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Show 1900.] ON MUS SYLVATICUS AND ITS ALLIES. 387 black eminences. Behind the fourth pair commence two faint dusky lines, which converge slightly as they approach the abdomen, along which they are continued for nearly a third of its length. Along the first half of the abdomen there is a median line, forking posteriorly. This is succeeded by a shorter line which forks similarly, and behind this there is a transverse line. On each side of the central marking there are a series of dots, the distribution of which is shown in fig. 1. The body is thinly pubescent. The under surface of the body is whitish except the small yellow-brown epigyne (fig. 4). The legs are similar in colour, and, except for the spines on the tibia? and metatarsi of the first pair, are furnished only with a thin clothing of hairs. All exhibit black scopulae on the tarsi. : Male unknown. A single adult female was found among a collection of insects made by Dr. G. D. Havilaud in Sarawak. Nothing is known of its habits, but from the nature of the collection it is probable that it was found inside a termites' nest. Its structure would suggest that it does not pounce upon its prey in the usual Attid fashion, but that it remains still and seizes passing insects with its predaceous frout legs. 4. On Geographical and Individual Variation in Mus syhaticus and its Allies. By G. E. H . B A R R E T T - H A M I L T O N , F.Z.S. [Received March 2, 1900.] (Plate XXV.) This paper contains some account of the various local forms or subspecies of the Long-tailed Field-mouse, which can be recognized from tbe material at present available in the collections of the British Museum of Natural History. The accusation has sometimes been brought against certain recent workers ou Mammals that their papers are " scrappy." I fear that those who lightly make such assertions can have but little idea how insignificant is our present knowledge of the local variations of Old World mammals, and how numerous are the new facts constantly being brought before us with the consequent need for their permanent record. Even in the case of one of our commonest mammals, such as that here under consideration, a careful study of material, which is probably both greater in quantity and better iu quality than that which has come before any other writer, chiefly impresses one by its inadequacy to afford the basis of anything like a full account of the variations of the animal even in such a small area as that of the British Isles. It is a curious sign of the times that in this country, at all events, the naturalist who wishes to give some account of the local variations or subspecies of any particular mammal must commence |