H. taxilla sorella
184. Helictis moschata moschata Gray
COMMON FERRET-BADGER
Helictis moschata Gray, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1831, pt. I, p- 94.
Type specimen:—A skin and skull, No. 2074, in the British Museum, sent
by John Reeves, Esq., from Canton, Kwangtung, China, about 1830.
Description:—General color of the body, and outer sides of the limbs and
the feet, chocolate brown, the bases of the hairs paler on the dorsal surface of
the body. On the head there is a squarish white spot occupying about one-half
the space between the eyes in the median line; the sides of the face below the
eye, as well as an area in front of the ear, are white, and both these white areas
are continuous with the yellowish white of the lips, chin, throat, and middle
of the belly and inside of the legs. A large, elongate rictal spot is present
below the white of the cheeks and behind the angle of the mouth. The hair
of the throat is white to the roots, but elsewhere ventrally, the white hairs
are pale chocolate basally. On the occiput there is a second prominently
THE CARNIVORES 393
contrasted white squarish spot, which may be continued more or less inter-
ruptedly backward as a median white line to the shoulders. The tail is like
the back, dull chocolate all around, well haired, the longer hairs with pale
tips, which at the proximal portion are inconspicuous but terminally are very
much more extensive, producing a whitish tip to the tail.
The pattern varies more or less in the extent of the white markings about
the head. Swinhoe (1870a, p. 228) mentions a skin from Hainan in which the
pale spot between the eyes was lacking.
The chief characters of the skull have already been mentioned. The
prominent longitudinal temporal ridges are very striking.
Measurements:—No fresh measurements are available, but in general
size the typical race hardly differs from that of the provinces to the north
(see under H. m. ferreo-grisea).
CRANIAL MEASUREMENTS OF HELICTIS MOSCHATA MOSCHATA
Zygo- Mas- Width Orbitto Upper Lower
Greatest Basal Palatal matic toid across endof cheek cheek
No. length length length width width molars rostrum teeth teeth Sex Locality
59978 78.0 69.1 35:0 43.0 35.0 21.5 28.0 226 27.7. o@ Hainan
60057 Oe 166.01 1414321379 B3917-) 9 83'ON 9 120.01 092515 40 22.3)" 727.0 oil Hainan
60059 Assis) 60:8) §) 33:0) 10470). 934-2) 20:5. 54a 2210.8 825:8i oil tHainan
60087 WEB ZO Ts pi 35:0) pe 44. Oy) 35:20 G2T-Oy 28:01) 92355 i ee 28' Sota aman
Average 7617, 68.0 33:8 43.4. §34¢5) 205) 26-7. 82216) 127/72, ic
59977 WACO) G45 32:25 ABT. 227A 20 ayo OF e227 Ons? Om Cuma tiainan
59979 yaw 03-5 32:0) | 40.5 85:0) 20:8) 82510) 205 25 One Oe atian
59980 7SOM 166.7' 34:8) 43i0l 934i 2197 9) 27709 (i228 27oNw eos eiainan
59928 SIe5) 7.0) ©3933), 94510) 3722) 821-3) 2010 25,352 ONS eenanan’
60031 7612) | 167.0) © 33:0) 45:00 3510" 2010) 6 260:5) "22:3, 20:3 9? Haman
60032 7720) 166.8: -) ©3265 846-008 30:5 21.5 26.1 22.1 26.6 @ Hainan
60033 727 05.0) 32:0 46.0 35:45 s20.0) 625°8) 21-5 20.0 Oe Licinan
60034 730) O35) 31.7 ¢) 40: * 33.285 120:3.8 24.8) 20 A 25 oe Oe attic
60035 710) 162-7 -30:0) | AAO) | 135.50 21-0) 24/0) bi ae ate Ole Lainan
60058 73:8 65:5) 30:9). .39:5) 934.0 20:20) 25:0) +423,00) 26/5" 9. Hainan
Average 74.8 65.6 32.9. 43.1 34.8 = 2027" =925;84) 122)4) 266m 19
From these figures it seems that the males, although a very little larger
in some of their measurements, do not exceed females in any striking way.
Occurrence and Habits:—The Ferret-badgers are well named, their long
cartilaginous snout and thickset appearance giving them a certain resemblance
to a badger, while their long tails, slightly less than body length, more recall
a ferret. This is apparently not an uncommon species in the subtropical
parts of extreme southern China, grading into the following race which occurs
over most of South China. The original specimen was sent to the British
Museum from Canton by John Reeves, Esq., but Mell (1922, p. 17) says that
394 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
so far as he knows it has not since been taken there, so it is quite likely that
Reeves purchased the animal from some one who brought it in to the market
from outside. Nevertheless Mell says that in general it occurs everywhere in
Kwangtung, but is commoner in the more northern part. Swinhoe has also
recorded it from Amoy and even Shanghai, although on geographical grounds
the animal from the latter locality is perhaps the following race, H. m. ferreo-
grisea. Mr. Clifford H. Pope secured a fine series while collecting for the
American Museum on the island of Hainan, and these I have followed the
late J. A. Allen (1906) in regarding as typical H. m. moschata. Probably the
animal recorded by Shih (1930, p. 5) from the Yao Shan area, Kwangsi, as
“‘Nasua narica’’ is really the species under consideration, for he remarks of it
that it is ‘somewhat divergent from that of Fukien.’’ Probably referable to
the typical form also, is a single hunter’s skin secured by Dr. Roy C. Andrews
at Likiang, Yunnan; it is without measurements or skull, and its tail seems
longer than in the other specimens seen. .
Little seems to have been published on the habits in China. Mell (1922)
says that on June 6 a female with two sucklings, one-third grown, was taken in
a hole among rocks at the foot of a tree at Wutsung, and a second female,
also with two young, in late May at Fungwahn, Kwangtung. One specimen
taken had bonesin the stomach. Pope notes that although these little animals
seem somewhat stupid in life, they are very tenacious of existence and difficult
to kill by choking, the usual Chinese method.
Specimens examined:—Twenty, as follows:
Hainan: Nodoa, 14; Namfong, 4.
Yunnan: I (hunter’s skin bought at Likiang).
Kwangtung: 1 (B.M.), the type.
185. Helictis moschata ferreo-grisea Hilzheimer
Helictis ferreo-griseus Hilzheimer, Zool. Anzeiger, vol. 29, p. 298, 1905; Abh. u. Ber. Mus. f. Natur- u. Heimatk.,
Magdeburg, vol. 1, p. 176, 1906.
Helictis moschata Swinhoe, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1870, p. 623 (in part).
Helictis moschata ferreo-grisea G. M. Allen, Amer. Mus. Novitates, no. 358, p. 7, 1929.
? Mustela lavarta (sic) Shih, Bull. Dept. Biol., Sun Yatsen Univ., Canton, no. 9, p. 2, 1930.
Type specimen:—The type is a male skin without skull in the Magdeburg
Museum, Germany, described without mention of a definite locality, but in
a later paper the author (Hilzheimer, 1906) states that it was from near
Hankow, Hupeh, China. Probably it was a trade skin purchased in the market.
Description:—This is a barely distinguishable race, closely similar to
typical H. moschata, but averaging slightly larger, the skull a little larger,
the winter pelage longer and clearer white in the white areas than in the more
southern race. In general the tone of the pelage is grayer, especially in winter,
but presents the same full chocolate-brown coloration with the white facial
THE CARNIVORES 395
and occipital marks, the latter often continued as a stripe of variable length to
the shoulders. Usually the white of the under parts is without the buffy
tint of the more southern animals, though this is not invariable, and the bases
of the hairs above are paler.
Males average a very little larger than females in cranial dimensions.
Measurements:—The following measurements were taken in the field by
the collector:
No. Head and body Tail Hind foot Ear Sex Locality
43168 370 150 65 — foil Fukien
58272 385 190 68 35 ef Szechwan
43167 340 140 60 — fe} Fukien
58270 375 150 65 35 2 Szechwan
58272 385 190 61 37 Q Szechwan
CRANIAL MEASUREMENTS OF HELICTIS MOSCHATA FERREO-GRISEA
Zygo- Mas- Width Orbit to Upper Lower
Greatest Basal Palatal matic toid across endof cheek cheek
No. length length length width width molars rostrum teeth teeth Sex Locality
43168 79-5 70.7 36.0 48.3 36.0 21.0 28.5 24.2 29.0 fof Fukien
44710 80:2 (70:0) 36:7) 15 40.0b 37, Om eL Om 2515) 22740 27.0 of Fukien
85029 S00) 671-5 38.0 46:8 38:0) 21-5) 30:2) 2510) 2010 fof Fukien
45336 8022) 71. 86s 70 AO esol 2L-00 20 Omron mao Shao? Chekiang
85026 SION 173.2 337-8 47.0 | 30:20) 22-1 30:0) 25:78 2010 fof Fukien
58272 83:2 73.2) 37.0) © 48:0) 38:0) | 21-2) 202) 25.0) 25:0 of Szechwan
58276 81:8) 770'7 - 3610) 44:9la610) 22107 27,69 “24105 28:0 ? Szechwan
20019 MCZ 80 7LIO* 37-4) 450) “3847 *22'2)) *2012)) 24.0" V28°5 ? Kiangsu
44708 75:2, 105,014 34:58 042.0) 683.00 F220) beat OLS 9 Fukien
44709 TSA. 167290 36.0 42.7 25:3) 21.3) 23810) 22-5) 528.0 2 Fukien
60191 793 68:9) 34:5, 45:0) 30:3) 21-0) 2810) 2374) 25.0 Q Fukien
85027 7028 =O8'0F 30:0) 42:8) 45-45 9 21-0) 27 Soa) 26.0 9 Fukien
85028 78.O8NG7E2 -35ile 42.2") 433.6 (20M 2773) 1236" 227 hr ie) Fukien
57033 Si Oh 700m 43 7.01145:7)0 137.012. On eects, ea cmos Q Hunan
58271 77-On 68:08, 134.5), 40.0) 9330:2) 020.35 28. 0N 24Omn2 7.5 9 Szechwan
Occurrence and Habits:—The Ferret-badger of central China covers a
wide area and seems fairly common and well distributed. The American
Museum Asiatic Expeditions secured specimens at several localities in Fukien,
namely: Futsing, Yenping in the mountains, and at Chunganhsien; as well as at
Tunglu in Chekiang, near the mouth of the Yangtze; Yochow in Hunan, and
several from Wanhsien on the eastern border of the Szechwan highlands.
Apparently it is not found in the high country of western China, although it
follows the Yangtze into the east-central part of Szechwan, whence the U. S.
National Museum has specimens taken at Suifu and Kiating (A. B. Howell,
1929). Probably, too, the specimen from Shanghai and the one from Yochow,
in the same institution, recorded by Howell, should represent the more northern
396 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
race. The Museum of Comparative Zodlogy has a specimen secured by Dr.
F. R. Wulsin at Ningpo, Chekiang. It would seem that the species does not
range much north of the Yangtze basin in eastern China, so that probably the
skin without skull in the American Museum, labeled as from Maitaichao,
Shansi, was probably not actually taken there, but brought in from the south.
Very little information as to the habits of this animal seems to be pub-
lished. The number of mamme, four, is in keeping with the apparently
small number of young, two in two cases mentioned under the typical race,
and in contrast to the large litters produced by some of the weasels.
Specimens examined:—Twenty-six.
Fukien: Futsing, 4; Yenping, 5; Chunganhsien, 4.
Chekiang: Ningpo, 1 (M.C.Z.); Tunglu, 2.
Hunan: Yochow, 3.
Szechwan: Wanhsien, 5.
Shansi: Maitaichao, I (probably not native there).
No definite locality, 1.
186. Helictis taxilla sorella G. M. Allen
LESSER FERRET-BADGER
Helictis taxilla sorella G. M. Allen, Amer. Mus. Novitates, no. 358, p. 8, 1929.
Type specimen:—An adult male, skin and skull, No. 85030, American
Museum of Natural History, from Futsing, Fukien, China. Collected Feb-
ruary 21, 1926, by Clifford H. Pope, Central Asiatic Expeditions.
Description:—In general resembling H. moschata in external appearance,
but much smaller, the ears slightly larger in proportion, the claws of the fore
feet somewhat more curved, the metatarsal pads shorter. An obvious differ-
ence in color pattern lies in the absence of the dark rictal spot.
Color, pale chocolate brown above, becoming hoary on the sides; tail
narrow and long-haired, the chocolate hairs predominating on the basal half,
the white-tipped hairs on the distal half. The hair of the back is whitish at
base. The white head markings, though recalling in pattern those of H.
moschata, differ in that the white interorbital spot tends to be more linear than
squarish (in one specimen it extends from nose-pad to crown as a broad line);
the cheeks behind the eye are grizzled chocolate gray and whitish instead of
having a dark spot extending backward from the posterior corner of the eye,
with an area of clear white above and below; and finally the brown spot behind
the corner of the mouth in H. moschata is lacking in this species. A cluster of
small tactile hairs arises from this spot in the latter species, but in H. t. sorella
these vibrissze are much smaller, in correlation perhaps with the loss of the
pigmented spot, a characteristic mark of many weasels. Ventral surface of
THE CARNIVORES 397
the body, including the fore legs to the wrists and the hind legs to the ankles,
dull white. Inside of the ears and their outer rims whitish,
The skull is more slender than that of H. moschata, especially in the rostral
portion, and has a lower and less inflated brain case. The temporal ridges are
wide apart and nearly parallel. The entire skull is smaller as well, but the
tooth rows are very nearly as long as in H. moschata, and slightly longer than
in H. taxilla taxilla, requiring thus a long and slender rostral portion for their
accommodation. The distance between the upper molars equals the width of
the postpalatal tube, whereas in the larger H. moschata it exceeds that width.
Measurements:—The collector’s measurements of the type and a topotype
are respectively: head and body, 330, 320 mm.; tail, 140, 150; hind foot, 40, 40.
In the dried skin, however, the foot without claw measures in each, 45 mm.
CRANIAL MEASUREMENTS OF HELICTIS TAXILLA SORELLA
Zygo- Mas- Width Orbit to Upper Lower
Greatest Basal Palatal matic toid across tipof cheek cheek
No. length length length width width molars rostrum teeth teeth Sex Locality
S50400) 71kO; | © 163:8i1 33/6" 37101 “gol2> e18i2, 24/8 Vi Vesio 2707) ole Bulnen
S5OsKse 69:57 160:4, 133.011) (37-8 19315) sT8iOn (25/519 §22-4,09825:5 Q Fukien
Bes2O 72:7. 65.0, 35-51) «39:3. 9 our 15.804 (25:6, | 23-0) «327.2 Q Fukien
There does not seem to be any obvious difference in size between the two
sexes so far as these few specimens show. For comparison, the type of Helictis
taxilla in the British Museum has a skull length of 77.7 mm., basal length, 74
(in a second, 69); mastoid width, 34; orbit to rostrum, 21.5.
Occurrence and Habits:—This is apparently a smaller race of the Tong-
kingese H. taxilla, distinguishable by its smaller skull in combination with the
large size of the teeth, which are even slightly larger than in the latter, to judge
from Thomas’s measurements.
The species bears so close an external resemblance to H. moschata that
it might on casual inspection easily be confused with that animal, but its
smaller size, gray cheeks, the lack of a rictal spot, the much shorter metatarsal
pads, and the weaker and slightly curved fore claws are obvious points of
difference. In the case of two species so similar in general aspect, living in
the same region, one suspects a difference in habits, and it may be that the
last two points indicate modifications for tree-climbing instead of a more
terrestrial existence.
Thomas was the first to discover this smaller type of ferret-badger, among
specimens sent from Tongking to the British Museum. The capture of speci-
mens in northern Fukien, China, extends the known distribution of the species
a thousand miles to the northeast. Nothing was observed, however, of a dis-
tinctive nature about its habits. No doubt further investigations will disclose
the presence of the species in other places in southeastern China, and prove its
398 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
intergradation with the typical race of Tongking. The four specimens in the
American Museum are all from northern Fukien, in an area where there is still
a certain amount of wild and partially forested country.
Specimens examined:—Four, as follows:
Fukien: northwestern part, 2; Futsing, 2.
Genus Meles Brisson
BADGER
Meles Brisson, Regn. Anim. in Classis IX distrib., Quadr., ed. 2, p. 13, 1762; or Storr, Prodromus Meth. Mamm.,
Pp. 34, 1780.
Badgers are large, stoutly built members of the Mustelidz, with short,
well-muscled fore limbs, and long, nearly straight claws for digging. The
nose has a strong cartilaginous termination and an external nose-pad of good
size as a further aid in burrowing. Both this and the next genus, Arctonyx,
have relatively narrow and elongate skulls as compared with the broader
and nearly triangular skull of the American Badger. Other points of difference
have led Pocock (1921b) to regard the two Old World genera as more closely
allied to each other than to the American Badger, so that he places them in the
subfamily Melinz, while the American Badger (Taxidea) is made the repre-
sentative of a separate subfamily, Taxideine. In Meles, as in Arctonyx, the
last upper premolar, pm‘, has a broad internal ledge, giving the tooth a nearly
triangular outline in crown view. This ledge in Meles has a low but prominent
cusp on the middle of the postero-internal border, and two still smaller cusps
at the inner apex of the triangle, obvious in unworn teeth. The upper molar
is a large broad tooth, in crown view nearly rectangular in outline, with the
outer, posterior corner rounded off, so that the external edge is shorter than
the internal. . The two outer cusps, paracone and metacone, are prominent,
while a third smaller cone stands behind the latter, forming the postero-
external corner of the tooth. A low ridge, apparently constituted by the
protoconule, protocone, and closely approximated hypocone, runs lengthwise
in the center of the tooth, while the internal border is extended medially as
a low shelf separated by a deep groove from the central ridge. In the lower
jaw, the first molar is much elongated, its paraconid and protoconid shearing
against the upper carnassial, while its posterior heel is long and basin-shaped,
its rim formed by two external and three inner cusps. The second lower
molar is much smaller and nearly circular in crown view. The palate is con-
tinued back from the level of the last molars as a narrow and nearly parallel-
sided tube, not quite reaching the level of the jaw articulation, beyond which
the hamular processes extend as thin vertical rods nearly as far back as the
prominent and inflated audital bulle, all quite in contrast to the conditions in
THE CARNIVORES 399
Arctonyx. The dental formula is usually the same in both genera, namely:
i C.t pm.$ m.3 = 34.
Only one species of Meles is represented in eastern Asia, and it extends
over most of eastern China. Its relationship to the European Badger seems
only subspecific, nor does the material at hand indicate any tangible differ-
ences between the animals of North and South China.
187. Meles meles leptorynchus Milne-Edwards
CHINESE BADGER
Meles leptorynchus Milne-Edwards, Ann. des Sci. Nat., Zool., ser. 5, vol. 8, p. 374, 1867.
Meles leptorhynchus Milne-Edwards, Recherches pour servir a l'Hist. Nat. des Mammiféres, p. 190, pl. 25;
pl. 26, figs. 3, 4; pl. 27, figs. 3, 4; pl. 28, figs. 3, 4, 1868-74.
Meles chinensis Gray, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1868, p. 207. Amoy.
Meles leucurus Trouessart, Cat. Mamm. Viv. Foss., p. 188, 1904. J. A. Allen, Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist.,
vol. 26, p. 430, 1909.
Meles hanensis Matschie, Wiss. Ergebn. d. Exped. Filchner nach China u. Tibet 1903-05, vol. 10, pt. 1, p. 138,
1908.
Meles siningensis Matschie, loc. cit.
Meles tsingtauensis Matschie, ibid., p. 142.
Meles meles leptorynchus G. M. Allen, Amer. Mus. Novitates, no. 358, p. 9, 1929.
Meles meles leucurus Osgood, Publ. Field Mus. Nat. Hist., zool. ser., vol. 18, p. 262, 1932.
Type specimens:—No single specimen is mentioned by Milne-Edwards as
the type of this badger, but he states that the Paris Museum received several
specimens from ‘“‘les environs de Pékin,’’ Hopei, China, sent by M. Fontanier.
The specimens are, therefore, cotypes, and presumably are still in the collec-
tion of the Muséum d’Histoire Naturelle.
Description:— This badger is at once distinguished from Arctonyx by its
black throat (white in the latter), and its short stumpy tail of the same mixed
blackish-brown and white as the back, whereas in Arctonyx the tail is longer
and usually for the greater part white. The mid-dorsal area from between the
ears to the tail-tip is clothed with long, rather coarse hairs, having their basal
three-fourths a grayish white, succeeded by a blackish-brown ring and a short
white tip. At the sides of the body the blackish rings tend to become absent,
producing a pallid tint. On the head there is a whitish stripe from the angle
of the mouth on each side to and beyond the base of the ear, and a median
whitish stripe from the tip of the muzzle running back to the level of the eyes
or even farther, to the occiput. These two stripes separate off a blackish-
brown stripe from the muzzle that runs back along the side of the face, to in-
clude the eye, merging at the back of the head with the mixed color of the dorsal
side. The lower side of the body from the chin to the root of the tail, as well as
the feet, forearms, and lower legs, are uniform blackish-brown.
Compared with the European Badger, the Chinese race has the white
facial stripes shorter, and the pale tips of the dorsal hairs are less extensive,
400 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
and are tinged with buffy instead of pure white. The median white stripe
on the muzzle is usually clear and broad to or slightly past the level of the eyes,
beyond which it becomes smoky brown or even heavily brown, and in one of
eleven skins is darkened quite to the nose-pad; these markings are thus slightly
more obscured in the eastern animal.
The skull differs from that of the typical European race in being slightly
smaller, with the sagittal ridge not so well developed. Moreover, in the skulls
of the Chinese Badger examined, there is no indication that the first small
premolar, pmi, is ever present as it often is in the European animal, for in
all those seen there is not even a small space where it might stand in the tooth
row. The audital bulle are slightly more inflated also. In old skulls, even
the nasal bones fuse intimately with the surrounding bones, so that the bound-
aries cannot be made out.
Measurements:—A male, not fully mature, from the Eastern Tombs,
Hopei, was measured by the collector as follows: head and body, 450 mm.;
tail, 130; hind foot, 95; ear, 4o.
CRANIAL MEASUREMENTS OF MELES MELES LEPTORYNCHUS
Zygo- Mas- Width Upper Lower
Greatest Basal Palatal matic toid across cheek cheek
No. length length length width width molars teeth teeth Sex Locality
19953 MCZ 117.2 104.0 63.0 68.1 61.0 32.8 38.0 41.5 Ad.o Shansi
19954 MCz 114.5 I01.0 63.0 63.0 56.4 37.0 36.0 43.5 of Shansi
45334 122+ 112.5 66.5 —— 58.0 40.0 40.0 46.5 ? ~=Chekiang
1505d BM 125.8 110.3 66.3 — 63.5 37.5 38.0 46.2 o ©Fukien
57031 119.0 106.0 63.6 65.7 57-2 35.8 35.6 42.5 Q Hunan
57114 113.5 I01.6 62.5 59.5 52.8 36.5 36.3 43.5 Q Hunan
57117 124.5 108.5 66.0 68.0 58.5 37.6 37.0 44.7 Q Hunan
84356 116.0 104.0 61.0 60.2 54.2 35.9 35.5 43.1 Q@ Szechwan
85048 125.0 110.5 66.0 67.8 57.0 37.0 39.0 46.9 Q Fukien
19952 MCz 116.8 103.3 61.5 59.6 55.0 36.0 35.8 43.2 Q Shansi
19955 MCZ TI60, ¢ NO3-854 162.5) .67-0)) 57:0), §39:0.937.35 44.5 Q Shansi
1505a BM 110.2 101.5 61.3 61.8 56.3 36.5 35.3 — @ Fukien
1505c BM 120.2 102.5 63-7 64.2 58.0 —— 35.2 42.5 9 Fukien
9.1.1.17 BM 123.0 113.0 68.9 70.5 58.4 38.2 40.0 47.7 Q Shensi
From these measurements it is not evident that males are larger than
female specimens.
Nomenclature:—Milne-Edwards, in naming this badger, spelled the specific
designation leptorynchus, but in later publications it is usually given the
form leptorhynchus. He compared it with the European Badger and regarded
the two as very closely related, so that the chief differences lay in small skull
characters. Shortly afterward, in 1868, J. E. Gray gave the name Meles
chinensis to a specimen sent by Consul Swinhoe to the British Museum from
THE CARNIVORES 401
Amoy. This, however, Milne-Edwards regarded as a synonym of M. leptoryn-
chus, apparently with reason, for he, too, received skulls from the same source.
Matschie, in 1908, named as new species three separate skins purchased in fur
markets of eastern China by the Filchner Expedition. The first of these,
Meles hanensis, was said to have come from the mountains near Hinganfu,
southeastern Shensi, while the second, Meles siningensis, was from Siningfu, in
Kansu. They were said to be much alike, except that one had black-ringed
hair on the back, the other black-brown; the tip of the tail was white in one,
dirty white in the other, without the dark basal rings to the hairs. These
are, however, evidently merely matters of individual variation. The same
may also be said of Matschie’s Meles tsingtauensis, based on a skin from near
Tsingtao, Shantung, sent by von Stegmann and Stein to the Berlin Museum
(type, No. A.33.06). Osgood (1932) suggests that the name M. m. leucurus
may have to replace M. m. leptorynchus.
Occurrence and Habits:—This representative of the European Badger
seems to be distributed over most of eastern China from Hopei westward
across Shansi and northern Shensi to eastern Kansu, and thence southward,
avoiding the higher, mountainous parts of western China, to extreme eastern
Szechwan and on the east coast as far south as the latitude of Hongkong.
Outside the Chinese area, it extends northeastward into Amurland. Over this
vast territory its characters seem to be remarkably uniform, and I have found
no satisfactory way to separate the North China animals from those of South
China. Milne-Edwards long ago mentioned that skins from Amoy had shorter
hair than those from Peiping, but it is not certain how far this character holds
true. The Amur Badger has been given the name M. amurensis by Schrenck,
who regarded it as a subspecies of the European animal. In addition to the
original series of M. leptorynchus sent to the Paris Museum from near Peiping,
the American Museum Asiatic Expeditions secured a specimen from the Eastern
Tombs, and A. B. Howell (1929) records specimens in the U. S. National Mu-
seum from Tientsin and Tabool, the latter locality near the southern edge of
the Mongolian plateau, northwestern Hopei. From Shansi to the westward,
the American Museum has a specimen from Pingtinghsien, and others in the
Museum of Comparative Zodlogy were secured by Dr. F. R. Wulsin from Pa-
shuiko, Taiyuanfu, and Yirgo in the northwestern part of the same province.
Thomas (1909) mentions one from Yulinfu, Shensi; another from the Tao River,
Kansu, recorded by A. B. Howell (1929), is from one of the most western locali-
ties. Farther south, the Central Asiatic Expeditions secured a specimen at
Wanhsien, eastern Szechwan, which marks nearly the limit of distribution in
west-central China on the edge of the highlands, while Osgood’s (1932) record
from near Tatsienlu, Szechwan, carries it farther to the west. Eastward,
again, several specimens in the American Museum were secured at Yochow,
402 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
Hunan, and one at Tunglu, Chekiang, near the mouth of the Yangtze, whence
it ranges south into Fukien, where it has been taken at Foochow and Yenping
(A.M.N.H.), and in the vicinity of Amoy (Swinhoe, 1870c, p. 622). Still
farther south, Mell (1922) writes that it occurs on the island of Hongkong,
Kwangtung, and on the neighboring mainland, but is probably absent inland
from about Canton, for in fourteen years’ residence there he had seen but one
brought into the Canton Market. He mentions also a specimen preserved in
the City Hall Museum at Hongkong.
According to Swinhoe, this is a common species in the Tinggan district
near Amoy, in hilly country. In winter it lies torpid, but in summer visits the
sweet-potato fields, uprooting and eating the sweet potatoes, whence the
Chinese name of “Sweet-potato Pig.”” In North China, Sowerby (1914, p. 48)
notes that, although the hair is too stiff and the hide too thick to make the
badger a desirable fur animal, its skin is nevertheless in demand among the
Chinese on account of its damp-resisting qualities. Made into rugs, they use
it to spread on their brick kangs or in carts. ‘‘The Manchurian hunters all
wear nicely dressed badger skins hanging from their belts at the back, in which
position they are always ready to form a dry seat.”
An interesting anomaly is shown by a skull from Foochow (No. 85048,
A.M.N.H.), in which the second upper premolar is missing on both sides, and in
the lower jaw, the corresponding tooth of the left side. Among several skulls in
the British Museum, one lacks the first lower premolar on the right side, and an-
other lacks that of the left side. Ina third, the first upper premolar is absent
on the left side only.
Specimens examined:—Twenty-four, as follows:
Hopei: Eastern Tombs, 1.
Shantung: Tsinan, 1 (B.M.).
Chekiang: Tunglu, 1.
Kiangsu: Nanking, 1 (Univ. Mich.).
Shansi: Pashuiko, 2; Taiyuanfu, 1; Pingtinghsien, 1; Yirgo, 1 (all M.C.Z.).
Shensi: Yulinfu, 1 (B.M.).
Hunan: Yochow, 3.
Fukien: Foochow, 2; Yenping, 2; Amoy, 4 (B.M.).
Szechwan: Wanhsien, 1; Sungpan, 1 (A.N.S.P.).
No exact locality, 1.
Genus Arctonyx F. Cuvier
Arctonyx F. Cuvier, in Geoffroy and Cuvier, Hist. Nat. des Mammifeéres, vol. 3, pt. 51, pl. and 2 pp. text, 1825.
The badgers of this genus are readily distinguished from Meles by their
white instead of black throat, the somewhat longer and more tapering tail, and
the pale instead of dark-colored claws. There is an area of naked skin between
THE CARNIVORES 403
the nose-pad and the upper lip which in Meles is thickly haired. The skull
differs in the two genera in many important particulars. Although rather
long and narrow in both, the interorbital region in Meles is high and swollen
but depressed and sloping strongly downward in Arctonyx. In the latter the
forehead is wider, the antorbital foramen much larger, the rostrum more
elongated. In ventral aspect the audital bulla are very much less inflated,
not reaching the level of the hamular processes of the pterygoids, which in
further contrast are broad and flattened, diverging posteriorly instead of being
parallel. The bony palate is prolonged backward to the level of the posterior
rim of the glenoid cavity of the jaw, somewhat concave as viewed from the
ventral side, but inflated laterally. The upper incisors are arranged in a
horseshoe shape, the outer pair with compressed and lengthened crowns,
twice the length of the crowns of the second pair. The upper canines are long
and laterally compressed, with a slightly beaded posterior edge. The two
anterior upper premolars have each two roots and are separated by a short
space. The posteriormost premolar is distinctly triangular as seen from above,
its postero-internal edge extended to form a narrow ridge-like cusp. The
upper molar is nearly diamond-shaped, with a rounded posterior lobe. The
paracone and metacone are low, and stand at the antero-external edge, while
two other lower cusps are in a somewhat similar position on the postero-
external rim. A low ridge, the elements of which seem similar to those seen
in the upper molar of Meles, passes lengthwise on the inner side of the tooth,
but its internal bounding ledge is narrower. In the lower jaw the first molar
is long and narrow, with the paraconid and protoconid nearly in line and
shearing against the outer cusps of the upper premolar. The metaconid lies
distinctly behind the protoconid and is thus visible in side view. The heel of
the tooth is somewhat basin-shaped, with a rim formed by five cusps, of which
the metaconid is the antero-internal one. There is considerable variation in
the development of the minute first premolar in both jaws, as mentioned later,
for in some skulls it is absent, in others present on one or both sides of upper or
lower or both jaws. Otherwise the dental formula is as in Meles. With age .
the hind margin of the glenoid cavity becomes extended forward so that it
may be impossible to disarticulate the jaw, while at the same time the temporal
ridges move toward the median line and eventually form a high crest in old
animals. The genotype is A. collaris F. Cuvier, from the mountains of north-
eastern India between Bhutan and Hindustan.
The Hog-nosed Badger of northeastern India extends its range across
southern China, apparently without important change of characters, not-
withstanding the various names that have been bestowed upon it. In North
China, however, it is represented by a distinct subspecies.
404 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
188. Arctonyx collaris collaris F. Cuvier
HOG-NOSED BADGER; SAND BADGER
Arctonyx collaris F. Cuvier, in Geoffroy and Cuvier, Hist. Nat. des Mammifeéres, vol. 3, pt. 51, pl. and 2 pp. text,
1825.
Meles (Arctonyx) obscurus Milne-Edwards, Recherches pour servir a l’Hist. Nat. des Mammiféres, pp. 200, 202,
1868-74.
Arctonyx obscurus Milne-Edwards, ibid., p. 338, pl. 58, fig. 2; pl. 62. Thomas, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1912,
p- 134-
Meles albogularis Hilzheimer, Abh. u. Ber. Mus. f. Natur- u. Heimatk., Magdeburg, vol. 1, p. 183, 1906.
Arctonyx leucolemus orestes Thomas, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1911, p. 688. Tsingling Mts.
Arctonyx leucolemus arestes Sowerby, Fur and Feather in North China, p. 48, 1914 (/apsus).
Arctonyx obscurus incultus Thomas, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. 9, vol. 10, p. 395, 1922. Anhwei.
Arctonyx leucolemus obscurus A. B. Howell, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., vol. 75, art. I, p. 29, 1929.
Arctonyx collaris collaris G. M. Allen, Amer. Mus. Novitates, no. 358, p. 10, 1929.
Type specimen:—The new genus and species represented by this badger
were based by F. Cuvier on a colored drawing sent him by M. Alfred Duvaucel,
and reproduced in the ‘‘Histoire Naturelle des Mammifeéres.’”’ The figure shows
the tail very thinly clad with hair, which was perhaps a result of wear in cap-
tivity, for the animals from which Duvaucel made his figure were a pair in a
menagerie at Barrackpore, said to have been captured in the mountains divid-
ing Bhutan from Hindustan.
Description:—A large, rather short-limbed badger, with pale claws. A
white stripe runs from the nose-pad back along the midline of the forehead
to the neck; a second shorter white stripe passes along the side of each cheek
below the eye to the sides of the neck, merging with the whitish of the neck.
Throat, ears and tail white; feet and middle of belly black. The fur of the
back is white at base with a black terminal portion, or this black band may be
succeeded by a white or a yellowish tip, so that specimens from the same
locality may be blackish on the back, or largely grizzled with gray, or often
with a yellowish tinge. In some specimens the nape and shoulders are nearly
white.
The skull characters have already been mentioned. There is frequently
a minute spicular first premolar present. No. 41475 (A.M.N.H.) from Fukien,
a subadult, and No. 22.9.1.36 (B.M.) from Likiang have this tooth present on
both sides in the lower jaw but not in the upper. No. 57373 has not only both
these teeth present, but in the upper jaw the first premolar on the right side.
One from Ichang in the British Museum has the tooth on the left side above
and on both sides in the lower jaw. The palate may be bounded at its pos-
terior rim by an even arch, but in two out of three skulls this is prolonged as a
narrow median cleft.
Measurements:—No fresh measurements are at hand, but a skin is about
650 mm. in length of head and body; tail about 150; foot with claw about 95.
Thomas (1922b) gives for the type of his A. o. incultus: head and body, about
700 mm.; tail, 170; hind foot, 89.
THE CARNIVORES 405
CRANIAL MEASUREMENTS OF ARCTONYX COLLARIS COLLARIS
‘S
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SEL Pad POP Pe LAR ne
& tye) og 4! toting at Srpew heehee Anes aig
SB ta Soviet pein El cand a tne tees 2
é Se a tee ae Ce er eee
41475 155:08 130.3), 104.5. 101001 7443) 0843.0) 50-7 O0L0 — Fukien
57373 I51.0 134.0 I0I1.0 75.5 75-5 42.0 50.0 58.2 o Fukien
84390 144.0 130.0 98.0 78.0 76.0 43.3 47.5 56.0 o Fukien
~ 84391 139.4 125.8 88.0 89.1 81.5 44.0 49.0 55.8 o' Fukien
85025 138.6 125.0 89.0 87.0 80.0 43.6 46.4 54.4 o& Fukien
2.6.10.25 BM (type
of A. incultus) 133.3. DIG:2)) (00:45 (80:5 9:72.45 938 60 0437) ee 50.0 3 Anhwei
2.6.10.33 BM 130t7, Diss) (Osan lee 107-50 9S 7-OM Adee SEG o' Hupeh
23.4.1.26 BM 126.2 112.5 78.5 — 63.0 36.0 40.3 47.0Im.o Yunnan
60190 £39:5') 127-5 19010) "83.5" 77.01 AGP e474 esate Q Fukien
89.3.1.I BM 136.5 123.2 88.5 75.8 64.7 37.1 47.0 54.5 Ad.9 Hupeh
22.9.1.36 BM 122.4 112.6 78.9 68.9 60.0 37.2 39.5 46.6Im.? Yunnan
11.9.8.43 BM 131.8 116.8 81.0 70.3 69.1 37.3 42.0 —— Q Szechwan”
11.6.1.6 BM (type
of A.l. orestes) 131.7 121.6 86.1 71.0 70.3 40.7 44.5 51.6 Ad.9 Shensi
Nomenclature:—The precise relationships of the various described Hog-
nosed Badgers still require a more careful working out. It seems clear, how-
ever, that the large species of the eastern Himalayas named A. collaris by
Cuvier, occurs without important change quite across southern China to the
coast of Fukien. There is considerable individual variation in color, for skins
from the same region may include those having white head-markings, black
nape and back, to those with the facial stripes tinged with ochraceous, the
nape, shoulders, and all the hairs of the back white-tipped or ochraceous-
tipped. A light-colored specimen of the latter type served as the basis for
Thomas’s A. leucolemus orestes from the Tsingling Mountains, Shensi. Milne-
Edwards’s A. obscurus is one of the darker individuals, and a synonym of
collaris. Anderson, who examined the type from western China, regarded it
as a young animal identical with A. albogularis, a synonym of A. collaris.
Thomas, in 1922, described as A. obscurus incultus an old male from Anhwei,
stating that it differed from the typical race in its thin coat and the greater
inflation of the palate. The first character, however, is doubtless seasonal,
while the degree of inflation of the palate is a matter of individual variation,
for when a series of skulls is examined, hardly two are found to be quite alike
in this respect, but the older individuals are usually the more inflated. It
406 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
does not seem that more than a single race can be distinguished in South China,
with a second in North China.
Occurrence and Habits:—The Hog-nosed Badger was reported from the
Tengyueh region of extreme western Yunnan as long ago as 1879 by Anderson.
Thence it apparently extends eastward across southern China to the coastal
province of Fukien, and northward to the Yangtze basin, and the Tsingling
Range. Somewhere along this boundary it doubtless grades into the northern
race, A. c. leucolemus. The American Museum Asiatic Expeditions secured
several skins at Likiang, Yunnan, and Thomas (1922b, 1923) has also recorded
it from that range as well as from Weichow, Si Ho, western Szechwan. Other
localities in Szechwan are Omei Shan and Wa Shan whence the U. S. National
Museum has specimens (A. B. Howell, 1929). The Museum of Comparative
Zoology has one from Hupeh, and Thomas mentions specimens in the British
Museum from Ichang, with which he compared his type of A. o. incultus from
Chinteh (Tsingte), Anhwei, 150 km. west of Hangchow. Mr. Clifford H. Pope
writes that one of the’specimens obtained at Futsing, Fukien, was trapped at
the mouth of a hole in an earth bank at the foot of the wooded range of moun-
tains surrounding Lingshih monastery. The animal is said by the Chinese
_to be a deep burrower and difficult to secure, though not uncommon. Probably
the specimens recorded by A. B. Howell (1929) as A. leucolemus from
Ningpo, Chekiang, and from Kuatun, Fukien, are referable to typical A. c.
collaris, as seem to be also a skin from Tunglu, Chekiang, and others from
Fukien, in the American Museum collections. Very little seems to be recorded
as to the habits of this species.
Specimens examined:—Twenty, as follows:
Chekiang: Tunglu, 1.
Anhwei: Chinteh, 1 (B.M.), type of zucultus.
Hupeh: 1 (M.C.Z.); Ichang, 2 (B.M.).
Fukien: Chungan, 3; Futsing, 1; Yenping, 3.
Shensi: Tsingling Mountains, 1 (B.M.), type of orestes.
Yunnan: Likiang, 4 (skins only); 2 (B.M.).
Szechwan: Weichow, I (B.M.).
189. Arctonyx collaris leucolemus (Milne-Edwards)
NORTH CHINA HOG-NOSED BADGER
Meles leucolemus Milne-Edwards, Ann. des. Sci. Nat., Zool., ser. 5, vol. 8, p. 374, 1867.
Meles (Arctonyx) leucolemus Milne-Edwards, Recherches pour servir a l’Hist. Nat. des Mammiféres, p. 195,
pl. 24; pl. 26, figs. 1, 2; pl. 27, figs. 1, 2; pl. 28, figs. 1, 2, 1868-74 (1871).
Arctonyx leucolemus Buechner, Bull. Acad. Imp. Sci. St. Pétersbourg, vol. 34 (new ser., vol. 2), p. 103 (Mélanges
Biol., vol. 13, p. 149), 1892.
Arctonyx leucolemus milne-edwardsii Lonnberg, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. 9, vol. 11, pp. 322-326, 1923.
Arctonyx leucolemus leucolemus A. B. Howell, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., vol. 75, art. I, p. 29, 1929.
Arctonyx collaris leucolemus G. M. Allen, Amer. Mus. Novitates, no. 358, p. II, 1929.
Type specimen:—The specimen on which Milne-Edwards based his account
THE CARNIVORES 407
of this badger was sent to the Paris Museum by Pére Armand David from the
vicinity of Peiping, Hopei, China, and is presumably still in that institution.
Description:—This northern race of the Hog-nosed Badger is distinguished
by its slightly smaller size (skull length about 125 mm.) and by having the
white collar complete across the nape; usually, too, the dark coloring of the
back extends on to the basal part of the tail. As compared with the typical
race, the specimens at hand agree in having little or no white tipping to the
hairs of the back, but instead these are white for the basal three-fifths, then
blackish brown, although there are white-tipped hairs across the shoulders
immediately behind the white nape. The dark-tipped hairs of the back extend
on to the tail for the greater part of its length in diminishing amount toward
the terminal half. Another point of difference is that in A. c. leucolemus the
white stripe below the eye does not reach the lip, but it does in typical A.
collaris.
The skull, even in aged specimens, is considerably smaller than in the
southern race, and the posterior, tubular prolongation of the palate shows
very little inflation, which is so marked a characteristic of the latter. As in
the typical race, the minute first premolar may or may not be present, and is
apparently deciduous, falling out with age. Its presence or absence in skulls
of both races that I have examined is shown in the following table:
PRESENCE OF PM! AND PM1
No. Locality In upper jaw In lower jaw Subspecies
45295 Hopei None Right side only A. c. leucolemus
452096 Hopei None On both sides A. c. leucolemus
57373 Fukien On right side On both sides A. c. collaris
60190 Fukien None On both sides A. c. collaris
84390 Fukien None On both sides A. c. collaris
84391 Fukien On left side On both sides A. c. collars
85025 Fukien On both sides On both sides A.c. collaris
41475 Fukien None On both sides A. c. collaris
7557 MCz Hupeh None On both sides A. c. collaris
It is obvious that this tooth is usually present on both sides of the lower
jaw, but usually absent in the upper. Milne-Edwards (1868-74, p. 340),
however, describes and figures a specimen from Shensi in which both pairs are
present, and Lénnberg (1923a) has more recently noted the same peculiarity in
a specimen from southern Kansu, to which, chiefly for this reason, he has given
the name A. 1. milne-edwardsii. There can be no doubt, however, that this is a
variable character, of no systematic importance.
Measurements:—Few measurements of fresh specimens are available.
Lénnberg (1923a) gives for his specimen from Kansu: head and body, 680 mm.;
tail, 140.
408 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
CRANIAL MEASUREMENTS OF ARCTONYX COLLARIS LEUCOLZ MUS
Zygo- Width Upper Lower
Greatest Basal Palatal matic Mastoid across cheek cheek
No. length length length width width molars teeth teeth Locality
45295 127 114 77.5 Fists: 68.0 37.0 44.0 50.0 Hopei
45296 — — — 81.0 69.5 38.4 43.2 50.4 Hopei
LONNBERG 123 112 79.0 70.0 69.0 a — eS Kansu
Occurrence and Habits:—This form of the Hog-nosed Badger is apparently
distinguished by its smaller size, uniformly darker back with white nape, and
by the shorter suborbital white mark, which does not extend to the lower lip.
It is apparently a well-marked race, characteristic of northern China, beyond
which its range does not seem to extend. The type was from Peiping or its
neighborhood, in Hopei, and the American Museum Asiatic Expeditions
secured three specimens from Tungling, which are, therefore, practically
topotypes. In addition, Jacobi (1922) has recorded a female brought in at
Jehol (Chengteh), more than one hundred miles northeast of Peiping, which is
the most northerly record for this animal that I have found. This female
on April 30 had four small young, with their eyes still unopened. To the
westward this badger seems to range across southern Shansi and Shensi into
southern Kansu, whence came Loénnberg’s type of milne-edwardsii, taken in
the Min Shan. Buechner in 1892 recorded this badger from the Ssigu district,
Kansu, which must be nearly its northwestern limit. Here it was found by
Potanin and Berezovski at altitudes of from 9,000 to 10,000 feet in burrows,
under boulders. A. B. Howell (1929) has recorded specimens of this badger
from Min Shan, in Kansu, and from eighty miles east of Peiping, in the U. S.
National Museum. There seem to be very few records of the hog-badger
from Shansi and Shensi, the former province being perhaps largely unsuited
to it. In southern Shensi, however, Pére David secured a specimen which he
sent to the Paris Museum, where Milne-Edwards regarded it as A. obscurus.
No doubt this race intergrades with the typical form somewhere along the
northern part of the Yangtze basin.
Specimens examined:—The following:
Hopei: Eastern Tombs, 3.
Genus Lutra Briinnich
OTTERS
Lutra Brannich, Zoologie Fundamenta, p. 34, 1772.
The otters are large members of the weasel family that have become
highly modified for aquatic life. The head is broad and somewhat flattened,
the ears low and rounded, the neck thick, the body relatively slender, the tail
long, muscular, and flexible, tapering slightly toward the end. The limbs are
THE CARNIVORES 409
rather short, and the fingers of both fore and hind feet are webbed for swimming.
The claws are short and rather weak. The fur is short and dense, with a fine
under fur and a coarser over fur, the latter of strong and polished hairs that
shed the water. At the sides of the muzzle, the vibrisse are very stiff and of
medium length, less conspicuous than in some of the aquatic mammals. The
skull is characterized by the very short, blunt snout, narrow interorbital region,
with slightly projecting postorbital processes, and a large oval, and rather
flattened brain case. With age the bones of the skull fuse intimately and all
sutures disappear, that separating the nasal bones being one of the last to be
obliterated on the dorsal surface, while on the ventral side, the basal suture
remains open during growth. In ventral aspect, the postpalatal prolongation
of the nasal passage forms only a short tube, and the hamular processes of the
pterygoids are distant from the auditory bulle by at least their width apart.
The incisors form a transverse row, with the outer tooth on each side twice the
size of the others which are subequal. The canines are nearly vertical, the
upper slightly longer than the lower. Of the four upper premolars, the first
is very small, closely appressed against the inner side of the canine nearly at its
middle point. The second and third upper premolars are larger, with sharp-
pointed, compressed conical crowns, while the fourth is much larger, with an
outer blade-like portion and a wide, rounded, inner ledge. The upper molar is
rectangular with rounded corners, the two outer cusps separated by a wide
flat valley from the two inner. In the lower jaw there are but three premolars;
the first molar is large and narrowed, its paraconid and protoconid with com-
pressed cutting edges, shearing against the outer cusps of the last upper pre-
molar. The metaconid is nearly as large and sharp as the paraconid and partly
hidden in side view behind the protoconid. The heel of the tooth is much
lower, and slopes inward on the inner side. The tooth formula is: i.$ c.t pm.$
m.t=36. The genotype is Lutra lutra (Linnzus).
The common otter of Europe is closely related to that of eastern Asia,
and extends with little modification across northern Asia, into China, where it is
represented by probably two subspecies. A second species occurs in south-
western China. The clawless otters constitute a separate genus.
Key TO THE CHINESE SPECIES OF Lutra
A. Upper border of the nose-pad tridentate, with three nearly equal pointed
projections.
a. Teeth smaller, upper cheek teeth about 34 mm.................... L. lutra chinensis
b. Teeth larger, upper cheek teeth about 38 mm..................... L. lutra nair
B. Upper border of the nose-pad straight across; size rather smaller; post-
Ofbital Mshhmusinbatede sci. < «oreo eis cites «wie cles elss ere a amore reiee L. tarayensis
410 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
190. Lutra lutra chinensis Gray
EASTERN CHINESE OTTER
Lutra chinensis Gray, Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. 2, vol. 1, p. 580, 1837. Swinhoe, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1870,
p. 624. :
?Lutra nair Sclater, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1861, p. 390.
Lutra vulgaris Buechner, Bull. Acad. Imp. Sci., St. Pétersbourg, vol. 34 (new ser., vol. 2), p. 103, 1892.
Lutra sinensis Trouessart, Cat. Mamm. Viv. Foss., p. 283, 1897 (as synonym of L. lutra).
Lutra lutra J. A. Allen, Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., vol. 26, p. 430, 1909.
Lutra lutra chinensis G. M. Allen, Amer. Mus. Novitates, no. 358, p. 12, 1929.
Type specimen:—The type of Gray’s Lutra chinensis was sent from China
to the British Museum by John Reeves, and hence probably came from the
neighborhood of Canton.
Description:—An otter with well-developed claws, and the dorsal outline
of the nose-pad nearly W-shaped, with a median point separated by two
V-like depressions from the lateral wings. The general color of the body
above, including the tail, is light chocolate brown, paler than in the European
otter. The lips and the longer hairs of the throat and middle portion of the
belly are pale gray, partly concealing the pale brown of the shorter under fur.
The skull of the Eastern Chinese Otter is smaller than that of the European
or the Indian race, with apparently smaller teeth and shorter tooth rows.
The frontal region between the orbits is very narrow, and practically parallel-
sided, except for the slight projection caused by the blunt postorbital processes,
instead of being conspicuously inflated as in L. tarayensis.
Measurements:—No measurements of fresh specimens from China are
available, but a tanned skin, immature, but nearly full grown, is about 950
mm. in total length, of which the tail is about 300.
CRANIAL MEASUREMENTS OF LUTRA LUTRA CHINENSIS
s
n >
® Lee ae
E g grits Cat
Ss ue} = co te) a & we be a=]
Mo} =| = te] 3 ~ g o o a
: q a a} bo Me} na = E
g Se a ee SHA ae Ae She Che 5
44782 108.0 99.5 49.5 63.0 57.0 32.0 15.0 34.0 41.5 o Fukien
60097 100.0 93.0 45.0 57.0 51.5 30.2 14.0 31.8 380 2 Hainan
24086 Mcz 96.5 88.4 43.6 54.4 49.7 29.3 16.0 32.0 37.5 — Szechwan?
62.12.24.5BM 112.0 104.5 49.7 67.2 60.2 31.5 —— 33.8 39.4 o'? Fukien
94.9.1.37 BM 107.5 100.0 45.8 60.6 56.3 32.3 —— 33.3 39.8 @? _—
Nomenclature:—There seems to be no doubt that the otter of eastern
China is somewhat smaller and paler than that of Europe, and that Gray’s
name applies to it. The otters of the Lutra lutra group are distinguished by
THE CARNIVORES 4II
having the upper edge of the nose-pad cleft into a trident, instead of being
straight across as in the species L. tarayensis. Anderson (1879) reviewed the
eastern otters with considerable care, and pointed out that the two species
are further distinguished by skull characters, the frontal region between the
orbits being laterally swollen in the latter, and nearly parallel-sided in the
former. Hodgson believed there were no fewer than seven species in Nepal,
ranging into the Indian and Himalayan region, but Wroughton (Journ.
Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc., vol. 26, p. 349, 1919) has shown that these may be
reduced, as Anderson had indicated, and gives a key to the characters. The
latter author also pointed out clearly that Lutra nair of India is one of the
L. lutra group, and it is doubtless merely a subspecies of the European Otter.
Thomas has recorded it from Yunnan.
Occurrence and Habits:—Otters occur sparingly in the vicinity of the larger
streams and lakes all over China, but obviously are absent from the more or
less waterless areas, as the Gobi. They frequent the rocky coasts of the sea-
board also, living on fish chiefly. The Chinese race of the Common Otter
doubtless intergrades in northern China or to the northward with the typical
form, which seems to extend without important change, quite across northern
Asia. It is true, however, that available specimens for comparison are hardly
yet sufficient for a careful study of the geographic variation of the group.
No records are at hand for northern China in Hopei, though it doubtless is
present in small numbers. A. B. Howell (1929) mentions a skull in the U. S.
National Museum from Sianfu, Shensi, and J. A. Allen (1909a) a female
specimen from Yumonko, Taipai Shan, in the same province. The latter
specimen is said to represent “‘probably the Lutra hanensis Matschie,’’ but,
as pointed out later, this may not be the case. Matschie (1908) has recorded
one in the Berlin Museum from Ningpo, Chekiang, and Sowerby (1924)
reported one seen January 27, 1924, in Kiangsu, not far from Shanghai. It
occurs in the mountain streams of western China rather sparingly. Buechner
(1892) records the skin of a young one secured by the Berezovski Expedition
in the Choihsien region of western Kansu, and according to Weigold (1923)
one was reported seen by a missionary at Batang, in extreme western Szechwan.
Without specimens, however, it is not possible to determine the species or
races. Swinhoe (1870c, p. 624) wrote that the otter is found all over the South
China sea-coasts and inland as well. He had a skin from Hainan, and Mr.
Clifford H. Pope, who made a splendid collection of mammals on that island
for the American Museum in 1923, also procured a specimen there. He adds
in a manuscript note that when collecting fish some six miles from Namfong,
in the ‘‘Golden River’ (Hainan’s largest stream), his native hunter showed
him half-eaten fish lying on the rocks and declared they were left there by
otters. From the number of such remains seen in one place, and the abundance
412 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
of skins offered for sale at Namfong, he judged that otter are common on the
island. The Chinese in catching them often use a racket-shaped net on a
handle about six feet long. It is not clear how far south in eastern China
this otter ranges, but it doubtless reaches the subtropics. Mell (1922) writing
from Canton, mentions seeing otters there, although the species is not altogether
certain. At all events he records an individual of this race as seen one moon-
light night near that city, and another that was caught in a net an hour
west of there. In a broad, swift mountain stream at Fungwahn, a young
female was caught, and on May 20 a young one with eyes still closed was
taken three-quarters of an hour’s journey from the same place. Its whimpering
cries led to its discovery in a hollow among rocks in tall grass, some three
meters from the brink of a stream. A very young one of this species was
taken August 5 in Hainan (J. A. Allen, 1909). Various observers have men-
tioned the use of trained otters in catching fish in China. Swinhoe (1870c)
speaks of one he saw in the Ichang Gorges, over a thousand miles up the
Yangtze, that would drive fish under a large cast net. In comparison with
other members of the family, otters seem more tractable and make intelligent
pets.
A specimen, apparently a female, in the British Museum, from Foochow,
was taken in a fishing net July 10, 1890, and as noted on the label, weighed
ten and a half pounds.
Specimens examined :—Six, as follows:
Central China: 1 (M.C.Z.).
Fukien: Yenping, 1 (skin); Yuki, 1 (skull); Foochow, 1 (B.M.); Amoy, 1 (B.M.).
Hainan: Nodoa, I.
191. Lutra lutra nair F. Cuvier
HIMALAYAN OTTER
Lutra nair F. Cuvier, Dictionnaire des Sci. Nat., vol. 27, p. 247, 1823.
Lutra lutra nair Thomas, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. 9, vol. 10, p. 396, 1922.
Type specimen:—The type came from Pondicherry, Madras, India,whence
it was sent to the Paris Museum by Leschenault. The skull of this specimen
was removedsrom the skin and made available for the excellent figures showing
it in four aspects, in J. Anderson’s (1879, pl. 11) ‘‘Yunnan Researches.”
Description:—The Indian race of the common otter apparently is closely
similar in its coloration to the Chinese race, with a slight grizzling of the umber
brown dorsal surfaces, whitish lips and throat and with the longer belly hairs
chiefly white. It seems to differ from the available specimens of L. 1. chinensis
mainly in its larger teeth, and possibly in larger dimensions of skull and body.
Compared with the excellent figures of the type skull in Anderson’s plate, the
THE CARNIVORES 413
teeth of otters from eastern China are individually smaller, the tooth row less.
In both, the interorbital area is uninflated.
Measurements :—Anderson gives the measurements of a mounted specimen
as: head and body, 27 inches (685 mm.); tail, 15.75 inches (400 mm.). The
following dimensions are taken from his figure of the type skull: greatest
length, 116 mm.; basal length, 105; palatal length, 51; zygomatic width, 71;
mastoid width, 63; width outside molars, 38; upper cheek teeth, 38; lower
cheek teeth, 42; combined length of pm‘ and m! on outer edge, 18.5; upper
molar, outer edge, 7.6; upper molar, longest diagonal, 14.3 (10.5, 10, in two
skulls of L. 1. chinensis).
Occurrence and Habits:—The few specimens of otters available for study
render it difficult to assign names definitely to those of western and southern
China, but Thomas (1922b, p. 396) has identified as Lutra lutra nair a female
secured by George Forrest in the Mekong valley, 28° north latitude, Yunnan,
and sent by him to the British Museum. This identification definitely extends
the range of the Indian race into western China. Sclater, as long ago as 1861,
published a letter from Swinhoe on the capture of an otter at Amoy and sup-
posed it to be Lutra nair, but specimens from eastern China indicate that
the skull and especially the teeth of these animals are considerably smaller
than those of L. 1. nair, as far as can be judged from Anderson’s careful figures
of the type. I have, therefore, provisionally followed Thomas in regarding
Yunnan specimens as representing the Indian race, though it may later prove
that they are intermediate or even identical with eastern individuals. Ander-
son (1879, p. 211), although he did not think that L. nair extended into Burma,
nevertheless secured numbers of native skins on the borders of western Yunnan,
representing apparently two species, of which the smaller was probably the
race under discussion, the larger L. tarayensis. Since no skulls were to be had,
he could not be certain of the identity of his specimens.
Specimens examined:—None.
192. Lutra tarayensis Hodgson
Lutra tarayensis Hodgson, Journ. Asiatic Soc. Bengal, vol. 8, p. 319, 1839; Ann. Nat. Hist., ser. 1, vol. 5, p. 28,
1 ae Anderson, Anat. and Zool. Researches Western Yunnan, p. 207, pl. 12, figs. 1-3, 1879.
?Lutra hanensis Matschie, Wiss. Ergebn. d. Exped. Filchner nach China u. Tibet 1903-05, vol. 10, pt. I, p. 150,
1908.
Type specimen:—Hodgson’s types were sent to the British Museum where
now the original specimen of his Lutra tarayensis must be, but Anderson,
who looked for it, wrote in 1879 that his specimens were ‘‘unfortunately seem-
ingly without names, and along with them a series of Otter skulls the species
of which were not stated,’’ so that it was not possible to recognize the types.
414 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
The type of his L. tarayensis as well as of his L. monticolus (as originally spelt)
were from Nepal.
Description:—This is a larger otter than L. l. nair, with the upper border
of the naked nose-pad forming a straight transverse line, instead of a W.
Anderson describes the color as ‘‘more rufous umber-brown than L. nair,”’
without any tendency to grizzling; the under surface is only somewhat hoary,
well washed with brown. ‘‘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 on the chest, is marked.’’ The tail is of the same color as the
back all around.
Anderson points out that the distinctive features of the skull are, “‘the
considerable swelling of the post-orbital contraction of the frontal,’”’ well seen
in dorsal view, and the nearly straight instead of depressed profile of the ros-
trum, which is almost a continuation of the same plane as that of the brain
case, instead of being deflected downward. The rostrum itself is proportionally
shorter and the teeth larger as compared with L. 1. nair.
The skull of a fine adult of this otter in the British Museum has a noticeably
long, narrow, and parallel-sided postorbital region, the width of which is
about the same as the interorbital distance, and is slightly swollen. The
teeth are large and heavy.
Measurements :—Anderson states that the skeleton of a female, as mounted»
measured: from the tip of the premaxillaries to the end of the sacral vertebre,
23.25 inches (590 mm.); the tail, 17.75 inches (450 mm.). The tail is appar-
ently proportionally longer than in the L. lutra group.
The measurements of a female skull of this species are given (under L.
monticola) as follows, reduced to millimeters: foramen magnum to tip of pre-
maxillaries, 110.5; palatal length, 55.5; zygomatic width, 74; orbit to end of
nasals, 14; upper tooth row, 48; lower tooth row, 50.8.
A skull in the British Museum from Chindwin, Burma, measures as
follows:
Zygo- Width Upper Lower
Greatest Basal Palatal matic Mastoid across cheek cheek.
No. length length length width width molars teeth teeth Locality
BM 126.5 106.0 60.8 79.5 66.8 39.3 43-7 51.6 Burma
Occurrence and Habits:—There can be little doubt that this otter occurs
along with L. 1. nair in southwestern China, but almost nothing is known of it.
Probably the two are usually confused, but skins may be identified by the
characteristic shape of the nose-pad. Anderson states: ‘In Western Yunnan,
I obtained numerous, perfect Otter skins belonging to two distinct species,
but unfortunately no skulls.” The larger of the two, which he calls L. montt-
cola, seems to be the present species, the smaller, L. 1. nair. The very different
THE CARNIVORES 415
skull, with straight dorsal profile, short rostrum, inflated interorbital portion,
and large teeth, is excellently shown in Anderson’s plate (1879, pl. 12, figs.
1-3). There seems to be little doubt that Hodgson’s L. tarayensis, described
on the same page as his L. monticolus, is really the same animal, for which,
therefore, the former name, coming first on the page, may best be used. He
described its tail as being two-thirds the length of head and body, and sup-
posed it was a lowland animal while L. monticolus lived in the hills. In addi-
tion to the rather definite record for Yunnan by Anderson, Pousargues (1896a,
p. 2) has referred to L. monticola, doubtfully, a skin without skull from Yunnan.
The identity of the otter described by Matschie as Lutra hanensis from a trade
skin bought by the Filchner Expedition at Hinganfu, southern Shensi, is still
unsettled. It is probably quite the same as L. J. chinensis, having a tail
one-half the length of head and body, but Matschie describes the nose-pad as
having its upper border straight across, which, if correct, would seem to indi-
cate L. tarayensis. The origin of trade skins in China is not always the vicinity
of the place of sale, so that even if this identification is correct, it does not
necessarily establish the presence of the species in Shensi.
Specimens examined :—None.
Genus Micraonyx J. A. Allen
Micraonyx J. A. Allen, Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., vol. 47, p. 94, pl. 9, fig. 1, text figs. 5C-C', 6, 7, 1924.
Aonyx Swinhoe, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1870, p. 229 (not of Lesson).
The so-called clawless otters of the East are smaller than the members
of the genus Lutra, and until recently were usually placed in the genus or sub-
genus Aonyx, but the late J. A. Allen showed that the latter name is based
exclusively upon the South African A. capensis, a large animal differing in so
many details of structure that he erected the new genus Micraonyx for the
eastern species, M. cinerea. The chief diagnostic points are: the small size
(total length of adults about 560 mm.), the tail broad at base, but rapidly
tapering to a slender tip, which becomes nearly bare especially on the ventral
side; pads of hands and feet large, covering the whole of the naked areas, and
greatly thickened; claws present, but very weak; first upper premolar (pm')-
usually absent; postorbital processes small but definitely developed, more so
than in Lutra. In general the skull is short and broad in proportion, the teeth
relatively large. The dental formula is usually: 1.3 c.+ pm.s m.z=34, and so
with one less pair of premolars than in Lutra. The type and only species is
M. cinerea (Illiger), which occurs in southern India, China, and south to the
East Indies.
416 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
193. Micraonyx cinerea (Illiger)
SMALL-CLAWED OTTER
Lutra cinerea Illiger, Abh. Kon. Preuss. Akad. Wiss., Berlin, for 1811, p. 99, 1815. J. A. Allen, Bull. Amer.
Mus. Nat. Hist., vol. 22, p. 480, 1906.
Lutra (Hydrogale) swinhoei Gray, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1867, p. 182.
Aonyx leptonyx Horsfield, in Swinhoe, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1870, p. 229.
Lutra swinhoei Swinhoe, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1870, p. 625.
Lutra (Aonyx) leptonyx Anderson, Anat. and Zool. Researches Western Yunnan, p. 213, 1879.
Micraonyx cinerea J. A. Allen, Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., vol. 47, p. 93, 1924.
Type specitmen:—Unknown.
Description:—The coloration is in general similar to that of the otters of
the genus Lutra, that is, the upper parts are uniformly ‘dark brown without
head markings or white-tipped hairs; under parts somewhat paler, becoming
whitish on the sides of neck, cheeks, chin and throat.’”’ The greatly developed
pads on the soles of fore and hind feet, combined with the much reduced
claws, and the nose-pad with its upper border straight across, will suffice to
distinguish it externally.
The distinctive characters of the skull, as already mentioned, are its small
size, the very short rostrum, prominent postorbital processes, deep postorbital
constriction, broad brain case anteriorly, and very large teeth, with usually one
less premolar in the upper jaw than in Lutra.
Measurements:—No Chinese specimens with flesh measurements are at
hand. J. A. Allen (Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., vol. 47, p. 94, 1924) gives
for specimens from southeastern Asia a total length of about 560 mm.; weight
about 11 to 13 pounds.
The average skull dimensions for six East Indian skulls he gives as follows:
condylobasal length, 89.2 mm.; zygomatic width, 61.7; mastoid width, 53.9;
width of brain case, 47.5; interorbital width, 18. The molars are so large that
the breadth of an upper molar slightly exceeds the distance between the tooth
TOWS.
In the skull described, the upper cheek teeth (c-m') measure 32.2 mm.;
p?-m', 26.8; the large upper premolar, p‘, 12.8 by 13.8; the upper molar, 8.8
by 12.2. Lower cheek teeth (c-mz), 37.6; p2-Me, 27; first molar, 13.4 by 8.0;
second molar, 4.9 by 6.3.
Occurrence and Habits:—The small-clawed otter is apparently distributed
sparingly all over southern China, from the western borders of Yunnan east-
ward to the Pacific coast in Fukien Province and Hainan. Nevertheless
there are very few definite records forit. The first seems to be that of Swinhoe
who sent one to J. E. Gray at the British Museum about 1867. This was
described as a new species, Lutra (Hydrogale) swinhoei, by Gray, who supposed
it came from Formosa, but in reality, as Swinhoe later (1870c, p. 625) men-
THE CARNIVORES 417
tioned, it was from the island Gawkang, near Amoy in Fukien. It was an
immature animal, and was alive for some time in captivity. Swinhoe mentions
that when hungry it gave vent to sharp jarring notes but if left alone it made
louder sounds like those of a young chicken. At a trading station in Hainan,
Swinhoe (1870a, p. 229) procured three skins and noted the differences between
these and the skins of other otters, the minute pointless claws, toes longer
and more fully webbed than in Aonyx, and the relatively long first toe of the
hind foot. He believed that it was different from Malacca specimens in its
longer tail and lack of a white throat. He adds that the bones of this otter
found in caverns are ground by the Chinese and applied to wounds from
poisoned arrows in order to absorb the poison. The natives in Hainan believe
that this is a cross between the common otter and the gibbon, and it is there
known as ‘‘Mountain otter.’’ Anderson (1879, p. 213) records that he found
otters of this genus in western Yunnan, in the hills to the eastward of Bhamo,
Burma. Two skins that he procured seemed brighter colored than the average
of Micraonyx cinerea.
Other than these, there are no definite records of the small-clawed otters
in southern China.
Writing of their occurrence in Borneo, E. Banks (Journ. Malayan Branch
Roy. Asiatic Soc., vol. 9, p. 61, 1931) says that “‘they may be met with on
the seashore or far upriver in the small side streams; this is the best place to
see them, for the roar of the water drowns the noise of one’s movements
and the otters may be easily observed nosing about the water’s edge. Some-
times solitary, sometimes in families of 5 or 6 they all take to the jungle in a
sharp clumsy gallop on being disturbed, for the water as a rule is too shallow
for them to find refuge.”’
Specimens examined :—None.
Family VIVERRIDE
CIVETS AND MUNGOOSES
The Viverride are at the present time confined to the warmer parts of
the Old World, and more or less take the place of the boreal Mustelide in
the tropics and subtropics. The larger species are somewhat bigger than a
house cat, the smaller hardly larger than a good-sized rat, of long slender
build, and weasel-like form, short legs, small rounded feet, with curved and
more or less retractile claws. The first toe is much shorter than the others,
and there are usually the full five on each foot. The pads of the feet are naked,
with the rest of the sole hairy. The skull is usually rather elongate, with
narrowed rostrum, the orbit marked off by a constriction just behind the
supra-orbital processes, which in the subfamily Viverrine, containing the
418 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
civets and paradoxures, are short but obvious, while in the subfamily Her-
pestinee, containing the mungooses, they are much longer, nearly or quite
meeting the upward process of the jugal to form a bony orbital ring. The
audital bulla is elongate, divided externally into an anterior and a posterior
portion by an oblique furrow, and bounded in the rear by a broad, and bluntly
triangular paroccipital process. The teeth are of the carnivorous type with
the fourth upper premolar and the first lower molar modified as carnassials.
The upper molars are usually elongate in a transverse axis, with the three
principal cones evident, but the hypocone obsolete. The first lower molar
has the protoconid and paraconid high and compressed for shearing against
the blade of the upper carnassial, the metaconid a prominent pointed cusp
partly hidden in outer aspect by the protoconid, while the posterior part of
the tooth forms a low heel with three bordering cusps. Four genera of civets
and paradoxures, and one genus of mungooses are known to occur in the warmer
parts of southern China. They may be identified by the following key.
Key To THE GENERA OF CHINESE VIVERRID
A. The tail with alternate cross-bands of black and white (or buff).
ae sizelarce skilliover ms ormim.sim Lenet Melanie sr erpeiele rer fare eae ete Viwverra
b. Size smaller, skull less than 130 mm. in length......................-. Viverricula
B. The tail without alternating rings of black and white.
a. Head more or less black with white markings; supraorbital processes very
short.
a’. Body with three to five well-marked median black stripes; interorbital
recion of Skull much) constricted... 5c ste a eal wi © ee vee Ieee Paradoxurus
b’. Body without longitudinal stripes; interorbital region not conspicu-
OuUslyACONSETICbeds. Veacki we ace. chal. wtlcencta estat siel opel a eIR Na eel ovalm ee Peete =f Paguma
b. Head without black areas; supraorbital processes well developed, nearly or
quite meeting the jugal processes to form a bony ring about the orbit... Herpestes
Genus Viverra Linnzus
CIVET
Viverra Linnzus, Syst. Nat., ed. 10, vol. I, p. 43, 1758.
The Civet of India and the East has lately been shown to differ in certain
structural characters from the rather similar African species, so that the latter
has been separated as Civettictis, leaving Viverra as the generic name of the
oriental animal. It is easily recognized by its large size, with full black-and-
white ringed tail, blackish feet and a broad black band across the lower throat,
set off by transverse areas of white. A prominent crest of longer erectile
hairs extends down the middle of the back. The skull is elongate, with strong
zygomatic arches, blunt but prominent postorbital processes, and a marked
postorbital constriction. The audital bulle are relatively small, the total
THE CARNIVORES 419
length of their inflated posterior portion, including the paroccipital process,
equaling the distance between tips of the upper canines. This posterior
portion is evenly rounded, lacking a keel, and is separated from the anterior
meatal chamber by an oblique groove. The palate is slightly produced beyond
the level of the maxillary, which ends in a small lobe on each side, well marked
off. The incisors form, in the upper jaw, an evenly convex row; the canine is
long and very slightly compressed from side to side; the first premolar in each
jaw is small, the second and third upper premolars larger, subequal, triangular
in side view and compressed. The fourth upper premolar is sectorial, with a
small antero-external cusp, a high median cusp with cutting edge, and a pos-
terior ridge. There is a prominent antero-internal cusp as in the usual carnas-
sial tooth. The molars seem normally to be two in the upper and in the lower
jaw on each side, but are occasionally three. They are elongated transversely
in the upper jaw, with the large protocone forming the inner tip, widely sep-
arated from the outer cone (apparently the paracone), which, with parastyle
and metastyle, appear to be the only cusps developed. In the lower jaw, the
three last premolars are of about equal size, the first of them (p2) with a minute
cusp about half-way up on its posterior edge, the second (ps) with two such
cusps, and the last (p,) with but one, which, however, is much larger than in
the two other teeth. The three anterior cusps of the first lower molar are
prominent, with blade-like edges set in a triangle, succeeded by a low, basin-
like heel with three low cusps at its edges, one posterior, and one each on the
inner and outer rim close to the back. The second lower molar is slightly
less than the heel of the first, with two pairs of low but well-marked cusps.
The tooth formula is, therefore, usually: i.$ c.t pm.4 m.3 =40, with occasionally
an extra one or two molars above or below, on which a few notes are given
beyond. .
Although various specific names have been bestowed upon civets from
eastern China, these seem all to be based upon slight peculiarities of color
pattern. A large series, such as that now available for study, shows that but
a single form occurs over the southern parts of China, nearly identical with the
Indian animal, which is the type species of the genus. Possibly the “beautiful
viverra,’ recorded from Kwangsi by Shih (1930, p. 5) as Prionodon pardicolor,
is this species, for the latter is not definitely known to occur in China.
194. Viverra zibetha ashtoni Swinhoe
CHINESE CIVET
Viverra ashtoni Swinhoe, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1864, p. 379, fig.
Viverra zibetha Linnzus, Syst. Nat., ed. 10, vol. I, p. 44, 1758. G.M. Allen, Amer. Mus. Novitates, no. 359,
p. I, 1929 (in part).
Viverra sp. aff. undulata Hilzheimer, Abh. u. Ber. Mus. f. Natur- u. Heimatk., Madgeburg, vol. 1, p. 175, 1906.
420 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
Viverra filchneri Matschie, Wiss. Ergebn. d. Exped. Filchner nach China u. Tibet 1903-05, vol. 10, pt. 1, p. 192,
1908.
Viverra zibetha filchnert Jacobi, Abh. u. Ber. Mus. f. Tier- u. Vélkerk., Dresden, vol. 16, no. I, p. 7, 1922:
A. B. Howell, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., vol. 75, art. I, p. 30, 1929.
Viverra zibetha ashtoni A. B. Howell, loc. cit. Pocock, Journ. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc., vol. 36, p. 427, 1933-
Type specimen:—Swinhoe’s type of Viverra ashtoni came from Suykaou,
the Min River, Fukien, China, but apparently is not preserved. Pocock
writes (1933) that it is not in the British Museum, although other specimens of
Swinhoe’s collecting are preserved there.
Description:—The usual color consists of a grizzled gray and blackish
ground color from the muzzle and cheeks, back to the root of the tail, the sides
of the body washed more or less with buffy toward the posterior half, and
marked by about five irregular and more or less indistinct wavy transverse
bands of blackish, whose lower ends show as more pronounced blackish-brown
marks on the sides of the belly. The haunches show a number of ill-defined
dark markings that tend to arrange themselves in lengthwise stripes, three
or four in number. A black stripe commences at the lower part of the neck
in the mid-dorsal line and extends to the root of the tail, becoming wider and
of longer erectile hairs on the lower back, and ending abruptly with the first
black ring at the base of the tail; it is bordered on the back by a white stripe
on each side. Fore and hind feet chocolate brown. Chin and throat blackish
brown, interrupted by three transverse white bands, originating from behind
and below the ear, the first forming a narrow anterior ring, the second much
wider and separated from the first by an intervening narrow area of blackish;
the third white ring passes first directly back to the lower part of the throat,
then becomes transverse, cutting off a wide blackish patch in front of it, and
having a black stripe bounding its upper and posterior borders. The ventral
surface of the body is whitish, due to the long white-tipped guard hairs, be-
neath which the fur is pale brownish basally, with a scattering of longer brown-
ish hairs. The tail is full, bushy and tapering, with a white transverse ring
at its base, across which the mid-dorsal black stripe extends to the succeeding
ring, which is black, with the middle portion ochraceous on each side of the
middle line. Following this are five more white rings alternating with five
black ones, the basal one or two of the latter sometimes showing a small amount
of ochraceous laterally, or an incomplete mid-dorsal black line connecting the
first and second black rings.
In all these characters there is a considerable range of purely individual
variation. In skins from the same locality, the buffy ground color of the body
may be replaced by clear gray, due to a mixture of white-tipped and blackish
hairs. The pattern on the flanks may be extremely indistinct, with every
gradation from well-marked stripes to inobvious spots and blotches or indis-
PLATE IX
A live Civet (Viverra zibetha ashtoni). Yunnan. Note the dorsal crest of erect hair
Head of a Civet (Viverra zibetha ashtoni). Mucheng, Yunnan
THE CARNIVORES 421
tinct cross-stripes that become well defined on the rump. The number of rings
on the tail is usually twelve, six white and six black, the terminal one black,
but there may be only five of each, while in one from Fukien there were no
fewer than eight of each, the last three black ones very close together and
separated by very narrow white rings. Usually only the basal black ring is
connected dorsally with the dark body color by an extension of the median
black stripe across the intervening white ring, but occasionally this may con-
tinue to the second or third, or even beyond as a few scattered black-tipped
hairs in the median line of the white ring. In specimens having a well-developed
buffy tint on the sides, it is usual to find the basal one or two black tail-rings
provided with a pair of ochraceous centers separated by the median black
stripe. In one exceptionally bright skin from Fukien, these centers are rusty
in color and are indicated even on the third black ring as scattered hairs of that
hue.
In the skull there is an increasing narrowness of the distance across the
supraorbital processes with age, and correlated with this, an increasing narrow-
ness of the constriction behind them, so that in a skull in which the temporal
ridges just meet, the first distance is 32.5 mm. and the postorbital constriction
25.2, whereas in an older skull with well-developed sagittal crest, these distances
are 26 and 17.1 mm. respectively. There is more or less variation in the out-
line of the posterior border of the palate, which may be evenly arched, or
bracket-shaped, or again with simply a short median spine. In the teeth
there is a tendency to develop a third molar in upper and lower jaw, as well as
a considerable amount of variation within narrow limits, in the crown area
of the molars. Three adult skulls from Wanhsien, Szechwan, show the third
molars, as follows: No. 57054 has a well-developed upper third molar on the
right side, situated on the outer border of the tooth row, and with its crown
turned backward at an angle of about 45 degrees. It abuts against the
posterior outer root of m2, and has about one-fourth its crown area, is nearly
circular in outline, about 3 mm. in diameter, unworn, with two minute ex-
ternal cusps and an inner one. On the left side of the palate is the alveolus of
a similar tooth, lost probably in cleaning. No. 57052 has a third molar on
the right-hand side, some 4.5 mm. in diameter, and about one-quarter the
size of the second molar. Its crown is turned similarly, so that its long axis
is at about 45 degrees to the line of the tooth row. On the right side there
is a much larger third molar, showing an abnormal condition of growth as if
more than one tooth were agglutinated and grown out of shape so as partly
to overlie the crown of m*. The specimen is further peculiar in having a
third molar on each side in the lower jaw, but in each case situated not behind
but beside the second molar and crowded to the outer side. In size these
extra molars are the smallest. In the third specimen, an old male, No. 58379,
422 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
with well-worn molars, there is a small circular alveolus about 1.5 mm. in
diameter on the right side, where evidently there was a third upper molar
that has been lost in cleaning; on the left side in the corresponding position,
there is a partly filled alveolus where the third molar once stood, but it had
evidently been shed and the cavity nearly closed.
Measurements:—The following dimensions were taken from the fresh
specimens in the field.
No. Head and body Tail Hind foot Ear Sex Locality
58380 670 375 125 57 9 Szechwan
58381 830 460 135 58 Q Szechwan
58379 770 , 400 130 60 rofl Szechwan
84415 800 437 125 56 Q Fukien
CRANIAL MEASUREMENTS OF VIVERRA ZIBETHA ASHTONI
Upper Lower
Zygo- Mas- Width cheek cheek
Greatest Basal Palatal matic toid across teeth teeth
No. length length length width width molars’ c-m? c-m2 Sex Locality
57056 © 139.0 133-0 71.0 68.0 41.5 43.5 57-8 64.0 rol Szechwan
57054 ' 135.3 127-5.» -71:0), , 67.6... 46.0... 43:6 | 155.09 65.0 rot Szechwan
58379 140.0, .133:0 _ .73:0 » 68.2... 45:0, 43-7, 0), 57.2), 6163.8 rot Szechwan
60140 1430 > 133.5|. (73:3. 69:0. 46.0, 43.0 . 56.0, (62.0 co Fukien
60177 139.0 132.0 72.00 663 43.4 40.5 55.0 610 of Fukien
84410 72.5 660 — 41.5 55.8 620 o& Fukien
84416 LALO 2232.0 (72077! IGSIShh 643001 42.51 0955.5° 296R5 rot Fukien
Average an1g9/5) PRTZ1LS 4 P72 671.7) 8)C4e.0-) | 4a) /i5Gio O'G2tz
45512 137.5 130.0 71.4 63.0 41.5 41.5 55:0 62.0 2 Fukien
57055 136.5 128.0 690 68.5 42.5 43.5 54.0 60.0 fo) Szechwan
58381 141.0 134.0 73.0 69.0 44.5 42.0 53.7. 61.0 fe) Szechwan
59316 140.0 132.0 74.5 65.4 42.2 39.7. 55.2 61.0 Q Fukien
60141 140.0 133.0 67.0 67.0 43.5 40.5 54.5 61.0 eo} Fukien
60178 139.0 129.0 69.0 68.0 42.5 40.5 53.4 59.0 2 Fukien
60179 135-0 1280 69.0 63.4 42.2 38.5 54.0 60.5 Q Fukien
84343 134.5 °° 1280" =71:0) “6S8!0" 7 435 42'7 5510)" 6170 Q Szechwan
84344 T4107) 133008 “73:28 16010" “a4i5e Vanes 550) 656 Q Szechwan
84414 14255) $134.8 .G275.2 17 66:8) 1944.0)» 39.24 S710"! | 16370 Q Szechwan
Average 138.7 1Z0!8) °71.2:.796618)) 43/0 -40:0.-. 54/6 610
60094. IZOi0. 7 L18:3 7 7103.3, 62:8! 64025) 39:5 50.0) 5755 2 Hainan
It will be seen from these figures that, on the average, males and females
show very little disparity in size. The skulls of the females average a very
little smaller, but the amount is negligible. A skull from Hainan seems
smaller than usual.
Nomenclature:—With a magnificent series of over fifty skins for examina-
tion, it becomes evident that there is considerable variation in the details
THE CARNIVORES 423
of the color pattern of this species, that is purely individual. In 1864, Swinhoe
named a Civet from the Min River, Fukien, Viverra ashtoni, pointing out that
it differed from the typical race in having no obvious cross-bands on the
haunches, and with the black dorsal stripe continued to the third dark tail-
ring, instead of ending with the first. In the present series from Fukien,
however, it is clear that these characters are not constant. A. B. Howell
(1929) regards ashtoni as a subspecies of V. zibetha but admits that the single
specimen he had does not agree very well with either Swinhoe’s original descrip-
tion or his figure. Pocock (1933), however, says that the Indian Civet is
shorter-haired, and so regards it as a valid race. Matschie’s V. filchneri,
based on trade skins purchased at Hinganfu, southeastern Shensi, is a synonym.
The characters claimed as distinctive of this species are: the presence of wavy
cross-bands on the haunches, six instead of five broader black and six narrower
white tail-rings, of which only the basal dark ring is connected with the black
dorsal stripe, the black tail-tip, a broadening of the middle dark throat-band,
and the smoke-gray under fur, characters all of which are subject to a certain
amount of individual variation, as the examination of a sufficient series shows.
Wroughton, in 1915, gave subspecific names to two supposed Indian races:
V. z. picta from the Upper Chindwin River, Burma, and V. z. pruinosa from
the Little Tenasserim River, Burma. He later concluded that the former is
untenable but distinguished the latter race by its clear gray ground color
without a yellow tinge. Both these variations occur, however, in Chinese
specimens from a single locality. Robinson and Kloss have since (Rec.
Indian Mus., vol. 19, pt. 4, p. 176, 1920) added another supposed race, V. z.
sigillata, from peninsular Siam, characterized by the sharper definition of its
markings. All these characters seem unimportant and subject to much indi-
vidual diversity. It is possible that the Hainan animal is smaller, however,
as indicated by the smaller size of the only available skull from that island.
Occurrence and Habits:—The Civet is apparently not uncommon over
most of the southern half of China, from the Yangtze basin southward, but
avoids the high country of western China. On the coast, the most northerly
record I have is of a skin and skull obtained by the American Museum Asiatic
Expeditions at Chingkiang, Kiangsu,.and it occurs also in the neighborhood
of Shanghai, and in the Chusan Islands. To the westward, it may occur as
far as the extreme southern borders of Shensi, Thomas (1911d) having re-
corded a native skin obtained forty miles north of Hanchungfu; trade skins
were obtained also at Hinganfu, southeastern Shensi, by the Filchner Expedi-
tion, but the exact origin of such specimens is not easy to trace, and often they
are sent from a long distance. To the southward, Jacobi (1922) mentions
two skins from near Ichang, Hupeh, one of which was grayer, the other more
yellowish; the American Museum’s collections include specimens from eastern
424 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
HINA SEA
nt HA!)
IS
Fic. 18. Distribution Map.
Viverra
V. sibetha ashtont
Szechwan, as from Wanhsien and Tsomalin, and A. B. Howell (1929) mentions
others in the U. S. National Museum from Wachin and Yachowfu, in the same
province. Avoiding the Szechwan highlands, however, the Civet ranges
southward into southwestern Yunnan, whence skins have been seen from
Likiang and the Namting River. Others are from Hupeh (Fonghsien) and
Hunan (Yochow). Swinhoe (1870c, p. 630) wrote that it is common in the
bamboo-covered hills of southeastern China from near Shanghai to Canton,
and Mell (1922) states that it is found all over Kwangtung, though commoner
in the less populous northern parts. It is found also on Hainan, where, how-
ever, it seems less numerous. Swinhoe (1870a, p. 227) procured two flat
skins there and J. A. Allen (1906) mentions a female specimen secured there.
Little is recorded of the habits of the civetin China. It is chiefly carnivor-
ous, but likes a certain amount of fruit also. Mell (1922) notes that the
stomachs of two that he secured in Kwangtung contained snakes and crabs,
while in a third were snakes, insects, remains of a ?Julus, and fruit. Shih
(1930) states that the flesh is ‘‘delicious.”
THE CARNIVORES 425
Specimens examined:—Fifty-five, as follows:
Kiangsu: Chingkiang, I.
Fukien: Futsing, 25; Yenping, 8.
Hupeh: Fonghsien, 1.
Hainan: Namfong, I.
Szechwan: Wanhsien, 12; Tsomalin, 1.
Yunnan: Likiang, 2; Namting River, 4.
Genus Viverricula Hodgson
THE LESSER CIVET
Viverricula Hodgson, Ann. Nat. Hist., vol. 1, p. 152, 1838.
This smaller civet occurs with its larger relative, the Chinese Civet
(Viverra), over the subtropical and tropical parts of the East. Formerly
included as a subgenus of Viverra by most writers, it is at present accorded
full generic rank. The group differs in its smaller size and color pattern, the
lack of an erectile dorsal crest, and in many details of the skull and teeth,
the most outstanding of which are the narrowed and laterally compressed
form of the skull, and the much more enlarged audital bulle, that project well
beyond the paroccipital processes and have their anterior as well as the posterior
chamber enlarged. The teeth are relatively sharper in their cusps, the second
molar more reduced. The teeth are the same in number as in normal speci-
mens of Viverra, namely: 1.3 c.t pm.4_m.z=40. While the genus is not very
strikingly different from the latter, its general characters seem important
enough to establish its codrdinate rank. There is but a single eastern species,
although Bonhote, who revised the genus in 1898, accorded full specific rank
to the Chinese representative. There can, however, be no doubt that with a
better series of specimens at command, from intermediate localities, he would
have admitted the subordinate relationship of the latter. No type species
seems to have been formally designated. As originally proposed the genus
contained two, Viverra indica Geoffroy, which is a synonym of Viverricula
malaccensis, and Viverra rape. The former may, therefore, be taken as the
genotype.
195. Viverricula malaccensis malaccensis (Gmelin)
THE RASSE OR LESSER CIVET
Viverra malaccensis Gmelin, Linnzus’s Syst. Nat., ed. 13, vol. 1, pt. I, p. 92, 1788.
Viverricula malaccensis malaccensis G. M. Allen, Amer. Mus. Novitates, no. 359, p. 3, 1929.
Type specimen:—Not known to exist. The type locality is Malacca.
Description:—A medium-sized civet, about as large as a small house cat,
the tail about two-thirds the length of head and body. The general ground
color of the body is a grizzled gray and blackish, with a dark blackish stripe
426 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
extending along the side of the neck from the posterior base of the ear, and
from five to eight narrow dark stripes on the middle area of the back, that
become broken into lines of spots on the sides. Feet and a small crescentic
mark at the anterior corner of the eye, dark brown. Tail with from six to
nine dark rings alternating with white or buffy-tinted rings. Of twenty
skins from Hainan, all but one are gray in the color of the body, the exception
having a buffy cast.
The skull is in general a miniature of that of Vasa but differs in a
number of details. Its general form is much more compressed from side to
side and relatively higher, with a depth above the audital bulla equal to the
length of the maxillary tooth row instead of much shorter. The postorbital
constriction is greater, and the sagittal crest at the occiput much higher in
proportion. The audital bullae are so much more inflated than in Viverra
that they project conspicuously below the paroccipital processes, whereas in
the latter genus they are considerably lower than these processes. Their
anterior chamber is distinctly inflated, but not in Viverra, and the entire
bulla is relatively larger. The teeth agree in number and general form in the
two genera, but the cusps in Viverricula are somewhat higher and more
trenchant, as in the last lower premolar whose posterior cusp is larger in pro-
portion and more compressed. The upper first molar differs in the outline
of the crown in having the inner portion more sharply triangular, lacking the
rounded shelf-like cingulum bounding the base of the protocone in Viverra.
Measurements:—No measurements taken in the flesh by the collector are
available.
CRANIAL MEASUREMENTS OF VIVERRICULA MALACCENSIS MALACCENSIS
Condylo- Zygo- Mas- Width Upper Lower Length
basal Basal Palatal matic toid across cheek cheek of
No. length length length width width molars teeth teeth bulla Sex Locality
59947 95.7. 91-2 49.0 46.0 300 284 380 413 208 co Hainan
59951 96.7. 93.0 500 480 31.8 29.0 37:2 41.2 220 ¢& Hainan
59952 7 ga 4855 47-8 F306 27" R72" Ale) ek Hainan
59954 96.5 92.2 Bolom) 4718) “33'2i% 2710 37:6") VAIe7 20.8 o Hainan
60073 92:0 88.5 47.0 46.2 28:7 27.4 370 41.6 200 d Hainan
Average 95.6 91.8 489 47.0 30.8 281 37.4 41.4 20.9
59946 94.0 900 470 440 290 283. 37.3 40.8 204 @ Hainan
59949 935 90.0 48.0 46.5 31.0 27.2 35-7 40.0 20.6 @, Hainan
59953 96.3 92.5 47.8 44.0 29.6 272 37.0 41.0 21.0 @ Hainan
59955 95:3 O16. 502. 45.5) 32:7 2905 384° 42:6. 20:5 0 Hainan
59956 93:0 893° 463 44.5 300 27.8 360 394 205 9° Hainan
Average 94.4 908 47.8 449 304 28.0 36.8 40.7 20.6
These figures, taken from adult or old skulls, indicate but very little differ-
ence in size between males and females.
THE CARNIVORES 427
Occurrence and Habits:—The type locality of the Lesser Indian Civet is
Malacca, and, although several subspecies have been named, Wroughton,
writing in 1918, states that he has entirely failed in finding one that seems
valid. The series from Hainan agrees in skull measurements with those pub-
lished for the typical form, so that it is here considered the same. The general
range probably includes the entire Malay Peninsula to the southern border
of China and Hainan, and Thomas has lately identified specimens taken by
the Delacour expeditions in Indo-China as the same. Over most of South
China, the following race occurs, doubtless intergrading with the true malac-
censis along the Chinese boundary.
Mr. Clifford H. Pope, who secured the Hainan series, writes of his observa-
tions on its habits there, that it is very common all about Nodoa, and, according
to his Chinese hunter, does not climb trees. A young one being reared by
friends at the Mission remained very wild, even after several weeks, though
it could be handled and did not bite. If loosed in a room, it immediately
sought the shelter of the darkest corner. When alarmed it made three distinct
sounds, a cat-like growl, a plaintive cat-like noise, and a peculiar chuckle,
the three sounds sometimes given in succession. Its food was bananas and
other fruit.
Specimens examined:—Twenty-two, namely:
Hainan: Namfong, 2; Nodoa, 20.
196. Viverricula malaccensis pallida (Gray)
CHINESE LESSER CIVET
Viverra pallida Gray, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1832, p. 63; Illustrations of Indian Zool., vol. 2, pl. 6, 1834.
Viverricula pallida Bonhote, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. 7, vol. 1, p. 121, 1898.
Viverricula hanensis Matschie, Wiss. Ergebn. d. Exped. Filchner nach China u. Tibet 1903-05, vol. 10, pt. 1,
p. 196, 1908.
Viverricula malaccensis pallida G. M. Allen, Amer. Mus. Novitates, no. 359, p. 3, 1929.
Type specimen:—The type of this race was sent to the British Museum
by John Reeves, probably from the vicinity of Canton, Kwangtung, China.
The specimen was figured by J. E. Gray in his ‘‘Tlustrations of Indian Zodlogy”’
under the name Viverra pallida, and, although the name appeared two years
earlier in the Proceedings of the Zodlogical Society of London, it was un-
accompanied by description, so that the basis of the name is really Gray’s
plate.
Description:—Similar to the typical race but slightly larger, more rufous
in coloration and longer-haired in winter coat, with less obvious stripes. The
usual ground color of the hair is ochraceous buff, individual hairs having
a pale base, a subterminal ring of ochraceous and a black tip. The color
pattern is more obscure in winter when the pelage is fuller. The under fur
428 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
is pale smoky in color. The number of rings-on the tail, which has been used
as a character of systematic importance, varies within narrow limits, from
occasionally as few as six to rarely as many as nine or ten. In rare cases,
too, the ground color may be gray instead of ochraceous.
Measurements:—The following measurements were taken by the col-
lectors in the field:
No. Head and body Tail Hind foot Ear Sex Locality
43128 530 350 97 42 fol Yunnan
58373 556 312 100 40 fof Szechwan
58377 570 320 105 43 fou Szechwan
84433 550 305 96 43 of Fukien
84351 480 295 90 40 fou Szechwan
58374 525 325 94 40 g Szechwan
84348 460 250 83 40 Q Szechwan
CRANIAL MEASUREMENTS OF VIVERRICULA MALACCENSIS PALLIDA
Condylo- Zygo- Mas- Width Upper Lower Length
basal Basal Palatal matic toid across cheek cheek of
No. length length length width width molars teeth teeth bulla Sex Locality
43128 93.6 89.0 46.0 44.0 30.2 27.5 35.5 40.2 22.8 o Yunnan
58373 96.0 92.0 48.7 44.0 31.0 28.0 38.0 42.5 21.5 co Szechwan
59319 T0010) "195240 5255)047.8 | 32.3308) 402" Aas) v220 o Fukien
60125 103-5 98.5 52.5 47.0 31.0 31.0 40.5 44.8 22.0 o Fukien
60136 102.3. 97-5 55-6 46.7 32.0 29.8 41.0 45.2 22.0 o Fukien
60180 100.5 97.0 53.4 51.5 32.0 30.3 39.5 42.5 21.0 co Fukien
84422 101.3. 97.5 53-8 45.5 30.0 28.3 39.0 46.0 22.0 o Fukien
84431 I0I.0 97.0 54.0 50.0 31.2 28.8 39.0 42.6 21.0 o Fukien
84430 105.0 100.3 54.5 50.5 33-0 31.0 41.5 45.5 22.3 o Fukien
84421 105.0 I01.0 54.5 48.0 31.6 29.3 40.5 45.7 22.3 o Fukien
Average 100.8 97.5 52.5 47.4 31.4 29.5 39.4 43.9 21.9
43125 96.3 92.0 49.0 45.5 31.8 —— 34.8 39.0 21.9 Q@ Yunnan
45506 95-4 91.5 49.2 46.0 31.0 29.8 37.5 40.6 22.3 9 Fukien
45507 96.0 92.0 49.0 44.8 31.0 29.0 37.3 40.4 21.8 9 Fukien
45515 00:3\pun GS-28. 4010113210 3108-7 As Ole oon Q@ Fukien
60135 IOlO0 96.3 52.4 47.0 32.0 30.2 39.6 43.3 21.0 Q Fukien
59321 TO2Z35, (98:2 54:3, pAS7 36-0) 120:3) 630-0 4325) ees Q Fukien
84347 TOO!5) 90:4) 52.2 47-5 32's) 20:7 387-1 aat7) 92255 Q@ Szechwan
84427 102.3 98.0 52.2 48.8 31.6 29.3 39.0 43.2 21.0 Q Fukien
58374 95-2 91.0 47.0 44.5 31.2 28.3 36.0 40.0 22.0 Q Szechwan
Average IOI.I 94.5 509 46.9 31.8 29.5 37.8 41.8 21.9
Nomenclature:—This is perhaps little more than a barely recognizable
race, differing in larger size and slightly more buffy color from the southern
animal. Matschie’s Viverricula hanensis was based on a skin obtained by
Kreyenberg in the fur market at Hankow, and is said to lack cross-bands on
the shoulders, while the tail has eight dark rings, of a width not less than that
THE CARNIVORES 429
of the light ones. These differences, however, are purely individual, and there
seems at present no reason for supposing that more than one race, Viverricula
malaccensis pallida, occurs over South China.
Occurrence and Habits:—It is interesting that the range of this animal in
China is almost exactly co-extensive with that of the large Civet, Viverra
zibetha, extending from the Yangtze basin southward, and in the west reaching
the base of the Szechwan highlands and central Yunnan. The most northerly
record I have is of a specimen in the Museum of Comparative Zodlogy, from
Tunglu, Chekiang, near the mouth of the Yangtze, secured by J. T. Wright.
The Museum also has a specimen from Ichang, Hupeh, whence the Weigold
Expedition obtained one as well (Jacobi, 1922). The Central Asiatic Expedi-
tions secured several from Wanhsien, in eastern Szechwan, and A. B. Howell
records one in the U. S. National Museum from Suifu in the same province.
The field work of these expeditions resulted in the accumulation of a good
series from Futsing and Yenping, Fukien, and others from Yochow, Hunan
Province, Likiang, Yunnanfu, and the Namting River, Yunnan Province.
Mell (1922), writing of the Canton region, says it is the commonest civet
next to the Masked Civet. At Siudsau, Kwangtung, two nurslings with the
mother were brought to him that were taken in early July. Mr. Clifford H.
Pope, who collected with such success in Fukien, writes me that this species
is abundant in the vicinity of Futsing and is frequently driven from thickets
or other cover in the fields or along the base of the more open mountains by
dogs. He did not see it, however, during his stay in Kuatun, in the north-
western corner of the province. The Chinese call it ‘pi mao’’ or Pen Cat,
because the hair of the tail is utilized in making brushes or ‘“‘pens.’’ According
to Shih, the flesh is also regarded with favor by the natives.
It is interesting that the milk dentition consists of fairly serviceable
teeth, and that these are retained for a relatively long time, so that individuals
of nearly full size, with skull having a condylobasal length of from 88-92 mm.,
still retain the full milk dentition with no sign of the permanent teeth coming
through. The upper canines of this set are long and bowed forward, almost
sickle-shaped. In an aged skull (No. 84431), the small second molar of the
upper jaw has been lost from both sides, the alveolus in each case more or
less closed over.
Specimens examined:—In all, sixty-three, as follows:
Kiangsu: Nanking, 1 (Univ. Mich.).
Chekiang: Tunglu, 1 (M.C.Z.).
Fukien: Futsing, 41; Yenping, 3.
Hunan: Yochow, I.
Hupeh: Ichang, 1 (M.C.Z.).
Szechwan: Wanhsien, 10.
Yunnan: Likiang, 1; Namting River, 2; Yuankiang, 1; Yunnanfu, 1.
430 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
Genus Paradoxurus F. Cuvier
THE PALM CIVETS
Paradoxurus F. Cuvier, in Geoffroy and Cuvier, Hist. Nat. des Mammifeéres, vol. 2, pt. 24, pl. and 5 pp. text,
1821.
Quite in contrast to the Civets, the Palm Civets or ‘‘Toddy Cats,’’ are
markedly arboreal in their habits, in accordance with which their tails are
longer in proportion, and though not strictly prehensile, are capable of being
slightly coiled and providing efficient aid in climbing. The palms and soles
of the feet have their naked pads slightly roughened and practically continuous
with the toe-pads, instead of being separated by an intervening hairy area.
The claws are retractile as in cats. The skull in a general way resembles that
of a Viverricula, but is somewhat larger, lacking the high narrow occipital
crest. The audital bull are very little inflated, and do not extend below
the level of the broad, triangular paroccipital processes against which they
closely abut; the basioccipital has a prominent median ridge. In striking
contrast is the much more rounded condition of the cusps of the posterior
teeth, in keeping doubtless with the more frugivorous habits. The anterior
premolars are actually smaller in the larger P. hermaphroditus than in Viver-
ricula. The third upper premolar differs in having a low internal buttress,
instead of a more compressed blade-like structure; the fourth premolar of
the upper jaw has a large antero-internal cusp, bluntly rounded, and a very
small antero-external one. The first upper molar is not triangular in outline,
but has the inner part broad instead of pointed, with a well-developed hypo-
cone, so that the lingual border is nearly parallel to the labial. All its cusps
are low and bluntly rounded. The second molar is much smaller, but of
broadly rounded, somewhat oval outline, with two very small outer cusps
(paracone and metacone) and a low inner cone at the extreme inner edge.
In the lower jaw, the last premolar, though small, has a broad, basin-like
heel, and cusps that closely resemble in their arrangement those of the first
molar, a much larger tooth. The second molar is relatively larger than in
Viverricula, about the size of the fourth lower premolar, and with low, blunt
cusps much resembling it. The genotype is Paradoxurus typus of India.
The Palm Civets are more strictly tropical in their distribution, extending
over India and the Malayan region to the East Indies, and barely reach
the southern or southeastern borders of China. Two species occur, a larger
one in Hainan, and a smaller that has apparently been once secured in south-
eastern China.
Key To CHINESE SPECIES OF Paradoxurus
A. Size larger, skull length more than 100 mm.................... P. hermaphroditus laotum
B. Size smaller, skull length less than 100 mm................... P. minor exitus
THE CARNIVORES 431
197. Paradoxurus hermaphroditus laotum Gyldenstolpe
THE PALM CIVET
Paradoxurus hermaphroditus laotum Gyldenstolpe, Kungl. Svensk. Vet.-Akad. Handlingar, Stockholm, vol. 57,
no. 2, p. 26, 1917.
Paradoxurus hermaphroditus J. A. Allen, Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., vol. 26, p. 240, 1909.
Type specimen:—An adult male, skin and skull, from Chieng Hai, upper
Siam, collected by Count Gyldenstolpe’s expedition, August 15, 1914. The
specimen is presumably in the Riks-museum at Stockholm, Sweden.
Description:—Ground color of the neck and body varying from a pale
grayish buff to nearly golden, with a pair of narrow black stripes running from
the occiput to the tail parallel to a median black stripe from shoulders to
tail. Below these are a number of blackish spots arranged in indistinct
lengthwise lines along the flanks, and in cross-rows on the haunches. The
head and throat back to the occiput and including the ears, are black, merging
into the grayer tint of the back. Below the eye is a short, lengthwise mark
of white; the forehead between the eyes is mixed with gray, and with white
above the eyes; the outer base of the ears is also white. The feet are blackish
brown, the tail black terminally, its base colored like the back, with a median
black line continuous with that of the back. Belly grayish buff without spots.
In one specimen, the entire throat to the upper chest and the sides and crown
of the head are shining black, but in most specimens these areas are much
mixed with paler hairs.
The chief characters of the skull have already been mentioned. The
uninflated bulle, the lack of a high posterior sagittal crest, and the blunt,
rounded cusps of the molar teeth are most striking.
Measurements:—No flesh measurements of Chinese specimens are avail-
able. In general, however, this species is about the size of a house cat.
CRANIAL MEASUREMENTS OF PARADOXURUS HERMAPHRODITUS LAOTUM
Zygo- Mas- Width Upper Lower Length
Greatest Basal Palatal matic toid across cheek cheek of
No. length length length width width molars’ teeth teeth bulla Sex Locality
59992 107.0 99.5 50.0 56.0 36.5 32.7 40.0 44.8 20.2 o Hainan
59993 114.7 1068 561 63.0 383 35.8 43.8 47.2 20.2 o Hainan
59995 10:5 103-5 50:5 62:0 38/0" 34.2 41.1 46.3 "19.8 co Hainan
59991 105.6 99.2° 51.0 51.5 34.7 33-2 42.8 47.6 20.0 Q Hainan
59994 104.0 98.0 47.5 53.8 34.0 30.4 40.0 43.2 18.7 @ Hainan
59996 103.8 96.2 467 52.5 35.8 32.0 38.0 42.3 18.0 Q Hainan
There is seen to be very little difference in size between the sexes, though
the females are slightly the smaller.
Nomenclature:—The typical P. hermaphroditus is considered as restricted
to the mainland of the southern portion of the Malay Peninsula. Farther
432 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
north, in southern Siam, a slightly paler race, P. h. ravus Miller, has been
described. More recently, Wroughton described P. birmanicus from near
Sagaing, Upper Burma, a form to which probably the Chinese animal should
be referred, were it not that Gyldenstolpe had described, about a month earlier,
P.h. laotum, from upper Siam, and shown that these two are the same. Since
his description seems to apply well to the Hainan Palm Civet, I have pro-
visionally used his name for the Hainan animal, although it must be recalled
that color characters in this group are subject to much individual variation,
and a final review with adequate material might show that the supposed
races are fewer than at present believed.
Occurrence and Habits:—The only part of China in which this Palm Civet
is known to occur is the island of Hainan, whence Dr. J. A. Allen was the
first (1909) to record it, a female, half grown, from Mount Wuchih, November
18, 1905. Later, in 1923, Mr. Clifford H. Pope succeeded in obtaining nearly
a dozen at Namfong and Nodoa. Here it was said by the native hunters to
be fairly common in the larger patches of jungle and heavy woods, living in
the trees, and occasionally found on the ground as well. Their dispositions
seemed rather savage, for when brought in alive in long baskets by the hunters,
they would spit or seize upon anything put in. Two young “kittens’’ were
kept alive for two or three weeks. At first they would spit in a most unfriendly
manner but soon became very docile. They enjoyed climbing all over one
and seemed to receive impressions mostly through the nose, whose long delicate
tip was in constant motion and carefully extended toward every new object.
They were fed on bananas and other fruit. Curiously, Swinhoe in 1870
makes no mention of this as a species of Hainan.
Specimens examined:—Ten, as follows:
Hainan: Namfong, 3; Nodoa, 7.
198. Paradoxurus minor exitus Schwarz
LESSER PALM CIVET
Paradoxurus exitus Schwarz, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. 8, vol. 7, p. 636, I9II.
Type specimen:—The type is an old female, skeleton only, from Fumui,
east of Canton, Kwangtung, China. It is in the Zodlogical Museum at
Berlin, original number 17.
Description:—The external characters of this species are unknown, but
if my assumption that it is merely a northern race of P. minor of Jalor, Malay
Peninsula, be true, the coloring is doubtless much as in that animal, as de-
scribed by Bonhote (1903a, p. 9), viz., “color above, pale fulvous, showing on
the back five longitudinal black stripes, of which the two outer ones tend to
THE CARNIVORES 433
break up into spots. These stripes converge anteriorly to form one broad
black stripe, which arises from the crown of the head, slightly anterior to the
ears. Across the forehead the hairs have white tips, giving it a grizzled
appearance, while the muzzle, limbs, and under part of the throat are very
dark brown. There is a small white crescent below, and slightly anterior to
the eye, and a few irregular white spots on the chin. The remainder of the
under parts are of a dull brownish-grey, while the flanks show a few irregular
black spots. The tail is black throughout its length, with the exception of
the terminal three or four inches which are of a dirty white.”
The skull, on which the description of P. exitus is really founded (Schwarz,
IQII, p. 636), is said to be characterized by the ‘‘brain-case becoming narrower
anteriorly, and gradually passing into the intertemporal constriction, which
is not sharply set off. . . . Bulle short, rounded in front, and strongly inflated
between carotic canal and foramen lacerum posterius . . . P.[p‘] with the
paracone reduced as in cochinensis, but with much shorter metacone and better
developed postero-internal ledge.”’
Measurements :—The type skull and only known specimen is said to show
the following measurements: basilar length, 84 mm.; palatilar length, 43;
zygomatic width, 55; width of brain case at squamosal, 34; mastoid width,
33.6; intertemporal constriction, 12.5; upper cheek teeth, 35; length of pm‘,
7.5; its greatest oblique diameter, 9.
Nomenclature:—The measurements given by Schwarz for the type skull of
P. exitus seem to coincide very closely with those given for the skull of P. minor
by Bonhote, so that there seems very little doubt that the Chinese animal
represents the same species, or at most a local northeastern race of it. In
the latter event proving true, the name will stand as I have given it above.
Occurrence and Habits:—The description of this Palm Civet, from Fumui,
east of Canton, in southeastern Kwangtung, constituted the first record of
the genus for the mainland of China. No further specimens are known, but its
occurrence should be expected sparingly along the extreme southern borders.
Specimens examined:—None.
Genus Paguma Gray
THE MASKED CIVETS
Paguma Gray, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1830, p. 95, published Aug. 5, 1831; Zoological Miscellany, no. I, p. 17,
1831.
The Masked Civets represent a slightly more specialized condition than
the Palm Civets, with a loss of the striped pattern on the back, although this
appears faintly in the young. The skull has a shorter, broader rostrum, and
434 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
CHINA SEA
ad ae HA!)
Fic. 19. Distribution Map.
Paguma
1. P. larvata larvata 3. PP. larvata hainana
2. P. larvata intrudens
there is no deep constriction behind the postorbital processes, but instead the
forehead maintains its width from the center of the orbits to the anterior border
of the parietal bones, with the postorbital processes barely projecting. The
teeth are the same in number as in Paradoxurus, but are more modified for
crushing. The upper carnassial has a lower, shorter crown, and its cusps are
broad, and bluntly rounded, with the antero-internal cusp equaling the antero-
external one instead of being much larger. In side view the central cusp
alone projects, the posterior heel being flat and shelf-like, instead of trenchant
with a sharp edge as in Paradoxurus. The upper first molar has but three:
cusps, of which the two outer are subequal, low, and bluntly rounded, the
internal cusp even lower, but similarly blunt. The first lower molar has the
usual five cusps, but all are very low and rounded, and the tooth is broader
than in the latter genus. Frequently the second molar of the upper jaw or
of both jaws shows a tendency to be wanting, perhaps another progressive
trait in these animals. The upper canines also are slightly more modified,
THE CARNIVORES 435
being longer, and wider in side view, more evidently compressed from side to
side, with a faint rib-like column in the center of the inner face.
The genus occurs from Nepal across China to Formosa, and south into
the larger islands of the East Indies. The Chinese species is the genotype
and longest known, and is represented in southern China by apparently two
geographical races on the mainland and one in Hainan, all closely related.
199. Paguma larvata larvata (Hamilton Smith)
THE MASKED CIVET
Gulo larvatus Hamilton Smith, in Griffith, Animal Kingdom by Cuvier, vol. 2, p. 281, pl., 1827.
Paguma larvata Gray, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1831, p. 95. Swinhoe, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1870, p. 630.
Thomas, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1911, p. 688.
Paradoxurus larvatus Trouessart, Cat. Mamm. Viv. Foss., p. 330, 1897. Hilzheimer, Abh. u. Ber. Mus. f.
Natur- u. Heimatk., Magdeburg, vol. 1, p. 177, 1906.
Paguma reevesi Matschie, Wiss. Ergebn. d. Exped. Filchner nach China u. Tibet 1903-05, vol. 10, pt. I, p. 196,
1908.
Paguma larvata rivalis Thomas, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. 9, vol. 8, p. 618, 1921.
Paguma larvata reevesi Jacobi, Abh. u. Ber. Mus. f. Tier- u. Volkerk., Dresden, vol. 16, no. I, p. 8, 1922.
Paguma larvata larvata G. M. Allen, Amer. Mus. Novitates, no. 359, p. 4, 1929.
Type specimen:—The name was originally given to a mounted specimen
in the Leiden Museum, which may be regarded as the actual type. Locality
unknown.
Description:—About the size of a house cat but with shorter limbs.
There are no stripes on the body or rings on the tail. Head and neck to the
shoulders black; a white blaze on the forehead, sometimes extending back for
a varying distance on to the occiput or neck as a narrow line of white-tipped
hairs. A white mark below and another above the eye, extending to the base
of the ear and below it, often forming a nearly complete half-collar. Upper
parts and proximal portion of the tail grayish to ochraceous; terminal half of
the tail and the feet blackish brown.
As in other civets, there is a wide range of individual variation. Ina
series of nineteen from Fukien, the average skin has the entire back pale
ochraceous buff, fading into nearly clear gray on the sides and belly. The
under fur is smoky. In other specimens the ochraceous tinge of the back
becomes so reduced as to be either very faint or wanting altogether. At
the opposite extreme are one or two in which the ochraceous tips of the body
hairs are so intensified that they are as bright as in skins from Hainan. The
black tip of the tail usually comprises about half the length of that member;
in one skin, however, it includes only the last third, while in two others and
in a third from Szechwan, the tail is entirely gray or gray tinged with pale
ochraceous, lacking the black tip entirely. A specimen of this type is recorded
by Jacobi from Kiating, Szechwan, and the same variation is mentioned in a
specimen from ‘‘Wahsin,’’ Szechwan, by A. B. Howell. The black tip may be
436 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
rather well defined, or it may be a dark stripe running nearly the whole length
of the dorsal side of the tail. The amount of black in the subterminal portion
of the longer hairs is also subject to much variation, while the white head-
markings are hardly the same in details in any two specimens. Usually,
however, the white frontal blaze is continued back between the ears, but in at
least two of the Fukien series, it may be traced as a narrow line of white-tipped
hairs nearly to the shoulders. In one example from eastern Szechwan, it is
well developed as far back as the scapular region, thus approaching the con-
dition found in P. 1. intrudens. While, usually, more or less of the mustachial
vibrisszee are white, in occasional skins all are black. The chin is black, the
throat mixed grayish.
Measurements:—An adult female measured in the flesh: head and body,
440 mm. ; tail, 370; hind foot, 80; ear, 47.
CRANIAL MEASUREMENTS OF PAGUMA
Occiput Condylo- Zygo- Mas- Width Upper Lower
to basal Basal Palatal matic toid across cheek cheek
No. gnathion length length length width width molars teeth teeth Sex Locality
P. larvata larvata
43138 113.0 55-4 62.5 40.3 37.2 39.0 42.0 o Fukien
57049 II5.0 113.5 106.8 55.5 64.0 41.0 38.2 39.5 43.2 9 Fukien
57064 116.5 116.3 110.7 59.0 59.0 39.2 36.5 40.5 44.5 @ Fukien
84407 110.5 108.0 103.3 56.0 64.2 39.0 37.3 37.2 40.8 @ Fukien
84406 III.O III.2 106.0 55.0 58.6 36.8 36.5 38.3 42.1° co Fukien
84408 113.0 109.5 104.0 55.0 61.0 38.5 37.0 37.5 41.8 — Fukien
P. larvata intrudens
(type of
P. I. yunalis) ——_ —— 57.0 61.8 43.8 39.9 40.7 45.9 — Yunnan
Nomenclature:—The name Gulo larvatus was first published by Hamilton
Smith, who took it from a specimen, so labeled by Temminck, in the Leiden
Museum. This specimen, should it ever be reidentified, is, therefore, the
actual type. Hamilton Smith’s colored figure is a poorly executed sketch
but gives a fair representation of the animal as we now know it from South
China. The origin of the subject, however, is not recorded, but Temminck,
who later, in his ‘‘Monographies de Mammalogie”’ (1841, vol. 2, p. 329, pl. 65,
figs. 1, 2), described the animal as Paradoxurus larvatus, and figured the skull,
‘stated that it had been obtained in London. Meanwhile Gray (Proc. Zool.
Soc. London, 1831, p. 95; 1832, p. 67) had redescribed the species on the basis
of a specimen sent from the vicinity of Canton by Reeves, referring it first to a
new genus, Paguma, and then to Paradoxurus. Later he published a colored
figure of the animal (‘‘Illustrations of Indian Zoology,” vol. 2, pl. 11, 1833-34),
which, though in many respects crude, is again a fair representation. For
THE CARNIVORES 437
nearly three-quarters of a century the name stood, until Matschie in 1908
concluded that Hamilton Smith’s crude figure more nearly resembled the For-
mosan race, named faivana by Swinhoe, and that, therefore, the type speci-
men must have come from Formosa. He therefore renamed the Chinese
animal Paguma reevesi. Thomas (1909a), however, has shown that the For-
mosan civet does not resemble Hamilton Smith’s figure nearly as well as do
specimens from the lower Yangtze and that it is unlikely that in 1827 a palm
civet would have reached London from Formosa. It seems best to follow
Thomas in assuming that the original specimen was imported from South
China, so that P. reevesi becomes a synonym of P. 1. larvata. Thomas in a
later paper (1921) named as a distinct race, Paguma I. rivalis, a pale skin from
Ichang on the Yangtze, but there can be no doubt, from an examination of a
series of skins from west-central China, that this name is also a synonym of
P. 1. larvata, and the western animal indistinguishable from that of the coast.
Occurrence and Habits:—The Masked Civet has a more extensive range
northward than the Palm Civet, and in this respect more resembles the genera
Viverra and Viverricula. The American Museum’s splendid series includes a
specimen from Tunglu, Chekiang, as the most northerly record, at the mouth
of the Yangtze. To the southward it seems commoner, and was found by Mr.
Clifford H. Pope to be of frequent occurrence in the vicinity of Futsing, Fukien.
To the westward, Dr. Walter Granger secured several from the region about
Wanhsien on the eastern border of Szechwan, and A. B. Howell has recorded
others from Wahsin and Suifu in the same province, the only adult among
them ‘‘quite pale’ and doubtfully separate from P. I. rivalis, although entered
under P. 1. yunalis. Thomas (191 Ie, p. 688) records a male from southeastern
Shensi, in the Shangchow district, the most northwesterly record yet available.
In southern China it is generally distributed, and is the commonest civet in
Kwangtung, according to Mell. Swinhoe (1870c) mentions its actively
climbing habits, and tells of a tame one that would climb up doors as well as
the legs of tables and chairs by putting one foot on each side and pushing up
with the hind legs. It slept by day but was active most of the night. Dr.
Walter Granger has published some notes on one that he kept as a pet, together
with a photograph showing its method of holding on by means of the bent tail,
closely applied. Mell (1922) found it in forest, bush, high woods or rocky
places in Kwangtung. A large female with two nursing young perhaps
eight or ten days old was brought to him on June 21, at Wutsung in that
province. Pocock (19i1a) records three young born in the London Zoological
Gardens from a pair captured in Szechwan. Their eyes opened in about
nine days, and their growth seemed very rapid in comparison with that of
dogs or cats, so that in three months they equaled their parents in size. At
first their color was quite different from that of their parents, grayer and less
438 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
yellow, with a pair of ill-defined dark stripes on the back and indistinct traces
of a pattern on the sides of the body. In captivity they will eat fruits and
cereals, and no doubt the former constitute a large part of the diet in a wild
state. Mell (1922) notes that the stomach of one that he examined contained
fruit, that of a second oranges, while two others had leaves in their stomachs.
Swinhoe (1870c), on the other hand, wrote that his pet civet preferred cooked
meat. On one occasion, a Masked Civet was pursued by a leopard into a
native village, where it was killed with a stick (Mell, 1922).
According to Swinhoe, this civet is called by the Chinese the ‘‘Gem-faced
Cat,’’ on account of the white facial mark. Shih (1930) states that in Kwang-
tung it is called ‘‘mén-tsien-kiu.”’
Specimens examined:—In all, twenty-five, as follows:
Chekiang: Tunglu, 1.
Fukien: Futsing, 8; Yenping, 7; Chunganhsien, 1; no exact locality, 1.
Szechwan: Wanhsien, 5; no exact locality, 1.
Locality unknown, I.
200. Paguma larvata intrudens Wroughton
WESTERN MASKED CIVET
Paguma larvata intrudens Wroughton, Journ. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc., vol. 19, p. 793, 1910.
Paguma larvata yunalis Thomas, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. 9, vol. 8, p. 617, 1921.
Type specimen:—The type is a skin and skull from Sima, near Myitkyina,
in northeastern Burma, not far from the Yunnan border, No. 9.7.20.6 in the
collection of the British Museum, an adult female.
Description:—Similar to P. larvata larvata but slightly larger, the back
a brighter, deeper tone of ochraceous, the white mark on the forehead extended
as a broad stripe to the shoulders, and the facial markings, including the
whitish half-collar, more clearly defined.
Measurements:—No measurements of fresh specimens are available.
This race, however, is supposed to be slightly larger than the typical form of
eastern China. The only adult skull at hand seems to bear out this character.
It is from Yuankiang, Yunnan, and measures: occiput to gnathion, 118.5 mm.;
condylobasal length, 117.2; basal length, 112.5; palatal length, 58; zygomatic
width, 66; mastoid width, 42.2; width across molars, 38.7; upper cheek teeth,
40; lower cheek teeth, 44.5.
Nomenclature:—There seems to be no doubt that Thomas’s Paguma
larvata yunalis, based on a skin from the Likiang Range, is indistinguishable.
Wroughton considered the few available Yunnan specimens the same as his
P. 1. intrudens, but Thomas in 1921 gave the name P. /. yunalis to two skins
THE CARNIVORES 439
from Yenyuanhsien, southern Szechwan (not Yunnan as given in the original
description), about two hundred and fifty miles east of Wroughton’s type
locality, on the ground that they were brighter in their ochraceous tint, with
a very small suborbital white mark. The series of skins secured by the
American Museum Asiatic Expeditions from Likiang and the Namting River,
however, shows that the white suborbital mark is usually large and well
defined instead of a ‘‘mere vague streak’’ as in Thomas’s specimen, so that this
as well as the difference in the ochraceous tint of the back are doubtless matters
of purely individual variation.
Occurrence and Habits:—This rather poorly characterized race is found
from southern Szechwan to northeastern Burma, and south through western
Yunnan to central Tongking, whence Thomas has recorded it under the name
P.1. intrudens. The American Museum Asiatic Expeditions secured a series of
hunters’ skins at Likiang, in Yunnan, and other specimens from the Namting
River, and Tengyueh. The type of P. 1. yuwnalis came from Yenyuanhsien,
in southern Szechwan. Two specimens from 10,500 feet on the Likiang
Range are recorded by A. B. Howell.
Specimens examined:—Nine, namely:
Yunnan: Likiang, 5; Namting River, 1; Tengyueh, 2; Yuankiang, 1.
201. Paguma larvata hainana Thomas
HAINAN MASKED CIVET
Paguma larvata hainana Thomas, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. 8, vol. 3, p. 377, 1909.
Paguma larvata J. A. Allen, Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., vol. 22, p. 479, 1906 (not of authors).
Paradoxurus (Paguma) larvatus hainanus J. A. Allen, zbid., vol. 26, p. 240, April 17, 1909.
Type specimen:—An immature male, No. 99.9.2.1, in the collection of the
British Museum, from Five-finger Mountains (Wuchih), island of Hainan,
China.
Description:—In size and general appearance like the mainland race, but
the general coloration of the body yellowish rufous instead of gray or gray
tinged with buff.
Measurements:—No measurements of adults are available. The size is,
however, probably not different from that of the mainland race.
The skull of an adult female measured: occipito-nasal length, 197 mm.;
palatal length, 51; zygomatic width, 58; interorbital width, 20.5; mastoid
width, 37.5; upper cheek teeth, c-m?, 36.
Nomenclature:—By a curious coincidence, Thomas named the island
race P. 1. hainana, in a paper published about the tenth of April, and J. A.
Allen independently described it, using the same subspecific term in a paper
440 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
dated April 17, 1909. The former author is, therefore, the authority for the
name.
Occurrence and Habits:—Apparently the Masked Civet was not known to
Swinhoe from the island of Hainan. The first record of its occurrence there
is that of J. A. Allen (1906, p. 479), who briefly mentions a female from
Cheteriang. In his later paper (1909) he made this the type of his P. 1.
hainanus. The locality is in the mountains near the southern border. In
1923 Mr. Clifford H. Pope collected several young specimens of the Masked
Civet at Nodoa and Namfong, where, however, it does not seem to be common.
The Chinese frequently tame this animal, and such pets are said to make ex-
cellent ratters. This race is believed to be confined to the island of Hainan,
but when specimens from the adjacent mainland are available, they will
doubtless be found very similar, grading into the typical race.
Specimens examined:—Seven, of which three are skulls. All are immature.
Hainan: Namfong, 2; Nodoa, 5.
Genus Herpestes Illiger
THE MUNGOOSES
Herpertes (sic, corrected to Herpestes in Errata, p. 302) Illiger, Prodromus Syst. Mamm. et Avium, p. 135, I8II.
Calogale Gray, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1864, p. 560. J. A. Allen, Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., vol. 47, p. 160,
1924.
The mungooses form a well-defined group, now usually regarded as con-
stituting a subfamily of the Viverridze, but Pocock has even urged that they
be recognized as a separate family. They are characterized by their long,
slender and weasel-like bodies, fairly long tails, coarse-haired and tapering,
and by the broad, low and rounded ears in contrast to the larger narrower
ears of the more typical civets. They are ground-living in habits, though
occasionally ascending among the larger branches of trees.
The skulls are characterized by the short, blunt muzzle and well-developed
postorbital processes, which nearly or quite meet a process of the jugal to
form a bony ring about the eye. The posterior portion of the audital bulla
is roundly inflated, the paroccipital processes short and inconspicuous. The
teeth are of the sectorial type, corresponding to the carnivorous habits of the
group. The fourth upper premolar has the antero-internal lobe much larger
than the external one corresponding, and provided with a well-developed cusp.
The main cusp of the tooth is situated slightly in front of the middle of the
outer length, and the posterior heel is provided with a cutting edge. The
THE CARNIVORES 441
molars are very much narrowed anteroposteriorly so that the protocone is
separated by a long narrow isthmus from the paracone and metacone at the
outer edge of the jaw.
The mungoose group is best developed in Africa, and is characteristic of
the tropics and subtropics, taking the place to a great extent of the weasels.
Only two species are known to occur in China, and, although these have been
sometimes regarded as representing distinct genera, they may for the present
both be retained under Herpestes. The genotype is the large Viverra ( = Her-
pestes) ichneumon of the Mediterranean region.
KEY TO THE CHINESE SPECIES OF Herpestes
A. Size smaller, skull length about 65 mm., no white shoulder stripe.......... H. rubrifrons
B. Size larger, skull length about 95 mm., a white shoulder stripe............. H. urva
202. Herpestes rubrifrons (J. A. Allen)
RUFOUS-FACED MUNGOOSE
Mungos rubrifrons J. A. Allen, Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., vol. 26, p. 240, 1909.
Herpestes sp., Swinhoe, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1870, p. 228.
Herpestes griseus J. A. Allen, Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., vol. 22, p. 479, 1906 (not of authors).
Herpestes rubrifrons G. M. Allen, Amer. Mus. Novitates, no. 359, D. 9, 1929.
Type specimen:—No type specimen is designated in the original descrip-
tion, although in the list of measurements it is stated that the type is a male,
hence No. 27596, American Museum of Natural History, from Mount Wuchih,
Hainan.
Description:—General color of the neck, body, tail, and limbs except the
feet, a grizzled olive-brown, barely lighter on the sides. The fur when parted
is seen to consist of an under fur of shorter, finer hair which is slaty at the base
and pale ochraceous rufous terminally, overlain by long guard hairs, having
two or three rings of buffy gray alternating with equal rings of black and a
blackish tip. The under fur hardly shows through, so that the general color-
ing is due to the minute ticking of buffy gray and blackish brown. ‘The sides
of the face and the fore and hind feet are clear bright ferruginous, the forehead
similar but somewhat darker and mixed with annulated, black-tipped hairs.
Tail like the back above, distichous in form, the hairs of the middle third
longest, their tips pale ochraceous in the distal half of the tail, giving it a yel-
lower tinge than the back. Middle area of the throat, chest, and belly dull
ochraceous, with very few annulated hairs. Chin slightly more rufous. Tail
442 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
slightly more rusty in ventral aspect, the terminal third becoming distinctly
rufous.
Measurements:—No measurements of fresh specimens were available to
J. A. Allen, who gives for a well-made skin, total length about 600 mm. ; tail,
240; hind foot without claws, 60. Two, measured by Mr. Clifford H. Pope,
gave: head and body, 315, 300 mm.; tail, —, 220; foot, 58, 58; ear, 19, 11, for
a male and a female, respectively.
CRANIAL MEASUREMENTS OF HERPESTES RUBRIFRONS
Zygo- Mas- Width Upper Lower
Greatest Basal Palatal matic toid across cheek cheek
No. length length length width width molars teeth teeth Sex Locality
59923 67.0 62.5 35.0 30.2 25.0 22.5 25.0 27.7 rol Hainan
60069 73.0 69.3 20107 gO: 500 12014, wees) TP 26i27 OLS rot Hainan
60071 70.5 67.3 38:0. 37-0. 125.3) ., 22:0 4 (26:8 9) 20:0 rot Hainan
59924 65.0 62.0 S5ON sic) 62301 20:0) 2455 2720 Q Hainan
59925 57-5 54.3 SOON 2725) ) 22:07 | 20:00 22-28 e4ts Q Hainan
59928 66.5 62.0 35:0) B23. 22:04ge2L.OLes' 25:07 27:7 °) Hainan
60068 64.5 60.7 35.1 21.0 23.8 20.0 24.0 26.4 °) Hainan
From these measurements it is seen that females average a little smaller
than males.
Nomenclature:—As mentioned in his original description, the author of
this species recognizes its close relationship with the Javan Mungoose, Her-
pestes ‘‘javanicus” and its representatives of the Malay Peninsula, of which
this may be an insular race, but until an adequate review of the group can be
made, it may stand as a distinct species.
Occurrence and Habits:—Swinhoe in 1870 mentioned the occurrence of a
mungoose on Hainan, but was unable to secure specimens. A good series
was obtained at Nodoa and Namfong, however, by Mr. Clifford H. Pope, and
these agree with Dr. J. A. Allen’s description based on eight other specimens
from the island collected a few years earlier. Mr. Pope writes that they were
common about Nodoa, and he twice saw them by day in open, rolling, bushy
country, running from one clump of bushes to another. Those brought in
alive were fierce and fearless in disposition, and would make sudden threatening
jumps toward one, glaring fiercely and emitting a hissing or spitting sound.
Twice he observed closely a fight staged between a mungoose and a cobra.
The mungoose’s tactics seemed to be to bite the upper fore part of the snake’s
head repeatedly, regardless of what the snake did. It seemed to have little
concern about being bitten in the face, but took especial care that the snake’s
fangs did not reach its body. “I could not see that in either fight the mun-
goose went for the back of the snake’s head but rather it seemed not to think
THE CARNIVORES 443
of doing so until the snake was about finished. The mungoose bites as the
snake strikes and the two pairs of jaws are often locked. It fearlessly meets
the snake’s onslaught head on and gives bite for bite. When it begins to get
the advantage, the length of its hold increases, while now and again it holds
on long enough to give a vicious shake, ending by crunching the snake’s head
and neck between its long teeth.’’
Mell (1922) records a skin he obtained on Gunjam Shan, a mountain in
the north of Canton, Kwangtung, yet within the city limits. It was identified
as of this species by Matschie. The animal was captured inside an old mortar,
where it had been sleeping, and constitutes the only record of this species or
its group from continental China.
Hilzheimer’s Herpestes leucurus, later changed to H. albifer, from China,
proved to be a squirrel skin, probably Callosciurus.
Specimens examined:—Nine from Hainan, namely, Namfong, 1; Nodoa, 8.
203. Herpestes urva (Hodgson)
CRAB-EATING MUNGOOSE
Gulo urva Hodgson, Journ. Asiatic Soc. Bengal, vol. 5, p. 283, 1836.
Urva cancrivora Swinhoe, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1870, p. 630.
Herpestes urva Anderson, Anat. and Zool. Researches Western Yunnan, p. 191, 1879.
Urva hanensis Matschie, Wiss. Ergebn. d. Exped. Filchner nach China u. Tibet 1903-05, vol. 10, pt. 1, p. 190,
1908.
Mungos urva J. A. Allen, Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., vol. 26, p. 242, 1909.
Herpestes cancrivora hanensts A. B. Howell, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., vol. 75, art. I, p. 31, 1929.
Herpestes urva sinensis Bechthold, Zeitschr. f. Saugetierk., vol. 11, p. 152, March 13, 1936. Lungtao Shan,
Kwangtung.
Type specimen:—Not specified.
Description:—This is a considerably larger species than H. rubrifrons,
of a uniform coarsely grizzled pelage of black and buffy or whitish; feet dusky
brown; tail like the back, becoming whitish to buffy or ochraceous terminally.
A conspicuous white stripe runs from the corner of the mouth to the shoulder,
not very sharply defined. Chin and throat whitish to gray. There is con-
siderable individual variation in color within narrow limits, in the extent of
the white tipping to the longer hairs, the amount of white or brown on chin,
throat and feet, and in the intensity of the buffy tint, so that in some the under
fur is almost whitish, in others rusty (the H. wu. sinensis of Bechthold).
The skull is proportionally less elongate than in H. rubrifrons, and differs
notably in the shape of the audital bullae, which lack the pronounced inflation
of the anterior portion seen in the latter species, so that they are almost pear-
shaped instead of egg-shaped as seen from below.
\
444 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
Measurements:—An adult female from Yenping, Fukien, measured ap-
proximately: head and body, 550 mm. ; tail, 220; hind foot, 105.
CRANIAL MEASUREMENTS OF HERPESTES URVA
Zygo- Mas- Width Upper Lower
Greatest Basal Palatal . matic toid across cheek cheek
No. length length length width width molars. teeth teeth Sex Locality
57029 97.0 90.5 52.5 5210) 30:40 23T-7, 35.01 4 10 rot Fukien
60188 97.0 90.0 53:0) * 1153.09 38:4" 93250189 35-717 AO fof Fukien
84440 98.4 89.6 53:0 , 56.57 ''40:7. 33:03/5- 7136.45! 41/0 rofl Fukien
84441 97-5 89.0 52.0 53:0 39.2 33:0 35:7 41.7 rot Fukien
60186 102.0 93.0 52.3 Bat8) 640.8 34400) 37.86 Az A fat Fukien
60189 97-5 92.8 53-8 540 39-7 345 39.0 43.0 of Fukien
60151 98.0 92.6 BAO | 56;8 40:7 34.801 038-5, 43-2 fou Fukien
57030 98.2 91.0. 52:05 55:0 143010, 28 33:5 5 3010). 47.0 9 Fukien
59963 94.2 88.0 49:0, 53:0" 30:3, ! 33:0 13655) 40.5 ce) Hainan
60127 98.0 89.3 52.3 53.0) * 40:0 §3335, 35:5. 404: ce) Fukien
60150 96.0 89.5 BOO essai 40:0' 99321018 8136759 airs 9 Fukien
60185 95.0 87.3 49.5 54-5 40.3 34.4 35.0 40.0 .°) Fukien
84443 94.0 86.0 51.0 . 4810 38:0) 32:6). »25.0p «30:3 fe) Fukien
84444 98.2 QI.2 54.2 53-2 40.0 32.0 27.08) 40:4. ce) Fukien
It will be seen from these measurements that there is practically little
difference in size between males and females.
Nomenclature:—Although the Crab-eating Mungoose is very distinct in
its cranial and color characters from the other eastern mungooses, it does not
seem at present that it should be accorded more than subgeneric distinction,
as A. B. Howell has advocated. No doubt, however, when a more thorough
study of the Asiatic species is made, there will be those who will regard it as
worthy of separate generic rank under the name Urva urva. ‘There seems to be
but a single well-defined species, extending from Assam to South China, but
Matschie in 1908 gave the name Urva hanensis to the Chinese animal, on the
basis of four skins purchased at Hankow, which he supposed differed from the
typical form in having the chin brownish gray much mixed with white instead
of all white, the under fur of the head dark brown with a gray tone instead of
light reddish brown, the under side ochraceous instead of dull brown, and the
tail 250 mm. instead of 275—300mm. In the various details of color, the con-
siderable series examined shows that there is much individual variation, as
already noted, and the tail measurement taken from trade skins cannot be
regarded as very significant. I have, therefore, relegated this supposed species
to the synonymy of H. urva, although A. B. Howell has used the name hanensis
in a subspecific sense for specimens from eastern China, Herpestes cancrivora
hanensis. Although Hodgson proposed cancrivora as a specific name in 1837,
his G. urva was published for the same animal in the preceding year and so
has priority.
THE CARNIVORES 445
Occurrence and Habits:—The Crab-eating Mungoose seems to be com-
mon over parts of South China, extending as far north as the mouth of the
Yangtze on the eastern coast, where the most northern record is Chinkiang,
Kiangsu. To the westward, however, I have no certain records for it, although
Matschie’s type of Urva hanensis from Hankow may not have come from a
great distance. Anderson (1879) mentions a specimen in the Paris Museum
from Kiangsi, and Swinhoe (1870c) recorded one from the Fukien Hills near
Amoy. It is apparently common in Fukien, for the American Museum’s col-
lections include a number from Futsing and Yenping, as well as one from Chung-
anhsien, in the northwest corner of the province. Mr. Clifford H. Pope
writes me that he found it common near streams in the mountainous sections
of Futsing. “It is also commonly seen among the terraced rice fields in the
' mountainous regions, where it is said to find the loaches of which it is supposed
to be very fond. The native name, ‘ni ch’iu mao’, signifies ‘loach cat’, and
it is also sometimes called ‘blind cat’ in reference to its apparent nearsighted-
ness, for it may be approached more readily than most wild animals. Several,
when alarmed, are prone to dash about in circles, one following close behind
another.” Swinhoe (1872) writes that it is attracted by crabs, near Ningpo,
and it is in general found along banks of streams. Shih (1930, p. 5) says that
he has seen it in Nanning for sale in cages, and it is said to be a good “‘ratter.”’
Mell (1922) found it not uncommon in both north and south parts of Kwang-
tung. A female with her two young was brought him at Wampu. Its
presence in the island of Hainan does not seem to have been known until
Dr. J. A. Allen (1909, p. 242) recorded an old female from Mount Wuchih, in
1909. Others were secured at Nodoa, Hainan, by Mr. Clifford H. Pope.
Hitherto no collectors seem to have met with it in Yunnan.
Specimens examined:—Thirty-seven, as follows:
Kiangsu: Chinkiang, I.
Fukien: Futsing, 15; Chunganhsien, 1; Yenping, 13.
Hainan: Nodoa, 6.
No exact locality, 1.
Family FELIDZ
CATS
The cat family includes beasts of prey in which the specialization of habit
and structure has progressed along lines quite opposite to those seen, for
example, in the dog group. The fur is fine and dense instead of coarse; the
habits are usually of the skulking type, and the prey is stalked rather than run
down; the claws, in all but the cheetah, are retractile, preventing them from
becoming blunted; the entepicondylar foramen in the humerus is usually
present, whereas, in such running species as the dogs, it is lost. The skull
446 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
conforms in a similar way, for whereas in dogs it is long, with a pointed muzzle,
as if for reaching toward the quarry, in the cats it is short and blunt. The
teeth in the Felidae have undergone considerable reduction in number, for,
although the incisors are, as typically in Carnivora, six above and below, the
premolars are but three or sometimes two in the upper jaw and two in the lower,
while the molars are but one above and one below on each side. The last
upper premolar is specialized as a sectorial tooth, shearing against the blade
of the first lower molar, in which the heel, so prominent in the Canidae, is
reduced to practically nothing, leaving the paraconid and protoconid with
their sharp edges to form the blade. The upper molar is a practically func-
tionless tooth, with a single root, and small oval crown, set with its long axis
transverse to that of the tooth row. ;
The typical cats have rather long tails, untufted ears, and usually three
upper premolars; the lynxes have short tails and high hind quarters, tufted
ears and usually two upper premolars, through the loss of the small pm?
According to Pocock (1917), the lynxes are closely allied to the small typical
cats.
Cats comprise many species of varying size and proportions, from the
house cat to the leopard, tiger, and lion. Various attempts to subdivide
this aggregation into genera and subgenera have been made, with varying
degrees of success, since the differences relied upon are largely quantitative.
The ultimate result has been on the one hand to regard all the forms as species
of Felis, or on the other to make each well-marked type the representative
of a distinct genus or subgenus. The latter course was taken by Severtzov,
who in his paper of 1858, reviewed by J. A. Allen (1919), divided the family
into five genera and twenty-seven subgenera. More recently, Pocock (1917),
in his review of the classification, went more thoroughly into the matter and
divided the group into three subfamilies, based largely on the condition of the
suspensorium of the hyoid bones. These subfamilies are: (1) the typical
cats or Feline, mostly smaller species, in which the suspensorium is ossified,
holding the larynx close up to the base of the skull; (2) the larger species,
Pantherine, in which the suspensorium is imperfectly ossified, ‘“‘its inferior
portion consisting of a larger or shorter elastic tendon conferring great mobility
upon the larynx”’ (includes leopards, tigers, lions); and (3) a special subfamily,
Acinonychine, for the cheetah, which, although agreeing with the Feline
in the structure of the larynx, differs in the lack of folds of skin to protect the
claws. Pocock then subdivides his subfamily Feline into thirteen groups of
generic rank, while recognizing but two genera of Pantherine, namely, Pan-
thera for the lion, tiger, leopard and jaguar, and Uncia for the snow leopard.
Lénnberg (1925) has since added the subgenus Poliailurus for Felis pallida,
and Ognev two years later added the genus Eremelurus for a new species,
THE CARNIVORES 447
E. thinobius, from the Transcaspian region. In his review of Russian cats,
Ognev (1930) considers most of the genera of smaller species that Pocock
recognized, as constituting subgenera only of Felis. Other authors have given
generic rank to some of the groups and subgeneric to others. Until our knowl-
edge of the group as a whole is more thorough, the conservative course seems
to be to give subgeneric standing to most of these groups, for so closely related
in general characters are the cats, that intermediate modifications can be
found bridging over almost any apparent differences that individuals show.
Having once become established, the type seems to have varied more in size
and color pattern in accordance with the size of its prey and habitat, than to
have acquired much structural differentiation.
KEY TO THE CHINESE AND MONGOLIAN FELID&
A. Cats of small to medium size; suspensorium of the hyoid
apparatus ossified, holding the larynx close to the base of the
SUH Petes tacks, amin, Suerte s slateacs tv erero aan cle ahatons tale elven Crake). cterevere Subfamily Felinz
a. Tail relatively long, at least twice the length of the hind
foot; ears not usually penicillate; nasals usually rather
abruptly contracted about half-way back.
a’. Smaller, about the size of a house cat; muzzle short,
the distance from orbit to gnathion less than the long
diameter of the eye; postorbital processes long, nearly
or quite meeting those of the jugal.
a’’. No white mark across. the back of the ear.
1. Upper premolars three.
a. Jugal ending anteriorly below the lachry-
mal foramen; nasals turned slightly up-
ward and outward distally............. Subgenus Felis
ar Backsjomears Teddisheee tees ee es Felis chaus affinis
b. Jugal reaching lachrymal foramen and
bending inward as a narrow branch; nasal
profile concave in its middle third. ...... Subgenus Poliatlurus
a’. Backs of ears like the back in color... Felts bieti
2. Upper premolars two; jugal ending anteriorly
in a narrow tapering point, continued upward
to meet the frontal in advance of the lachrymal
EOTEAIMMCT oso ratere oxete as ele nese ters 7s ieevapeteievev slo oct eeae) on cons Subgenus Trichelurus
a. General color grayish buff, with little trace
OMCTOSss-DanGgings.c1.5 nace] cee ee ciere Felis manul manul
b’’. A white mark across the back of the ear; a com-
plex body pattern of stripes and blotches; nasals ,
depressed, sloping evenly downward............ Subgenus Prionailurus
a. Ground color brighter buffy............. Felis bengalensis bengalensis
b. Ground color averaging paler............ Felis bengalensis chinensis
448 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
b’. Larger, the distance from orbit to gnathion greater
than the long diameter of the eye; postorbital process
not closely approaching the jugal process; backs of
ears lacking a white cross-mark.
a’. Body usually without markings, rarely with a
pattern of longitudinal stripes and rows of spots;
lower canines not specially elongate............ Subgenus Profelis
Bshocinemiestan reset Gt. See eaeletn cadese Felis temminckit tristis
b’. Body marked with large, somewhat squarish
blotches, consisting of sections of pale ground
color enclosed by narrow blackish edges, often in-
complete; canine of lower jaw large, so that the
profile of the chin is nearly vertical............ Subgenus Neofelis
ELS AS ee ee oy SEES AO Felis nebulosa
b. Tail relatively short, less than twice the length of hind
foot; ears with a long pencil; upper premolars two; nasals
not abruptly contracted in their middle length..... Ere Genus Lynx
Biss apd cts eh cend GO Aer ME lel iene ae ieee Lynx lynx tsabellina
B. Cats of large size; suspensorium of the hyoid apparatus long
and chiefly cartilacinouSss..4r ree eee arene dees Subfamily Pantherinz
a. Rostrum not shortened, the distance from orbit to
gnathion considerably exceeding the diameter of the eye. . Subgenus Panthera
a’. Pattern consisting of rounded spots and rings of black
On anvochraccousieround eee ee cei are ets Felis pardus
1. Ground color deeper ochraceous, coat shorter. Felis pardus fusca
2. Ground color paler, coat longer............. F. p. fontanierit
b’. Pattern consisting of transverse stripes on a rufous-
ochraceous grounds): 27 Fs ea: 2 Se ees Ae Felis tigris
1. Ground color richer, coat shorter............ Felis tigris amoyensis
2. Ground color slightly paler, coat longer...... Felis tigris amurensis
Probably to this list will eventually be added the Snow Leopard, Felis
(Uncia) uncia, a species characteristic of the steppes and barren mountainous
country of central Asia. No specimens have apparently ever been taken in
Chinese territory, and few white men have shot it in its native haunts. A
number are annually killed in Tibet and brought over the border into China,
whence they find their way into fur markets, but probably none of these is
killed inside the borders of:China. Nevertheless, Mr. Brooke Dolan, on his
recent expedition into the highlands of extreme western Szechwan, tells me
that he tracked a leopard in the snow on a barren mountain peak close to the
Tibetan border, which he surmised must be this species, for the country was
not at all the sort that the true Leopard would choose. Pocock has studied
the cranial characters of this beautiful marbled species, and believes that it
should stand as a separate genus, characterized by the type of suspensorium
peculiar to the Pantherinz, but with the profile of the skull very steeply sloping
downward.
THE CARNIVORES 449
Genus Felis Linnzus
Subgenus Felis Linnzus
Felis Linnzus, Syst. Nat., ed. 10, vol. 1, p. 41, 1758.
Chaus Gray, List Mamm. Brit. Mus., p. 44, 1843.
The type of the genus Felis and of the subgenus as well, is the Domestic
Cat, Felis catus Linn., usually regarded as descended from the Wild Cat of
northern Africa, a form of Felis libyca. Possibly, however, as Pocock has
suggested, the ancestry may be mixed, with a certain amount of blood of the
European Wild Cat, F. silvestris. The typical group consists (1) of small
species with the tail about as long as the body, as in F. silvestris and libyca,
found chiefly in Africa and western Eurasia, and (2) the shorter-tailed forms,
F. chaus and its allies, of which one race seems to extend to the western borders
of China. Satunin (1905) described as Felis kozlovi what seems to be an eastern
race of the F.. silvestris of Europe, from Lukchum, eastern Tienshan, on the
goth degree of longitude east from Greenwich. It may eventually prove that
this type also will be found to reach the western parts of China and Mongolia.
Pocock enumerates among the external characters of typical Felis, the
short, broad head, reduced rhinarium, large, pointed and sometimes penciled
ears never showing the white spot on their back, the vertically contracting
‘pupil and rather small feet. The skull is characterized by the short rostrum
(distance from the edge of the orbit to the gnathion less than the long diameter
of the eye), the nasals which are suddenly contracted in their posterior half,
and end proximally in a depression, while anteriorly they are everted, opening
up and out; the ascending branch of the premaxillary is slightly narrowed and
tapered posteriorly, the postorbital processes nearly meet those corresponding
from the jugal, and there is normally a minute anterior premolar in the upper
jaw. ,
Apparently only one species of the typical subgenus occurs in China.
204. Felis chaus affinis Gray
INDIAN JUNGLE CAT
Felis affinis Gray, Illustrations of Indian Zool., vol. 1, pl. 3, 1830 (date on plate, 1829).
Felis chaus affinis De Winton, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. 7, vol. 2, p. 291, 1898.
Type specimen:—The name is based on Gray’s plate of an Indian specimen
from Gangootra, India.
Description:—A cat slightly larger than the House Cat, distinguished by
its lack of darker markings in the way of spots or stripes. The entire dorsal
side of the body from the occiput to the basal half of the tail is a uniform mix-
ture of buffy-tipped hairs with others ringed with buffy and tipped with black,
the latter slightly more abundant over the median area of the lower back,
where also the buffy-tipped hairs become pale rusty. On the muzzle, forehead
450 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
and cheeks the black-tipped hairs are absent, leaving these areas almost uni-
form pale rusty, and the same tint, a trifle brighter perhaps, extends across
the lower throat, and the middle of the chest and belly, the forearms, fore feet
and wrists, the hind feet, ankles and inner side of the tibial joints. Chin and
upper throat, the chest between the fore legs, and the inguinal region nearly
white, the last slightly tinted with pale ochraceous. There is a trace of a
whitish short stripe at the inner corner of each eye, and the long hairs lining
the ears are whitish. A small dark spot is present anterior to the eye. Backs
of the ears ferruginous, their tips blackish, without trace of the white transverse
bar seen in certain other groups of cats. Tail like the back on its basal half,
developing an indistinct dorsal stripe with three or four half-rings of blackish
and a blackish tip distally; underneath, the tail is buffy, with the black tip
extending all around in the last 25 mm. or so.
The skull shares with that of F. bengalensis the short rostrum (distance
from orbit to gnathion less than long diameter of orbit), the pinched-in nose,
long postorbital processes and broad ascending process of the maxillary.
The structure of the jugal, with a slender branch passing outside of the lachry-
mal foramen and ascending to meet the prolongation of the frontal, is peculiar,
and the eversion of the tips of the nasals is less than in the house cats. There
is a deep emargination of the palate at its posterior edge, the notch extending
forward nearly to the level of the middle of the carnassial. The small upper
first premolar is well developed.
Measurements:—A skin and skull from Darjeeling, India, measure: the
skin approximately, head and body, 615 mm.; tail, 230; the skull: greatest
length, 105 mm.; basal length, 86; palatal length, 38; zygomatic width, 69;
mastoid width, 42; width outside carnassials, 40; upper cheek teeth, 32.6;
lower cheek teeth, 36.1.
Occurrence and Habits:—According to De Winton (1898), who reviewed
the group, the Indian Jungle Cat is readily distinguished from typical Felis
chaus chaus of the Caucasus region and Persia, by its rather longer tail, bright
fox-red ears, and lighter build, while the skull is slightly narrower, with lighter,
less-crowded teeth. Although it occurs throughout the greater part of India,
there seem to be no records of its presence in China. The American Museum
Asiatic Expeditions, however, obtained a native skin on the Burma border at
the Namting River, which, if locally killed, indicates that the range extends
a short distance into southwestern Yunnan.
It is said that in India this cat interbreeds with the domestic form.
Specimens examined:—One only, a skin from Namting River, Yunnan.
THE CARNIVORES 451
Subgenus Poliailurus Lonnberg
Poliailurus Lénnberg, Arkiv f. Zool., Stockholm, vol. 18A, no. 2, p. 2, 1925.
This subgenus was proposed for the peculiar desert cat, Felis pallida
(=bdieti), the skull of which remained unknown until 1925, when Lonnberg
published a description with figures showing its peculiarities, and erecting
a special subgenus for the animal. Previously, with only skins for study, its
relationships had been supposed to lie with Felis chaus. The important points
brought out by Lénnberg as characterizing the subgenus are: (1) the much
more globular brain case; (2) the peculiar shape of the nasals, which in profile
are concave in the middle third and convex upward distally; (3) the broad
interorbital region; (4) the very large bull, with large auditory meatus;
(5) the anterior end of the jugal, forming the lower rim of the orbit to the level
of the lachrymal foramen, but bending inward so that the rim of the orbit
from that point to the frontal is formed by the maxillary; (6) the small an-
terior premolar is present and the second upper premolar has a small but
distinct anterior cusp.
Notwithstanding these peculiarities, it seems likely that the species is
closest related to the Chaus. Although names have been given to slightly
differently-colored specimens from different parts of western China, it seems
more than likely that these pertain to individual variants rather than to dis-
tinct geographical races, but until a sufficient series can be studied, this must
remain uncertain, for cats vary very much in the tone and pattern of their
markings. At present, therefore, only the one species is here recognized.
205. Felis bieti Milne-Edwards
THE PALE DESERT CAT
Felis bieti Milne-Edwards, Rev. Gén. des Sci. Pires et Appliqués, vol. 30, p. 670, October 15, 1892. Pou-
sargues, Bull. Mus. d’Hist. Nat., Paris, vol. 4, p. 357, 1898.
Felis pallida Buechner, Bull. Acad. Imp. Sci. St. Pétersbourg, vol. 35 (new ser., vol. 3), p. 433, November, 1892.
South Tatung Range, Kansu.
Felis chaus pallida De Winton, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. 7, vol. 2, p. 291, 1898.
Felis chutuchta Birula, Annuaire Mus. Zool. Acad. Sci., Petrograd, for 1916, vol. 21, Nouv. et Faites Divers,
p- i, 1917. Southern Gobi.
Felis pallida subpallida Jacobi, Abh. u. Ber, Mus. f. Tier- u. Volkerk., Dresden, vol. 16, no. I, p.9, 1922. Near
Sungpan, Szechwan.
Type specimens:—No types are specified in the original account, nor is
any specific locality given by Milne-Edwards, but Pousargues (1898a) later
explained that two specimens were brought back by Prince Henri d’Orléans
from the vicinity of Tongolo and Tatsienlu, Szechwan, China, and these
formed the basis of the name. Both are therefore cotypes, and are in the
Muséum d’Histoire Naturelle at Paris.
Description:—About the size of a house cat, with a nearly uniform colora-
452 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
tion practically lacking any stripe or spot pattern. The upper side of the
head and body, and outer side of the limbs are yellowish gray, thickly and
irregularly ticked with blackish or dark-brownish guard hairs; the latter are
yellowish at the base, then blackish, followed by a grayish portion occupying
nearly half the length of the hair, and tipped with black. Under fur soft,
slaty at its base, tipped with brownish. On the sides the grayish portion of
the longer hairs is more extensive, giving a paler tone to this area, as the black-
ish tips become shorter. On the outer side of the haunches there may be
three or four indistinct dark cross-bands, and there is a broad brownish cross-
band on the inner side of the forearm. The upper side of the head, although
in general colored like the back, has at the base of each ear a uniformly pale
reddish-brown area; the backs of the ears are like the back in color, without
the white cross-band and with a short pencil of hairs about 20 mm. long;
the area about the muzzle is brownish. Across the cheeks are two indistinctly
marked brownish stripes, the lower of which begins near the edge of the upper
lip, and below the eye, continuing slightly behind the angle of the mouth, while
the upper starts from the lower eyelid, and, running across the cheek, curves
downwards to join the lower stripe; between them is included a light-gray area.
Lower lips and chin white, the throat washed with yellowish brown; the rest
of the under parts white, with the yellowish-brown under fur showing through.
Tail with three or four blackish rings in the terminal part, separated by whitish
rings, and the tail-tip black; there may also be some three indistinct dark
rings in the basal portion, with the area between them colored like the back.
The above description is from Buechner (1892b), but there are apparently
slight variations in the ground color, or in that of the under fur, tending to a
slightly more rufescent coloration; some specimens, such as that described
by Birula (1917a) as Felis chutuchta, show faint cross-bands on the body,
and five indistinct longitudinal stripes on the occipital region, with a trans-
verse broad rufous band across the lower throat.
The general characters of the skull have been described in detail by
Lénnberg, who emphasizes especially the large globular brain case, inflated
audital bulle, the peculiar short nasals, with a concavity in their middle
third, the anterior termination of the jugal bending downward at the level
of the lachrymal canal, so that the maxillary forms the anterior rim of the
orbit, the relatively weak dentition, in which the small anterior premolar is
present in both jaws, and the presence of a distinct but small cusp at the
anterior end of the upper carnassial.
Measurements:—There are apparently no flesh measurements available
for this species, for, with the exception of Lénnberg’s specimen of skin and
skull, nearly all the previously known specimens appear to have been trade
THE CARNIVORES 453
skins, of which the published measurements must be regarded as approxi-
mate only. These are:
Head and body Tail Ear
BUECHNER (1892b) 685 325 58
775 321 67
JACOBI (1922) 830 350 _
840 350 _—
BIRULA (1917a) 600 230 60
MATSCHIE (1908) 820 345 (with hair) —
For the skull of the female from Min Shan, Kansu, Lénnberg has pub-
lished the following measurements: condylobasal length, 94 mm.; zygomatic
width, 74.5; mastoid width, 47; width across molars, 41; width of brain case,
51.2; orbit to gnathion, 27; pm*-m! inclusive, 22. A female skull, from the
southern Gobi, type specimen of Birula’s F. chutuchta, measured: greatest
length, 97 mm.; basal length, 89; zygomatic width, 70.1.
Nomenclature:—This cat has usually gone under the name of Felis pallida,
but Pousargues (1898a, p. 357) points out that Milne-Edwards’s paper describ-
ing the same animal as Felis bieti, was published October 15, 1892, while
Buechner’s bears the publication date of November in the same year. The
type locality of F. bieti is the Tatsienlu district of Szechwan, and that of
F. pallida is Kansu, in the Tatung Range, localities not more than four hundred
and fifty miles apart. They are apparently not sufficiently different to be
even racially distinct. The cat described by Birula (1917a) as Felis chutuchta,
is also, so far as the description indicates, much the same, except that it is
more rusty in coloring and with more indication of occipital stripes than
described by Buechner. It would be expected that the general coloring, as
in F. bengalensis, might vary to a rusty tone. The two specimens on which
it was based came from the Gobi of southern Mongolia, ‘‘ad locum ( =? lacum)
Nor in Provincia Goizso,”’ and were collected by Kozlov in 1908. Jacobi (1922)
gave the name Felis pallida subpallida to two trade skins brought back by the
Weigold Expedition from Sungpan, in northwestern Szechwan, about two
hundred miles north of the type locality of F. bieti, basing his distinction on
the fact that the stripes on the haunches seemed clearer, and the general tone
of coloring darker. Nevertheless, it seems more likely that these slight
differences are individual variations, similar to those seen in other cats, rather
than geographic or subspecific in value. I am, therefore, for the present re-
garding this also as a synonym.
Occurrence and Habits:—This is a rather uncommon species, notwith-
standing that its pelt seems often to reach the centers of fur trade. The
two brought back by Prince Henri d’Orléans from Tongolo and Tatsienlu, in
central Szechwan, later the types of the species, seem to be the most southerly
454 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
record available. Passing northward, the animal apparently occurs sparingly
all along the western borders of Szechwan and Kansu, and thence westward
to an unknown distance. Jacobi’s two skins from Sungpan, northern Szechwan,
bridge the gap to Min Shan, southwestern Kansu, whence D. Sjélander secured
the specimen that formed the basis of Lénnberg’s description of the skull
(1925). The latter author adds that Birula, in a letter, mentioned that the
Zoological Museum of the Academy of Sciences, Leningrad, has since obtained
six more skins, but the localities are not given. Matschie (1908, p. 205)
recorded a skin from Kweito, extreme western Szechwan, not far south of
Buechner’s type locality, secured by the Filchner Expedition. Finally it is
likely that Birula’s Felis chutuchta; from the Gobi of southern Mongolia, in
Goizso, is really the same animal. Nothing is known of its habits, but it
seems probable from its type of coloration that it is an inhabitant of rather
barren country on the edge of the Tibetan and western Chinese steppes. It
may be doubted if the specimens secured in the fur markets of Tatsienlu and
Sungpan were locally obtained; more likely they came from the borderlands
of the extreme western edge of China or even from Tibet. Weigold (1923)
writes that it was probably this species whose tracks he found in the snow
in January in the wooded mountains of Wassuland. One of the specimens he
secured was caught in a snare set for Musk Deer in July; the other was pur-
chased in a store. On another occasion, his foxhound in early evening chased
one, in the mountains east of Sungpan, where at an altitude of 3,000 meters,
the country is covered with low thickets. Apparently the dog fought the
cat, and returned with two bites in its jaw. On the following day, the cat
was found in the same place, but offered only a snap shot, and escaped.
Specimens examined:—None.
Subgenus Trichelurus Satunin
Trichelurus Satunin, Annuaire Mus. Zool. Acad. Imp. Sci. St. Pétersbourg, for 1904, vol. 9, p. 495, 1905.
Otocolobus Severtzov, Rev. et Mag. de Zool., ser. 2, vol. 10, p. 386, 1858 (not of Brandt, 1844).
These desert cats are regarded by Pocock as forming a separate genus,
intermediate in certain ways between Felis and Lynx. With the former they
share the general size and proportions of tail to body, while with the latter
they have in common the rounded pupil of the eye, narrower premaxille,
shallow notching of the suborbital edge of the palate, and the loss of the first
upper small premolar. The more striking peculiarities of the skull, as listed
by Pocock, are: its width, the steep slope of the profile from about the middle
of the orbit, the prolongation of the jugal bone forward in front of the lachrymal
foramen to join the anterior tip of the frontal; the palate wider than long, the
large bulla, whose forward end is slightly in advance of the glenoid ridge,
and their large outer chamber, equaling the inner. The ascending process
THE CARNIVORES 455
of the jugal nearly or sometimes quite joins the postorbital process, thus form-
ing a bony ring about the eye.
The type species of the subgenus is Felis manul Pallas.
206. Felis manul manul Pallas
PALLAS’S CAT
Felis manul Pallas, Reise durch versch. Provinzen d. Russ. Reichs, vol. 3, appendix, p. 692, 1776. Milne-
Edwards, Recherches pour servir a 1’Hist. Nat. des Mammiféres, p. 225, pl. 31C, 1868-74 (1872).
Trichalurus manul mongolicus Satunin, Annuaire Mus. Zool. Acad. Imp. Sci. St. Pétersbourg, for 1904, vol. 9,
P- 501, 1905 (not Felis tigris mongolica, nomen nudum).
Felis manul satunini Lydekker, Game Animals of India, p. 334, 1907.
Otocolobus manul Birula, Annuaire Mus. Zool. Acad. Sci., Petrograd, for 1916, vol. 21, p. 130, 1917.
Type specimen:—No type is mentioned in the original account, but it is
known that some of Pallas’s specimens are preserved at the Museum of the
Academy of Sciences at Leningrad, so that possibly a skin of this cat brought
back by Pallas from his journey is still in existence there. Pallas states that
this cat is found throughout the deserts of Tatary and Mongolia.
Description:—About the size of the European Wild Cat, this species
differs remarkably from most cats in the extremely short rounded ears, set
low on the head and wide apart. In winter coat the entire body is pale buff,
slightly mixed with black and tinged with rufous; several more or less obsolete
dark brownish bands across the lower part of the back; head pale gray above
with a few black spots; a short white stripe bordering inner corner of the eye,
and another bordering the lower eyelid and thence passing back across the
cheeks as a broad white streak, edged by a narrow blackish line above and
below. The tail is colored like the back, with several more or less obsolete
blackish rings, those near the end more conspicuous and forming a black tip.
The summer pelage is similar but less thick and full. A specimen apparently in
this pelage has the head dark blackish brown, most of the hairs pale-tipped,
while from the nape to the root of the tail in the mid-dorsal region, the hair
is buffy to pale ochraceous at the base, becoming darker to a buffy brown
posteriorly, then narrowly ringed with gray and minutely tipped with black.
All-black hairs are sprinkled freely throughout the back. On the sides, the
buffy bases and whitish tips are longer and the black tips largely disappear,
so the tint is clearer and becomes nearly clear whitish on the belly. The
middle of the chin and upper throat are white, but the sides of the throat and
the upper chest become conspicuously blackish brown, with a few white-
tipped hairs scattered over the area. The hind feet are ochraceous buff. The
tail has three black narrow rings about two inches apart, then two more at
half that distance apart or less, and an all-black tip.
A kitten from Sungpan retains a thick woolly coat, and quite lacks the
complete frosting of white-tipped hairs seen in the adult. The crown, how-
456 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
ever, is nearly black with a tinge of brown, while the posterior half of the
body has nine narrow transverse black bands across its dorsal half, the posterior
stripes continuing across the haunches. The tail has seven spaced black
rings, and a black tip.
Measurements:—No fresh-made measurements are available. Birula
(1917), however, gives the following cranial dimensions for an adult pair:
CRANIAL MEASUREMENTS OF FELIS MANUL MANUL
Width Greatest Upper Lower
Greatest Basal Zygomatic outside diameter premolars premolars
No. length length width molars of orbit and molar and molar Sex
92.7 85.8 74.1 43.0 28.6 18.2 22.0 rot
sae 84.5 — 66.2 39.8 25.8 18.3 20.5 Q
Birula (1917), from whose paper the above particulars are taken, has
given an excellent account of the skull, well illustrated with photographs,
and has compared it in detail with that of Felis silvestris representing the
typical subgenus Felis. He concludes that the peculiarities of the Manul
are sufficient to warrant giving it generic distinction, a conclusion also accepted
by Pocock. The great width of the skull, the relatively very short rostrum,
large bullz, and loss of the anterior small premolar, together with the details
of the cusps of the carnassials, if these prove to be constant, are well illustrated
in his figures. He shows also the variation that exists in different individuals
with regard to the number and distinctness of the transverse body stripes,
and concludes that Satunin’s race T. m. mongolicus is not distinct.
Nomenclature:—The use of Severtzov’s name Otocolobus for this group
of cats is invalidated on account of the previous use of the same name by
Brandt for a group of ground squirrels. Satunin was, therefore, right in re-
placing it by Trichelurus, although usage has not been fixed as to whether it
shall stand as a genus or a subgenus. If the latter, then Satunin’s new race,
Trichelurus manul mongolicus, becomes invalidated by Felis tigris mongolica,
as pointed out by Lydekker, who, therefore, proposed the new name F. m.
satunint in its place. Birula, however, in his review of this group in 1917,
does not regard it as valid, a conclusion apparently well founded. Satunin
supposed the typical race to occur west of the Gobi, while his T. m. mongolicus
was the Mongolian race.
Occurrence and Habits:—As a species, the Manul is a desert-living cat,
found from Dauuria, Kansu, and the Gobi westward to Dzungaria, and south
to southern Tibet, where it is supposed to be represented by the slightly differ-
ent race, F. m. nigripectus. The specimen figured by Milne-Edwards was
killed in ‘“‘Mongolie,” near the Great Wall, hence perhaps in northern Hopei
at the edge of the desert. It seems to be found throughout the desert country.
THE CARNIVORES 457
Lénnberg (1925) has published notes on three specimens secured by the
missionary Eriksson from Hallong Osso in the interior of Mongolia, while
Birula (1917), in his extended account of the characters, mentions and figures
specimens from Sining, Kansu, and a second from near the Labran monastery,
while a third came from the vicinity of Urga on the northern edge of the Gobi.
While records are lacking, it probably reaches the desert steppes along the
extreme western border of Szechwan as well, for the Brooke Dolan Expedition
secured two, one day west of Sungpan. Satunin’s type of Trichelurus m.
mongolicus came from Kjachta, Mongolia.
Pocock (1907) has figured a live specimen of this cat at the London
Zoological Gardens, and suggests that the very low, wide-apart ears that seem
to give the animal an always angry look, are really an adaptation allowing it
to raise its head above very low inequalities of surface such as small rocks,
without being so conspicuous to its quarry beyond as it would be if its ears
‘were of the usual erect and pointed type. It is said to prey chiefly on small
rodents—spermophiles, gerbils and jerboas.
Specimens examined:—Two skins, one day west of Sungpan, at Manningou,
Szechwan (A. N.S. P.).
Subgenus Prionailurus Severtzov
Prionailurus Severtzov, Rev. et Mag. de Zool., ser. 2, vol. 10, pp. 387, 390, 1858. J. A. Allen, Bull. Amer.
Mus. Nat. Hist., vol. 41, p. 340, 1919.
The cats of this group are characterized by a conspicuously striped and
spotted pattern, consisting of longitudinal stripes from forehead to nape,
usually four in number, becoming somewhat broken over the shoulders, al-
though the median pair is traceable to the root of the tail. A white short
stripe marks the inner border of the eye, and there is a conspicuous broad
white mark on the back of the ear, not extending quite to the inner border.
The sides of the body are marked with lengthwise rows of spots, and the tail
with some ten or fewer blackish rings. The pattern thus differs from that
of the house cat, in which the body markings tend to form transverse rows of
spots, the black tail-rings are joined in the mid-dorsal line, and coalesce to
form a black tip, while the white ear-marking is absent. The skull differs,
in that the nasals are not everted in their terminal third but continue the down-
ward curve of the facial profile. The postorbital process is long and slender,
often uniting with that of the jugal to form a complete ring about the eye.
The upper first premolar is very frequently missing.
The type species is Felis pardochrous Hodgson (=F. bengalensis), and,
though a number of nominal species related to it have been named, probably
all are referable to but one, with possibly two or three subspecies, of which only
one, not at all sharply marked off, occurs in eastern and northern China.
458 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
207. Felis bengalensis bengalensis Kerr
THE TIGER CAT
Felis bengalensis Kerr, Animal Kingdom of Linnzus, vol. 1, Mamm., p. 151, 1792.
Felis bengalensis var. pardochrous Pousargues, Bull. Mus. d’Hist. Nat., Paris, vol. 2, p. 180 (p. 2 of separate),
1896.
Prionailurus bengalensis Pocock, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. 8, vol. 20, p. 339, 1917.
Type specimen:—Probably not in existence. Pocock (1917) writes that
the name is ‘based upon a specimen that swam on board a ship in Calcutta.
The name has been fixed by tradition to the species that bears it; and since
the description, so far as it goes, fits the species and most certainly does not
apply to any domesticated cat. . . . I see no reason for discarding the term.”
Description:—The essential pattern is as follows: with a general ground
color above of ochraceous, there are two narrow black stripes, one commencing
at the posterior corner of each eye, the other just below the eye, passing back
along the side of the jaw and enclosing a white area between them; the lower
stripe is more or less continuous across the upper throat with the corresponding
stripe of the other side, and there are three or four other imperfect blackish-
brown collar-marks on the lower throat; a short but conspicuous white stripe
borders the inner and upper edge of the eye; four narrow black stripes run from
the upper corner of the eyes along the midline of the neck to the shoulders,
with sometimes a fifth narrow median one on the crown and forehead; the two
outer of these stripes become broad posteriorly, breaking up into large length-
wise blotches over the shoulders; the inner pair likewise becomes interrupted
at the shoulders, but from there they are traceable as a nearly continuous pair
of stripes to the root of the tail. The sides of the body are marked by about
five longitudinal rows of elongate spots, which may be all black, or more or
less surrounded by ferruginous, or the anterior part of the spot may be of the
latter color, the posterior part black. The belly has a number of blackish-
brown spots on a white ground, which tend to arrange themselves in about
four or five transverse rows of rounded markings across the chest and upper
abdomen. The tail is buffy with ten or more broken rings of blackish, not
connected in the mid-dorsal line, and not forming a black tip, characters which,
in addition to the presence of a conspicuous whitish spot in the middle of the
back of the ear, will serve at once to distinguish the species from the common
house cat.
In the series examined from Yunnan, the ground color is bright buff or
yellowish, with a good deal of ferruginous on the shoulder region, not only
tinging the ground color, but broadly edging the spots and other markings.
In extreme specimens, the body spots may be chiefly bright rusty, narrowly
and incompletely bordered with black, while at the opposite end of the series
THE CARNIVORES 459
are skins in which the ferruginous is nearly suppressed, so that the markings
show as all-black on an ochraceous-buff ground.
In the skull, the striking features are the long narrow postorbital processes,
which almost, or rarely quite, join the pointed process of the jugal to enclose
the orbit; the nearly vertical ascending process of the maxillary which abuts
against the middle portion of the nasals at the point of their abrupt narrowing,
and ends bluntly, without a narrower posterior extension; the termination
of the anterior end of the jugal just below the level of the lachrymal canal;
and in profile, the even downward curve of the frontals and nasals, so that the
latter continue the convex outline of the fore part of the skull instead of turning
upward and outward at their tips as they do in the common house cat.
Measurements:—No fresh measurements of the typical race are at hand.
Under the subspecies following are included the cranial measurements of
the only skull examined. No doubt there is very little difference in size
between the two subspecies.
Occurrence:—A series of skins, with but a single skull, secured at Likiang
and Weisi, Yunnan, differs from a series from eastern China in having a more
buffy ground color, instead of the grayer tone usual in the latter. I have,
therefore, regarded them provisionally as representing the typical race, which,
according to Wroughton, is the one found in India from southern Baluchistan
to Upper Burma and Tenasserim. Two specimens from eastern Szechwan are
referred to F. b. chinensis, though one is nearly as yellow as the Yunnan speci-
mens. Probably the two races intergrade somewhere in southwestern China.
Specimens examined:—Twelve, namely:
Yunnan: Likiang, 6; Weisi, 4; no exact locality, 2.
208. Felis bengalensis chinensis Gray
CHINESE TIGER CAT
Felis chinensis Gray, Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. 2, vol. 1, p. 577, 1837.
?Felis pardella Pallas, Acta Acad. Sci. Imp. Petropol., for 1781, pt. 1, p. 281, 1784.
Felis microtis Milne-Edwards, Recherches pour servir 4 1’Hist. Nat. des Mammiféres, p. 221, pl. 31A; pl. 31B,
figs. 1-1b, 1868-74.
Felis decolorata Milne-Edwards, ibid., p. 223.
Felis scripta Milne-Edwards, ibid., p. 341, pl. 57; pl. 58, figs. I-Ic.
Felis euptilura Elliot, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1871, p. 760, pl. 76; Monograph Felidz, pl. 26 and text, 1883
(in part).
Felis macrotis Elliot, Monograph Felide, pl. 26 and text, 1883 (Japsus calami for F. microtis).
Felis ricketti Bonhote, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. 7, vol. 11, p. 374, 1903.
Felis ingrami Bonhote, tbid., p. 474.
Felis anastasie Satunin, Annuaire Mus. Zool. Acad. Imp. Sci. St. Pétersbourg, for 1904, vol. 9, p. 528, 1905.
Prionailurus scriptus Matschie, Wiss. Ergebn. d. Exped. Filchner nach China u. Tibet 1903-05, vol. 10, pt. I,
p. 201, 1908.
Felis (Prionailurus) scriptus Mell, Arch. f. Naturgesch., vol. 88, sect. A, no. 10, p. 20, 1922.
Felis euptilura microtis Jacobi, Abh. u. Ber. Mus. f. Tier- u. Volkerk., Dresden, vol. 16, no. 1, p. 8, 1922.
460 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
Prionailurus chinensis Cabrera, Bol. Real Soc. Esp. Hist. Nat., Madrid, vol. 22, p. 165, 1922.
Felis bengalensis chinensis Jacobi, Abh. u. Ber. Mus. f. Tier- u. Volkerk., Dresden, vol. 16, no. 1, p. 9, 1922.
Felis (Prionailurus) chinensis anastasie Lonnberg, Arkiv f. Zool., Stockholm, vol. 18A, no. 2, p. 12, 1925.
Felis sinensis Shih, Bull. Dept. Biol., Sun Yatsen Univ., Canton, no. 4, p. 4, 1930.
Type specimen:—The type specimen from ‘‘China”’ is still in the British
Museum, No. 120a, a skin and skull sent (probably from Canton, Kwangtung)
by J. R. Reeves.
Description:—The description of the color pattern given under the typical
race applies equally to the Chinese subspecies, except that usually the ground
color in the latter is grayer, often without any tinge of buffy, while the Indian
animal is, more often at least, a decided ochraceous in its background. The
color pattern is subject to wide variation in the particular tint of the back-
ground, and in the details of the spots, which may be enlarged to blotches, or
more or less confluent to form broken stripes, while in their coloring there may
be more or less ferruginous mixed with black to such extremes as figured in
Milne-Edwards’s plate of F. microtis, in which the spots seem to lack much
black and are reddish or ferruginous instead. Apparently the markings are
larger in males than in females, which are slightly inferior in size. Possibly,
too, the differences may be similar to those seen in a number of spotted cats,
in which there may be small-spotted and large-spotted individuals, independent
it would seem, of other factors.
Measurements:—The field measurements of an adult male and a female
from Wanhsien, Szechwan, were recorded by the collector (Dr. Walter Granger)
as follows (those of the male first): head and body, 445, 485 mm.; tail, 230, 255;
hind foot, 115, 114; ear, 45, 50.
CRANIAL MEASUREMENTS OF FELIS BENGALENSIS
Median
Zygo- Mas- Width length Upper Lower
Greatest Basal Palatal matic toid across of cheek cheek
No. length length length width width molars nasals teeth teeth Sex Locality
F. bengalensis bengalensis
43108 80.0 73.8 35.0 58.0 36.4 33.0 16.0 28.4 29.0 Q@ Yunnan
F, bengalensis chinensis
57375 93:0 87.0 40.0 72.3 40.2 36.5 22.0 28.8 33.5 o Fukien
60122 94.0 89.0 41.3 72.0 42.5 39.0 21.0 28.6 340 o Fukien
57376 87.0. 81.5, 37:8 (62/6) "38:0" 2401 2210) 2O.0) 32.8 o Hunan
84396 Q416 "87.3, “41.3 646 40:3 35:0 2310) 30:6 35:2 3 Fukien
84399 86.3 81.0 36.5 64.5 36.5 35.0 20.0 28.2 32.3 3 ©Fukien
F. ricketti, BM 105.0 88.0 39.0 69.0 —— —— -—— —— —— — Fukien
38333 82.0 75.5 35.5 59.0 36.0 33.2 16.6 27.7) —— Q Kiangsu
57062 85.3 80.0 38.2 59.5 37.6 33.0 19.0 28.0 31.0 9 Fukien
57065 89.5) 83-0 3723, 03.0) AT.On 3770) )LO;S8 | Ida, 23:0 ? Hopei
58371 795) fd, 35-5) (57 Oln 34:5 So SiO ae 7eo 20:0 Q Szechwan
57119 82:5); 76:0. 13740 =50:27 37:08) 33:36) 19:05) 2o4 eal o Q@ Hunan
THE CARNIVORES 461
CRANIAL MEASUREMENTS OF FELIS BENGALENSIS (Cont'd)
Median
Zygo- Mas- Width length Upper Lower
Greatest Basal Palatal matic toid across of cheek cheek
No. length length length width width molars nasals teeth teeth Sex Locality
F.. bengalensis chinensis
57341 83/41) 7855) 4936.0) 15910) 36:5) 92.01 17.5) 28:2)| 30.2 9 Fukien
84397 83050 2777.0) 36:8) (60100) 36551-73316) 17:07 28:0) — 20/4 Q Fukien
84398 85:0) 78.7) 37-5) 65720) 63715 633-2) 1710 +29,0) “31-2 Q Fukien
58376 785 con 35 OM 5gOns5cor 133,0) hIS:0) 927-3) 229.5 Q Szechwan
84395 85.0 80.0 37.0 57.4 36.8 33.0 16.7 280 —— — Fukien
59961 SA2) 979010) 361505700 30:0) 632378 55:5) 25:5) Bl.2 o Hainan
59958 8014) 750 S4 5m Olsen Gale 14ies) 17.8) 927.30 20a sow Hainan
60054 8312) 77.3) AAS) FOZ10) 38:08) 3455) 17.0. | 28.0). 20:4) | (oo) Hainan
60055 8010 "7410" 34:5" (60101 25-7, 32:0) 17:3) 25-5) 1205 o Hainan
59957 83:0) 97720) B43) 50:51 157.0 | 3255) 18:0 28:07 30:0 Q@ Hainan
59959 82.5) 875.50) Bo Oboe Sd SP 6 31n5) 2 185) (27-51, 230:0 9 Hainan
60093 77OV e708) F318 55:0 S5.0n kee) 115.0) 925345 128.4 Q Hainan
The Hainan skulls may average very slightly smaller than those from the
mainland. It is also noticeable in the latter that the nasals of males seem to
be a trifle longer.
The skulls of adult males are a little larger than those of adult females,
but the difference is not very great. In old males, too, the temporal ridges
unite to form a sagittal crest, but none of the females that I have seen shows
this development. There is often a complete orbital ring formed by the fusion
of the postorbital with the jugal process, and frequently the contact is almost
complete, so long is the postorbital point. Thus in an old female, No. 84397
(Fukien), the ring is complete on both sides; while in a second, No. 84395 (also
from Fukien), the ring is complete on the left side only. In the presence or
absence of the first upper small premolar, there is also a certain amount of
variation. It may be absent on one or both sides in about fifty per cent of
the specimens. The tooth is evidently deciduous in some cases, as attested
by the partly filled alveolus. Of twenty-two skulls examined, the following
showed this tooth missing:
No.
57341 first premolar missing on both sides
57375 first premolar missing on both sides; old, no trace of alveoli
58371 first premolar missing on left side; alveolus filled in
59958 first premolar missing on right side
59957 first premolar missing on both sides
59959 first premolar missing on both sides
60055 first premolar missing on both sides
60093 first premolar missing on both sides
84395 first premolar missing on both sides; not old, no trace of alveoli
84396 first premolar missing on left side; no trace of alveolus
84399 first premolar missing on both sides; alveoli partly filled in
462 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
The large upper carnassial often has the antero-internal cusp or lobe very
poorly developed, occasionally almost obsolete. Lénnberg mentions that it is
lacking in a skull he examined from Kansu.
Nomenclature:—Obviously the common Tiger Cat of China is very similar
to the Indian F. bengalensis, indeed, hardly more than a poorly marked sub-
species. Jacobi (1922), however, seems to have been the first to use the name
in trinomial form. Cabrera, indeed, has suggested that Felis pardella of
Pallas, a name long overlooked, based on a spotted cat from China, should
be used instead of F. chinensis, in which case, dating from 1784, it would also
antedate F. bengalensis, the latter then becoming a subspecies. However, it
seems unwise to upset long usage by introducing a name that is not certainly
identifiable. Various names have been from time to time bestowed upon
Chinese cats of this type, all apparently based on variations of color or details
of markings. The material examined in the collections of the American Mus-
eum of Natural History and elsewhere, however, does not seem to me satis-
factorily divisable into more than the two races. Hainan skulls, as shown
by the measurements in the adjoined table, average a very little smaller than
those of mainland animals, but the differences are insignificant and the color
characters are the same. Probably the cats of North China will eventually
prove to have slightly thicker winter pelage, and other characters may be found
to warrant their subspecific separation, but at present no clearly definable
characters appear. Elliot described as Felis euptilura a cat of this type, said
to have come from Siberia, and considered Milne-Edwards’s Felis microtis
of the vicinity of Peiping as the same. He examined the type of the latter
and found that its ears were of normal length, instead of smaller as its describer
supposed; indeed, he inadvertently spells the name F. macrotis in his ‘‘Mono-
graph of the Felide.’’ Undoubtedly, as Elliot says, Milne-Edwards’s Felis
decolorata is the same as his F. microtis, the former based on a skin sent from
Peiping by Fontanier, the measurements of which (head and body, 830 mm.,
tail, 320) are indeed large, but evidently the specimen was a native skin and
unduly stretched. Elliot was unable to detect any difference between his
F. euptilura and Milne-Edwards’s F. microtis, the type of which he again
figures, an animal in a reddish phase of coloring. Apparently Milne-Edwards’s
Felis scripta is really quite the same, with a yellowish ground color but the
essential markings of F. b. chinensis, nor can I see, after a careful perusal of
the descriptions and an examination of the type specimens, that Bonhote’s
F. ingrami and F. ricketti are really different. The former is based on a skin
without skull from northern Kweichow, and was perhaps a young animal, at
all events short-tailed if the condition of the specimen can be assumed to be
good, and with broad spots and markings. It is, however, clearly F. b. chinen-
sis. The F. ricketti, from Foochow, Fukien, was believed to differ from F. b.
THE CARNIVORES 463
chinensis in its larger size and gray ground color. The sex is not stated, but
was probably male, and the skull length as given, 105 mm., is unquestionably
large, but the basal and palatal lengths and the zygomatic width are quite
those of males of F. b. chinensis. Bonhote apparently had not a sufficient
series to prove that the gray and the buff-colored specimens are only individual
variations, so that, to clinch the matter, the statement of Sowerby (1923g,
Pp. 37), may be cited, that of two kittens which he bought “‘from a native at
Chin-wang Tao, close to the Sino-Manchurian border, and which were ob-
viously of the same litter, one was dark like my Tung Ling specimen, and the
other was light (buff-yellow or sandy).’’ He adds, in commenting on F.
euptilura and F. chinensis, that probably ‘‘the two names represent but the one
form.’’ The Siberian, typical F. euptilura, however, may very likely prove
to be a distinct subspecies. Satunin’s Felis anastasie seems likewise to be a
synonym. It was described from a series of five specimens coming from Kam
(Tibet), Kansu, and northwestern Szechwan, and is admitted to be similar
to F. bengalensis and F. scripta, but no specimens of these were available for
comparison. More recently, however, Lénnberg (1925) has figured a speci-
men from Kansu which apparently agrees with F. anastasie, and there is no
doubt but that the two are both F. b. chinensis, as that author himself seems
ready to concede.
Occurrence and Habits:—The Tiger Cat is very widespread in eastern
Asia, going with very little appreciable change from India to the Amur region.
It is found throughout China, except in the really desert areas, and appears
to thrive even in rather thickly settled districts. Mr. Clifford H. Pope writes
that in Fukien it is known as ‘“‘chin ch’ien mao’’ or Money Cat, in reference
doubtless to its many spots, like Chinese cash. Its flesh is much prized by
the natives as an article of diet. He found it common on Hainan, haunting
» thickets, and occasionally coming about the Mission compound at night for
chickens. Swinhoe (1870c, p. 629) regarded it as the commonest wild cat
in Formosa and South China, where it is a forest-dwelling species. He men-
tions skins in the British Museum sent by Reeves from Canton, and others from
Shanghai and Fukien. Milne-Edwards was unable to detect any difference
between a skin from Canton and another from the mouth of the Pei Ho,
Hopei, notwithstanding that he considers another specimen from Peiping a
different species, F. microtis. In northern China it becomes less common on
the southern edge of the Ordos and Gobi Deserts. Sowerby, however, trapped a
male at Yenanfu, Shensi, that was raiding a chicken coop, and Thomas (191 Ie)
has recorded (as F. microtis) one from thirty miles south of Fengsiangfu,
southern Shensi. It occurs in the forests at the Eastern Tombs, Hopei, whence
both Sowerby and Dr. R. C. Andrews have obtained it. The former also
mentions one killed by dogs in the Shanghai district in 1924. The westward
464 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
and altitudinal limits of the range are perhaps coéxtensive with forests and
thickets. Under various synonyms, it is recorded from the Principality of
Muping, and from southern and western Kansu (Ssigu), while the Russian
explorers have brought back skins from the borders of eastern Tibet (Kam).
Of its habits little has been written, except that it haunts thickets, and often
raids the henyards. Mell (1922) says that in winter it is occasionally brought
in alive to the animal market at Canton, but seems always wild and untamable,
yet taken as a kitten, the case might be different, for Pope had a little one that
was very friendly and continually followed people about. Unfortunately it
died after about two weeks, having developed bowel trouble. The only
records of young found in China seem to indicate small litters. One of three
was brought to Mell (1922) on May 29 at Logong, Kwangtung. They were
found under a boulder in bush jungle and were judged to be about two weeks
old. He mentions that their growth in captivity seems very slow, for two
sucklings brought him on May 24 were still very small in December. Sowerby,
as already noted, had a litter of two kittens offered him for sale near the Sino-
Manchurian border. A much earlier breeding date is indicated for Hainan,
where, at Nodoa, three small kittens were obtained by Mr. Pope in very late
March (26-28).
Specimens examined:—The following are referred to this race, in all fifty-
Six:
“China,” 4, including the type (B.M.).
Kiangsu: Chinkiang, 1, +1 (B.M.); Shanghai, 1 (B.M.).
Chekiang: Ningpo, 1 (B.M.).
Hopei: Peiping, 1; Eastern Tombs, 1.
Hunan: Yochow, 5.
Hupeh: Changyanghsien, 1 (M.C.Z.); Shanyang, 1 (B.M.).
Kweichow: Vingin Shan, 1 (B.M.), type of F. ingrami.
Fukien: Futsing, 7; Chunganhsien, 2; Yenping, 5; Foochow, 1 (B.M.), type of F. ricketti.
Szechwan: Suifu, 1 (M.C.Z.); Wanhsien, 3.
Hainan: Nodoa, 15; Namfong, 1; Mount Wuchih, 2 (B.M.).
North China, I.
Subgenus Profelis Severtzov
Profelis Severtzov, Rev. et Mag. de Zool., ser. 2, vol. 10, p. 386, 1858. Pocock, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. 8,
vol. 20, p. 340, 1917.
Chrysailurus Severtzov, Rev. et Mag. de Zool., ser. 2, vol. 10, p. 389, 1858.
Catopuma Severtzov, ibid., p. 387.
Pyrofelis Gray, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. 4, vol. 14, p. 354, 1874.
This subgenus includes Temminck’s Cat of eastern Asia and the Golden
Cat (Felis aurata) of the western part of Africa. Both agree in showing
a marked dimorphism in pattern. The two first names given in the synonymy
above have the African animal as type; the two latter were based on the
THE CARNIVORES 465
Asiatic cat. Pocock (1917) regards these as representing but a single group,
and gives preference to the first name. The characters given are, in addition
to the type of coloring: the long cylindrical tail, differing in color on the top
and ventral sides; the larger size of skull, in which the distance from orbit to
gnathion exceeds the long diameter of the orbit; the relatively short post-
orbital processes; the well-developed lateral flange along the side of the
pterygoid bone; the broad nasals, which though of depressed form, not everted
at the tips, differ from those of Prionailurus in having a median pit at their
proximal end in the frontal bone. The ascending processes of the maxillary,
instead of being nearly vertical in direction and bluntly rounded off, taper
slightly with a posterior turn.. The first-small upper premolar is frequently
lacking. Only one species occurs in Indo-Malaysia and China, and, although
names have been given to various supposed races, it seems doubtful if more
than the one occurs in the latter country. It was at one time supposed that
the relationships of this subgenus were close to the American puma, but this
appears not to be the case.
209. Felis temminckii tristis Milne-Edwards
Felis tristis Milne-Edwards, Recherches pour servir a l’Hist. Nat. des Mammiféres, p. 223, pl. 31D, 1868-74
(1872).
Felis moormensis Pousargues, Bull. Mus. d’Hist. Nat., Paris, vol. 2, p. 180, 1896 (?not of Hodgson).
Felis moormensis nigrescens Pousargues, loc. cit. (?not of Gray).
Felis dominicanorum P. L. Sclater, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1898, p. 2, pl. I.
Felis semenovi Satunin, Annuaire Mus. Zool. Acad. Imp. Sci. St. Pétersbourg, for 1904, vol. 9, p. 524, 1905.
Felis temminckii mitchelli Lydekker, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1908, p. 433.
Felis (Catopuma) melli Matschie, in Mell, Arch. f. Naturgesch., vol. 88, sect. A, no. 10, p. 36, 1922 (not Felis
(Neofelis) melli Matschie, ibid., p. 35).
Felis temminckii bainsei Sowerby, China Journ. Sci. and Arts, vol. 2, p. 352, 1924 (lapsus calami).
Felis temminckii bainest Sowerby, loc. cit.
Felis temminckii badiodorsalis A. B. Howell, Proc. Biol. Soc. Washington, vol. 39, p. 143, 1926 (new name for
Felis (Catopuma) melli).
Felis temmincki dominicorum A. B. Howell, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., vol. 75, art. I, p. 33, 1929.
Type specimen:—The type is a skin without skull, representing the phase
with striped pattern, bought in Peiping by Fontanier, and sent to the Muséum
d’Histoire Naturelle at Paris, where it presumably still is. The exact locality
whence it came is unknown, but it was said to have been procured in the
interior of China.
Description:—In its coloration this cat shows an extraordinary dichroma-
tism, somewhat comparable to that exhibited by its African relative, of the
same subgenus, F. aurata. The more usual type of coloring is that in which
the central area of the occiput, neck and back are bright ferruginous, more
or less darkened by black or black-tipped hairs; the sides of the neck, body
and proximal portions of the limbs are rather abruptly paler, nearly cinnamon,
the individual longer hairs having a pale-gray basal three-fourths, then a
466 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
narrow ring of blackish brown, succeeded by one of cinnamon, and often tipped
with black; a number of white-tipped hairs among these contribute to give
a pale effect to the sides of the body. The fore and hind feet are grayish,
the short hairs covering them having a pale basal portion, then a narrow
blackish ring, and a gray tip; a short blackish stripe marks the outer edge
of the sole of both fore and hind paws. The head in this phase is the only
part of the body showing definite pattern: there is a conspicuous short white
stripe at the inner corner of each eye, running vertically for about 20 mm.;
the upper point of each is nearly continuous with a longer grayish-buff stripe»
on each side passing on to the occiput; this stripe is bordered above and below
by a very narrow black line, the outer one of which arises above the center
of the eye; a broad white stripe commences about a centimeter below the
middle of the eye and passes back to the level of the ear; below this is a blackish
stripe, with a narrower broken stripe or double series of spots along the upper
lip; chin and upper throat and the lips at the tip of the muzzle white. Backs
of ears black, with an indistinct gray area in the middle; a clear gray area
about their bases. Lower throat with a transverse blackish bar bordered
with rusty; upper chest with small irregular rusty spots, which on the lower
chest and ventral surface of body become larger, more definite blackish spots,
surrounded by cinnamon hair, and arranged in about half a dozen transverse
series. Inguinal region and under side of the tail to its tip white; dorsal side
of the tail like the back and sides, gradually darkening in the terminal part,
becoming less chestnut, then blackish, and finally with a black tip about 70
mm. long. Occasional individuals vary from this type of coloring through
being less clear reddish in the mid-dorsal region, but instead are a dark brown
all over the back; it was apparently such an animal that served for the original
of Elliot’s plate in the ‘‘Monograph of the Felide,”’ and is possibly that named
Felis moormensis nigrescens by Hodgson. ‘This condition may be still further
accentuated and a nearly black condition result, to which Hodgson gave the
name niger.
The second type of coloration, instead of having the body of an almost
uniform tone, has a handsome pattern of spots and stripes that very much
resembles the pattern of Felis bengalensis, so that animals in this phase have
usually been regarded as representing a separate species. In most cases
apparently, this phase agrees, nevertheless, with the monochrome type in
having the ears black with a grizzled central area on the back, a clear gray
patch behind each ear, with the same bright ferruginous nape and shoulders.
The pattern in the one secured by Pope in Kuatun has the head markings as
in the usual type, but in addition there are two narrow lines of black down
the back with a less clearly marked pair external to them, then about four rows
on each side, of elongate blotches and spots, each with an ochraceous center
THE CARNIVORES 467
incompletely ringed by a broken blackish margin, usually wider at the posterior
side. A row of blackish spots is present on each side of the belly. The tail,
in addition to the usual coloring of ferruginous above and white below, with a
black tip, has also about fifteen black bars along its length as in the smaller
species mentioned. This striped phase seems also subject to a certain amount
of individual variation in the general tone, some specimens being more ferru-
ginous as in the one described, others duller and browner, apparently like the
specimen figured by Milne-Edwards as the type of his Felis tristis. The
meaning of this dichromatism is not altogether clear, but the striped phase may
represent a primitive pattern not yet altogether lost in evolutionary progress.
It would be interesting to know if the young have it.
In males, the temporal ridges of the skull unite to form a sagittal crest
when adult, but in both female skulls seen, these ridges make a large lyrate
outline, and probably do not form a crest except posteriorly. In five skulls
the small upper anterior premolar is present on both sides in but one, in two
others on the right side only, while in the other two it is lacking on both sides.
Measurements:—The dimensions of the type skin of F. t. tristis as given
by Milne-Edwards are: head and body, 840 mm.; tail, 400, but no doubt
the hide had been stretched in preparation. The two native-cured hides
that served Satunin as types of his F. semenovi measured, the male and female
respectively, head and body, 1050, 940 mm.; tail, 560, 490. A female in the
striped phase, from Fukien, measured by Mr. C. H. Pope as follows: head and
body, 731 mm.; tail, 485; hind foot, 174; ear, 67.
CRANIAL MEASUREMENTS OF FELIS TEMMINCKII TRISTIS
Condylo- Zygo- Mas- Width Upper Lower Length
basal Basal Palatal matic toid across cheek cheek of
No. length length length width width molars’ teeth teeth nasals Sex Locality
84392 122 113.0 52.0 85.0 58.5 47:0 42.7. 49.0 29.0 Imo Fukien
84393:5) 19) SPTEs0; | 5147) + (83:0)15 5655) 19740!) 6 4353) © 48:5), 0-27.04 mic” + Bulkien
84296) (9026) 1.126:5)) 60:0) | 98-0) , 161-0) § 51-0) 48:4 9 (53:0) | 631.4 Ad. gia Rukien
SAs04uy ITO) P1090) 52:5) 78:00 25150 147.0) 44.0 EA74 20:0 fe) Fukien
84395 108 98.0 46.0 75.5 48.3 45.5 39.0 °42.0 25.4 Im.? Fukien
€
Nomenclature:—The proper subspecific name, for the Chinese race of
Temminck’s Cat is not easily determined. Typical F. temminckiit was de-
scribed from Java, and it is assumed that the continental representative is at
least subspecifically different. The first name applied to a continental animal
was F. moormensis of Hodgson, 1831, which with Gray’s F. nigrescens, 1863,
applied to the Nepalese form. It is assumed that the Chinese representative
is different still, since Nepalese races of other species are frequently darker.
If this prove not to be the case, Hodgson’s name would be the subspecific
title, but if the animal of China is really different, the earliest name applicable
468 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
to it seems to be Felis tristis of Milne-Edwards, 1872, the striped phase of
the same cat. The type skin as represented is rather gray in tone of the ground
color, which led Satunin in 1905 to propose the name Felis semenovi, based
on two skins, one in the striped, one in the monochrome phase, purchased in
the fur market at Sungpan, northwestern Szechwan. He seems to have
been the first definitely to recognize that the two phases represented one and
the same species, although Pousargues (1896a) seems also to have suspected
this. Lydekker, in 1908, seems to have been the first to make comparison of
western Chinese skins with those from Nepal and Sikkim, representing Hodg-
son’s F. moormensis. He concluded that the specimen he had, a tanned skin
only, from Szechwan, representing the monochrome phase, was subspecifically
different from the latter, and named it Felis temmincktt mitchell1; it is charac-
terized by lighter upper parts, which are golden tawny, with a narrow light-
rufous dorsal streak, instead of being mahogany brown. He adds that Sikkim
and Nepal specimens show a bright rufous phase with pale and spotted under-
parts, as well as a wholly dark reddish-brown phase. This latter phase,
however, may occur in China as well, for the specimen represented by Sclater’s
plate of his Felis dominicanorum, seems to be of this variety. The name,
nevertheless, may prove to be available if the Temminck’s Cat of eastern
China is really separable from that of western China. Apparently, too,
Sowerby’s Felis temminckii baines1, based on a skin from Tengyueh, western
Yunnan, is nothing less than this same dark-brown variant. Matschie, in
1922, added to the difficulty by naming as Felis melli two skins from Weisi
in western Yunnan, pointing out that they differed from F. ¢. mitchelli in
minor details of color that are undoubtedly matters of individual variation.
This name, however, he had in the same paper given to a supposed new Clouded
Leopard, so A. B. Howell proposed in its place the name Felis t. badiodorsalis.
In spite of all these names, it seems to be the case that the dark and lighter
variants of the species occur throughout the range in China, as well as mono-
chrome and striped individuals, so that for the present it does not seem possible
to recognize more than the one race in this wide range, with the possibility
that the more southern or southeastern animals will be found eventually to
constitute a recognizable subspecies, F. ¢. dominicanorum.
Occurrence and Habits:—As already indicated, the Chinese race of Tem-
minck’s Cat is at present known from the low country of southeastern China
as far north as northern Fukien, westward in forested areas to the highlands
of Szechwan and Yunnan. Skins of this cat are apparently traded about a
good deal, especially those of the striped phase. It was one of these, bought
at Peiping, that served as the type of F. tristis, and of two others purchased
at Sungpan that Satunin described as F. semenovi, one was striped, one un-
THE CARNIVORES 469
striped. Mell (1922) mentions one of the former type bought in Yunnanfu,
said to be from the region between Tali and Likiang, and Pousargues (1896a,
p- 3) records one brought back by Prince Henri d’Orléans from Yunnan, and
others sent by the missionaries from Tatsienlu, Szechwan. The most northerly
record is that by Buechner, of a specimen secured by Berezovski in the region of
Ssigu, Kansu, though if this were a trade skin, there may be some doubt as
to its having come from near by. Shih (1930b, p. 2) notes it from the south-
western border of Hunan. Menegaux (1905, p. 72) writes that its distribution
is from Nepal east to Szechwan and south over the whole Indo-China peninsula.
He states that a skin from Tongking is indistinguishable from one from
“‘Tibet,”’ and mentions one sent by Gaston Péronne from Atuntze, northwestern
Yunnan (where he stayed two months), at 3,170 meters altitude. At Likiang,
Péronne said, they were common and he often saw them. The Paris Museum
also has a skin sent by Fontanier from China in 1867 that appears to be ‘“‘la
forme mélanique’’ mentioned by Hodgson. Pousargues (1896a) records two
skins brought back by Prince Henri d’Orléans from Yunnan, one of which
had the body a uniform brown, the other blackish with red between the shoul-
ders. Both showed the usual facial markings. In eastern China, this cat
seems to be less common, most of the specimens coming from Fukien. Sclater’s
type of Felis dominicanorum was obtained at Kuatun in that province in 1897,
by some Dominican monks, of whom it was received by Rickett and La
Touche and sent by them to the Zodlogical Gardens at London, where it lived
until the following year. Mr. Clifford H. Pope secured no fewer than five
beautiful specimens at Chunganhsien, northwestern Fukien, which are prac-
tically topotypes of F. dominicanorum. Of these, only one represents the
patterned phase. He writes that it is the common cat in the vicinity of
Kuatun and is trapped by hunters who set steel-toothed traps with bamboo
springs along paths cut through the forest; hence the species must range
generally over the higher mountains. It was not heard of in Futsing. The
Chinese call it “huang pao” (Yellow Leopard) or “‘shih hu’’ (Rock Cat),
and its bones bring a good price in native medicine shops at near-by market
towns. Williston (1926) has described an animal, evidently this, called by
the Chinese ‘‘Yellow Leopard,’’ brought in to him at Longanfu, western
Szechwan.
It would be interesting to know the significance of the alternative types
of pattern and whether they bear a Mendelian relation to each other. The
1:4 ratio of the Pope series is suggestive of something of the sort.
Specimens examined:—Five, from Chunganhsien, Fukien.
470 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
Subgenus Neofelis Gray
Neofelis Gray, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1867, p. 265.
This subgenus includes the Clouded Leopard, ranging from the eastern
Himalayas to Borneo, and in China to Fukien and Hainan. Characteristic
are the beautifully patterned markings of the body, consisting of large areas
of the buffy-gray background marked off by black, the rather long, dark-
ringed tail, the relatively short ears. Pocock (1917) states that the feet
and rhinarium scarcely differ from those of the larger felines that he includes
in Panthera. He also briefly sets forth the salient features of the skull, as com-
pared with those of a leopard. In size the skull resembles that of a small
leopard in the short and widely separated postorbital processes which do not
closely approximate the corresponding processes of the jugal bone; the lower
edge of the orbit is distinctly thickened; the nasals are broad; the mandible is
so elevated anteriorly that the symphysis is nearly vertical; and the canines are
remarkable for their relatively great length. Pocock states also that the occi-
pital area is remarkably triangular and pointed, and the bony partition in the
audital bulla low as in other forest-living species. The tooth formula is as in
typical Felis.
The type species is Felis nebulosa, of which other described forms, if
valid, are doubtless best considered as subspecies.
210. Felis nebulosa Griffith
CLOUDED LEOPARD
Felis nebulosa Griffith, Descrip. Vertebr., p. 37, 1821.
Felis macrocelis Swinhoe, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1870, p. 228.
Felis (Neofelis) melli Matschie, in Mell, Arch. f. Naturgesch., vol. 88, sect. A, no. 10, p. 35, 1922.
Type specimen:—The type specimen of Griffith’s Felis nebulosa was be-
lieved to have come from Canton, Kwangtung, China. It is probably no
longer in existence.
Description:—The general ground color of the dorsal surfaces is a grayish
buff, the hairs brownish at the base tipped with buffy, and mixed with a suffi-
cient number of similar but black-tipped hairs to darken the effect slightly.
On this ground the head shows more or less of the usual cat pattern. The
eye is narrowly ringed with black except at the upper anterior corner; this
ring is prolonged forward as a short dark marking, separating a short whitish
stripe above the eye from the similar one below it. Posteriorly the black
eye-ring continues as a black stripe across the cheek, while below it, com-
mencing about 40 mm. behind the angle of the jaw, a second black stripe runs
backward along the side of the neck, separating the buffy gray of the dorsal
side from the white of the throat. Anteriorly this stripe expands and becomes
nearly transverse, but the two stripes of opposite sides do not quite meet in
THE CARNIVORES 471
the skin described. At the base of the mustachial vibrisse are three or four
parallel rows of small spots, and the posterior half of the upper lip is black.
The muzzle and space between the eyes are unmarked, but the forehead and
occiput are spotted with black. The backs of the ears are also black, with a
slightly marked pale-gray area about half-way up. Six black stripes mark
the back of the neck: the innermost pair starts low on the back of the head
and runs to the upper base of the neck; the second pair starts one on each side
between the midline and the base of the ear; the third pair begins, one from
the base of each ear. All three pairs end at the fore shoulder, the second the
widest, and more or less continued down the back as a double series of elongate
black blotches, which across the rump again become definitely two narrow
black stripes, to the base of the tail, and may even be traced in more or less
broken form, out on to the basal half of the tail. The sides of the body and
the haunches are marked with the characteristic pattern of the species, con-
sisting of about six transverse blotches on each side, outlined in black, the
posterior blotch more or less subdivided into rows of three. These transverse
patches or smaller blotches have the narrow black border best developed on
their posterior side, and it may be more or less imperfect on the anterior side.
Usually there are a few small blackish dots scattered inside these ringed areas.
Tail with its mid-dorsal area near the base buffy, with the two blackish median
stripes of the back traceable for a varying distance on it. Otherwise the tail-
pattern consists of about fifteen indistinct blackish to brownish rings alter-
nating with grayish-white rings. The lower side of the body from chin to
anal region is white with about four rows of blackish-brown spots or blotches
across the chest and belly, and smaller scattered spots of the same on the inner
sides of the limbs.
The peculiarities of the skull have been mentioned among the subgeneric
characters.
Measurements:—None available.
Nomenclature:—Griffith’s type locality may be fixed as Canton, China,
or that neighborhood, so that, taking into account the individual variation
in pattern of markings shown, by cats, there is no reason to suppose that
Matschie’s Felis (Neofelis) melli, based on a specimen killed a three-hours’
journey northwest of Lienping, near Canton, is really a different race. The
chief difference mentioned by its describer is the fewness and relative breadth
of the dark tail-rings. Swinhoe, using Horsfield’s name, Felis macrocelis,
for the Chinese animal, says it is called in Chinese the Mint Leopard, on-
account of the shape of its blotches, recalling mint leaves, in distinction from °
the Common Leopard, whose spots, shaped like cash, have earned for it the
name Golden Cash Leopard. ‘The type locality of Felis macrocelis is Sumatra.
472 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
This name, published in 1825, four years later than F. nebulosa, is usually
regarded as synonymous with the latter, but very likely the two are sub-
specifically distinct, a suggestion made as long ago as 1827 by Griffith himself
(in the ‘‘Animal Kingdom by Cuvier,” vol. 5, p. 164).
Occurrence and Habits:—Very little seems to be known concerning the
Clouded Leopard in China. The Central Asiatic Expeditions apparently did
not encounter it alive, but secured two native-made skins, one at Yenping,
Fukien, and one at Namfong, Hainan. On the latter island, Swinhoe (1870a)
wrote that it was said to occur in the mountains with the common leopard.
A. B. Howell (1929) also records a hunter’s skin from Kachek, Hainan.
Trouessart and Kollman (1914) mention a skin sent among others from
Kweichow by a missionary who secured it at Sanchouenfu, an important fur
center. There is of course no certainty that it was locally obtained. Mell
(1922) writes that skins he purchased in the fur market at Canton were said
to have come from Kwangtung and Kwangsi, but he believed that they had
been obtained even farther west, and had seen one freshly killed, three hours’
journey west of Missionary Weller’s home at Lienping, and he later bought
in Canton a native-prepared skin said to have come from the same region.
Present evidence seems to indicate that it occurs sparingly throughout
southeastern China as far north as Fukien, but hitherto no record of it seems
to have appeared from southwestern parts of the country.
Specimens examined:—Two skins without skulls, namely:
Fukien: Yenping, I.
Hainan: Namfong, I.
Subgenus Panthera Oken
Panthera Oken, Lehrbuch d. Naturgesch., vol. 3, pt. 2, p. 1052, 1816.
Pocock (1917) would separate the larger cats, in which the suspensorium
of the hyoid apparatus is imperfectly ossified, from the smaller species, in
which that portion is bony, to form a separate subfamily, Pantherine. In
this group he includes but two genera: Panthera for the leopards, jaguars,
lions and tigers, and Uncia for the snow leopard, characterized by its peculiar,
abrupt profile. Severtzov (1858), basing his classification on less sound
characters, included in Panthera not only the leopards and jaguars of the above
list but also the Snow Leopard and the American Puma, placing the lion and
the tiger as separate subgenera of the genus Tigris. J. A. Allen regarded Leo
as a distinct genus for the lion, and restricted Panthera to the leopard and
jaguar, species that are very closely related. It is evident that uniformity
‘in usage is still to be attained, and no doubt the scheme of designating each
species-group, as lions, tigers, leopards, etc., as a genus will be the outcome
for those who wish to emphasize these group differences. On the other
THE CARNIVORES 473
hand, these characters may be equally well emphasized by the use of sub-
genera and thus at the same time imply the rather close relationship. It
is remarkable, as Pocock points out, how difficult it is to find differences of a
kind that will distinguish the skulls of lions, leopards, and tigers, yet each
type of animal has its specialized coat-coloring and different habits, evolved
along highly contrasted lines.
In the subgenus Panthera, using that term to include leopards and tigers
among Chinese species, the muzzle is relatively long compared with the length
of the skull, the distance from orbit to gnathion far exceeding the long diameter
of the eye instead of being less, and indeed about equals one-fourth the total
length of the skull. The ascending branch of the maxillary tapers away pos-
teriorly, instead of being carried vertically upward as in the short-nosed
forms, so that in the latter it encroaches upon the middle of the nasals, pro-
ducing a pinching-in, whereas in Panthera and other large cats, the nasals
are broad and taper only very slightly and gradually toward their proximal
tip, where they end in a slight depression. Panthera, as used by Pocock,
includes the leopards and tigers; some, however, would, with almost equal
propriety, regard the latter as constituting a separate genus, Tigris, charac-
terized by its color pattern and slight differences in proportion of the cranial
bones. The name Panthera was used in the same year, 1816, by Oken for
the leopard and by Hubner for a genus of insects, but at the present time,
precedence is tacitly given to its use for the mammal.
211. Felis pardus fusca F. A. A. Meyer
INDIAN PANTHER OR LEOPARD
Felis fusca F. A. A. Meyer, Zool. Annalen, for 1793, vol. I, p. 394, 1794.
Leopardus reevesit Gray, List Mamm. Brit. Mus., p. 44, 1843 (?momen nudum).
Leopardus perniger Hodgson, in Gray, Cat. Mamm. Nepal and Thibet, ed. 2, p. 3, 1863.
Felis pardus Swinhoe, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1870, p. 628.
Felis pardus var. melas Pousargues, Bull. Mus. d’Hist. Nat., Paris, vol. 2, no. 5, p. 180, 1896.
Felis pardus sinensis Brass, Nutzbare Tiere Ostasiens, Neudamm, p. 6, 1904.
Felis pardus ?chinensis Hilzheimer, Abh. u. Ber. Mus. f. Natur- u. Heimatk., Magdeburg, vol. 1, p. 183, 1906.
Felis pardus variegata G. M. Allen, Mem. Mus. Comp. Zool., vol. 40, p. 235, 1912.
Leopardus pardalis sinensis Mell, Arch. f. Naturgesch., vol. 88, sect. A, pt. 10, p. 18, 1922.
Felis pardus perniger G. M. Allen, Amer. Mus. Novitates, no. 360, p. 12, 1929.
Panthera pardus fusca Pocock, Journ. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc., vol. 34, p. 307, 1930.
Type specimen:—Not known to be in existence. Meyer’s name and de-
scription were based on a melanistic example of the Indian Leopard from
Bengal. His account in turn was taken from a notice of the animal published
by de la Methérie, who saw the animal in captivity in the Tower of London.
The name appears to be the first given to the leopard of eastern India.
Description:—In the leopard, the common cat-pattern of stripes and
blotches is still further fragmented, so that the markings consist of numerous
rounded spots on a bright ochraceous-buff ground. On the head, these
474 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
spots are small and more or less rounded with a distinct tendency to arrange
themselves in longitudinal lines, corresponding to the lines on the sides of
the cheeks and down the back of the head and neck of many other cats. The
middle of the nose alone is clear, or rarely with a few minute black dots,
and there is a trace of the pale line at the inner canthus of the eye, of a slightly
more whitish tint than the rest of the head. On the body the ochraceous
tint becomes deeper along the median line, paling to ochraceous buff on the
sides. The black spots become larger, and on the median line form a nearly
continuous row of elongate black blotches. Laterally the spots take on the
form of rings, that may be complete, or broken on the posterior side, less often
the anterior, and may have a clear ochraceous-buff center, or this may contain
a central black dot. On the flanks and belly, as well as on the outer sides
of the legs, the markings again become solid black blotches of varying rounded
shapes. There are about half a dozen series or transverse rows across the
belly, and the inner sides of the limbs have also numerous but less regular
scattered black spots; elsewhere the under surfaces of body and limbs are
white. The long tail on its basal half has the median dorsal area ochraceous
like the back, with a double row of elongate black spots, while terminally
and below, the areas between spots are white, and the spots tend to form more
or less distinct broad transverse rings with narrow white areas between, and
a black tip. f
As pointed out by Pocock and others, the skull is in its general shape and
proportions much like the tiger’s or lion’s, and differs from that of the smaller
cats in the greater relative length of the rostrum, which is much less abruptly
curved downward, so that the nasal bones are not narrowed by the ascending
branch of the maxillary, and the distance from orbit to gnathion exceeds
the long diameter of the eye instead of being less. In general it is true that
when a leopard’s skull with the jaw in place is laid on a flat surface, the hinder
portion of the cranium rests upon the surface, but in the tiger it does not,
and that the outline of the lower border of the mandible is more nearly straight,
whereas in the tiger it is somewhat concave from below. These distinctions,
as Pocock has shown, however, do not in every case hold true. The nasals
only slightly exceed in backward extent the tips of the ascending processes of
the premaxillary, which are produced backward, slightly tapering and truncate
at the tips, in contrast to their more nearly vertical position in many of the
smaller cats.
Measurements:—A fine adult male leopard shot in Hupeh by the late
W. R. Zappey, measured in the flesh as follows: total length, 2,080 mm.;
tail, 850; hind foot, 260; height at the shoulder, 610; height at the hip, 605.
Females are smaller.
THE CARNIVORES 475
CRANIAL MEASUREMENTS OF CHINESE LEOPARDS
Condylo- Zygo- Mas- Width Upper Lower
Greatest basal Basal Palatal matic toid across cheek cheek
No. length length length length width width molars teeth teeth Sex Locality
57008 210 190 174 90 129.0 87.0 76 69.5 80 Ad.o’ Szechwan
60163 2077) 10g) 178 89 137.5 89.0 WAY S6O551 75 o' Fukien
60106 193,/-5174) 160° 85) 125.0 78625 75) WOOL e738 o' Shensi
7891 MCz 22g e20TN i UTSOR LOZ, 2140.00 OL0 76 69.0 81 Ad.c’ Hupeh
43091 1m: — — #85 41160 77.5 69 60.0 66 9 Fukien
12720 MCZ 199 180 165 85 126.0 78.5 72). 04.0) 72 9 Hupeh
Nomenclature:—The question of the correct name for the leopard of
southern China is not easily settled. Pocock has lately reviewed the group
on the basis of available material in the great collections of the British Museum,
but this attempt has only revealed how imperfect and insufficient is the basis
for many of the names used. The type locality of Felis pardus of Linnzus,
in spite of doubts that have been raised as to some of the points involved,
is now regarded as North Africa, probably Egypt. Three geographical races
intervene before the form of the Indian lowlands is reached, for which the
earliest name seems to be, as Pocock was the first to show, the Felis fusca
of Meyer, based on a specimen at one time in the menagerie of the Tower of
London, from Bengal. It seems likely that this is the form of leopard that is
found to the eastward across the southern part of China, but without adequate
comparisons this is difficult to be certain of. Hodgson in 1863 used the
name Leopardus perniger for a melanistic leopard from Nepal, but, as Pocock
shows, this is probably not applicable for a recognized race. In 1912 I used
the name F. p. variegata for the Chinese Leopard, but the basis of this is a
Javanese leopard, as is also the earlier F. p. melas. This animal is regarded
as subspecifically different by Pocock. Brass, in 1904, gave the name sinensis
to a Chinese leopard in a treatise on furbearers, but the name is hardly worthy
of consideration, being unidentifiable. Provisionally, therefore, the leopard
of southern China may be considered the same as the leopard of eastern
India. Dr. E. Schwarz, who has seen many leopard skins, writes me that
“there can be no doubt that Malay specimens are entirely different from the |
Indian ones. The North Chinese animal is also different enough to deserve
a name.”
Occurrence and Habits:—Leopards are still fairly common over southern
China where vegetation and forest cover are not so cleared away as to offer no
concealment and shelter. E. H. Wilson (1913) writes that in western Szechwan,
leopards are scarce north of Maochow, but are of general occurrence from
Mount Omei southward into Yunnan. They are plentiful also to the east-
ward in brush-clad rocky country. The specimen secured by Zappey at the
head of Ichang Gorge was purchased from some natives who had caught it in
476 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
a bamboo-noose trap, though usually log traps are used. Wilson further
relates that on one occasion while descending the valley of the upper Min
River, in western Szechwan, he met three men laden with more than a hundred
leopard skins. These they said came from Kweichow and Yunnan, and were
being taken to Sungpan from Suifu to be used for robes and girdles by the
Sifan and other tribesfolk. Mr. Clifford H. Pope, who collected several speci-
mens in Fukien, writes me that the leopard is common in Futsinghsien where it
is bold and daring, often attacking cows and goats near villages in broad
daylight. At Kuatun, in the northwestern part of the province, the hunters
maintained that it was not uncommon in the lower country but avoided the
higher levels, where Temminck’s Cat is the commoner species. The familiarity
of the leopard in southern China is well illustrated by Professor C. R. Kellogg’s
(1927) account of two grown cubs with their mother appearing on the campus
of Fukien Christian University. In 1905, a female from Hongkong was pre-
sented to the Zodlogical Society of London. Swinhoe (1870c) was familiar
with the leopard in South China, and believed that skins from the Canton
Market were a much richer yellow with larger black spots than those from
India.
Relatively little is written about the intimate habits of the leopard in
China. The number of young is probably small. Two were with the adult
mentioned above, and Count Gyldenstolpe has recorded two fetuses in a
female killed in Siam. Two fetuses were found in a female killed at Yenping,
Fukien, January 26, 1920. Mell (1922), who resided for several years in
southern Kwangtung, says that they are uncommon there and he had known
of but one, taken at Lofau; in the more northern mountainous parts of the
province, however, they were everywhere occasional. He saw freshly killed
ones at Jannfah River and Lihnshan. At the latter village, a very bold leopard
came in through the open window of his house and carried off one by one his
three dogs, while he slept. They were kept tied to his bed at night. The
first dog was taken on a Tuesday night, the second on Wednesday, and the
third at about 3 in the morning of Friday, notwithstanding that on Thursday
. night when a watch was kept for it, it escaped. A few days later the same
animal carried off a pig from a village a few miles away. A hunt was organized
by the villagers, and the leopard was at length surrounded and dispatched
with rifles and axes, although not before two men and a woman had been
wounded by the animal. Sowerby (1925c) speaks of a man-eating leopard
killed near Huchow, Chekiang, but it must be rarely that they regularly take
to a diet of human flesh. Black or melanistic individuals are apparently not
uncommon in parts of southwestern China, and especially in the Malay
Peninsula. Hodgson secured examples in Nepal, Anderson (1879) also ob-
tained two black leopard skins at Tengyueh, western Yunnan, and Mell (1922)
THE CARNIVORES 477
states that he saw very large dark skins from the Jannfah region, in Kwangtung.
Specimens examined:—In all, fifteen, as follows:
Fukien: Futsing, 5 (four skins, two with skulls, and a skull without skin); Yenping, 2 (one
without skull).
Hupeh: Changyanghsien, 1; Ichang, 1 (M.C.Z.).
Szechwan: Wanhsien, 1; Tatsienlu, 2, (M.C.Z., without skulls); no exact locality, 1.
No exact locality, 2.
212. Felis pardus fontanierii Milne-Edwards
NORTH CHINA LEOPARD
Felis fontanierii Milne-Edwards, Ann. des Sci. Nat., Zool., ser. 5, vol. 8, p. 375, 1867.
Leopardus japonensis Gray, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1862, p. 262, pl. 33 (not Felis catus n japonensis Boddaert,
1785).
Leopardus chinensis Gray, ibid., 1867, p. 264, fig. (not Felis chinensis Gray, 1837).
Felis pardus Buechner, Bull. Acad. Imp. Sci. St. Pétersbourg, vol. 34 (new ser., vol. 2), p. 100 (Mélanges Biol.,
vol. 13, p. 146), 1892.
Felis pardus var. chinensis Trouessart, Cat. Mamm. Viv. Foss., p. 354, 1897.
Felis pardus var. fontanteri Trouessart, loc. cit.
Felis pardus grayi Trouessart, ibid., p. 268, 1904 (new name for chinensis, not of Gray).
Panthera hanensis Matschie, Wiss. Ergebn. d. Exped. Filchner nach China u. Tibet 1903-05, vol. 10, pt. 1,
p- 198, 1908.
Panthera pardus japonensis Pocock, Journ. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc., vol. 34, p. 320, 1930.
Panthera pardus bedfordi Pocock, ibid., p. 323, pl. 10.
Type specimen:—The type specimen of Milne-Edwards’s Felis fontanierit
was a skin and accompanying skull obtained in the neighborhood of Peiping
by the French consul, M. Fontanier, and sent by him to the Muséum d’Histoire
Naturelle at Paris. Gray’s type of Leopardus japonensis was a trade skin
said to have been exported from Japan. It is figured by the author and
presumably is still in the British Museum. Since, however, the leopard
does not occur in a wild state in Japan, the skin in question must have come
from the mainland of North China. Gray’s Leopardus chinensis was based
on a skull from the mountains west of Peiping, China, in the British Museum.
Description:—It is generally agreed that the leopard of North China
is different from that of the southern parts of the country, but the definition
of such differences is not easy. Apparently, however, the northern animal
has a longer winter pelage and averages somewhat paler, with less intense
ochraceous background in the color of the pelt, a tawny buff instead of the
richer tone of southern skins. Available figures do not indicate any significant
difference in size. In the winter pelage, however, the hair of the back is
at least 40 mm. in length, whereas the South China leopard has a much shorter
fur, that of an adult from near Ichang in February having the long hair of the
back half that length. Jacobi describes the tint of the ground color in skins
from near Peiping as nearly ‘‘orange buff.”
Measurements:—Few measurements of North China leopards, taken in
478 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
the flesh, are available. Milne-Edwards notes the length of the type skin as:
head and body, 1,170 mm.; tail, 750. Sowerby says that in North China an
animal that measures seven feet (about 2,135 mm.) is not considered -out of
the ordinary, doubtless implying an adult male. Pocock (1930, p. 323) gives
the flesh measurements of an old female from southeastern Shensi, as: head
and body, 4314 in. (1,095 mm.); tail, 31 in. (790 mm.).
The skull according to Pocock (1930) averages slightly larger than in
Indian specimens, and Anderson (1879) believed, from a comparison with
Indian skulls, that “‘the muzzle is not so deep, but is more elongated.’””’ Busk
(1874) has published a few comparative details of Chinese leopard skulls also.
CRANIAL MEASUREMENTS OF NORTH CHINA LEOPARDS
Zygo- Width Upper Lower
Greatest Basal Palatal matic across cheek cheek
Source length length length width molars teeth teeth Sex Locality
60106 193 160 85 123 75 65 e738 ? Shensi
chinensis (type) 180 — —_ 117 — — — fe) Hopei
bedfordi (type) 196 — — 130 == = = Q Shensi
Nomenclature:— Most unfortunately the nomenclature of the North China
leopard is much involved. Pocock (1930), in his review, has revived Schlegel’s
Felis orientalis, 1857, for the Korean Leopard and believes it extends into
North China, meaning probably Manchuria, and north into Amurland. He
distinguishes the North China leopard from Hopei as Panthera pardus japon-
ensis, assuming that the type of Gray’s trade skin, bought in Japan, really
came from North China, especially since this specimen’agrees in color very
closely with Milne-Edwards’s colored plate of Felis fontanierii from Peiping. ©
If one accepts Panthera as a full genus, Pocock’s combination will, therefore,
stand as the proper name for this race. If, however, one uses Felis as the
generic term, the subspecific name will have to be abandoned for F. fontanierit,
since japonensis had previously been used for a race of Felis catus by Boddaert,
in 1785; and for the same reason the next proposed name, Leopardus chinensis
of Gray, 1867, is not available, for Gray himself had previously given the name
Felis chinensis to the small, spotted Tiger Cat. Trouessart, who used Felis
as the generic term for the leopards, perceived this some thirty years later,
and in his ‘‘Catalogus” proposed Felis pardus grayi as a substitute, based on
Gray’s North China animal. This was unnecessary, however, for the earlier
F. p. fontanierit is an exact equivalent, and is the proper term in combination
with the generic name Felis, whereas japonensis is correct in combination with
Panthera. A still further complication enters the case, in that Pocock, on
the basis of two skins from southeastern Shensi, one from Hupeh, and a fourth
purchased in Peiping (the type locality of F. p. fontanierit), erects for these a
new race, P. p. bedfordi, on the ground that they are “paler and much less richly
coloured.’’ The first three, however, are in winter coat or nearly so, the
THE CARNIVORES 479
type (labeled November 8) having the fur of the back about 25 mm. long.
The skin from Hupeh referred to this race is that of a young animal, with the
pattern, as usual in immatures, less clearly defined, taken in January. Con-
sidering the wide variation shown in the pattern and general tone of leopard
skins, it does not seem that this race can be well founded, but is really based
on winter skins (disregarding those from Peiping, one of which is immature).
I have examined a fine male specimen from Ichang, Hupeh, killed in early
February, which, on account of its short hair (20 mm.) and rich coloring,
I assigned to the South China subspecies, so that it seems more likely that
the male Pocock mentions from the same province owed its light coloring to
immaturity. Certainly it seems more reasonable to regard the Shensi leopard
as at most an intergrade between the North China and South China forms,
but, on account of its longer and paler winter pelage, to be best associated
with the former. Should the more exact study of a sufficient series of leopards
ever show that the Shensi animal is a recognizable form, it will have to be
called P. hanensis, a name given in 1908 by Matschie to the leopard of the
same region in southeastern Shensi, though based on purchased skins, from
Hinganfu.
Occurrence and Habits:—Sowerby (1923g) writes that the leopard is at
present found in only the southwestern part of Manchuria, and appears to be
the same there as in North China. In the mountains to the west of Peiping
it apparently is still to be found, as in Fontanier’s day, for Jacobi (1922)
mentions one secured by the Weigold Expedition, with thickly haired tail,
markings and ground color as described for this race. Elsewhere, it seems
to occur in small numbers, generally over most parts of North China, where
there is sufficient wild country with cover to hide in by day, as in Chekiang,
Kiangsi, and Anhwei Provinces (Sowerby, 1925c), and westward along the
Tsingling Range into southeastern Shensi, whence Pocock records (as Panthera
pardus bedfordi) an old female from the Shangchow district, another from Paoli,
and Matschie (as Panthera hanensis) skins obtained in Hinganfu. It ap-
parently avoids the desert country and loess and thus is absent from much
of Shansi and northern Shensi, but is recorded from Taiyuanfu (Shansi) by
A. B. Howell (1929). According to Buechner (1892), it is everywhere common
in southern Kansu. Berezovski secured two near Choissjan in that country,
and Jacobi (1922) records a melanistic skin from Sungpan, with fur even
thicker than that of a December specimen from Peiping.
As to its habits, Sowerby (1923g) briefly summarizes his own experience
in saying that it usually has a number of lairs in which it hides by day and is
a great traveler, ranging over a wide district, a single animal believed to cover
as much as twenty to thirty miles in a night. Often it follows the tops of
ridges where wild pigs have trodden out regular paths. The young are usually
480 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
two in number as with the southern animal. It feeds on small deer and game
birds, and frequently descends upon some mountain village to carry off do-
mestic animals, dogs as elsewhere being especially sought. The natives hunt
the leopard with guns, and often use poisoned bait, but have no way of trapping
it. As with other wide-ranging mammals, its very mobility would act to
prevent the local breaking up into well-marked races, except where a majority
of individuals are subjected to similar extremes of climatic conditions.
Specimens examined:—One only, viz.:
Shensi: 1 skull.
213. Felis tigris amoyensis Hilzheimer
THE SOUTH CHINA TIGER
Felis tigris var. amoyensis Hilzheimer, Zool. Anzeiger, vol. 28, p. 598, 1905.
Tigris tigris Mell, Arch. f. Naturgesch., vol. 88, sect. A, no. 10, p. 18, 1922.
Felis tigris G. M. Allen, Amer. Mus. Novitates, no. 360, p. 13, 1929.
Panthera tigris styani Pocock, Journ. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc., vol. 33, p. 531, pl. G, 1929.
Type specimens:—Five skulls sent from Hankow, Hupeh, China, formed
the basis of Hilzheimer’s name, and were believed to have come from that
immediate region. These specimens are in the Strassburg Museum, but
their numbers are not mentioned. All are cotypes.
Description:—The general type of coloring in all the races of tigers that
have been described is much the same, with great individual variation in the
degree of the complexity of the markings. The general ground color of the
dorsal surfaces is an ochraceous tawny, usually clear on the feet and the
nose. The head markings are somewhat as follows: the lower eyelid is
narrowly bordered by white, and the upper eyelid is similarly marked,
except that it joins a whitish area on each temple extending back about
half-way to the ear. This whitish area is crossed by the anteriormost of
some four or five narrow transverse black stripes marking the forehead,
this particular stripe rather T-shaped, with a zigzag stem and its crossbar an
elongate spot over the eye. A small black mark is present at the anterior cor-
ner of the eye, while from the posterior corner extends backward a short black
stripe ending on the cheek in a short vertical bar. Of the transverse head
stripes, the anteriormost is the broadest, those behind much narrower, and the
second or third nearly continuous with a narrow black band that passes con-
tinuously around the upper throat. There is a black line from just behind
the angle of the mouth, curving under the eye, then dividing into a short
upward and another downward branch. Other small irregular spots or lines
are present between the eyes, or on the sides of the face and muzzle. The
cheeks are like the ground color of the back, but the sides of the muzzle, the
chin, throat, belly and inner sides of the limbs are white with scattered blackish
transverse bars. The backs of the ears are black with a whitish transverse
THE CARNIVORES 481
mark half-way up. The details of the stripes across the neck, body, shoulders,
and haunches vary individually, so that hardly any two are exactly alike.
Thus among three skins obtained by the American Museum Asiatic Expedi-
tions in Fukien, one, an adult male, has the body stripes much broken into
broad lozenge-shaped blotches, with wide borders enclosing a bright rufous
center, while the stripes on the hips are clear, wide, and continuous. A
second skin shows the opposite extreme, with very narrow stripes, much less
broken over the body, but tending to be short or incomplete; the third specimen
is somewhat intermediate, with the stripes more broken and tending to form
blotches enclosing a tawny center but open on the upper anterior part. The
transverse markings are continued on to the tail in the shape of a dozen or so
rings, usually with tawny centers, and ending in a short black tip. Rarely
individuals show melanism, as in the case of the famous ‘‘blue tiger’’ of Fukien,
whose coat appeared a very dark almost bluish color (Caldwell, 1924).
The skulls of tigers may usually be distinguished from those of leopards
by their size, the greater elevation of the forehead, and by the concave lower
profile of the jaw. The nasal bones, too, are usually longer in proportion,
exceeding the backward extent of the maxillaries. The flatter forehead,
greater size, and broader nasals of lion skulls will usually distinguish that
species also, but Pocock (1929) has shown that this is not always the case
when a large series is examined. The South China Tiger, according to Hilz-
heimer (1905), differs in a number of skull characters from that of India:
(1) in side view the highest point of the skull is in front of the postorbital
processes, from which point the outline declines fore and aft in nearly a half
circle, whereas in Indian specimens the highest point is over the processes;
(2) the occipital triangle is more truncate as seen from the rear; (3) the skulls
average slightly smaller than in the Indian animal; (4) the upper carnassial
has a small antero-external accessory cusp in the Indian animal which is lacking
in the Chinese; (5) the last lower premolar in the Chinese tiger is said to have
a narrower cingulum and a more tapering anterior portion as seen from above.
All these small points, however, seem subject to individual variation and do
not hold good in the series that I have been able to study.
Measurements:—Swinhoe (1870c) tells of a male tiger killed at Amoy,
that measured from snout to base of tail, 64 inches; tail, 30 inches; ear, 5.5
inches; girth of chest, 40 inches. It weighed 330 pounds. Pocock (1929,
Pp. 530), who examined a number of furrier’s skins shipped from Shanghai,
found that the largest measured only 9 feet 9 inches, in total length, and that
was no doubt considerably stretched in skinning and pegging out. He regards
the South China Tiger as distinctly smaller than the Indian. Nevertheless,
it is a large Indian Tiger that will measure 10 feet in total length.
482 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
CRANIAL MEASUREMENTS OF FELIS TIGRIS AMOYENSIS
3
4 4
3 4
gh a E
g oe a
So, al Vet ee y eo. qld hee nae ee
3 Beets (ahot-dikte See acteurs ogee BL ld ers an
Zz So a & MS c = Ea ee ee
23484 MCz 48.7 —— 19.8 23.5 5.3 18.0 14.8 10.5 9.1 9.0 Tibet
240723 USNM (type of
O.e.vulpina) 37-3 — — 134 62 — — 60 —— —— Kansu
1554 (type) 46.5 —— — 23.7. 5.8 —— — —— 80 8.0 Tibet
Nomenclature:—With the receipt of additional specimens collected by
Joseph F. Rock in northeastern Tibet, and from Choni, Kansu, by Robert
B. Ekvall, it does not appear that the Kansu animal is really different, as
Howell supposed when, in 1928, he named it subspecies vulpina. The color-
ation is quite the same as in the Tibetan animal, as he himself states, and the
specimens since collected show that the size is also the same. The chief
supposed difference was the smaller size of the Kansu animal, with shorter
palatal foramina, but probably the specimens that served as the type series
were not fully grown, though no doubt sexually mature. For the present at
least, I would regard them all as constituting a single species.
Occurrence and Habits:—This large mouse-hare has a limited distribution
in the northeastern part of Tibet, and thence eastward to the extreme western
border of Kansu, China. Its bright rufous ears contrast strongly in winter
with the otherwise gray pelage. The original specimens collected by Przewal-
ski were from Burchan-Budda and the River Dy-tschju in eastern Tibet
and from an unnamed locality in Kansu. He writes that in the last-mentioned
area it is rather common, and confined almost exclusively to the high alpine
zone from 10,000 feet upward. It chooses the most desolate rocky places
and boulder fields where it runs quickly about on the steep precipices. It is
very cautious and when alarmed sits motionless, with its body hunched
together, and is difficult to tell from a small stone. It comes out to sun itself
on bright winter days.
In China, so far as known, this species is found only in western Kansu,
where specimens have been taken at Sining, and at sixty li south of Choni.
The example from the latter locality was secured July 20, and has the new
THE LAGOMORPHS 537
reddish summer coat partly grown. Many of the red hairs are minutely
tipped with dark brown, visible with alens. Dr. Joseph F. Rock, who secured
specimens very near the western border of Kansu, in Tibet, found them on
rocky bluffs of sandstone and slate, as well as on grassy slopes of the Hwang
Ho Gorges at about 10,500 feet elevation.
Specimens examined:—Four, including three from the Hwang Ho Gorges
north of Radja, across the Chinese border in Tibet, and a single one from sixty
li south of Choni, Kansu.
235. Ochotona thibetana thibetana (Milne-Edwards)
MUPING MOUSE-HARE
Lagomys thibetanus Milne-Edwards, in David, Nouv. Arch. Mus. d’Hist. Nat. Paris, vol. 7, Bull., p. 93, foot-
note, 1871.
Lagomys tibetanus Milne-Edwards, Recherches pour servir a l'Hist. Nat. des Mammiféres, p. 314, pl. 48;
pl. 49, figs. 1-1g, 1868-74 (1874).
Ochotona tibetana De Winton and Styan, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1899, p. 577-
Ochotona hodgsoni Bonhote, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, for 1904, vol. 2, p. 218, 1905 (in part). G. M. Allen, Mem,
Mus. Comp. Zool., vol. 40, p. 207, 1912 (not of Blyth).
Ochotona zappeyi Thomas, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. 9, vol. 9, p. 192, 1922.
Ochotona thibetana Thomas, ibid., vol. 11, p. 663, 1923.
Ochotona thibetana sacraria Thomas, loc. cit.
Type specimens:—Milne-Edwards never made it a practice to indicate
type specimens, but his account of this species is taken from specimens sent
to the Muséum d’Histoire Naturelle by Pére Armand David, from Muping,
Szechwan, China. In his fuller description, two individuals seem to be indi-
cated, one of them in alcohol, which are thus both cotypes.
Description:—In winter the general effect of the pelage above is buffy
brown, produced by a very uniform mixture of buffy-tipped hairs with nearly
equal proportions of those with tips of a russet brown (about Mars brown of
Ridgway); sides of the head of a slightly clearer ochraceous buff, and an
“indefinite small buffy area behind each ear. Ears dark brown on their exposed
portion (proéctote and outer edge of metentote), with a tuft of longer buffy
hairs at their anterior base, and their edges very narrowly bordered with white.
Backs of the feet whitish, washed with buff. A well-marked buffy collar
extends across the throat and continues posteriorly as a buffy wash down the
middle line of the belly, while the chin, lower sides of the limbs and the area
along each side between the dark of the flanks and the median band of buff,
are whitish, with the last-named area sometimes faintly overspread with buff
as well. The hairs of both surfaces have slaty bases, concealed when the fur
is not disarranged. The soles of the feet are thickly clad with short stiff
538 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
hairs, forming a pad of dark brownish; the pad of the terminal joint of each
toe, however, is naked and well visible. In summer pelage, which may not
be attained till June, the dorsal coloring is much darker, the dark-tipped
hairs more profuse, and predominating over the buff-tipped hairs; the general
tone of the neck and shoulders is a more russet brown, and the pale collar
behind the ears more obvious. The chin remains whitish, but the entire
under surface of the body is tinged with ochraceous buff, and the throat
collar is nearly russet. The winter pelage is long, about 15 mm. in the middle
of the back, while that of summer is much shorter, about 11 mm.
Measurements:—In his more extended description, Milne-Edwards gives
for the total length of a specimen, barely 150 mm.; on a succeeding page he
adds the dimensions of an alcoholic specimen, namely: total length, 134 mm.;
hind foot, 31; ear, length, 19; its width, 15. The length of the hind foot is
29 mm. in the natural-size figure of the animal. Dimensions of the following
specimens in the Museum of Comparative Zodlogy, from so near Muping
that they may be taken as typical, are as follows:
No. Total length Hind foot Ear Locality
7592 MCZ 147 26 — Szechwan
7593 MCZ 167 29 — Szechwan
7599 MCz 140 30 — Szechwan
The cranial measurements in the following table are those of various
described ‘‘species,” or at best geographical races of this mouse-hare, here
combined for better comparison. In the skull the basal suture seems to re-
main open most of the animal’s life, so that growth may continue long after
the animal is mature. There is much individual variation in the minute details
of width of nasals and size of bull, that have been used, apparently, with too
great reliance in distinguishing some of the races of this species.
CRANIAL MEASUREMENTS OF OCHOTONA THIBETANA AND RACES
Zygo- Mas- Width Inter- Upper Lower
Greatest Basal Palatal matic toid across orbital cheek cheek a
No. length length length width width molars width teeth teeth Locality
O. thibetana thibetana
7592 MCz 36.6 300 13.8 17.4 16.3 10.7 4.5 6.7 6.5 Szechwan
7593 MCz 370 30.5 14.5 17.6 16.3 11.5 43 68 6.5 Szechwan
7599 MCz 34.5 28.5 13.6 17.5 15.8 10.5 4.7 69 6.5 Szechwan
7594 McCz 36.9 32.0 14.6 17.7 17.5 11.5 4.4 6.8 6.5 Szechwan
7595 MCZ —— ——-_ «13.1 «17.4 —— 11.5 4.8 6:5 6.2 — Szechwan
7600 MCz 35-9 29.6 14.0 17.2 15.6 110 46 67 6.1 Szechwan
7129 MCZ $925 1 Sl-6! § 1455) 1086 417.6% TOF 4,55.) /6!5n) aGi7ie iupel
THE LAGOMORPHS 539
O. thibetana cansus
60405 35-4 29.8 14.0 16.2 15.0 104 — 6.5 6.0 Kansu
60406 34.6 29.8 12.5 160 -—— 10.2 — 60 6.0 #£Kansu
60407 34.51:20.3, 913,04) 15.6, 16:0., .o.8) ——,. 6:2. 610) » Kans
60408 SA Tee 20 5u pS. OTS.7. TO TO.2) i——. 610 5.8 Kansu
60410 25.1, 30:3 02:5, 15:7 25:5. 10.2 —— 6.2 6.2 Kansu
60411 — — 13.5 154 15.6 102 — 66 61 #£xKansu
60412 35-5 31.0 14.3 160 15.7 10.8 -—— 68 60 Kansu
144030 USNM 36.6 303 — 164 ——- — — 7.0 7.2 Kansu
144029 USNM 34.3 29.5 — 161 ——- — — 69 68 Kansu
O. thibetana huangensis
(type) 40.66 —— 19.9 —— —— 40 7.8 —_ Shensi
56854 40.0 —— 15.0 19.3 —— —— — 7.5 7.4 Shensi
56855 37.6 —— 14.5 18.5 7.3) «= -7.3) =e ohensi
56856 38.6 —— 14.0 19.3 —— —— — 7.5 7.0 Shensi
56857 — — 146 190 ——- — — 7.3 7.0 Shensi
56858 ; SFO) eee) AT et et ea ee On EEN
(type of O. morosa) 36.5 —— —— —— —— —— — — — _ Shensi
O. thibetana sorella
(type) 36.4 29.00 —— 17.0 —— —— 40 6.7. — Shansi
O. thibetana stevenst
(type) 35.0 —— — 15.9 —— — 36 66 — Szechwan
27055 MCZ 36.0 — 14.5 15.7 14.7 10.5 3.4 6.5 6.6 Szechwan
27056 MCZ 35.0 29.5 13-5 16.0 15.5 105 3.5 63 6.5 Szechwan
27057 MCZ —_— - —— 141 — — 105 3.4 65 6.5 Szechwan
Nomenclature:—The type specimen of this species was from Muping, and
there may have been a second one sent with it, as the fuller account by Milne-
Edwards in the ‘‘Recherches”’ seems to indicate. The original spelling of the
specific name, as Thomas pointed out (1922), was O. thibetana, though in the
later work changed to O. tibetana. No other specimens from the Muping
district seem to have been collected, but others from nearby localities on the
west, south and east may safely be taken as representing it. Thomas regards a
specimen from Tatsienlu, to the south, the skull of which was compared with
the type, as quite the same (Osgood, 1932). Zappey, who collected for the
Museum of Comparative Zodlogy in this region in 1908, secured a small series
just west and north of Tatsienlu, at Tachiao and Shuowlow, which after careful
comparison seem to be identical, nor do they differ in any important way from
others taken on the isolated massif of Wa Shan a few miles from the sacred
mountain Omei Shan, to the southeast. There are very slight differences in
size of bulla, width of nasals, or in measurements of other parts, but these
are very clearly individual and I can see no course but to regard all the speci-
mens as representing O. thibetana. One of the Shuowlow specimens sent to
540 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
the British Museum was subsequently described by Thomas as a distinct
species, Ochotona zappeyt; this was a large adult specimen, so that doubtless
the describer was misled into supposing it slightly different, for the others of
the series from the same place are obviously sufficiently similar to those to the
south and southeast to be regarded as conspecific. I have, therefore, placed
O. zappeyi in the synonymy of O. thibetana, as well as O. sacraria, based on
a single specimen from Omei Shan. This latter was examined at the British
Museum by Dr. Wilfred H. Osgood, who, in commenting on the misleading
practice of retaining binomials for the slightly differing races of O. thibetana,
makes this, “if recognizable,’ a subspecies. To this doubt may be added
the fact that specimens from Wa Shan, the other sacred mountain nearby
to the southwest, are undoubtedly the same as O. thibetana, and ‘since there
are no insuperable physical barriers between, O. ¢. sacraria may be safely rele-
gated tosynonymy. Dr. Osgood, in treating other related forms as subspecies,
nevertheless continues to maintain O. cansus as a separate species, believing
that it is distinguishable by smaller size. The study of a large number of -
specimens representing most of the supposed forms, however, indicates that
there is really but one species, O. thibetana, of which at best O. cansus is a poorly
marked race, and O. morosa another, hardly more distinct. By making these
changes, a rather more logical arrangement of the many names proposed is
brought about, and Ochotona cansus stevenst of Osgood will apparently represent
the southwestern Chinese form, unless in future it may turn out that the
latter is indistinguishable from the Sikkim animal, to which Thomas has
given the name O. sikimaria.
These matters are discussed further under the various subspecies.
Occurrence and Habits:—Originally discovered in the principality of
Muping, the typical race of Ochotona thibetana apparently occupies the higher
parts of the western Chinese highlands and from there as a center, extends
northward, probably nearly to the boundary of Szechwan, passing into the
slightly paler subspecies O. ¢. cansus in the Min Shan of southern Kansu. To
the westward, it extends an uncertain distance toward the Tibetan border,
as represented by specimens from Tachiao, Lianghokow, and Shuowlow (type
locality of O. zappeyi). Eastward of the original locality, there are no records
of the typical subspecies, but a specimen in the Museum of Comparative
Zoology, collected in mid-December at Fanghsien, Hupeh, by W. R. Zappey,
appears to be quite the same. It is in completely grown winter pelage and
seems to be the most eastern specimen hitherto taken, as well as the sole one
for the province. To the south, this form is found on Omei Shan and Wa Shan.
Osgood (1932, p. 326) writes that specimens in the British Museum, labeled
O. thibetana, ‘‘are mostly from the Mekong-Yangtze Divide and the Likiang
Range, both in Yunnan,” but he refers a specimen from the big bend of the
THE LAGOMORPHS 541
Fic. 21. Distribution Map.
Ochotona
1. O. thibetana thibetana 4. O. thibetana sorella
2. O. thibetana cansus 5. O. thibetana stevensi
3. O. thibetana huangensis
Yangtze and several from Kulu, Szechwan, to O. zappeyt, assuming that it
is different in having ‘‘a somewhat broader and deeper braincase, a flat, smooth
interorbital region and slightly larger audital bulla.” For the present, how-
ever, on the basis of specimens examined, I cannot feel certain that this race
has any claims to distinction. Thomas (1922b; 1923) regards as typical
O. thibetana the specimens collected by George Forrest in Yunnan, as follows:
Sung-kwei Range, 10,000 ft., 26° 24’ N.; Kiukiang-Salween divide, 11,000 ft. ;
542 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
Mekong-Yangtze divide, 11,000-13,000 ft.; Mekong valley, 28° N., 11,000-
12,000 ft.; and Likiang Range, 13,000-16,000 ft. He believes, however,
that they show intergradation toward O. t. sikimaria in slightly smaller audital
bullae. He had previously recorded the typical form from twenty-three
miles southeast of Tatsienlu, Szechwan, 10,000 ft., and one from the neighbor-
hood of that city, at 11,600 ft. A. B. Howell (1929) has recorded specimens
referred to the same species, from Sungpan, in northern Szechwan, as well
as from Ulongkong, ten miles south of Tatsienlu.
This species, as might perhaps be suspected from its coloration, is not
a rock-dweller like our American forms, but frequents thickets and woods.
On Wa Shan, where Zappey secured a small series, as well as on Omei Shan,
the lower levels, up to about 6,000 feet, are of the warm-temperate zone, but
above this level the vegetation is of a cool-temperate type. According to
the botanist E. H. Wilson (1913), the mountain is densely wooded wherever
the vegetation can secure foothold, the various species of Rhododendron form-
ing the abundant type of forest with silver fir in the cool-temperate zone,
while from 10,000 feet to the top at 11,200 feet, Rhododendron forms ninety
per cent of the growth. Zappey collected this species at levels between 8,200
and 11,000 feet on this mountain, indicating that it is not by any means
exclusively a high-alpine animal, so that there is no reason to suppose that
the specimen taken at an altitude of but 9,500 feet on Omei Shan, hardly
forty miles away, represents an isolated form. Pére David, who collected the
type of O. thibetana, also states that he saw this animal in the woods of the
high mountains, where it burrows and makes runs among the shrubbery,
leaping like a rabbit.
Specimens examined:—Fifteen, as follows:
Hupeh: Fanghsien, 1 (M.C.Z.).
Szechwan: Lianghokow, 1; Tachiao, 2; Shuowlow, 3; Wa Shan, 2 (M.C.Z.); Shagu (Muli),
1 (A.N.S.P.); Tapashan Pass, 2 (A.N.S.P.); Kalong to Merge, 1 (A.N.S.P.); Datsung,
1 (A.N.S.P.); Huanglungkwan, 1 (A.N.S.P.).
236. Ochotona thibetana cansus Lyon
Ochotona cansus Lyon, Smithsonian Misc. Coll., vol. 50, pt. 2, p. 136, 1907. _
Ochotona roylei Buechner, Wiss. Resultate d. v. Przewalski Reisen, vol. 1, Saugethiere, p. 156, 1890; pl. 23,
figs. 1, 2, 1894 (not of Ogilby).
Ochotona cansa Thomas, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1911, p. 180.
Type specimen:—An adult male, skin and skull, No. 144030, U.S. National
Museum, from Taocheo (Taochow), Kansu, China. Collected June 8, 1906,
by W. W. Simpson.
Description:—Like typical O. thibetana in all respects but paler, the pale
ochraceous of the forehead and muzzle in the winter coat of O. thibetana
THE LAGOMORPHS 543
replaced by a buffy gray, and the pinkish brown of the back and sides by a
nearly similar tint, in which buff predominates, with a very even lining of
black hairs. The lower surface in both, in winter pelage, has’ the whitish
chin, and ochraceous throat-band, which extends backward as a narrow
median stripe along the belly with a nearly white area between this and the
flanks. In fully acquired summer coat, this race is paler than O. thibetana
thibetana, with less black over the dorsal area, which is a more buffy brown.
The tuft of longer hairs at the base of the ears is also paler, nearly white.
The ventral side differs in the same way, being an even wash of buff over the
entire surface except the chin, whereas in the typical race it is a much deeper
tint with less white in the tips of the hairs.
The skull does not differ essentially from that of the typical subspecies,
except in its slightly narrower zygomatic width and mastoid width as pointed
out by Lyon in his description of the form. With a good series of both races
for comparison, it is obvious that the cranial differences are really less than
at first supposed, the total length being about the same in both, and the
width only minutely less. In bodily size there is a certain amount of individual
variation, and growth may very likely continue throughout the life of the
individual, for the basal suture is not solidly fused in the oldest skulls available.
Lyon writes that he fails to see why ‘“‘the total length of O. tibetanus is only
134 mm., while that of O. cansus is between 150 and 160.”’ He was misled,
however, by Milne-Edwards’s measurement of 134 mm. for an alcoholic speci-
men of the typical race, for on the preceding page of the latter’s account,
a measurement of 150 mm. is given. ;
Measurements :—See table, page 539.
Occurrence and Habits:—This race of O. thibetana is found along the Min
Shan range of southern Kansu, where it appears to reach about the northern
boundary of its distribution. The type locality is Taochow, and Thomas
‘(1911d; 1912d) has recorded others from the mountains forty to forty-six
miles to the southeast at from 9,500 to 10,000 feet. Others in the collec-
tion of the American Museum of Natural History are from the mountains
ten miles southwest of Choni and southwest of Archuen. A series from
Choni is in the Museum of Comparative Zodlogy. Two specimens from farther
to the northwest in the latter institution were collected by Dr. Joseph F. Rock
on grassy slopes south of the Hwang Ho, opposite Radja, in western Kansu.
Here at an elevation of 11,000 feet the conditions must be much more open and
less saturate than farther south, and the specimens are distinctly grayer than
typical cansus, yet this may be due to fading, since in late May they still retain
the winter pelage. The same collector secured a specimen in fine winter
pelage in February, 1926, in the Tao River valley near Choni at 8,200 feet
544 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
elevation, indicating winter activity. It was taken on a ‘‘grassy embankment
under spruces.’”” A brood of four small young, some 80 mm. in length, was
collected by Mr. Robert B. Ekvall 60 li south of Choni on July 17, 1926.
The winter pelage is held in the adult until fairly late, one taken June 28 at
Choni having only just begun the change. It is probable that the specimens
recorded by Jacobi (1922) and by Howell (1929), from Sungpan, northern
Szechwan, belong to this race. At all events the outposts along the edge of
the Tibetan plateau, where forest gives way to grass slopes and moisture is
less, would tend to cause a paling out in color, as in O. t. cansus, and so differ-
entiate them from those of the more saturate wooded country of central
Szechwan. Evidently, from the measurements given, Jacobi has confused
two species under his O. hodgsoni. Buechner has figured and described what
is obviously this animal, from Kansu, under the name Lagomys roylet.
I have continued to use the masculine form cansus, as in Lyon’s original
account, regarding it as a noun of common gender, as he seems to have intended.
Specimens examined:—In all, twenty-five, as follows:
Kansu: forty miles southeast of Taochow, 1; Tao River valley, near Choni, 1; Choni and
vicinity, 16; Archuen and vicinity, 5;south of Hwang Ho, opposite Radja, 2 (M.C.Z.).
237. Ochotona thibetana huangensis (Matschie)
TAIPAI SHAN MOUSE-HARE
Conothoa huangensis Matschie, Wiss. Ergebn. d. Exped. Filchner nach China u. Tibet 1903-05, vol. 10, pt. 1,
p. 214, 1908.
Conothoa huanghoensis Matschie, ibid., p. 243 (lapsus calamit).
Ochotona cansus J. A. Allen, Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., vol. 26, p. 427, 1909.
Ochotona syrinx Thomas, Abstract Proc. Zool. Soc. London, May 2, 1911, p. 27; Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1911,
p. 692.
Ochotona cansa morosa Thomas, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. 8, vol. 10, p. 403, 1912.
Ochotona thibetana syrinx Osgood, Publ. Field Mus. Nat. Hist., zool. ser., vol. 18, p. 328, 1932.
Ochotona thibetana morosa Osgood, loc. cit.
Type specimen:—The type is said to be the one of the two original speci-
mens that was given to the Zoological Museum at Berlin, but its number is
not stated. It was from an unrecorded spot on the route from Singanfu,
in southern Shensi, China, to Lanchow, Kansu. Since, however, the descrip-
tion best fits the race from the former region, the specimen may be assumed
to have come from the Tsingling in the vicinity of Sianfu.
Description:—A member of the thibetana group, distinguished by its
very slightly larger size, and the grayish tone, evenly lined with blackish
hairs on the dorsal surface; throat collar very pale buffy, extending as a short
_ buffy median line to the lower chest; rest of under surface whitish, in the winter
pelage. The general effect is a distinct gray in the winter pelage, as Thomas
has well described. In summer coat, the forehead, cheeks, nape and back
THE LAGOMORPHS 545
are darker, chestnut lined with black, and the lower surface of the body is
broadly washed with dark buffy.
The skull attains a minutely larger size than in the other races, as shown
particularly in the breadth of zygomata and across the auditory region. In
length the skull may reach 40 mm. but is usually less.
Measurements:—The dimensions externally are about the same as in the
typical race, but occasional individuals may by continued growth attain
dimensions much in excess of the average. The total length of the type of
syrinx is said to be 142 mm.; of the type of morosa, 149. Two specimens,
collected by the American Museum Asiatic Expeditions, measure respectively:
total length, 175, 164 mm.; foot with claw, 32, 30.
Cranial measurements are given in the table under O. thibetana.
Nomenclature:—The allocation of Matschie’s name Conothoa huangensts
has been the source of some confusion. It was given to one of two specimens
in rather poor state of preservation, brought back by the Filchner Expedition
of 1903-05. From the fact that Matschie places it in ‘‘Conothoa,’’ a name
for the subgenus having the palatal and incisive foramina united to form a
large triangular opening, one infers that it must be a member either of the
O. thibetana or the O. dauurica group. Matschie states definitely that it is
like the animal figured by Buechner in his plate 23, fig. 1, as Lagomys roylei,
but this is really O. thibetana cansus in winter coat, and actually does resemble
the Tsingling animal as closely as a colored figure could. Thomas has further
shown that the bulle in their long dimension are “‘markedly smaller’ than
in O. dauurica bedfordi (Thomas, 1909, p. 981). The measurements of the
skull, as given by Matschie, agree closely with those of other specimens from
the Tsingling and Taipai Shan regions, so that it seems that his name must
supersede Thomas’s O. syrinx and O. c. morosa, which were published later,
but evidently refer to the same animal. The type of O. syrinx was from the
Shangchow district of southern Shensi, while that of O. cansa morosa came
from about one hundred miles farther west on the same range. The former
was in winter, the latter in summer coat, which are so different in appearance
as undoubtedly to have misled the describer. There seems to be no doubt,
however, that both represent the same race, which, in its slightly larger size
and grayer coloring, is presumably characteristic of the Tsingling Range
and the neighboring Taipai Shan.
Occurrence and Habits:—In addition to the type of this mouse-hare
described from Taipai Shan, and the adult female from the same place, Thomas
mentions a young one, too youthful for exact determination, taken on the
Tsingling Range just north, in the Shangchow district of southeastern Shensi.
The single female described from near Fengsiang carries the range a little to
546 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
the westward along this mountain system. Dr. J. A. Allen (1909a, p. 427)
had previously recorded ten specimens from Taipai Shan, but for lack of com-
parative material, had referred them to O. cansus. Of these, he writes that
one taken June 17, and another July 1, had nearly completed the moult to
summer or post-breeding pelage. In 1921, the Central Asiatic Expeditions
secured several more at an altitude of 10,000 feet on Taipai Shan. One of
these, on September 30 had practically completed the moult to winter coat.
Specimens examined:—Fifteen, all from Taipai Shan, Shensi.
238. Ochotona thibetana sorella Thomas
SHANSI MOUSE-HARE
Ochotona sorella Thomas, Abstract Proc. Zool. Soc. London, December 15, 1908, p. 45; Proc. Zool. Soc. London,
for 1908, p. 982, 1909.
Ochotona (Pika) sorella A. B. Howell, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., vol. 75, art. I, p. 70, 1929.
Ochotona cansa sorella Osgood, Publ. Field Mus. Nat. Hist., zool. ser., vol. 18, p. 329, 1932.
Type specimen:—A female, skin and skull, No. 9.1.1.279, British Museum,
from twenty miles south of Ningwufu, Shansi, China, altitude 6,600 feet.
Collected June 10, 1908.
Description:—In summer pelage, of a general brown color above, “rather
darker than Ridgway’s ‘broccoli-brown,’ a lighter patch across the nape.
Under surface rather lighter, soiled cream-buff, a more ochraceous-buffy
area down the centre of the belly, the slaty bases to the hairs showing through;
sides of neck more tawny. Ears blackish grey with white edges. Upper
surface of hands and feet cream-buff, their thickly furred palms and soles
slaty brownish.”’ Winter pelage pale, resembling that of O. dauurica.
“Skull most like that of O. cansa, as figured by Lyon, but the upper
outline is more convex, the nasals are longer and narrower, the palatal fora-
mina are more widely open, and the bulla are markedly smaller’ (Thomas,
1909, p. 983).
Measurements :—Thomas says that the head and body of the type measured
140 mm., the hind foot, 27, the ear, 18. Although he states that it is even
smaller in size than O. t. cansus, this does not seem to be borne out by the
dimensions of body and skull as given. In a second specimen, however, the
foot is said to be but 25 mm. The winter pelage appears to be very pale,
more so than in other members of the group.
Occurrence and Habits:—At present but two specimens are known, the
type collected at some twenty miles south of Ningwufu, Shansi, and a second
from “‘fifty miles north of Taiyuanfu,”’ or, in other words, at practically the
identical place. Anderson, in Thomas’s paper, supplies the following note:
“The single specimen was taken by Mr. Sowerby in a wood upon an abrupt
THE LAGOMORPHS 547
hillside, where this, and probably another, had its burrow. The burrows,
which were long and intricate, were subsequently dug up without another
specimen being found.’’ This specimen, taken June 10, had just given birth
to her young and was still nursing. The second specimen (A. B. Howell,
1929, p..70) was taken in winter (doubtless the one mentioned by Sowerby
(1918, p. 52) from Wuchiaku). These records form the most northeastern
extension of the species, and are interesting for that reason. The actual
differences in size and color, as compared with O. t. cansus, are slight, but may
be sufficient to characterize the race, which from its outlying position is
doubtless a valid one.
Specimens examined:—None.
239. Ochotona thibetana stevensi Osgood
STEVENS’S MOUSE-HARE
Ochotona cansa stevensi Osgood, Publ. Field Mus. Nat. Hist., zool. ser., vol. 18, p. 328, 1932.
Type specimen:—An adult male, skin and skull, No. 33098, Field Museum,
from Wushi, southwest of Tatsienlu, Szechwan, China; collected May 14, 1929,
by Herbert Stevens.
Description:—In color there is no difference between topotypes and speci-
mens representing the typical race. Of three examined, two taken May 18
are in nearly full but worn winter pelage, while a third taken May 27 is in
nearly complete summer coat.
The skull, according to Dr. Osgood, is distinguishable by being narrow
and elongate, with small audital bulle, and it is true that, of two comparable
skulls I have examined, both are narrower in zygomatic width and interorbital
width than other specimens regarded as typical O. thibetana. Among the
series of O. t. cansus are some of similar appearance and others with an inter-
mediate condition. The bulle vary in size, as does the skull, in its general
proportions with age.
Measurements:—The total length averages 146.3 mm.; hind foot without
claws, 26; ear, 18.5 (Osgood, 1932, p. 328); in other words, quite as in the
typical race. The skull measurements of three specimens are given with
those of other races under O. t. thibetana.
Occurrence and Habits:—The recognition of this race seems to me a very
doubtful procedure, but out of deference to Dr. Osgood’s opinion it may stand
for the present until additional study shall confirmit ornot. The type locality,
Wushi, a short distance south of Tatsienlu, is close to localities whence the
typical race of O. thibetana has been recorded; others are mentioned by Dr.
Osgood from ‘‘Chaulu, which is between Wushi and Tatsienlu,” and from
548 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
Kwanchai, some distance northwest of the same city. Dr. Osgood regards
O. thibetana as a distinct species from O. cansa, so that such an anomalous
distribution would be accounted for on the basis of their ranges overlapping.
From a study of the material available, I had reached the opposite conclusion,
that but a single species is represented with several not very different races.
The slight differences in size of bulla seem to be all that distinguishes the
two supposed species, but from analogy of other species of the genus, it seems
to me more probable that these are age or individual differences, since all
intermediate gradations are found.
Specimens examined:—Three, from Wushi, Szechwan, topotypes (M.C.Z.)
240. Ochotona forresti Thomas
FORREST’S MOUSE-HARE
Ochotona forresti Thomas, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. 9, vol. 11, p. 662, 1923.
Type specimen:—An adult male, skin and skull, No. 23.4.1.91, British
Museum, from the northwest flank of the Likiang Range, Yunnan, China,
at 13,000 feet altitude. Collected August, 1922, by George Forrest.
Description:—This is described as allied to O. thibetana but considerably
larger than in any described species of that group. Hair of the back about
15 mm. in length. General color above of the same heavily lined brown as in
O. thibetana. Under surface dark soiled grayish, the hairs slaty at the base,
and whitish or buffy at the tip. Nape dark hoary grayish, this color extending
more or less on to the face, but the forehead is brown. Arms buffy or tawny
brown. Hands buffy whitish; fore claws very long. Feet dull whitish,
metatarsals buffy, brushes of the soles blackish.
The skull is said to be of the same general shape as that of O. thibetana,
but larger and not so flattened.
Measurements:—The following dimensions are given by Thomas: head
and body, 185 mm.; hind foot, 27; ear, 19.
Skull, greatest length, 39 mm.; condylo-incisive length, 37; zygomatic
width, 19.4. ;
Occurrence and Habits:—This, judging from the description, is a large
animal, which I had supposed might be a local form of O. thibetana, but Osgood
(1932) inclines to believe that it is a distinct species. A skin from almost
exactly the same locality at 12,000 feet, is evidently one of the O. thibetana
group, though but 150 mm. long, and if not identical with O. forresti must
be very similar to it.
Specimens examined:—A skin supposed to be this from the type locality.
THE LAGOMORPHS 549
241. Ochotona roylei chinensis Thomas
GRAY MOUSE-HARE
Ochotona roylei chinensis Thomas, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. 8, vol. 8, p. 728, 1911; ibid., ser. 9, vol. 10, p. 406,
1922.
Ochotoma (sic) roylei chinensis Thomas, ibid., ser. 8, vol. 9, p. 519, 1912.
Ochotona roylei sinensis Lydekker, Zool. Record, for 1911, Mammalia, p. 46, 1912.
Ochotona huangensis G. M. Allen, Mem. Mus. Comp. Zool., vol. 40, p. 208, 1912 (not of Matschie).
Ochotona (Ochotona) chinensis A. B. Howell, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., vol. 75, art. 1, p. 69, 1929.
Type specimen:—An adult male, skin and skull, No. 11.10.3.7, British
Museum, from Yaratsaga, near Tatsienlu, Szechwan, China. Collected May
16, 1911, by Captain F. M. Bailey.
Description:—In winter pelage, the color is described by Thomas as
similar to O. roylei but clearer gray and paler, lacking any rufous tinge on
the head and flanks. The tips of the belly hairs are grayish white, without
a buffy suffusion. Ears not especially large, their metentote grayish with a
pale-brown edge. Feet grayish white above.
A summer specimen (14 July) seems nearly similar, being of an almost
uniform iron gray over the back, due to a mixture of blackish-brown hairs
with others that have a subterminal white ring and a blackish-brown tip.
The top of the nose and the forehead are very slightly tinged with buff, but
otherwise are like the back. There is a pale-buffy area behind each ear,
and these almost meet across the nape. The back of the ear (proéctote)
is black, and there is a prominent tuft of long buffy hairs at the anterior
base; the inner surface is lined sparsely with short buffy hairs, then margined
with black, and narrowly edged with white. The feet are gray above with a
faint buffy wash. The lower surface is dark gray, the slaty bases of the hairs
showing through, and tipped with whitish. The specimen examined shows no
trace of a buffy collar or median area.
The skull is characterized by its rather prominent, bowed summit as
seen in profile, and by the obvious confluence of the incisive and palatal
foramina. There is no constriction of the bony edges between the two,
but the sides of the palatal foramina converge forward in a lengthened pyriform
outline to the anterior end of the incisive portion. The palatal bridge has a
distinct forwardly projecting bony spine on its anterior edge, medially. There
is a pair of frontal vacuities, one in the anterior end of each frontal, slightly
ahead of the center of the orbit.
Measurements:—The type specimen measured: head and body, 180 mm.;
hind foot, 32; ear, 30. A specimen collected in western Szechwan, by W. R.
Zappey, measured about the same, namely, head and body, 180 mm.; hind
foot, 33.
550 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
CRANIAL MEASUREMENTS OF OCHOTONA ROYLEI CHINENSIS
Zygo- Mas- Width Upper Lower Inter-
Greatest Basal Palatal matic toid outside cheek cheek _ orbital
No. length length length width width molars teeth teeth width Locality
(type) 46.5 — —— 23 — 86 -— 5.5 Szechwan
7602 MCZ 40:0) 93255 14.8 21) STO 2 TL:9Q) 7.4 7.4 5.5 Szechwan
Occurrence and Habits:—This is a very dark, iron-gray mouse-hare, lacking
any decided rufous tints on head or body, while the black-backed ears with
the contrasting tuft of buffy hair at the anterior base are distinctive. It
seems to be widely distributed in the higher parts of western Szechwan
Province and Yunnan, although Thomas states that a series from the south-
western part of the latter province seems to show some trace of a rufous mantle,
and thus may be nearer typical O. roylei. First described from near Tatsienlu
in central Szechwan, this species was taken at Yachiakun, 12,500 feet, by
W. R. Zappey, slightly to the westward of the same area, in 1908. In 1912,
Thomas (1912a) recorded it to the southwest, from Atuntze, northwestern
Yunnan, near the Tibetan border, at 16,000 feet, and more recently (Thomas,
1922b) he notes a series of summer skins from still farther south in western
Yunnan, namely: six from the Mekong-Yangtze divide, 28° 28’ N., at altitudes
of from 12,000-14,000 feet; two from the Mekong valley, 28° N., at 11,000-
12,000 feet; and one from the Mekong-Salween divide in the same latitude,
at 14,000 feet. Since the type from Tatsienlu is in winter pelage, Thomas
regards the identification as provisional. Probably one of these is the same
specimen, which he previously (Thomas, 1914a, p. 475) referred to Ochotona
roylet; it was taken at an altitude of 12,000 feet at Dokerla, by F. Kingdon
Ward. Buechner (1892, p. 160) records that several specimens which he
identified as Lagomys roylei were taken by Potanin on the Nan Shan Range,
above tree line in Bardun valley, between Ssolomé and Rdosskuj, but it seems
likely that these represent some other species, probably O. thibetana cansus.
Except for this, the most northern record for O. r. chinensis is Sungpan,
northern Szechwan, whence the U. S. National Museum has a specimen (A. B.
Howell, 1929, p. 69) as well as others from Ulongkong and Nganyangba, in the
Tatsienlu region.
Specimens examined:—One, from Yachiakun, western Szechwan.
242. Ochotona dauurica dauurica (Pallas)
Lepus dauuricus Pallas, Reise durch versch. Provinzen d. Russ. Reichs, vol. 3, appendix, p. 692, 1776.
Lepus ogotona Pallas, Nov. Spec. Quad. e Glir. Ord., p. 59, pl. 3; pl. 4A, fig. 16, 1778.
Lagomys dauricus Buechner, Wiss. Resultate d. v. Przewalski Reisen, vol. 1, Saugethiere, p. 172, 1890; pl. 22,
fig. 1; pl. 25, figs. 1-5, 1894.
Ochotona daurica Bonhote, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, for 1904, vol. 2, p. 216, 1905.
THE LAGOMORPHS 551
Ochotona dauurica Thomas, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, for 1908, p. 981, 1909.
Ochotona (Ochotona) dauurica dauurica A. B. Howell, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., vol. 75, art. I, p. 68, 1929.
Type specimen:—None is specified, although some of Pallas’s original
specimens, said to be still extant in the Museum of the Academy of Sciences
at Leningrad, U. S. S. R., may include the animal on which his account is
based. He states that “‘viuit in campis, montiumque decliuibus arenosis,
apricis, per totum Dauuriam,” so that Dauuria may obviously be regarded
as the type locality, that is, north of Urga, Mongolia, on the border of Siberia.
Description:—In winter pelage, the entire dorsal surface from nose to
root of tail is a uniform pale sandy buff, except that behind each ear is an ill-
defined area of a clear pale buff. Elsewhere the minute brownish-black tips
of the hairs succeeding the buffy subterminal portion, darken the general
hue very slightly. The backs of the ears are blackish brown, with a prominent
whitish tuft at the anterior border, while posteriorly they become pale like
the back. The outer portion of their inner side is lined with short pale-buffy
hairs, and the rim itself is minutely edged with whitish. The backs of the
feet are white, with a wash of pale buff. The under side of the body and limbs
is white, with a buffy area across the throat like a collar, continued posteriorly
on to the chest in the median line. The soles of the feet are thickly set with
stiff short hairs, whitish on the fore feet but more or less drabby on the hind
feet.
In summer pelage, the general color is much more yellowish brown, due
to the fact that the light subterminal rings of the hairs are pale ochraceous
instead of buff, and there seem to be more slender all-black hairs sprinkled
among them. Otherwise the type of coloring is the same, with a light buffy
patch behind the ears, the proéctote of which is blackish brown, the metectote
paler buffy, while the inner side is buffy, bordered with blackish brown and
edged with white. The under side is whitish with a buff collar and pale-buff
median line nearly the whole length. The claws are long and brownish black.
A peculiarity distinguishing this species at once from the rather similarly
colored O. pallasii is that the pads at the ends of the toes are concealed in the
dense hair of the sole and do not show as they do in O. pallasit.
In the skull the incisive and palatal foramina are widely confluent and
together form a slightly elongate pear-shaped opening, the sides of which are
only very slightly concave at the upper part.
Measurements:—The average length of an adult is between 170 and 180
mm., and of about fifty specimens examined, only one exceeded 190. The
552 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
following are the ten largest of the series measured by the Central Asiatic
Expeditions’ collectors:
No. Total length Tail Hind foot Ear Sex Locality
58898 182 13 30 17 fou Mongolia
59715 172 9 31 22 roi Mongolia
59728 185 — 30 17 fou Mongolia
59741 180 II 32 20 rot Mongolia
59793 192 5 33 19 es Mongolia
59717 180 _— 29 20 i} Mongolia
59728 185 — 30 17 Q Mongolia
59733 182 5 27 19 2 Mongolia
58884 170 5 a2 25 Q Mongolia
59722 175 5 29 18 Q Mongolia
CRANIAL MEASUREMENTS OF OCHOTONA DAUURICA DAUURICA
Length Depth Upper Lower
Greatest Palatal Zygomatic of palatal through tooth tooth
No. length length width foramina bulla TOW TOW Locality
59717 43.6 16.5 21.5 II.2 14.4 8.8 8.5 Mongolia
58884. 42.5 16.0 20.6 II.0 13.5 8.3 8.0 Mongolia
59741 43.7 16.0 21.2 sii tee 14.0 8.3 8.6 Mongolia
59793 41.3 15.8 20.7 10.0 13.7 8.0 7.4, Mongolia
59747 44.0 17.0 21.0 11.4 14.0 8.2 7.8 Mongolia
59734 43-7 16.5 21.5 11.3 14.5 8.0 8.2 Mongolia
59718 44.0 17.0 20.8 12.0 15.0 8.3 8.0 Mongolia
58888 42.5 16.2 20.2 11.5 14.2 8.6 7.8 Mongolia
59716 40.5 15.0 20.5 10.0 14.4 7.8 8.0 Mongolia
59732 43.0 16.2 20.8 II.2 — 8.3 8.2 Mongolia
58659 39.0 14.5 19.5 10.4 14.5 7.8 7.8 imm. Shansi
Occurrence and Habits:—This is a characteristic species of the Gobi and
differs from the other Mongolian species in selecting as its habitat the patches
of long stiff grass that occur here and there, or, as in the eastern part of the
Gobi, form the ‘‘grass lands.’”’ These animals avoid the rocky situations
chosen by O. pallasti, so that often the two species may be found together in
the same general region; but while O. pallasii makes its home among the slide
rock on the sides of hills or canyons, O. dauurica is found burrowing in the
patches of grass and weeds in ‘the valley bottoms. The Central Asiatic Ex-
peditions secured a large series of O. dauurica from various places in the Gobi,
from Kweihwacheng, Shansi, on the southeastern edge of the Mongolian
plateau in grass country, to the region of Tsetsen Wang and Artsa Bogdo. The
animals make shallow runways through the grass. Dr. R. C. Andrews writes
that it is distinctly a grass-living species. ‘‘On the desert there are rather
extensive patches of long stiff grass as hard as wire. In these spots the conies
have their burrows, which usually have fairly well-marked runways near the
THE LAGOMORPHS 553
Fic. 22. Distribution Map.
Ochotona
1. O. dauurica dauurica 3. O. dauurica bedfordi
2. O. dauurica annectens 4. O. dauurica altaina
hole. There were many flowers and grass tops at the burrow entrance and
some grass stems dragged partly in to the burrows. The characteristic spher-
ical dung—about the size of BB shot—is everywhere about the holes. The
animals seem to be both diurnal and nocturnal.’’ These ‘‘conies’’ make piles
of cut grass, often of considerable size, to cure in the sun, later storing this hay
in their burrows for winter use. Przewalski wrote that often grazing herds of
antelope will devour these piles, putting the coney to considerable straits for
food, and so perhaps becoming an important competitor with it. Such a hay
pile is shown in the cut (Plate VII) from a photograph at Artsa Bogdo.
The species was taken not only at Tuerin, but at various points to the west-
ward, excepting in the sandy desert, as twenty miles southwest of Urga, Artsa
Bogdo, Sainnoin Khan, and Tsetsen Wang, Loh, Uskuk, and Gun Burte, at
altitudes up to 8,000 feet.
Four races have been described in addition to the typical form, and the
554 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
descriptions are reproduced below, but it appears rather doubtful whether
these are sufficiently well characterized to merit recognition. Pending further
investigation, however, they may stand for the present.
The winter pelage is carried well into May, but about the twentieth of
that month the new coat is seen coming in on head and shoulders, and by mid-
June or slightly later is well developed. This species possibly breeds slightly
earlier than O. pallasii, for very small young (105 mm. long) were taken south-
west of Urga on May 18 and 19 and others near Tsetsen Wang on May 21.
A young animal taken at Loh had a well-developed first digit on the right hind
foot.
Specimens examined:—In all, fifty, from the following localities:
Mongolia: Artsa Bogdo, 7; Gun Burte, 5; Loh, 1; Sainnoin Khan, 13; Tuerin, 2; Tsetsen
Wang and vicinity, 6; twenty miles southwest of Urga, 11; Uskuk, 2; on the Ba plain,
south of Jugar Range, 10,500 feet, eastern Tibet or western Kansu, 1 (M.C.Z.); north
Koko Nor Range, 1 (M.C.Z.).
China: Shansi: Kweihwacheng, 1.
243. Ochotona dauurica altaina Thomas
Ochotona dauurica altaina Thomas, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. 8, vol. 8, p. 761, 1911.
Type specimen:—A male, skin and skull, No. 12.4.1.149, British Museum,
from Achit Nor, northwestern Mongolia. Collected August 27, 1910.
Description:—Apparently this race of extreme northwestern Mongolia
differs from the central Gobi animal only in having the hind foot on an average
slightly longer. Thomas writes: “Apparently quite similar to true dauurica,
with the exception that the feet are larger. Colour averaging a little paler and
greyer. Under surface rather whiter, the hairs with a longer slaty basis.
Skull slightly larger.”’
Measurements:—The type specimen measured as follows: head and body,
182 mm.; hind foot, with claws, 37; without claws, 32.5; ear, 22.5. In six
specimens the hind foot measured respectively, 29, 29, 30, 30.5, 31, 32.5.
These measurements are practically identical with those of Gobi animals.
The skull of the type measured: occipito-nasal length, 46 mm.; condylo-
incisive length, 44.2; zygomatic width, 23; interorbital width, 4.8; parietal
width, 18.
Occurrence and Habits: —Thomas regards animals from Suok on the north-
western border of Mongolia as the same as his Achit Nor specimens. This
race, if it is to be recognized at all, is possibly a little larger of foot than the
typical form, but Thomas’s measurements of the hind foot of the latter are less
than those of Gobi specimens taken by the Central Asiatic Expeditions; more-
THE LAGOMORPHS 555
over, the hind foot measurement of O. d. ‘‘altaina’’ is not essentially different
from that of O. d. “‘bedfordi.”” It seems very doubtful if the race is worthy of
recognition. '
Specimens examined:—None.
244. Ochotona dauurica bedfordi Thomas
Ochotona bedfordi Thomas, Abstract Proc. Zool. Soc. London, December 15, 1908, p. 45; Proc. Zool. Soc. Lon-
don, for 1908, p. 981, 1909.
Ochotona (Ochotona) dauurica bedfordi A. B. Howell, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., vol. 75, art. 1, p. 68, 1929.
Type specimen:—An adult female, skin and skull, No. 9.1.1.278, British
Museum, from Ningwufu, Shansi, China. Collected June 23, 1908.
Description:—This is said by Thomas to be like the typical race ‘“‘but with
larger bulle’’ and “‘size rather larger,’’ ‘‘winter specimens rather paler and
greyer.’’ These differences, though exceedingly slight, may suffice to charac-
terize the mouse-hare of this type from the desert region of Shansi south of
the Gobi. A specimen examined from Kweihwacheng, Shansi, does not seem
distinguishable from typical O. dauurica, for the measurements are quite the
same. The size of the bulle, which is regarded as of diagnostic value, varies
more or less, and it does not appear that the measurements given by Thomas
cannot be matched by those of specimens from near the type locality.
Measurements:—Thomas gives the following dimensions: largest male,
head and body, 192 mm.; hind foot, 31; ear, 19. Two females measure re-
spectively: head and body, 185 (type), 175 mm.; hind foot, 31, 32; ear, 22, 21.
The skull of the type measures: greatest length, 44.2 mm.; basilar length,
36.6; zygomatic width, 21; interorbital width, 3.5; breadth of brain case, 17.4;
length of palatal foramina, 12.3; oblique diameter of bulle in plane of basi-
occipital, 13.5; upper tooth row, 8.5. The oblique diameter of the bulla in
specimens from near Urga, and so practically topotypes of dauurica, is of
much the same size, two of four specimens examined having it 13 mm. as
against 13.5 in bedfordi.
Occurrence and Habits:—Thomas regards as of this race, specimens from
Yenanfu, Shensi, others from the mountains twelve miles northwest of Kolan-
chow, Shansi, and the type series from Ningwufu, Shansi. While it is possible
that these southernmost outpost colonies of O. dauurica, living under slightly
different conditions, are racially different, this nevertheless seems rather doubt-
ful, from an examination of the few Shansi specimens available. A.B. Howell
(1929) states that it is paler in winter pelage than the typical race, but it seems
unlikely that the character of the larger bulla mentioned by Thomas as the
basis for its separation, will prove of diagnostic value. Until the matter can
be more fully investigated, however, the subspecies may be allowed provision-
556 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
ally to stand. Howell has recorded as of this race specimens from Wutsai,
and from localities thirty and fifty miles northwest of Taiyuanfu and twelve
miles south of Yenanfu, Shensi. He states that Sowerby, who collected the
specimens, found their burrows ‘‘usually in very dense scrub where the sharp-
thorned wild jujube afforded protection from enemies.’’ Specimens from
Kweihwacheng, Shansi, I am unable to distinguish from typical O. dauurica.
Specimens examined:—None.
245. Ochotona dauurica annectens Miller
Ochotona annectens Miller, Proc. Biol. Soc. Washington, vol. 24, p. 54, I9II.
Ochotona (Ochotona) dauurica annectens A. B. Howell, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., vol. 75, art. 1, p. 68, 1929.
Type specimen:—The type is an adult male, skin and skull, No. 155164,
U. S. National Museum, from Sining (or Chingning-chow), Kansu, China.
Collected July 27, 1909, by Arthur de C. Sowerby.
Description:—This race is said to differ from typical O. dauurica in having
the dorsal outline of the skull less convex and the audital bulle slightly larger,
while from O. d. bedfordi it differs in smaller size (particularly of the skull), the
more convex upper cranial outline, and much smaller audital bullae. It seems
likely that none of these supposed characters is of great importance.
Measurements:—The type measured: head and body, 181 mm.; hind foot,
29; ear, 20.
The condylobasal length of the skull is 40 mm.
Occurrence and Habits:—According to A. B. Howell (1929), the U. S.
National Museum has six specimens, including the type, from fifteen miles
northeast of Sining, and one from one hundred and sixteen miles east of
Lanchow, Kansu. He mentions that the cranial differences as compared with
O. d. bedfordi ‘‘are too slight to be of great value in diagnosis,” though the feet
are slightly smaller and the coloration ‘‘a faint shade darker.”’ It would not
be surprising to find that this supposed race is really to be regarded as indis-
tinguishable from the typical O. dauurica. Sowerby, who collected the above
series, found them in deep loess gullies and ravines, where they were shy and
difficult to secure.
Specimens examined:—None.
246. Ochotona dauurica melanostoma (Buechner)
BLACK-NOSED MOUSE-HARE
Lagomys melanostomus Buechner, Wiss. Resultate d. v. Przewalski Reisen, vol. 1, Saugethiere, p. 176, 1890;
pl. 22, 1894.
Ochotona melanostoma Bonhote, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, for 1904, vol. 2, p. 215, 1905.
Type specimens:—The original description was based on a series of speci-
mens from Kansu and Tibet, without selection of a definite type specimen.
THE LAGOMORPHS 557
While it seems best to regard Kansu as the type locality, there are mentioned
two lots of three each from there, with a single number covering each lot, so
that the selection of a lectotype by number is impracticable without access to
the original series.
Description:—Externally the coloration as described by Buechner is very
much like that of O. dauurica, except that there is a blackish tip to the snout,
and the same color extends to the lips, as a sharply marked ring. In addition
the lower surface is uniform yellowish or brownish yellow. The color above
is sandy brown lined with blackish or brownish black. There is a buffy patch
behind each ear, and the flanks are a paler tint than the back.
Measurements:—Buechner’s table of measurements shows a range of from
200-242 mm. for total length; hind foot, 33-37; ear, 20-23.5.
Skulls are said to resemble those of O. dauurica, but are slightly larger
and more massive, with a lower profile in the hinder part. Buechner gives the
following dimensions: greatest length, 40-43 mm.; zygomatic width, 21.1-22.7.
Occurrence and Habits:—The specimens brought back by Przewalski on
his expedition into eastern Tibet (Koko Nor region) and the western borders
of Kansu, seem to be the first known from this region, where the species appears
to be common locally, making its burrows in open situations in the desert.
Three species of ground-living finches were found to shelter in the burrows and
even to nest in them in lack of better protection. Bonhote, who examined a
cotype of O. melanostoma, regarded it as practically identical with O. cur-
zonie of Sikkim, differing, if at all, in slightly larger size. It also seems very
close to O. dauurica in every way except the black nose and lips. Jacobi (1922),
in reporting on the mammals from the Weigold Expedition, says, however, that
the combined incisive and palatal foramina do not form a straight-sided
triangle, but that the sides are slightly bowed inward toward the anterior apex
more as in O. koslovi than in O. dauurica. Until more extensive comparison
can be made, its true relationships must remain obscure. Weigold found it a
characteristic species of the eastern Tibetan Artemisia plains, where it is
abundant and its burrows riddle the ground. These animals sit at the mouths
of their burrows and drop into them as the rider approaches. They are silent
but watchful, and are chiefly preyed upon by the desert fox and a large buzzard-
hawk (Buteo ferox). The same collector adds that in August, September, and
October they become unbelievably fat, and so are difficult to prepare as
specimens at that time.
Specimens examined:—None.
Family LEPORID
HARES AND RABBITS
At least two genera of hares occur in China, one of which is typical Lepus,
558 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
represented by the widespread Field Hare, apparently subspecifically related
to the European Field Hare, the other a harsh-haired species, which I had
earlier referred to the genus Caprolagus, but which Ognev (1929a, p. 71)
suggests may be a member of his new genus Allolagus, based on the Man-
churian Hare. Having examined both species, I should prefer to regard the
Harsh-furred Hare as better retained in Caprolagus. In addition to these, a
species of Oryctolagus, hardly differing from the European Rabbit, if at all, has
been described from Yenchowfu, Chekiang. It would be a remarkable thing to
discover a second species of this Mediterranean genus in China, and one cannot
help believing that this animal, described as O. kreyenbergi, was either an
escaped individual of the common European Rabbit, or was a young specimen
of Chinese Hare. Its chief distinguishing characters are a double interparietal
and the lower incisors with their inner margins parallel instead of approx-
imating.
The two genera of Chinese hares may be distinguished as follows:
KEY TO THE GENERA OF CHINESE AND MONGOLIAN LEPORID
A. Fur rather harsh, tail with the upper side colored much like the back; ear shorter
than hind foot; supraorbital process not marked off from the frontal by an
AN LeriOrmMOtCh 4s sera te catpe dns bine eas Oeronieael opt chas CIO ORI ee aan aes eee Caprolagus
B. Fur soft, in winter with many longer, stiffer hairs projecting along the sides; tail
black above, contrasting with the back; supraorbital process marked off from
the trontaliby, aniantenor notch). s4--0 eee icine ee eee Lepus
Genus Caprolagus Blyth
Caprolagus Blyth, Journ. Asiatic Soc. Bengal, vol. 14, p. 247, 1845.
The type of this genus is the Harsh-furred Hare of the Assam Hills, India,
Lepus hispidus Pearson. It is characterized by its rather short ears, which are
considerably less than the hind foot, the harsh texture of the pelage, the colora-
tion, in which the tail is nearly like the back dorsally; in the skull the post-
orbital processes are much less developed than in Lepus, and are not marked
off by a deep notch at the anterior base, but consist instead of a posterior pro-
longation only. The interparietal outlines are lost in the adult. The teeth
are essentially like those of Lepus. Apparently the hispid hare of the coastal
area of South China should be referred to this genus, and it may eventually
prove that the range extends across the extreme south of China, so that the
two species are not really geographically isolated from each other.
247. Caprolagus sinensis sinensis (Gray)
HARSH-FURRED HARE; CHINESE RABBIT
Lepus sinensis Gray, Illustrations of Indian Zool., vol. 2, pl. 20, 1833-34.
Oryctolagus aff. kreyenbergi Mell, Arch. f. Naturgesch., vol. 88, sect. A, no. 10, p. 28, 1922.
Caprolagus sinensis sinensis G. M. Allen, Amer. Mus. Novitates, no. 284, p. 4, 1927.
THE LAGOMORPHS 559
[Allolagus] sinensis Ognev, Zool. Anzeiger, vol. 84, p. 71, 1929.
Lepus yuenshanensis Shih, Bull. Dept. Biol., Sun Yatsen Univ., Canton, no. 9, p. 3, 1930.
Type specimen:—The name is based on the plate inscribed Lepus sinensis
in the second volume of J. E. Gray’s ‘‘Illustrations of Indian Zodlogy.’’ This
was said to have been drawn from a specimen sent by Reeves from China, but
apparently it was not preserved. As noted by Oldfield Thomas, the mammals
sent back to London by Reeves came from southeastern China, ‘‘more or less
in the region of Canton,”’ which may therefore be taken as the type locality.
Description:—Fur rather harsh to the touch; ear not very long, about
equaling the length of the skull, and less than the length of the hind foot.
General color of the head and back a warm russet, lined with black, the long
black hairs predominating in the medial area along the spine. The nape
patch clear ochraceous rufous, the fore and hind limbs, a ring around the eyes,
and the edging of the ears, the same. Tail above, of the same russet as the
back, mixed with a few blackish hairs. Ventrally, only the central area of
the breast and abdomen is white, faintly tinged with pale buffy; the chin and
flanks and the under side of the tail are light ochraceous buff; the throat is
dull buffy brown.
The skull is different from that of Lepus in the shape of the postorbital
processes, which are not marked off anteriorly by a slit-like notch from the
frontal, and taper to a sharp point posteriorly. The postorbital constriction
is considerably deeper than in Lepus, and the groove on the anterior face of
the upper incisors is a simple shallow depression not filled with cement nor
continued as lateral outpocketings into the substance of the tooth.
Measurements:—An adult female from Tunglu, Chekiang, measured by
the collector, showed the following dimensions: total length, 440 mm.; tail,
35; hind foot, 105; ear, 80.
CRANIAL MEASUREMENTS OF CAPROLAGUS SINENSIS
Post-
Zygo- Width orbital Upper Lower
Greatest Basal Palatal matic of brain con- cheek cheek
No. length length length width case striction teeth teeth Locality
Caprolagus sinensis sinensis
57380 78:01 4 62.5" 30:0) 30-4) = (250m t2-58 9 l5-4p OO Fukien
57381 86:0)" 69.2) £33-6)) 38082 727/0 GIO) £17001 A175 Fukien
45338 84:05. (65:5) 33:0) 913755) 0820:5i8 | EEO ee F501 TOL Chekiang
56523 U. MICH. 84:0), (66:2 | 33:05 e40i5ia 227-00 eul0.O) 0 ar5-5 16.4 Kiangsu
56524 U. MICH. 83.1 67:38 °33.20 39:08 27-0 iad: 15:0) “16:2 Kiangsu
55823 U. MICH. 85:5) (6725) 345) 4on p2cg 10.4 15.3 16.3 Kiangsu
Caprolagus sinensis flaviventris
84500 (type) 77.01, 60:5) (30:08 (1137.0 2ae5) LES) eTASP el55 Fukien
84497 67:00 54.51 L270) y 982-56 eo -0 11.3 13.5 13.8 Fukien
Occurrence and Habits:—The Harsh-furred Hare is the only native species
560 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
of southern China hitherto discovered. It was originally sent from the vicinity
of Canton by Reeves, but does not seem to have been reported from the region
since, unless Mell’s (1922, p. 28) reference to Oryctolagus aff. kreyenbergi is the
same, as seems almost certain from the brief description of the dark cinnamon
tail with a few black hairs. He says that it is taken only on a mountain east
of “Sin-dsau,’’ where it is apparently not common. In the country about
Yenping the American Museum expeditions secured several, but Mr. Clifford
H. Pope found it rare about Futsing. Farther north it seems to extend only
along the coast at least to the Shanghai region, whence Hollister (1912)
records it. There is an adult female also in the American Museum of Natural
History from Tunglu, Chekiang, and others from Tekan, Anhwei, and Nan-
king, Kiangsu, in the University of Michigan. Swinhoe (1870b, p. 449) wrote
that about Peiping this smaller and harsher-haired species is commoner than
the Field Hare, but this does not seem to have been the experience of later
collectors, and it is possible that he was mistaken, since there is no other
record of it so far northward, and Sowerby (1914) does not mention it from
farther north than the Shanghai region. Nothing seems to be recorded of its
habits. Wilson (1913) says that it is common in the reed-bed section of the
Yangtze.
In a recent paper, Shih (1930) has described as Lepus yuenshanensis
what is apparently this same animal, taken at Yuen Shan, Wukanghsien, in
southwestern Hunan. The characters claimed for it do not seem to be suffi-
cient to make it separable. Possibly, however, it is the same as the more
yellow-bellied race, C. s. flaviventris, next treated.
Specimens examined:—In all, eleven, as follows:
Fukien: Yenping, 4.
Chekiang: Tunglu, 1.
Anhwei: Tekan, 1 (Univ. Mich.).
Kiangsu: Nanking, 4 (Univ. Mich.); Shanghai, 1 (Univ. Mich.).
248. Caprolagus sinensis flaviventris G. M. Allen
Caprolagus sinensis flaviventris G. M. Allen, Amer. Mus. Novitates, no. 284, p. 5, 1927.
Lepus sinensis Thomas, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1898, p. 775.
?Lepus yuenshanensis Shih, Bull. Dept. Biol., Sun Yatsen Univ., Canton, no. 9, p. 3, 1930.
Type specimen:—A subadult female, skin and skull, No. 84500, American
Museum of Natural History, from Chunganhsien, Fukien, China. Collected
August 1, 1926, by Clifford H. Pope.
Description:—Like the typical form but darker, the ochraceous tints
deeper and the entire under parts ochraceous buff instead of white in the mid-
ventral region. General color above a uniform mixture of ochraceous buff
and black. All-black hairs predominate over the back and rump, mixed with
the general coat consisting of hairs with a dark base, succeeded by a broad
THE LAGOMORPHS 561
ochraceous-buff band and a short black tip. Head, anterior outer part of
ears, and the tail above, dark mixed black and ochraceous like the back.
Sides of the head, especially below the eyes, blackish, only slightly mixed with
ochraceous; an ill-defined, pale-buffy eye-ring. Neck patch clear ochraceous
rufous. Outer margin of the ears buff, their metentote and metectote more
ochraceous. Fore feet and limbs ochraceous rufous above. Hind feet and
entire under parts from chin to lower side of tail, clear ochraceous, the bases
of the hairs on the belly gray. A few black hairs are present on the lower
throat.
The skull does not seem to differ from that of the typical race.
Measurements :—In the type, the ear measures 62 mm., the hind foot 88,
the tail 55. Ina larger male, the hind foot is 98 mm., the ear about 60.
Cranial measurements of these two are given in the table under the typical
race.
Occurrence and Habits:—In the mountainous region of northwestern
Fukien, Mr. Clifford H. Pope found this a common species, about Kuatun.
It is known to the natives as the “‘shan t’u’’ or Mountain Hare. The five
specimens secured include two rather young ones taken June 15 and August
19, respectively. All agree in the more uniformly yellow lower surface of the
body than those from Yenping, and I have, therefore, ventured to regard them
as a local race, although it may eventually prove that the differences are not
as striking as the available material now seems to indicate. As previously
noted, it may be that this race extends inland to southwestern Hunan, and
that Shih’s Lepus yuenshanensis from Wukanghsien, Hunan, is a synonym
of this, rather than of C. s. sinensis. He states (Shih, 1930b) that three
fetuses were found in one of the specimens taken between April and June,
indicating small litters.
Specimens examined:—In all, five, from Chunganhsien, northwestern
Fukien.
249. ?Oryctolagus cuniculus (Linnzus)
Cuniculus kreyenbergi Honigmann, Sitzungsb. Ges. Naturf. Freunde, Berlin, 1913, p. 296.
Without having seen the specimen on which Honigmann based his
Cuniculus kreyenbergi, it is not possible to be certain as to its identity. He
regards it as closely similar to the European Rabbit, and mentions that the
skull shows a double interparietal, which precludes it from being a member
of either Lepus or Caprolagus, unless it happens to be an unusual specimen in
this respect. The type was said to be fully adult and contained embryos.
Should the animal prove to be of the genus Oryctolagus, one must suppose that
it had been introduced. Apparently the only specimen known is the one
described from Yenchowfu, ‘‘sehr wahrscheinlich,’’ Fukien.
562 THE MAMMALS OF CHINA AND MONGOLIA
Genus Lepus Linnzus
HARES
Lepus Linnzus, Syst. Nat., ed. 10, vol. 1, p. 57, 1758.
The hares included within this genus are of boreal distribution in both
Old and New Worlds; the Arctic species turn white in winter as do also those
of sub-boreal distribution, such as the L. timidus of northern Europe. In the
external form the ears are moderately long; the tail is fairly long and with its
OLIAN j
MONG zs x)
Fic. 23. Distribution Map.
Lepus
1. L. europaeus tolai 3. L. europaeus filchnert
2. L. europeus swinhoet 4. L. europeus aurigineus
THE LAGOMORPHS 563
terminal hairs about equals the hind foot. The latter is heavily haired, the
soles covered with stiffer denser hairs that hide the claws. Miller summarizes
the cranial characters as follows: ‘‘Skull with bony palate short, its length at
narrowest region never more than two and one-half times that of first upper
molar; width of choanz greater than least length of palate... ; sutures of
interparietal obliterated in adult; postorbital processes broad and triangular,
with distinct anterior and posterior limbs; first upper premolar with deep
median re-entrant angle, on each side of which is a smaller re-entrant angle
of varying depth; anterior portion of anterior lower premolar with a narrow
re-entrant angle on its front face and a broad re-entrant angle on external
aspect; second to fifth upper cheek-teeth alike, the re-entrant angle extending
from inner face about three-quarters of distance across crown, the adjacent
edges of the fold closely approximated and finely crenulate ... ; last upper
molar a small elliptic cylinder... .”
Of the many species of hares described from China and Mongolia, most
are merely local races of the black-tailed or the gray-tailed types, and really
represent probably not more than two or perhaps three specific groups. . In a
recent paper, Ognev (1929a) has reviewed the hares of northern Europe and
Asia with a large amount of material and has come to the conclusion that the
so-called L. tolai group, so well represented in Mongolia and North China,
is connected by intermediate subspecies with the typical Field Hares of
Europe, a conclusion that is not surprising in view of their general similarity
and the fact that many other groups of mammals are continuously distributed
across Europe and northern Asia as well. He would include Lepus timidus,
the Varying Hare, in a genus by itself, and place the Field Hares in Eulagos
Gray (type, L. mediterraneus Wagner). The differences do not seem to be of
more than subgeneric importance, however.
Key To THE CHINESE AND MONGOLIAN SPECIES OF Lepus
A. Upper surface of the tail black, the sides and lower sur-
face white to the roots of the hairs.
a. Black area of the tail broad, one-half or more of the
total width, ears shorter, not exceeding hind foot.
a’. Foot about 120 mm.
1. Colors pale, rump gray in winter............ L. europeus tolai (Gobi)
2. Colors less pale, without contrasting gray
Pumpin) Wititerss’.