310 MICROTIN^ 



(Mammal Survey of India) ; presented by the Bombay Natural 

 History Society. 



Type locality. — Kyelang, Lahul. Altitude 10,380 feet. 



Range. — Known from various places in the neighbourhood of 

 the type locality in Lahul, at altitudes ranging from 10,000- 

 14,000 feet. 



Characters. — Distinguished from A. h. hlanfordi by its darker 

 colour, shorter nasals, and less inflated auditory bullae. 



Upper parts yellowish-brown, produced by a fine mixture of 

 ochraceous subterminal bands and dark brown and blackish 

 hair-tips. Under parts whitish or faintly buffy, darkened by the 

 slaty hair-bases. No sharp line of demarcation along the flanks. 

 Feet greyish-white above. Tail distinctly though not sharply 

 bicoloured ; dark brown to dusky above, dirty white below ; 

 terminal pencil about 8 mm. in length. 



Skull with shorter and relatively broader nasals than in A.h. 

 hlanfordi and with the auditory buUaj slightly smaller and less 

 inflated. Cheek-teeth normal ; but m^ (Fig. 91, 13) usually with a 

 distinct though small fourth outer salient angle. 



For external and cranial measurements, see tables at end of 

 volume. 



Remarks. — This well-marked subspecies, distinguished from 

 A. h. hlanfordi by its darker colour, shorter nasals, less developed 

 bullae, and slightly less reduced m^, would appear to be a slightly 

 more primitive animal than the typical subspecies. Mr. Wells 

 collected a long series of specimens in Lahul in the months June 

 to September 1922, but unfortunately very few of the available 

 skulls can be regarded as being fully developed. In old adults 

 the condylo-basal length probably reaches 27-5 mm., but in most 

 of those before me it ranges between 25 and 25-5 mm. In these 

 the nasals measure 7-7-8 x 3-3-2 as against 8-3 x 3 in a similar- 

 sized skull oiA.h. hlanfordi from the Nultar Valley, Gilgit. Good 

 skulls of both subspecies of A. hlanfordi are badly needed for 

 further work upon the relationships of the members of this most 

 difficult genus. 



3. Alticola roylei Gray. 

 (Synonymy under subspecies.) 



Range. — Western Himalayas, but the details of its distribution 

 unknown. It occurs in Kumaon at altitudes between 10,000 and 

 13,000 feet; and in the Kulu Valley, Lahul, at altitudes between 

 8500 and 9200 feet. 



A specimen in the Calcutta Museum collected by Theobald in 

 1853 at the " Bala Pass " (probably Babeh Pass in Spiti) was 

 referred by Blyth (J.A.S. Bengal, 32, 1863, p. 89) to this species; 

 but a little later Blyth (Catal. Mamm. Mus. As. Soc, 1863, p. 125) 

 gave the locality of this specimen as " Pind Dadun Khan in the 

 Punjab." According to Sclater (Catal. Mamm. Ind. Mus., pt. 2, 

 1891, p. 91) Blyth's identification is erroneous, for in this 



