OCR Text |
Show -•-897.] MAMMALS F R O M MOROCCO. 959 These Mice do not seem to differ in any way from those of Egypt or Asia, and T see no cause to separate them. In ' The Zoologist' for 1896, p. 1.78, Mr. G. E. H. Barrett- Hamilton gives an account of the forms of this Mouse which occur in several countries. I have chosen the present subspecific name in preference to bactrianus, as being the earliest given to this form from Egypt, for which identification I have to thank Mr. Oldfield Thomas, who had examined Brants's type in the Berlin Museum. There seems to be no doubt that Mus spretus, Lataste, from Algeria, is simply one of these white-bellied House-Mice which are found always outside houses. The cusp or claw spoken of by Lataste may be found in the front of the first upper molar of many examples of Mus musculus, and has no value as a specific character. 14. Mus SYLVATICUS, L. (4) Schaf el Kab (March). Cannot be separated from the common " Wood-Mouse" of Europe. 15. Mus PEREGRINUS, sp. n. Colour above grey washed with brownish yellow, less grizzled on tbe cheeks and sides ; underparts white, not very sharply defined; tail very slightly darker above than below, practically naked. The general colour of this Mouse is rather like the yellow M. gentilis, only the grizzling of the hairs is coarser, more resembling that of M. sylvaticus. Compared with the latter it is rather larger in size, the tail is very much less hairy, and the scales finer, in less regular rings. Type, 2 • Bas el Ain, Haha, 24th June 1897. Collector's measurements :-Head and body 97 millim.; tail 103 ; hind-foot 22 ; ear 18. Skull.-Nasals 10*6 x 3*3 ; postorb. constr. 4*4 ; breadth of zygomata at junction with malar 12*3; length of palate 12*1, pal. foramina 6*5, upper molar series 4*5, diastema 7*3, outside •^•i.5-5, inside E L i 3. The single specimen, a young female, shows no sign of mammae, but I feel little doubt that it will prove to be a northern representative of the well-known Ethiopian mice having more than 12 mammae. As regards colour, its nearest ally is found in Matabele-land, but in size they differ, as also in the amount of hair on the tail; in fact this Morocco mouse has less hair on its tail than any of the smaller known mice that could be compared with it. The skull, unfortunately very imperfect, shows undoubtedly close affinity with the " multimammate " group : the pattern of the molars is the same ; the incisors above and below are unusually strong; the mandible is also rather stronger than most of its allies, with very short angular processes not extending so far back as the condylar processes. The discovery of this animal adds another to the list of Ethiopian forms found in the Mediterranean Sub-Eegion. |