4'2-J 

 A NEW SPECIES OF NESOKIA FROM MESOPOTAMIA 



BY 



Oldfield Thomas. 



The National Museum owes to Capt. P. A. Buxton, 

 R.A.M.C., a number of small mammals obtained b}' him while 

 campaigning in Mesopotamia. Among these there are examples of 

 a Nesolcia which on comparison with the Museum specimens, all 

 recently determined by Mr. Wroughton (J. B. N. H. S. XVIII. 

 p. 736, 1908), appears to represent a new species of the genus. 

 It may be called — 



NESOKIA HUXTONI, Sp. nOV. 



Size and general characteristics very much as in i\^. indica. 

 Fur not very coarse but more or less mixed with flattened 

 semi-spinous hairs, those across the shoulders of the type, stifFer than 

 in any other member of the genus. General colour above clear 

 sandy fawn ^nearest to "cinnamon buff" of Ridgway), lined 

 with the black ends of the longer hairs. Sides clearer and more 

 yellowish. Under surface practicalh?- white, the chin, chest, 

 and inner side of limbs white, the belly pale buffv white, witli 

 scarcely any greyish at the bases of the hairs, at least in the adult, 

 young specimens having more. Head browner than back. Ears 

 short, almost naked, their fe'.v fine hairs white; a small whitish spot 

 behind their basis on the nape. Hands and feet brown with whitish 

 digits. Tail practically naked, its scattered short hairs brown. 



Skull not certainly distinguishable from that of other allied 

 species. 



Dimension of the type, measured in the flesh : — 



Head and body, 170 mm ; tail, 130 ; hindfoot, 35 ; ear, 19. 



Skull : — condylo-basal length, 43 ; condylo-incisive length, 43 ; 

 zygomatic breadth, 25*8 ; nasals, 13x5; interorbital breadth, 6*5 ; 

 palatine foramina, 6; antero-posterior diameter of bulljB, 8*1; 

 upper molar series (alveoli) 8*1, (crowns) 7-2. 



Hah : — Mesopotamia. Type from Amara ; other specimens from 

 Kurna and Basra. 



Type. — Adult male. B. M. No. 18.8.5.5. Original number 209. 

 Collected 24th April, 1918, and presented by Capt. P. A. Buxton. 



Judging by the skulls, the members of the genus Nesohia 

 prove to be much more closelj^ allied to each other than I had 

 hitherto supposed, it being almost impossible to distinguish with 

 certainty the series of species ( or perhaps rather sub-species) \vhich 

 are of the size of N. imiica, the three larger forms hrachyura, scuUyi, 



