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Show 526 MR. W. L. SCLATER ON SOME INDIAN MURIDAE. [June 17, collection, and so far as it goes confirms Mr. Thomas's identification. The measurements (see table, p. 536) correspond very closely with those of the Munipur examples mentioned by Mr. Thomas in his description ; the type also agrees very well in regard to the great distance between the upper incisors and the molars and the paleness and forward direction of the incisors, which are the points described by Mr. Thomas as specially characteristic of the Munipur skulls. 15. Mus CONCOLOR, Blyth, J. A. S. B. xxviii. p. 295 (1859). This species is somewhat intermediate in size between the Rats and Mice ; it should, however, be considered rather as a small Rat than as a large Mouse, since the hind pad of the hind foot is elongate as in the Rats, not rounded as in the Mice. This species does not seem to have been described since the original description by Blyth inl859 ; it may therefore be as well to give some additional particulars and measurements which may be useful to students of Indian Mammalogy. The fur is largely composed of flattened spines with long black hairs and fine fur intermixed; the tips of the spines are reddish in colour, and the hairs, which are longer, are black, so that the colour above is brownish : beneath, the spines are not so numerous nor are their tips red, the long black hairs are absent, and the general colour is dark grey, considerably lighter than the back. The ears are clothed without rather thickly (for a Rat) with brown hairs and within with the usual white glistening hairs; they are rounded and of moderate size, bent forward they hardly reach the eyes. The feet are not remarkable in any way; the usual 5 pads are present on the fore feet and the usual 6 on hind feet; the pads on the hind feet are rather small, and the proximal one, as mentioned above, is elongate ; the soles are dark-coloured. The tail, which is slightly longer than the head and body, is quite uniform, and provided with the usual rings, about four to the tenth of an inch. The mammae, in the only specimen in which they could be made out, were 8 in number-two pairs of inguinal, two pairs of pectoral. The caecum is rather large and measures about 0-67 inch. There are examples of this species in the Museum from the Schwegyeen District of Pegu, from Tenasserim, and from Malacca; and a very closely allied species, Mus ephippium, Jentink, has been recorded from Sumatra and from Mt. Kina Balu in Borneo. The skull of Mus concolor resembles that of Mus rattus rufescens in almost every particular ; the interparietal of the latter is perhaps somewhat narrower. If, however, the skull of Mus concolor be compared with that of Mus urbanus, the former will be found to be considerably longer and narrower in proportion, and also to possess a much shorter anterior palatine foramen, barely reaching the level of the front ends |