| OCR Text |
Show 54 MR. O. THOMAS ON THE MAMMALS OF [Jan. 19, 2. On the Mammals presented by Allan O. Hume, Esq., C.B., to the Natural History Museum. By OLDFIELD THOMAS, F.Z.S. [Eeceived November 16, 1885.] (Plates V. & VI.) CONTENTS. Introductory remarks, p. 54. III. The Tenasserim Collection, I. The Sambhar Collection, p. 55. p. 65. II. The Manipur Collection, p. 57. TV. The Malay Peninsula Collection, p. 72. Accompanying the magnificent donation of Indian birds recently made to the National Museum by Mr. A. O. Hume, there is a collection of nearly 400 mammals, which, although appearing of small account beside the enormous ornithological series, is yet, viewed on its own merit, one of the finest collections of mammals ever received by the Museum. This is due not only to the large number of the specimens and the excellence of the skins, which are both in preparation and conservation very far above the average, but also to the careful manner in which they have been labelled, nearly all of them having their exact localities and dates recorded. Thus of the 371 specimens retained in the Museum, only 59 are undated, and only some 10 or 12 are without exact localities, while such large series of perfect skins, especially of the Squirrels and other small mammals, have probably never before been brought together. The collection consists of a few specimens respectively from Simla, Delhi, the Nilghiris, and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, but the great mass of it came from four separate localities, viz. Sambhar, in Rajpootana, Manipur, Tenasserim, and the Malay peninsula, and I have thought it better not to give one list of the whole, thereby confusing the localities and destroying any use the list might have for faunistic purposes, but to give four separate lists, each of which forms a distinct contribution to the fauna of a well-defined locality. The total number of species represented in the collection is 106, of which 19 are from Sambhar, 19 from Manipur, 25 from Tenasserim, and 28 from the Malay peninsula, the remainder being from the other localities above mentioned. Before commencing the detailed lists, I must express m y obligations to Mr. W . T. Blanford for the assistance he has given me in working out this collection, an assistance the more valuable as he is himself preparing a work on the mammals of India, and has therefore the whole subject at his fingers' ends. For help also in making out details of localities, dates, &c. I must thank my colleague Mr. R. Bowdler Sharpe, who himself fetched the collection from Simla, and to whose careful packing the excellent condition in which the specimens now are is partly due. |
