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Show MR. J. L. BONIIOTE ON MAMMALS FROM TIBET. [Nov. 14, represented in the collection by two spirit-specimens, one of which has since been skinned. It appears, although closely related to Cricetulus phceus, to have been hitherto undescribed. Size about that of C. phceus. General colour above pale fulvous grey, greyer than in C. phceus. Each hair is slate-grey at its base, fulvous for about ^ of its distal end and with a black tip. Over the head and fore part of the body the fulvous portion of each hair is the more conspicuous, but on the hinder part of the back the dark tips predominate and a, faint dark median dorsal line may be traced. The underparts are pure white, the hairs being slate-grey at their base. The line of demarcation between the upper and under parts, although abrupt, is very uneven in outline. The feet are but scantily clothed with hair and are white. The tail is moderately long and stout, well clothed with dark brown hairs above and white hairs below ; the tip is white. The whiskers are for the most part black with a white tip, some shorter ones, however, being entirely white. The skull resembles somewhat closely that of C. phceus, but is slightly larger and the brain-case more inflated and rounder. The chief points of difference, when viewed from below, are the greater width of the basioccipital and the much flatter and smaller bullae in the new species. Above there is a slight, although very constant, difference in the hinder margin of the parietals, which are practically straight in outline ; whereas in C. phceus there is a sharp turn backwards when about two-thirds of their length from the middle line. Dimensions (of type when in spirit). Head and body 87 mm.; tail 40; hind foot 17; ear 16. Skull. Greatest length 28'5 mm.; basal length 24; palatal length from henselion 12 ; interorbital breadth 5 ; greatest breadth of brain-case 12-5 ; width of basioccipital at anterior end of auditory bullae 3. Habitat. Lhasa, Tibet. Type. B.M. 5.4.6.4. Collected at Lhasa, Tibet, by Capt. H. J. Walton, I.M.S. The darker colour of the hinder part of the back combined with the general much greyer coloration, and in addition the somewhat longer and stouter tail, form characters by which this species may be distinguished from C. phcms. The animal, according to Capt. Walton, was extremely common, and was swarming in one of the shrines of the Jo Khang Cathedral at Lhasa. M io r o t u s ( P h a io m y s ) w a l t o n i . Microtus (Phaiomys) waltoni Bonhote, Abstr. P. Z. S No 22 p. 14, Nov. 21, 1905.' a. § ad. Lhasa, Tibet. Slightly smaller in size than Ph. blythi, to which it is by skull- |
