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Show 550 COL. YERBURY AND MR. O. THOMAS ON [June 18, thoroughly sound, revision of the group, in which he evolved something like order out of chaos. This pretty species seemed to be common, both at Lahej and Shaik Othman. 22. GERBILLUS (DIPODILLUS) LIXA, sp. n. A. Skin. Shaik Othman. 24. II. 95. by c Skins ; el. In spirit. Lahej. 26-29. III. 95. Size, proportions of trunk and tail, and general colour and appearance very much as in Mus bactrianvs-, that is to say, the pallid desert form of Mus musculus. Colour above greyish fawn, the slaty basis to the hairs showing through. Face-markings as in G. pcecilops, although much less prominent; supraorbital and postauricular white, and dark nasal spots present. Ears small, laid forwards in a spirit-specimen they just reach to the posterior canthus of the eye. Under surface and fore and hind limbs pure white throughout; hind feet very thick and lumpy ; palms and soles as in G. pcecilops-i. e., naked with five anterior and six posterior pads, the proximal plantar ones very small. Tail short, scarcely longer than the bead and body, brown above, white below, its terminal inch very inconspicuously tufted. Skull, compared with that of G. nanus or 67. simoni, broader and heavier, with a much broader muzzle. Bullae larger than in G. simoni, smaller than in 67. nanus. Laminae of molars directly transverse. Dimensions of the type, a slightly immature female, measured in the flesh by collector:- Head and body 65 millim.; tail 75 ; ear 8-5. Skull: basal length 19*2x24; zygomatic breadth 13*7x8*4; nasals 2*4 x 4*7 ; interparietal 3*1 x 6*6 ; diastema 6*5 x 3-5 ; greatest diameter of bulla 8*9. A n adult male in spirit measures : head and body 70; tail 74 ; hind foot 2 1 ; ear 9 x 6*5. Type. Skin a. B. M . No. 95.6.1.67. This little Gerbille most nearly resembles G. nanus, Blanf., and its allies, but differs from any of them by its heavy lumpy feet and short and little crested tail. G. bottce, Lat., of the distinction of which from 67. nanus we are at present unable to satisfy ourselves, was founded on a specimen with a mutilated tail; but SundevalFs " Gerbillus gerbillus, Oliv.," likewise from Sennaar, had a tail 115 millim. long, and probably represents Lataste's species, although the latter author assigns it to his 67. quadrimaculatus. The last-named and G. dasyurus, Wagn., are both long-tailed forms. One short-tailed Gerbille, 67. simoni, Lat., has been described from Algeria; but, as is shown by a co-type in tbe British Museum, it differs from G. lixa by its much brighter coloration, its even shorter tail, and its smaller bullae. Specimens b, c, and d were caught in the cook-house of the bungalow at Lahej, and were brought to Yerbury as "mice," the habits as well as colour of which they therefore seem to imitate, |