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Show 62 MESSRS. DANFORD AND ALSTON ON [Feb. 3, inches. inches. Length of head and body 3*50 3*00 „ tail 2*70 2*63 ear *50 *45 hind foot *70 *64 Dr. Severtzoff named the House-Mouse of Turkestan "Mus wag-neri ft. major (M. tomak ?, n. sp. ?)"* without describing it; and Mr. Blanford has separated the form found in the east of the same country as M. pachycercus2; both of these, if distinct, are certainly closely allied to M. bactrianus. 40. *Mus SYLVATICUS, Linn. Yaban-sytchan. D. & A., no. 31. 41. *Mus MYSTACINUS, Danf. & Alst. Dagh-sytchan. D. & A., no. 32. Danford did not meet with this Mouse on his last expedition, not having been able to collect in any suitable localities. 42. fARVICOLA SOCIALIS, Pall. To this species we are inclined to refer two small Voles which were sent by Messrs. Dickson and Ross from Erzeroom to this Society, and which are now in the British Museum: they agree well both in dentition and proportions with Keyserling and Blasius's subgeneric and specific diagnoses3, and fairly with Schreber's description4, although their tails can hardly be said to be white. The Arvicolce of Western Asia and Eastern Europe are so little known, either from well-preserved specimens or accurate descriptions, that it is at present impossible to clear up the relationship between A. socialis and some other nominal species, such as A. micrurus (S. G. Gm.), A. mystacinus, Menetries, and A. syriacus (Licht.). But when we remember the variability of the better-known European and American Voles, it appears not unlikely that these will prove to be merely races or varieties of Pallas's species. 43. *tARVicoLA GUENTHERI, sp. n. (Plate V.) lArvicola leucura, Severtzoff, Turkest. Jevotnie, p. 82 (1873, descr. orig., nee Gerbe). It is not with a light heart that we venture to add to the long list of described species of Arvicola ; but two specimens of a Vole, which Danford found abundantly in the marshes below Marash, present such striking characters that no choice is left to us. The following is a detailed description of the animal, which belongs to Blasius's subgenus Arvicola proper, characterized by the first lower molar having nine and the second upper molar four cemental prisms5. 1 Turkestanskie Jevotnie, pp. 61, 82; Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. (4th ser.) xviii. p. 53. M. wagneri, Eversmann (Bull. Soc. Imp. Moscou, xxi. lre partie, p. 191), is usually considered to be a synonym of M. minutus, Pall. 2 J. As. Soc. Beng. xliv. pt. 2, p. 108 ; 2nd Yarkand Mission, M a m m . p. 53, pl. ix. fig. 2, pl. x.b. fig. 4. 3 Wirbelth. Eur. pp. 33, 34. <- Saugth. iv. p. 682. 6 Saugeth. Deutschl. p.374. |