308 MICROTIN^ 



b. m' more reduced but more normal in appearance; the 



posterior loop short and broad forming less than half of 



the length of the crown. 



«!. Tail longer, hind-foot shorter (25 and 16 mm. respectively). 



Colour darker, bright ferruginous brown above, white 



below A. stoliczJcamis Blanford. 



Kuenlun Mts., N. Ladak, 

 fei. Tail shorter, hind-foot longer (18-6 and 19 mm., respec- 

 tively). Colour paler, pinkish-buff above, white below. 



A. acrophilus Miller. 

 Kara Korum Pass (17,000 feet). 



1. Alticola argurus Thomas. 



1909. Microlus {Alticola) argurus Thomas, Ann. Mag. N.H., [8], 3, 

 p. 264. 



Type.—BM., No. 9.4.3.100; sub-adult female, skin and skull, 

 collected June 14, 1908, and presented by D. Carruthers. 



Type locality. — Hissar Mountains, 100 miles east of Samark- 

 and. Altitude 9500 feet. Trapped in juniper forest. 



Range. — Known only from the type locality. 



Characters. — A pallid species with an unusually long white tail. 



Fur fine and soft; hairs of back (in summer pelage) about 

 7-8 mm. in length. General colour above " ecru drab " ; under 

 surface white, the slaty bases of the hairs showing through; a 

 line of cream-buff marking the junction of the upper and lower 

 colours on the sides. Hands and feet white. Tail unusually 

 long (about 54% of the head and body measurement), thinly 

 haired (in summer), lightly pencilled, wholly white above and 

 below ; hairs not completely concealing the annulations ; terminal 

 hairs project about 7 mm. Mammae 2 — 2 = 8. 



Skull too young to show definite characters, but apparently 

 not unlike that of A. worthingtoni. 



Cheek-teeth normal ; m^ nearly as in ^. blanfordi. 



For external and cranial measurements, see tables at end of 

 volume. 



2. Alticola blanfordi Scully. 

 (Synonymy under subspecies.) 



Range. — North-west Himalayas, the limits of range being at 

 present unknown. Found in the vicinity of Gilgit at altitudes of 

 from 9000-10,000 feet, and in Lahul at altitudes of from 10,000- 

 14,000 feet. 



Characters.— Size medium (hind-foot 17-20 mm.; condylo- 

 basal length of skull up to about 27-5 mm.). Tail from two-fifths 

 to about half the length of the head and body; well haired, 

 although traces of the scaly annulations are visible under a lens, 

 with a thin terminal pencil 5 to 8 mm. in length. 



Fur moderately dense and rather short (about 10 mm. long 

 on the middle of the back). Colour intermediate between that 



