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Show 538 MR. O. THOMAS ON T H E [May 3, the general colour is bright rufous, the hairs being dark slate-colour for four fifths of their length, and the tips being orange-red ; on the centre of the back there are numerous wholly black hairs mixed with the others ; these thin out towards the sides, so that there the rufous colour is much clearer. Spines white, with black tips. Belly pure white, the line of separation well defined. Feet white as a rule, though sometimes the dark colour of the upper side runs down as far as the base of the digits. Tail very long, generally two and sometimes three inches longer than the head and body, brown above and white beneath from root to tip. Mammae eight, two pectoral and two inguinal pairs. Hind foot-pads (Plate LI. fig. 1) six, large, nearly circular except the last, the terminal pad of the hallux very large. Ears rather large, oval; laid forward they reach quite to the eye. The skull is somewhat like that of M. fulvescens, differing from that of M. alexandrinus by its smaller teeth, the upper series measuring in this species 5*8 millim., and in an equal-sized specimen of M. alexandrinus, 7*0 millim. The auditory bullae are more flattened, only standing about 1*5 millim. above the base of the skull; while in M. alexandrinus they are 3 millim. high, and are much more inflated. There is the same form of the anterior zygoma-root already mentioned as obtaining in M. fulvescens ; and, lastly, the emargination between the condyle and the posterior angle of the lower jaw seems to be shallower than usual. Measurements. Darjiling. , • N a. rf. b. $. c. rf. Head and body 5*3 (c) 5*0 5*4 Tail ...<,... 7*1 6-8 8*5 Hind foot y...... 1*15 1*15 1*15 Forearm .-..,. .;.. 1*45 1*45 1*45 Ear-conch, length '76 *68 '72 Muzzle to ear 1*38 .. 1*30 It will be noticed that the hind foot and the forearm are exactly the same in alb Specimen c is said to have come from Malabar; but I think there can be no doubt that this is a mistake. This specimen has the longest tail in proportion to its size of any Indian species of the whole genus, its length being more than six and a half times the distance between the muzzle and the ear, while our longest-tailed specimen of Vandeleuria oleracea has it only six and a quarter times. The palate-ridges (Plate LI. fig. 2) of this species show a slight difference from those of M. alexandrinus, there being an incomplete ridge between those answering to the fourth and fifth divided ridges of M. alexandrinus, thus making six instead of five divided ridges. This difference, though slight in itself, appears to be constant, as five spint-specimens all show the extra ridge, while I have seen it |