1G2 Meri'iaiii — Neiv Genus and ISpecies of Murine liodeid. 



less distinct one nnder each ear ; color of upper parts rich ful- 

 vous ; under parts white ; ears about half as long as the head 

 and nearl}^ naked (sparsely clothed witli fine, inconspicuous 

 hairs) ; whiskers reaching Ijack to shoulders ; fur soft. 



Color. — Upper parts fulvous or tawny-rufous, palest on the 

 head and brightest over the rump, flanks, and hips ; back 

 sparsely mixed with black-tipped hairs ; an ill-defined dusky 

 ring around each e3"e, al)ove which is a whitish s[)ot about as 

 large as the eye itself; a less distinct whitish spot just below the 

 inferior root of the ear ; ui)per lips white, the white color extend- 

 ing np on the cheeks more than half way to the eyes; sides of 

 face below eyes and ears washed with fulvous, whiskers black- 

 ish ; tail concolor, dark umber-broMai all round ; upper surfaces 

 of feet whitish, more or less clouded with dusky (varying con- 

 siderably in the three specimens) ; under parts creamy white to 

 the ver}^ roots of the hairs except along the sides of the belly, 

 where the basal part of the fur is plumbeous ; line of clemarka- 

 tion l)etween colors of upper and lower parts every wii ere sharp 

 and distinct. 



An immature l)ut full-grown sjjecimcn from Aruieria, Colima 

 (collected Mai-ch 2, 1892), has a small whitish lanuginous tuft 

 in front of the anterior Ijase of each ear, in addition to the mark- 

 ings of the specimens from Hacienda Magdalena, already de- 

 scribed. This may lie characteristic of the winter pelage. The 

 same specimen has white feet, and the white of the face is more 

 extensive. 



Cranial Chararfers.- — -The ])rincipal cranial i)cculiarities have 

 been pointed out in the generic descrijition. Tlie great size 

 of the audital bulke is doubtless a specific character, though not 

 the direction of their axes. The bulke are broader anteriorly 

 than i)osteriorly, and curve slightly outward in front of tlie 

 meatus, where the infiated ])ortion is much more extensive than 

 that behind it. The large size of the inter]:)arietal also is in all 

 prol)ability a specific feature. In one of the three skulls its 

 antero-posterior diameter along the median line e(|uals that of 

 the ])arietals. The ascending l)ranches of the premaxillaries 

 reach as far back as the nasals, which end on a line with the 

 lacluymals. 



Dental Characters. — (The generic characters already mentioned 

 are not repeated here.) First upper molar with crown more 

 than half as broad as long; outer side straiglit; inner side 



