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Show 1880.] THE MAMMALS OF ASIA MINOR. 61 it is referable to the next species; and there appears to be no other evidence of the occurrence of C. accedula in Asia Minor.] 36. *f CRICETUS PH^US, Pall. Kara-guz. Abundant in houses at Kaisariyeh. Those caught generally had their pouches stuffed with dry pigeon-droppings. It was remarkable that none of these Hamsters ventured into Danford's traps until the house had been cleared of Mice ; apparently the latter, in spite of their smaller size, have the upper hand in the murine polity. [Mus RATTUS, Linn. D. & A., p. 279.] 37. Mus DECUMANUS, Pall. D. & A., no. 29. [Mus ABBOTTI, Waterh. Under this name Mr. Waterhouse descrihed a Mouse sent many years ago to this Society from Trebizond by Mr. Keith E. Abbott1. His type is not to be found in that portion of the Society's collection which passed to the British Museum ; and we can only direct the attention of collectors to his original description. The animal is stated to have been smaller than a Harvest-Mouse (length of head and body 1 inch 3 lines, of tail 1 inch 11 lines), and of a deeper colour than Mus musculus. Had the description been given by any less trustworthy writer, we should have had little hesitation in regarding it as having been founded on a young individual of that species.] 38. *Mus MUSCULUS, Linn. Sytchan. D. & A., no. 30. Specimens of the common House-Mouse were obtained in various towns and villages, including Oroul, near the Euphrates, where the range of this species overlaps that of M. bactrianus. These vary considerably in size and in intensity of colour-some, like the example mentioned in our first paper, being very pale in tint, while others are small and usually dark. Two House-Mice from a village in the Giaour-Dagh are so'peculiar in coloration that at first sight they appear to belong to quite a distinct species, their upper parts being of a light fawn which passes insensibly into the still paler and more yellowish fawn of the belly. But we can find no structural differences whatever ; and an English variety of M. musculus almost identical in tint is preserved in the British Museum. 39. *tMus BACTRIANUS, Blyth. Of this species, which is probably, as Mr. Blanford remarks, " the House-Mouse of the extreme north-west of India, Kashmir, Afghanistan, Baluchistan, and Southern Persia," specimens were trapped at Oroul, on the Euphrates, along with M. musculus, thus showing that its range extends considerably further west than has hitherto been supposed. Two examples which were preserved agree well with M r Blanford's excellent description and figure2, and with his Persian specimens in the British Museum, only differing in having slightly shorter tails. Measurements (m spirits):- 1 P. Z. S. 1837, p. 77. 2 East. Persia, ii. pp. 56, 57, pl v. fig. 2. |