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Show 18S7.] COLLECTION F R O M C H R I S T M A S ISLAND. 513 the female, I should certainly not be justified in assigning the Christmas-Island specimens to Pt. lombocensis. It should also be noticed that the little hair that has appeared on the crown and between the shoulders of specimen c, a new-born male, is wholly black ; its neck is unfortunately still entirely naked. Mus MACLEARI, sp. n. (Plate XLII.) a. Adult female. Fur very long, thick, and coarse, but not or very slightly spinous, thickly intermixed on the back with enormously long piles from 2 to 2g inches in length. General colour grizzled rufous-brown, belly but little lighter pale rufous. Shorter hairs everywhere pale slaty grey at base, shining red at tip; longer piles uniformly black ; the general tint of the dorsal surface not unlike that of Arvicola amphi-bius, except that the median line is a good deal darker owing to the great number of the longer black piles there present. Whiskers very long, many of them more than 3 inches in length, mostly black. Ears naked, black, broad, short and rounded, their breadth about equal to their length ; laid forward they fall short of the eye by about a quarter of an inch. Limbs coloured externally like back, internally dull grey ; upperside of hands and feet uniform dark brown ; sole-pads six, very broad, flat and rounded, evidently adapted for climbing; pad at the base of the fifth toe with a secondary pad at its postero external angle. Claws, both anterior and posterior, short, stout, curved, and sharply pointed, brown horn-colour, that of the hallux markedly shorter than the rest ; pollex with a broad nail as usual; fifth hind toe without claw reaching just to the end of the first phalanx of the fourth. Tail very long, its posterior half black all round, its distal half white or yellow, thinly and finely haired with short grey hairs, not hiding the scales ; the scales large, the rings averagiug just 10 to the centimetre. Palate-ridges 3-5. Mammae 4, one axillary and one inguinal pair. Skull large and strong. Nasals extending to about a millimetre past the level of the anterior edge of the orbit. Supraorbital edges beaded, but the beading not continued so far forward as in M. ever-etti. Interparietal large. Front edge of tbe anterior zygoma-root very prominent, projecting forwards. Palatal foramina very long, their posterior end about one millimetre in front of the level of m1. Bullae small and flattened. Incisors thick and strong, much bevelled externally, their faces dull orange-yellow above and yellow below, but apparently the colour has been more or less affected by spirit. Molars of medium size. Measurements of the type, an adult female in spirit:-Head and body 222 millim.; tail 248. hind foot 48*5; ear 13; head 64; forearm and hand 66 ; last hind foot-pad 10*5 ; heel to front of last foot-pad 26. Skull:-Basal length 47*5 ; greatest breadth 26-2 ; nasals, length |
