. Annual report of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution. Smithsonian Institution; Smithsonian Institution. Archives; Discoveries in science. SOME TIBETAN ANIMALS. 435 litled to be ranked as a distinct species, or whether it should be regarded merely as a rariety of the chigetai, or wild ass of ]\Ion- golia, and the lowlands of au of Tibet, where in winter it develops a coat as thick and rough as a door mat, in order to atford etfectual protec- tion against the rigors of that season at such an altitude. In addition to the foregoing list of large mammals, Tibet is like- Avise the
. Annual report of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution. Smithsonian Institution; Smithsonian Institution. Archives; Discoveries in science. SOME TIBETAN ANIMALS. 435 litled to be ranked as a distinct species, or whether it should be regarded merely as a rariety of the chigetai, or wild ass of ]\Ion- golia, and the lowlands of au of Tibet, where in winter it develops a coat as thick and rough as a door mat, in order to atford etfectual protec- tion against the rigors of that season at such an altitude. In addition to the foregoing list of large mammals, Tibet is like- Avise the home of a number of peculiar species of smaller size. Among these it must, however, suffice to make mention of only two on the present occasion. Firstly, there is a remarkable species of water shrew, differing in many respects from the common water shrew {Neo7ny8 fodiens), and accordingly referred to a genus by itself under the name of Ncctogale elegans. Of that genus it is the sole known re])resentative. AVhen Ave are fully acquainted Avith it the Tibetan palm civet {Paradoxurus lanif/er), at present known only by a single skin obtained so long ago as 1836, Avill prove almost as interesting a species, for it is quite probable that it Avill turn out to be generally dis- tinct from the palm civets of India and the Malay countries, from Avhich it difl'ers by its woolly coat. Such a large number of peculiar generic and specific types of mam- fig. 5.—Head of kiang. mals restricted to a continental area of the comparatiA^ely small size of the Tibetan plateau is a feature unparalleled elscAvhere, and to find an analogous instance Ave must take the case of an island like Celebes, Avhich has been isolated for ages from all surrounding lands. It Avould seem, therefore, that Tibet has been similarlv isolated, so far as immigration and emicrra- tion of its animal fauna is concerned, for a vast period of time; an insulation due, doubtless, to its great elevation aboA'e the sea level, and
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