Descriptive List of the Rodents of South Africa. 209 



Description. General colour reddish fawn or isabelline sprinkled 

 with tine darker hairs, richest along the dorsal line, becoming greyer 

 on the sides and below pure white, including the hands and feet ; 

 ears large, covered in and outside with short reddish hairs ; tail 

 about the same length as the head and body, covered distally with 

 somewhat long liver-coloured hairs so as to be almost bushy, rings 

 fine, about 50 to the inch ; the feet are thick, the pads are large 

 and crowded, the claws small and curved, are almost concealed by 

 the hairs. 



Dimensions (from the type). Head and body 5'30 ; tail 5-30 ; 

 hind foot -95 ; skull length about 1'25, breadth -62 ; upper 

 molars '24. 



Distribution. The type, obtained some years ago by Mr. C. 

 J. Andersson in Damaraland, was formerly identified with M. 

 silaceiis, but has recently been shown to lie distinct by de 

 Winton . 



MUS COUCHA, THE WHITE-NOSED MOUSE. 



Mns concha, A. SMITH, App. Eeport Exped. Explor. S. Africa, 

 p. 43 (1836); THOMAS, Proc. Zool. Soc., p. 266 (1882); JENTINK, 

 Notes Leyd. Mus., p. 174 (1887). 



Mus silaceiis, WAGNER, Arch. Naturgesch., i., p. 11 (1842). 



Mus microdon, PETERS, Reise Mozamb. Saugeth., p. 149, pi. xxxv., 

 figs. 5, 6, pi. xxxvi., fig. 1 (1852). 



Mus sp., THOMAS, Proc. Zool. Soc., p. 13 (1888) ; POUSARGUES, Ann. 

 Sci. Nat. (8), iv., p. 14 (1897). 



Description. General colour dark brown on the back, growing 

 paler on the sides and dirty white below, all the fur above and 

 below wath strong slaty bases, the fur of the back long, soft with pale 

 brown and black tips intermixed, the latter much more abundant 

 along the middle of the back ; tip of the nose white ; ears moderate 

 and oval ; feet pure white, tarsal pads all rounded, claws almost 

 concealed by the long white hairs which project beyond them ; tail 

 about the same length or shorter than the head and body, the 

 rings numbering about 44 to the inch, covered with short bristles, 

 dark above, white below, hardly longer towards the tip ; mammae 

 16 -5 pairs pectoral, 3 pairs inguinal in the specimen examined, but 

 often exceeding this number up to 24. 



Skull with a large antorbital foramen not much narrowed below 

 with small not well-developed plate. 



