62 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM vol. 75 



RATTUS CONFUCIANUS CONFUCIANUS (Milne-Edwards) 



AIus confuciaiius Milne-Edwards, Nouv. Arch. Mus. Hist. Nat., vol. 7, 1871, 

 p. 93 (Mupiiig, Szechvpau, China). 



Specimens. — FiftY-t^Yo: Tatsienlu. 4; Siiifn. 6; and Wenchwan,. 

 Szechwan, 5; Nanking. 1; and Cliinkiang. Kiangsu, 8; Yenpingfii, 

 19; 70 miles southwest of Yenpingfu, 2; Kiiliang, 1; Peiliang, 1; 

 Fiitsing, 1 ; and Kuatim, Fiikien, 2. 



The Szechwan skins were made up from sahed pelts and all that 

 can be said of tliem is that at least most of them are true confucianus, 

 for about those with fragmentary skulls little can be told. One of the 

 Suifu examples differs in being excessively spiny over the shoulders 

 but not upon the rump. The skull is broken to bits, however. It was 

 expected that the Fukien rats of this species would prove to be of 

 the race littoreus Cabrera, but such is not the case, for the coFor is 

 quite dark, there is very little dusky upon the feet of any of them, 

 and instead of having a short tail this member is quite long. The 

 specimens at hand are rather small for typical confucianus but the 

 measurements for this as given by various investigators are conflict- 

 ing and I follow G. M. Allen in thus identifying the material from 

 this part of China. 



Most of the skins were taken in April and the pelage of these is 

 relatively nonhispid, but those secured in late summer are quite 

 spiny. The feet of the majority are pure white and in very few does 

 the dusky area extend beyond the ankle. The tip of the tail usually 

 shows at least some indication of white above, and in a few the 

 terminal third is entirely white. 



Skulls may be distinguished from those of huang by the fact that 

 the temporal ridges hardly ever extend to the interparietal, but t\\Qy 

 are otherwise very similar indeed. It should be mentioned that in all 

 the older females the rostrum is definitely broader than in anj' male 

 save one, although it is possible that this may be fortuitous. Two 

 have skulls that are considerably larger than the others but otherwise 

 they are similar. The skins from Kiangsu have feet that average 

 larger (29 mm). Average measurements of five large specimens 

 from Fukien are: head and body, 132; tail, 179: hind foot, 27; and 

 total length of skull, 35.5 mm. 



RATTUS CONFUCIANUS CHIHLIENSIS Thomas 



Rattus confucianus chihliensis Thomas, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. 8, vol. 20, 

 1917, p. 199 (65 miles east of Peking, Chihli, China). 



Specimens. — Fifteen from Chihli : Chingwangtao. 4 ; and 65 to 75 

 miles northeast of Peking. 11. 



The above north China specimens are virtually topotypes. Three 

 of the Chingwangtao skulls are missing but the skins are assigned 



