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Show 1 9 0 5 .] MAMMALS OF CHINA. 3 8 7 touch, as stated by M. Milne-Edwards in the original description. Under parts pure milk-white, sharply contrasted with that of the upper parts. Feet whitish, but the colour of the upper parts runs down the centre of their upper surface to a varying extent. Tail moder ately long and bicoloured, clothed with short hairs ; its terminal portion is usually, but not invar iably white. The skull is that of a typical Mus of the jerdoni group, being long and narrow, somewhat flattened and with small bullfe. Dimensions (in flesh). Head and body 164 mm.; tail 192; hind foot 39 ; ear 18. Skull (average dimensions). Greatest length 36 mm. ; basilar length 27*5; palatal length 15; diastema 9■ 75; incisive foramina 6 '6; length of nasals 13*6; zygomatic breadth 16; interorbital breadth 6; greatest breadth of brain-case 14; length of molar series (alveoli) 6. Habitat. The type was received from Pere David from the mountains of Moupin, in the province of Szechuen, W. China. There are also specimens in the Museum from E. Kiangsi, from Kuatun and Ching Fen Ling in N.W. Fokien, and from Nankin, all forming a very uniform series showing hardly any variation. It is as a rule generally found in the mountainous country, occasionally entering the houses in winter; and it may be easily recognised, for its dull brown colour and pure white under parts, sharply divided from the colour of the back, form a combination of character's found in no other Eat from that part of the world. Some of the spiny individuals very closely resemble Mus nivei-venter from the Himalayas, of which it is pr obably the Chinese representative. Mus HUANG. Mus conjucianus A. M.-E., 0. Thos. P.Z. S. 1898, p. 773 (partim). Mus huang Bonh. Abstr. P. Z. S. No. 23, p. 19, Dec. 5, 1905. Size as in the last-mentioned species. General colour rufous (ochraceous-rufous, Ridgw.), darker along the dorsal area. The underfur is slate-coloured at its base with a rufous tip, thickly intermixed, especially on the back, with black bristles or spines. On the flanks the bristles become much less numerous and many of them have rufous tips. The colour of the head resembles that of the upper parts. The feet are whitish, with the rufous colour-running down the centre of their- upper- surface. Under parts pure white, the line of demarcation being sharply defined. Tail rather longer than the head and body, clothed with short hairs and bicoloration. Ears moderately long and sparsely covered with very close, short, dark brown hairs. The skull very closely resembles that of M. confucianus in size and general appearance, but may be recognised by the supraorbital ridges being continued right across to the posterior margin of the parietal. Dimensions (of type from skin). Head and body 155 mm.; tail 188 ; hind foot 30 ; ear (approx.) 16. |
