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Show 1882.] MR. O. THOMAS ON RODENTS FROM PERU. 105 foot no less than 14 lines in length, while the very largest specimen in our considerable series of this species has a hind foot barely 1 inch long. I a m therefore inclined for ,the present to continue to use Bennett's well-known name, believing that H. longitarsus may be found to be only the young form of some larger species. 7. HESPEROMYS (CALOMYS) SPINOSUS, sp. n. fl, b. Huambo, 3700', April and May 1880. Head and body. fl. o* .. 3-01 6. o* .. 3*0 Tail. 3*85 3*95 Hind foot. •87 •87 Forearm and hand. •95 •94 Ear-conch, length. •50 •46 Muzzle to ear. •78 •75 Back of Breadth of con- Total Greatest Molar incisors to striction between Lower jaw length breadth, series. 1st molars. orbits. (bone only). Skull of a.. -91 -51 -13 *22 -19 -50 Fur of medium length, composed of flattened spines intermixed with fine hairs, the spines predominating on the back but becoming rather fewer on the sides and disappearing on the belly. General colour above dark grizzled rufous and black, the spines slate-coloured, with black tips, the hairs also slate-coloured for the greater part of their length, but their tips rich orange. Sides becoming paler towards the belly, where the tips of the hairs in one specimen are white, and in the other pale fulvous, the bases of the hairs, however, being, as usual, slate. Head like back, but with fewer spines. Ears thinly covered"[with short black hairs. Tail at its base dark brown above and white below ; but the two colours soon merge into uniform blackish brown ; the scales proportionally very large. Tail-hairs very scanty, except at the tip, where they form a slight and inconspicuous pencil. Fore feet dark brown, the toes slightly paler. Hind feet and toes pale greyish white, not sharply separated from the colour of the legs, with a brown patch on the distal part of the metatarsus. Footpads small but prominent, soles smooth on proximal and granulated on distal halves. Fifth hind toes, without claws, reaching barely to the middle of the first phalanx of the fourth toes. Ears with a well-marked projection on their anterior edge. Both the specimens bein°* males, I cannot record the number of mammae ; but the other characters being so similar to those of ordinary Calomys, it is unlikely that there would be any other number but 8. Skull on the whole similar to that of other small Calomyes, but with the supraorbital ridges sharper and more strongly developed than in any others that I have seen, and the space between the orbits broader than usual. The discovery of this Mouse, as spiny as an average Heteromys, is, as mentioned above, of great interest; for hitherto no spiny Hespero- 1 Taken before the skull was extracted. |