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Show 1881.] INDIAN SPECIES OF MUS. 555 Bengal specimens. Moreover Jerdon says1:-"A specimen has been sent to Mr. Blyth by Walter Elliot from Southern India, along with a lot of Mus lepidus, from which he did not distinguish it." This, of course, is a strong confirmation of m y opinion as to the identity of the two forms, since so acute an observer as Sir W . Elliot did not separate them, and they were found together in the same locality. The proportions given by Blyth are moreover precisely the same2. I have also but little doubt that Blyth's M.fulvidiventris is also a synonym of this species. When describing it Blyth stated that it was the " Mus cervicolor, Hodgs." of Kelaart. Now we have seen how closely allied L. Buduga and M. cervicolor are; and some of our Ceylon specimens are extraordinarily similar externally to that species. Moreover there is nothing in Blyth's description to militate against this conclusion except the stated " rufescent or isabel-line" colour of the belly. This tinge, however, may easily have been the result of the defective preservation of the type, a frequent cause of a more or less yellow instead of white coloration of fur. M. alBidiventris, Blyth, described at the same time as M. fulvidi-ventris, was later considered by the describer to be a specimen of M. cervicolor; but I think it very possible that it may be this species, judging from its locality (Calcutta). The drawing given of the teeth (Plate LI. fig. 10) has been taken from the actual specimen upon which Gray founded the genus Leggada. I have also (fig. 11) had a side view of the first molar of the same specimen taken, showing the extra cusp (a) in profile, and, for the sake of comparison, the side view of the same tooth of another equally spiny specimen, which has scarcely a trace of the extra cusp. These two figures show that there is no correspondence between the presence of spines in the fur and extra dental cusps. In fact, in the British-Museum series there are specimens (1) with both spines and extra cusps, (2) with spines and no extra cusps, (3) no spines, but distinct extra cusps, and (4) neither spines in the fur nor extra cusps on the molars. This series seems to m e quite to preclude the possibility of separating these variable Mice into two or more distinct species. Blyth described two other species as belonging to Leggada, namely L. spinufosa 3 and L. jerdoni. The latter is a good species of true Mus, and has been treated of already (p. 537). The former, however, I am quite unable to identify, though I believe it will turn out also to be a good species, unless L. platythrix should be found to occur in the Punjab, in which case it might be only a synonym of that species. 1 Mamm. Ind. p. 209. . . 2 D r Anderson has sent two specimens of the true M. temcolor from the neighbourhood of Calcutta, expressing at the same time his opinion that that snecies is distinct from L. buduga. These specimens, however, only confirm m y opinion as to their identity, agreeing exactly in colour, and being nearly as spiny as the typical specimens of L. buduga. P3 J. A. S. B. xxiii. p. 734 (1854). 3 6* |