OCR Text |
Show 1881.] MR. O. THOMAS ON THE INDIAN SPECIES OF MUS. 521 EXPLANATION OF PLATE XLIX. Fig. 1. External female organs of virgin Hycena crocuta, showing the orifice of the urinogenital canal situate upon the extremity of the glans clitoridis, both being included within the single chamber bounded by the prepuce. P, prepuce ; U.G, orifice of the urinogenital canal. 2. External female organs of H. crocuta subsequent to parturition, lateral view. The figure shows that the urinogenital canal instead of opening upon the extremity of the glans clitoridis, as in the virgin, opens altogether below that body; and moreover that the extremity of the clitoris and the orifice of the canal are contained in two separate chambers included by the prepuce, and separated by the two portions of the frsenum preputii. P, prepuce; 0, clitoris; U.G, orifice of urinogenital canal. 3. The same, seen from the front. Externally is the prepuce, within which are included, in separate chambers, the clitoris above and the orifice of the urinogenital canal below. 4. Prostate gland of male Hycena crocuta. W , vasa deferentia. P, prostate gland. U, urethra. 3. On the Indian Species of the Genus Mus. By OLDFIELD THOMAS, F.Z.S., British Museum. [Received March 23, 1881.] (Plates L., LI.) The following paper is an attempt to clear up the extreme confusion which exists with regard to the synonymy of the Indian species of the extensive genus Mus. H o w great this confusion is will have been evident to any one who has tried to affix the proper name to any Indian specimen of the genus; and it is hoped that the present account of the species, being founded almost entirely on the types, will be of use to collectors and others attempting to name an Indian rat or mouse in the future. The chief, and almost only general paper on the subject is one by the late M r . E. Blyth, entitled " A Memoir on the Rats and Mice of India." l This memoir, which consists of a collection of references to all the Indian species, though extremely useful as giving a nearly complete list of all the previous descriptions, yet cannot be said to have added very much to our knowledge of the Indian rats and mice. Dr. Jerdon, in his ' Mammals of India,' accepted Blyth's determinations, and added but little on his own account. Dr. J. Anderson2 has recently written a most useful paper on the species of the subgenus Nesokia, which will be referred to later on. One of the chief causes of the existing confusion was the fact that M r . B. H . Hodgson, formerly British Resident at Nepal, having made a most magnificent collection in that country, described, either himself, or through Dr. Horsfield of the India Museum, a large number of species of this genus in the briefest possible manner; so 1 J. A. S. B. xxxii. p. 327 (1863). 2 J. A. S. P. xlvii. p. 214 (1878). PROC. ZOOL. Soc-1881, No. XXXIV. 34 |