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Show 78 MR. G. E. H. BARRETT-HAMILTON ON [Feb. 7, through the flanks to the peppery reddish-brown of the upper surface. All these peculiarities seemed to clearly point to a new species or subspecies of Mouse ; but the animal having been in spirit, its colour was regarded as unsatisfactory, and the unusual proportions of its ears and tail were ascribed to individual variation. And so the specimen was put. on one side in the hope that in due time further examples might be procured. Early in the spring of the present year I happened to come across the specimen, and, being greatly struck by its remarkable appearance, I at once endeavoured to procure some more of these St. Kilda Mice, with the result that m y friend Mr. Henry Evans, during the course of a yachting cruise among the Scotch Islands, put in at St. Kilda and landed some traps for m e on the island. Thanks to Mr. Evans, I have now before me, in addition to Mr. Steele Elliott's specimen, a fine adult pair, male and female, as well as a young female, of the St. Kilda Mouse, all sent down in spirit. The dimensions, in millimetres, of these St. Kilda Mice are as follows :- Head Hind and body. Tail. foot. Ear. cJ (skin : J. Steele Elliott. 1894; 1 a, Hfi „K Brit. Mus. Coll. no. 94.7.16.1) j" 01 6D Zt> - cJ(skin: H. Evans, 1898; Coll. 1 107 Q1 <-,... 17 G. E. H. B.-H. no. 556) j 1U/ yi •Ab 17 $ (spirit: ditto; ditto) 110 94 24 15 5 ( „ juv.: ditto; ditto) ... 82 77 24"5 155 They are thus remarkably large mice for typical Mus sylvaticus, and the adults equal in size the largest measurements of the form known as Mus fiavicollis Melch. The skull of the adult male is as large an example as I have ever seen, reaching a total length of 29 m m. The following list of total lengths of the skulls of various sylvaticus-like forms will illustrate this point:- mm. M. fiavicollis,1 6 29 Suffolk. 6 28 ( W . 264) Hereford. 6 27 (W. 137) 2 28 (A. 28) 28 (W. 75) M. hebridensis, tf (type) . . 27 M. sylvaticus (old) 26 (W. 10) (in general) .. 26 to 27. •>•> In form and proportions these mice resemble Mus hebridensis, 1 The majority of these specimens have been placed at my disposal by my friend Mr. de Winton, and the numbers appended are those affixed to them in his collection. |