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Show 526 MR. O. THOMAS ON T H E [May 3, the shortness of its feet would cause it to be placed with var. Of several skins from the same place, moreover, some have all the fur-characters of one and some of the other variety. Mr. Blanford, in his * Mammalia of Yarkand' \ has said that he doubts whether the differences between the two forms are constant; and Dr. Anderson seems to have been quite unable to find any important differences between the skulls, though he keeps the two species distinct2. I think therefore that it will be better to regard N. hardwickei and N. huttoni as geographical races of one species, the former occupying the low countries of Sind and North-west India, and the latter the comparatively higher regions of Persia and Afghanistan. It is true that the types of the two varieties look extremely different; but that of M. (N.) hardwickei has been enormously overstretched, so that it looks quite double the size of that of M. (N.) huttoni, its skull and feet, however, showing that the difference in size is almost wholly artificial. The type of N. griffithii, Horsf,, is undoubtedly a specimen of this species, and seems to be, on the whole, rather more like var. hardwickei; but it is such a bad skin that I cannot determine this point with certainty. Mus pyctoris, Hodgs., which Dr. Anderson placed here, is not a Nesokia at all, but a true Mus, as shown by the type, and is a synonym of M. alexandrinus, var. nitidus3. 2. Mus (NESOKIA) BENGALENSIS. a. Northern race (N bengalensis). Arvicola bengalensis, Gray & Hardw. 111. Ind. Zool. ii. pi. 21 (1833-34). * Mus daccanensis, Tytler, Ann. & Mag. N. H . xiv. p. 173 (1854). M, * tarayensis et * plurimammis, Hodgs., Horsf. Ann. & Mag. N. H . xvi. p. 112(1855). * M. morungensis, Hodgs., Horsf. /. c. (juv.) (1855). Nesokia indica, Blyth, J. A. S. B. xxxii. p. 328 (1863) ; Jerd. M a m m . Ind. p. 187 (1867) (nee M. indicus, Bechst.). M. (N.) blythianus, Anders. J. A. S. B. xlvii. p. 227, pi. xiii. •figs, a to rf (1878). M. (N.) barclayanus, Anders, t. c. p. 229, pi. xiii. figs, i to I (1878) ; Blanford, Zool. Yark. Exp., M a m m . p. 46, pi. x. a. fig. 1 (skull) (1879). LLab. North and Central India. ? Malacca and Andaman Islands. b. Southern race (N. kok). *Mus kok, Gray, Charlesw. Mag. N . H. i. p. 585 (1837). * M. (Neotoma) providens, Ell. Madr. Journ. x. p. 209 (1839). * M . dubius, Kel. J. A. S. Ceylon, 1851 (nee Hodgs.) (1851). 1 Mamm. Yark. Exp. p. 47, 1879. 3 Dr. Anderson now agrees with me as to the propriety of uniting these two forms. 3 See below, p. 533. |