OCR Text |
Show 528 MR. W. L. SCLATER ON SOME INDIAN MURIDAE. [June 17, 18. Mus SUBLIMIS, Blanford, Yarkand Mammals, p. 51. This species is closely allied to Mus urbanus ; it differs in having a slightly longer hind foot, with the tubercles very far apart from each other ; the skull differs from those of Mus urbanus and M. baclrianus in having the zygomatic arches very strongly incurved ; the palate is also peculiar, the posterior nasal opening being particularly wide, and its edges and the pterygoids all very much thickened, so that the under surface of the skull has a very different appearance from that of Mus urbanus. This species has been only found in the higher regions of Central Asia-once by Stoliczka west of the Pankong Lake in Ladak, at a height of 13,000 feet above the sea, and once by Col. Biddulph (Scully, Ann. Mag. N. H. (5) viii. p. 99) in the Astor district of Kashmir, at a height of 11,000 feet. 19. Mus ARIANUS, Blanf.; Thomas, P. Z. S. 1881, p. 548. This species is closely allied to Mus sylvaticus of Europe ; it is, as Thomas has pointed out, distinguishable by its shorter hind foot; the following measurements seem to show that though the length of the hind foot of Mus sylvaticus does not invariably surpass the distance between the muzzle and the ear, yet the difference between the two is much less than in Mus arianus :- Mus sylvaticus. Mus arianus. a. b. d. f. q. p. Hind foot -86 -90 -88 -84 -SO -80 Muzzle to ear . . -89 -95 -80 -80 -97 -97 The skull of Mus arianus is considerably larger than that of Mus urbanus, but the proportions are much the same except with regard to the nasals, which are very much longer, and to the anterior palatine foramen, which is much shorter and does not reach the level of anterior line of the molars. 20. Mus WAGNERI, Eversmann. Mus pachycercus, Blanford, Yarkand Mammals, p. 53. The short-tailed House-Mouse of Central Asia, described as a new species by Blanford, has been since identified by Biichner (Besult. Przewalsky's Reise, Saugethiere, p. 88) with a species described by Eversmann in 1848 from a specimen collected on the steppes between the Volga and the Ural. Examples of it were got by Przewalsky from a great number of localities throughout Turkestan and Mongolia, and it seems to be the common House-Mouse of all Central Asia. There is also a skin of a Mouse procured by Mr. Blanford at Resht on the Caspian, which has hitherto remained unnamed, and which seems referable to this species. This Mouse cannot in any way be considered an Indian species, as it has never occurred this side of the Kuenluen Mountains ; it has, however, been included in this paper, because the types of Mus pachycercus oi Blanford are in the Indian Museum. |