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Show 1905.] MAMMALS FROM JAPAN. 3 5 1 cJ. 122, 123, 124, 130, 134, 137. $ . 135. Noboribetsu, near Moruran, Hokkaido. " Common in bamboo-grass." Similar to true M. geisha in all respects except that the general colour averages slightly paler (nearly as pale as " isabella," but of a more rufous brown), and the ears are decidedly shorter. Dimensions of the type, measured in the flesh :- Head and body 90 mm. ; tail 95 ; hind foot 19 ; ear 12‘5. Skull-greatest length 23-5 ; basilar length 18 ; palatilar length 10 ; palatal foramina 5 ; length of upper molar series 3'6. Hab. Hokkaido ; type from Noboribetsu. Type. Adult male. B.M. No. 6.1.4.269. Original number 123. Collected 21 November, 1904. The ear-measurement of M. geisha was given in the original description as 12'5 mm., but this was taken on a poorly-made skin, and it is evidently below the correct dimensions. For of nine adult Izu examples seven have been measured by Mr. Anderson as 14 mm., and two as 13• 5, while of thirteen adult Hokkaido skins two have this measurement 12, two 12-5, eight 13, and one 13'5. Little as this difference sounds in figures it is easily recognisable by eye. The occurrence in Hokkaido of representatives of Micromys speciosus and geisha shows that there is a genuine Japanese element in the fauna of that island, mixed with the boreal non- Japanese fauna indicated among others by the occurrence of Sciurus vulgaris instead of Us, and Lepus timidus instead of brachyurus. 3 3 . M icromys m in u tu s ja po n ic u s, subsp. n. c? . 286. Jinrio, Tokushima Ken, Shikoku. 500'. c?. 322. Tanano, Tokushima Ken, Shikoku. 250'. $ . 462. Kawachi, Miyasaki Ken, Kiushiu. 1500'. General colour above dusky sepia, the rump only rufous, as in the Eastern forms of minutus; belly sharply contrasted white, though with slaty bases to the hairs, as in the European races. One old specimen, however, is more or less rufous over the whole of the upper surface ; but this would seem to be an exception. Skull apparently thicker and heavier than in the other races, with an unusually large brain-case and short muzzle, but material is lacking for a satisfactory comparison with the Eastern forms pygmcBus and ussuricus *. Molars decidedly larger than in ussuricus, which has the tooth-row only 2'8 mm. in length. Dimensions of the type, measured in skin :- Head and body 66 mm.; tail 61 ; hind foot 14-5. Skull-basilar length 13*7 ; interorbital breadth 3*4 ; breadth of brain-case 9*3 ; palatilar length 8 ; diastema 4‘5 ; palatal foramina 3; length of upper molar series 3T. * The t3'pe of ussuricus has a hind foot 14- mm. in ength, not 12 as given in the original description. |
