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Show 18/0.] Mil. R. SWINHOE ON CHINESE MAMMALS. 637 63. Mus LOSEA, sp. nov. (Brown Country-rat.) cS . Length 6 inches, tail 3*75. Teeth broader than in the last, and of the same colour. General colour of upper parts a rich brown, many of the hairs of the head and upper parts tipped with black, giving a dark appearance in some lights ; fur soft and moderately long ; under-fur dark slate-grey. Underparts dingy whitish ; legs brown, with a streak of whitish on each edge of fore foot. Ears moderate, naked. Moustache rather short. Tail brown, with minute black setse scarcely visible. This is also a Country-rat at Tamsuy, Formosa. 64. Mus NINGPOENSIS, sp. nov. (Short-eared Field-mouse.) Length 3*25 ; tail 2*75. Lower incisors longo-triangular. Ear *35, with short hair. Upper coat rich chestnut-brown, with deep slate-coloured under-fur ; lower parts and feet white. Moustache-bristles short and very fine. Fore foot minute ; hind foot *7 from tarsal joint. Tail light brown above, whitish below, with minute scattered white hairs. This little creature I picked up at Ningpo, in the consulate garden. It is a field-mouse ; and " is," says Dr. Peters of Berlin, "nearly related to the European short-eared mice, M. agrarius and M. minutus, being larger than the latter, and without the dark dorsal streak of the former." 65. ? Mus BADIUS, Hodgson. (Long-tailed Field-mouse.) Mus ?, Swinhoe, P. Z. S. 1864, p. 382. no. 27. This long-tailed Field-mouse, with chestnut upper and whitish underparts, allied to M. sylvaticus, L., of Europe, appears to have a wide range in China, if I am right in identifying the one I got at Tamsuy with that I saw in Hainan. Unfortunately both the specimens I picked up were too mangled to preserve. I have therefore not been able to identify it. 66. Mus ARGENTEUS, T. & S. Faun. Japon. (Yellow House-mouse.) Mr. S. Bligh, at Canton, gave me a small fawn-coloured mouse, with light under parts and rather long tail, which answers well to the species described in the ' Fauna Japonica.' I have not seen it from other parts of China. 67. Mus MUSCULUS, L. (Common House-mouse.) Mus musculus, Swinhoe, P. Z. S. 1864, p. 382. Occasionally seen in houses both in South China and Formosa; probably introduced. Black and white varieties are often kept by the Chinese; these are brought from the Straits. 68. RHIZOMYS CHINENSIS. (Chinese Bamboo-rat.) Rhizomys chinensis, Gray, P. Z. S. 1831, p. 95 ; 111. Ind. Zool. t. This large Bamboo-rat was procured by Mr. John Reeves at Canton. I have not heard of it from other parts of South China. |
