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NEW SPECIES OF PTEROPUS, MUS, AND POGONOMYS 

 EEOM THE AUSTRALIAN REGION. 



By OLDFIELD THOMAS. 



The following new mammals are among the collections recently obtained 

 in Papuasia and Australia by Messrs. Meek, Tunney, and Pratt. 



1. Pteropus solomonis spec, no v. 



A small species allied to P. brunneus and aneiteanits, with short ears ; the 

 hind-limbs furred two-thirds down the tibiae. 



Size about as in F. aneiteanus. Fur short, woolly for the most part, but 

 straight and smoothly adpressed on the middle third of the back, where it is 

 about 2 in. across. A line along the onter side of the proximal third of the 

 forearm thinly clothed with fine brown hair. Upper surface of hind-limbs covered 

 with woolly hair about two-thirds down the tibiae, the ankles and feet naked. 



Ears short and narrow, their anterior edge evenly convex, tip narrowly 

 rounded, outer edge faintly concave above, convex below. 



Colour of head brown (" hair-brown "), the end of the muzzle with a whitish 

 sheen ; woolly hair of occiput, nape, and shoulders coppery rufous (between russet 

 and walnut-brown of Ridgway). Straight hairs of back " seal-brown." Woolly 

 hair of rump and hind-legs brown, with shining coiijiery ends. Below, the throat 

 and sides of the chest and belly are dull rnfous brown, darkening along the 

 centre line to blackish brown. 



Skull light and delicate, the braincase of the same narrow form as in 

 P. aneiteanus. Palate narrow, the toothrows evenly divergent, not curved. Upper 

 incisors broad and spatulate, touching one another. Canines small. Anterior 

 upper premolars present, but exceedingly minute. Sizes of molars about as in 

 P. aneiteanus (see dimensions). 



Dimensions of the type : — 



Forearm, 108 mm. 



Head and body (skin), 180 mm. ; ear (dry), 16 ; thumb (s.u.), 38 ; tibia, .50; 

 lower leg and foot (c.u.), 80. 



Skull, greatest length (c), 54 mm. ; tip of nasals to angle behind postorbital 

 processes, 24-3 ; interorbital breadth, 6-7 ; breadth of braincase, 19 ; length 

 of palate from gnathion, 29-3 ; breadth between inner sides of m*, upper 

 incisive row, 7-3 ; length of canine from cingulum, behind, 5 ; horizontal length 

 of last premolar, 3-9 ; of m", 4 ; m^, 5'1 ; m', VS. Below, length of canine, 4-1 ; 

 horizontal lengths of the six cheek teeth in succession, 2, 3-8, 3-9, 4, 3-2, 1-7. 



Hab. Gizo Island, Solomons. 



Type: an old female, B.M. No. 4. 4. 11. 1. Collected November 10th, 1903, 

 by Mr. A. S. Meek. 



This species differs from P. aneiteanus by the nakedness of the lower part 

 of the tibia and the absence of the whitish hairs on the shoulders, and from 

 P. brunneus by its smaller size and much smaller teeth. Its coloration is not 

 unlike that of P. brunneus, allowing for the fading of Dobson's tj^pe. 



