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Show 1881.] INDIAN SPECIES OF MUS. 541 Fur rather coarse and short, sometimes thickly mixed with flattened spines, sometimes almost entirely without them. General colour above grey, with a tinge of yellow. Hairs dark slate-colour for nine tenths of their length ; the tip in some yellow, in others black. The black-tipped hairs, which seem to be the coarser of the two, are more numerous in the centre of the back, so that that part is darker than the sides. Spines, when present, white, with black tips. Belly hairs and spines pure white to their roots, the line of demarcation sharply defined. Tail rather longer than the head and body, sharply bicolor, grey above and white beneath; hairs on its distal quarter slightly elongated. With regard to the measurements I can only give approximate ones, as I have not seen any specimens of this species in spirit. The following given by Hodgson appear to be about the average:- Length, head and body 5*25, tail 6*0, hind foot 0*92. Blyth's two Masuri specimens were larger, viz. head and body 6*0 and 7*0, tail 7*0 and 7*5 in. respectively. These dimensions are sufficient to show that the tail is never so very much longer than the head and body as it is in M. jerdoni, from which this species may also be readily distinguished by its grey instead of rufous colour. The yellow mentioned in the description seems quite to correspond with the orange-red of M. jerdoni, occurring on the same parts of the hairs, and becoming clearer on the sides, in both species. The skull, as was to be expected, is extremely like that of M. jerdoni, the only difference that I can perceive being that the nasal portion is somewhat more elongated in the present species. This seems to be a rather scarce Rat, as Hodgson says of it, "of rare occurrence ;" and the only specimens I have seen are five of his original series caught in the Residency house, Katmandu, and one collected at Simla by Mr. Blanford. Jerdon *, however, says that he found it "very common at Darjiling;" but I a m inclined to doubt his determination, as there are no specimens among the large series of Darjiling Rats collected by Mr. Blanford, while M. jerdoni is commonly found there, and might possibly have been mistaken for it. 10. Mus BLANFORDI. (Plate L.) *Mus blanfordi, Thomas, Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. (5) vii. p. 24 (1881). Hab. Kadapa, Madras {Beddome). Since m y original description of this species was published we have been fortunate enough to receive a second specimen of it, also collected at Kadapa by Col. Beddome, and presented by him to the British Museum. This individual is a fully adult male, preserved in spirit, and is so very much larger than the type as to show that the latter, though its teeth were fully grown up, yet cannot have been quite full-grown. A few of the characters before given have therefore been found to be due to the immaturity of the specimen, and have had to be modified accordingly. The following description 1 Mamm. Ind. p. 300. |