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Show 208 DR. J, SCULLY ON THE MAMMALS OF GILGIT. [Jail. 18, in all external characters, with the type of that species preserved in the British Museum. In the 'Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal,' 1877, ii. pp. 324-326, M r . Blanford described, as a new species, a Hare obtained by Major Biddulph in Yassin, under the name of L. biddulphi. So far as it is possible to arrive at a conclusion on such a point without actual examination of the type, I believe that L. biddulphi is the same as L. tibetanus; and I will briefly give m y reasons for this opinion. Mr. Blanford considers that Lepus biddulphi closely approaches L. tibetanus, but differs in some cranial characters, which he details at length, the skulls of L. tibetanus which he uses for his comparison being those of the Hare inhabiting the Nubra valley in Ladak. But the type of L. tibetanus was obtained in the neighbourhood of Iskardo, a point midway between Yassin and the Nubra valley; so that if there be a specific difference between the Yassin and Nubra Hares, it is quite as likely that the latter would require a new name as the former: the skull of the type of L. tibetanus is not available for examination. Further, there is now in the British Museum a specimen of a Hare collected by Major Biddulph in Yassin, in September 1876, at an elevation of 7000 feet. This must have been obtained in the very same valley as the type of L. biddulphi, and in the same month. This example agrees perfectly in external characters with m y Gilgit specimens, with the type of L. tibetanus, and with the Nubra-valley Hare. Dr. Gunther kindly allowed the skull of the Yassin Hare mentioned above and one of the Nubra specimens to be extracted for examination ; and I found that the first agreed well with m y Gilgit specimens, and only differed slightly from the Nubra-valley skull in haying the posterior ends of the nasals less rounded and the parietals a little flatter. In all these specimens the nasals extend backwards some distance beyond the posterior terminations of the preemaxillse. I believe that the Hares from the Nubra valley, Iskardo, Gilgit, and Yassin are not specifically separable. UNGULATA. 29. CAPRA SIBIRICA, Meyer. Capra sibirica, Meyer, Zool. Annal. i. 397 (1794). _ The Himalayan Ibex is common in the Astor valley, the Gilgit district, Nagar, liunga, and Yassin. It inhabits a higher zone than the Markhor (Capra falconeri), well above the forest-region, where occasional grassy slopes are to be found near the crests of the mountains. In a large series of horns of this animal, from the countries mentioned above, a considerable variation in curvature is found ; and in some specimens the points of the horns converge, while in others they diverge; but these variations obviously do not indicate any specific difference. The very dark Himalayan Ibex occasionally mentioned by authors are merely old males in winter vesture, and are not confined to any particular locality. |