280 MICROTIN^ 



skinning, the tail was club-shaped, and in its present condition 

 it retains a trace of this form. For a short distance at its base 

 it is covered with short loose hairs, similar in texture to those 

 of the body. Near the middle of the tail, the hairs become 

 abruptly much elongated, stiffened and directed backwards. 

 The pencil thus formed is nearly as long as the tail vertebrae. 

 It is distinctly flattened from above. The general appearance 

 of the tail is much like that of Dicrostonyx, but it is even more 

 bushy than in average specimens of any lemming." 



Skull and teeth as described under the genus; m^ "remark- 

 ably long with four distinct salient angles on each side." 



Measurements recorded by Miller : Total length 99 mm. ; head and 

 body 85; tail vertebnc 16; caudal pencil 14; hind-foot 17-5; ear 

 from meatus 11-5. 



Skull : greatest length 25-4 mm. ; basal length 23-8 ; basilar length 

 22; zygomatic breadth 14-8; interorbital breadth 4; mastoid breadth 

 12-6; occipital depth 7; fronto-palatal depth 7; length of nasals 

 3 [sic probably misprint for 8]; incisive foramina 4-6; upper molars 

 (alveolar) 6; mandible 15; lower molars (alveolar) 6. 



Genus: 7. EOTHENOMYS Miller. 



1871. Arvicola Milne-Edwardes, Nouv. Arch. Mus., 7, Bull., p. 93; 



Recherches hist. nat. Mamm., 1, p. 284, 1874. Not of Lacepede, 



1799. 

 1881. Neodon " section of Arvicola,'' Blanford, J. Asiat, Soe. Bengal, 



50, pp. 110, 114. Not of Hodgson, 1849. 

 1891. Microtus Blanford, Fauna of British India, Mammalia, p. 434 



(in part). Not of Schrank, 1798. 

 1896. Eothenomys Miller, N. Amer. Fauna, No. 12, p. 45 (subgenus 



of Microtus). 

 1923. Eothenomys Hmton, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., (9), 11, p. 145 



(genus). 



Genotype.- — Arvicola melanogaster, M.-Edw. 



Range. — Southern China (W. Sze-chwan, N.W. Fokien, and 

 Hupeh), the Highlands of Yunnan, and westwards into Assam 

 and Burma. 



Characters. — General outward form nearly as in Evototnys. 

 Fur soft and dense, slightly modified. 



Colour usually dark, the back with peculiar metallic reflec- 

 tions. Ears well developed, provided with a naked meatal valve. 

 Hands and feet normal; fore-claws shorter than hind-claws; 

 thumb small, with a small flattened nail ; palmar tubercles 5 ; 

 plantar tubercles 6 ; soles hairy behind pads. Tail from one- 

 fourth to one-half length of head and body, clothed with stiff 

 hairs forming a very short and thin terminal pencil, the annula- 

 tions not completely concealed. Mammae — 2 == 4. 



Skull essentially similar to that of Evototnys in form and 



