Vol. XXIV, pp. 89-90 May 15, 1911 



PROCEEDINGS 



OF THE 



BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON 



TWO NEW SPECIES OF EPIMYS FROM LUZON. 

 BY N. HOLLISTER. 



[Published by permission of the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution.] 



The large series of rats of the Epimys concolor group, collected 

 in Luzon by Dr. Edgar A. Mearns for the United States National 

 Museum, is readily divisible into two lots, representing what 

 appear to be distinct species. A small, bright colored form is 

 decidedly nearest to Epimys vulcani (Mearns), described from 

 Mindanao; and a larger, darker form appears to be a local 

 representative of the widely ranging Malayan species Epimys 

 ephippium (Jentink). No rats of this group have been previ- 

 ously named from Luzon, though a number of forms are known 

 from the more southern of the Philippine Islands. 



Epimys calcis sp. nov. 



Type from Baguio (Limestone Hills, near Lime Kiln, at 5,000 ft. ), Ben- 

 guet Province, Lnzon, P. I. United States National Museum No. 145,771, 

 skin and skull, young adult cT, molars little worn. Collected May 8, 

 1907, by Dr. Edgar A. Mearns. Original No. 6412. 



General characters. — A small member of the concolor-ephip/rium group; 

 pelage soft at all seasons. Nearest to Epimys vulcani, from which it diners 

 in its generally paler coloration, with the sides and underparts especially 

 lighter; and in a few slight average cranial characters. 



Color. — General tone of upperparts dark russet, finely mixed with 

 black ; shading to a dark buff on sides and a pale cream on belly. The 

 underparts of some specimens almost primrose yellow. Cheeks like sides; 

 feet dirty white; tail brownish, slightly paler beneath. May and Decem- 

 ber skins are virtually alike. Compared with E. vulcani, which it most 

 resembles, it is lighter on the sides, the light color of underparts reach- 

 ing nearer to back with outsides of legs colored like belly instead of like 

 upperparts as in vulcani. 



Skull like that of E. vulcani but averaging slightly smaller, with more 

 slender rostrum ; incisive foramina smaller, shorter and narrower. 



21— Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash., Vol. XXIV, 1911. (89) 



