Page:Natural History Review (1861).djvu/28

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
16
REVIEWS.

11. Lutra aterrima.—Pallas' Otter-like animal, described by the great traveller as Viverra aterrima, is conjectured to have been a variety of the common otter, Lutra vulgaris.

12. Enhydris marina.—The Sea-otter, which is stated by Siebold to occur occasionally in Japan, appears to be known to the inhabitants of the southern coast of Sachalin, but to be far from commonly met with.

13. Canis lupus.—The wolf of Amoorland is considered by Von Schrenck to be quite identical with the European Canis lupus. Temminck's Canis hodophilax, under which title the authors of the "Fauna Japonica" separate the Japanese wolf, is believed to be likewise undistinguishable from the same species.

14. Canis alpinus.—Only one example of this little-known mountain-wolf, first discovered by Pesteref in 1794, was obtained by Von Schrenck's expedition. Its specific validity is fully recognized.

15. Canis vulpes.—The Fox, in all its many varieties of colouring, is very common in Amoorland. Its fur is a regular article of traffic with the natives, next in importance to that of the Sable and Otter.

16. Canis lagopus.—No traces of the Polar Fox were met with even in Sachalin; and it is suspected that Siebold's notice of this species inhabiting the Japanese Kuriles is incorrect.

17. Canis procyonides.—A very extended notice and elaborate description is given of this singular species of Canis, which was only previously known from the insufficient accounts of Gray and Temminck. Herr von Schrenck shows that the names Canis procyonides (!) and Canis viverrinus are really referable to one and the same species, which varies much in summer and winter pelage, and is of opinion that the differences in the dentition are not such as to necessitate the generic separation of this animal from the true Canes, as has been proposed by Temminck.[1]

18. Canis familiaris.

19. Felis lynx.—The true Felis lynx of Europe is found throughout the wooded districts of Amoorland.

20. Felis tigris.—The existence of the Tiger, popularly supposed to be confined to the hot jungles of India, as a permanent resident on the Amoor, is one of the most remarkable facts known in geographical distribution. Near the mouth of the Ussuri (in north latitude 48°), the Tiger is "not only not a scarce visitant, but an ordinary resident in the land in summer and winter, commonly met with, and frequently destructive to mankind, and to cattle." It has even crossed the ice further north, in latitude 52°, and penetrated into the island of Sachalin, although here only to be considered as an occasional intruder.[2]

21. Felis irbis.—The Ounce is not so common as the Tiger near


  1. In Tijdschr. voor natuurl Geschied. v., p. 285, as Nyctereuxes viverrinus.
  2. Confer Brandt's "Untersuchungen ueber die geographische Verbreitung des Tigers," &c. Mem. Acad. Sc. St. Petersburg, 6me ser., vol. viii.