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Show 1 9 0 5 .] MAMMALS OF CHINA. 3 9 3 The common Norway Rat occurs not infrequently in China, as shown by several examples in the British Museum. Apart from the skull-characters, which are quite distinctive, it may be recognised from griseipectus, which it resembles most closely externally, by its larger size (hind foot 36 mm.) and stouter tail. Mus h u m il ia t u s (A. M.-E.). Mus humiliatus A. M.-E., Ann. Sci. Nat. vii. p. 375 (1867); id. Rech. Mamm. p. 137, pi. 41. fig. 1 (1874); Rhoads, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Pliilad. 1898, p. 121 ; Thos. P. Z. S. 1898, p. 772. Another member of the Mas rattus group but smaller. General colour above yellowish-brown. Fur slate at its base, but yellowish brown (cinnamon, Ridgw.) for the greater part of its length, becoming paler on the flanks ; intermixed with the fur are a few long soft black hairs, but they are so scattered as to have but little effect on the general colour. The hands and feet are white, and the under parts uniform grey. The tail is short, tapering, and bicoloured, well clothed with short hairs that are brown on the upper and white on the lower surface. The ears small and rounded and covered with fine hairs. The skull differs from that of M. griseipectus in being broader and shorter. The supraorbital ridges are not so well marked and do not run back so far, disappearing about halfway across the parietals. Dimensions (taken in flesh: Nankin *). Head and body 145 mm.; tail 115 ; hind foot 30 ; ear 16'5. Skull (of co-type). Greatest length 35 mm.; basilar length 29 ; palatilar length l7 ; diastema 7 ; length of incisive foramina 6; length of nasals 12 ; zygomatic breadth 18 ; interorbital breadth 6 ; breadth of brain-case 15 ; length of molar series 7. Habitat. Pekin and neigbourhood (type); Nankin and W. Fokien. The chief distinctive feature of this Rat is its light colour, caused by the almost entire absence of the longer black hairs found in so many species, and besides this its smaller size and short tail form a combination of characters enabling it to be easily recognised. It is apparently a scarce animal, as only one specimen has reached the British Museum during the last 23 years, and it is entirely absent from the collections of Messrs. Styan, Rickett, and La Touche. Mr. Howell has, however, just sent over a small collection, which contains a mature female, from the city of Nankin, this specimen agreeing closely in all respects with the type. A specimen received originally from the Paris Museum as belonging to this species, and collected by Pere David in W. Fokien, is undoubtedly Mm novegicus, and it was this example that led Mr. Thomas to suggest Mus humiliatus as the possible wild stock of Mus norvegicus. * The skull-measurements of this specimen practically coincide with those of the co-type. 27* |
