322 MICROTIN^ 



1920. Microtus {Alticola) cricetuhis Wroughton, " Summary," J. 

 Bombay N.H.S., 27, p. 61. 



Type.—B.M., No. 60.5.4.113; subadult, skin and skull (both 

 defective), collected by Captain R. Stracliey. 



Type locality. — " Kumaon " = Ladak. 



'■ Kumaon " is given as the type locality by Thomas on the 

 authority of an old label written by Horsfield and attached to 

 the skin; but Wroughton (J. Bombay N.H.S., 27, p. 59) points 

 out that Horsfield (in his Catal. E.I. Mus., p. 145) distinctly 

 states that the specimen is " From Capt. R. Strachey's Collection 

 in Ladak." 



Range. — Eastern Kashmir and Western Tibet, from the Upper 

 Sutlej and Lahul northwards to the Dipsang Plains, Northern 

 Ladak, and the Massimik Pass, Western Tibet. In this region it 

 is widely distributed over the highest ground at altitudes between 

 14,500 feet and 18,500 feet. Exact limits of range unknown, but 

 to the north it is replaced by the closely related A. acrophilus 

 Miller, and the more distinct A. stoliczkanus Blanford. In Tibet 

 it probably intergrades with A. lama Barrett-Hamilton. Lastly 

 a member of the same groxip, imperfectly known from a single 

 young specimen, and at present not distinguishable from A. 

 stracheyi, has been discovered upon the eastern slope of Mount 

 Everest,^ Tibet, at an elevation of 17,300 feet. 



Characters. — A short-tailed, pallid species with reduced ?/i^. 

 Size medium (hind-foot in adults 18-20 mm., condylo-basal length 

 of skull up to 28 mm.). 



Fur very soft, fine, and dense but rather short (10-14 mm. long 

 on the back). Upper parts pale yellowish-brown, inconspicuously 

 lined by longer blackish hairs ; the shorter hairs, composing the 

 great mass of the body fur, slate-coloured for nearly three-fourths 

 of their length, and thence brownish-yellow to their tips. Under 

 parts and upper lip white, sharply though rather irregularly con- 

 trasted with the upper surface along the flanks. Hairs of the under 

 surface with slaty bases and pure white tips. Ears rather short, 

 scarcely showing above the fur, and thickly clothed with hair re- 

 sembling that of the back in colour. Feet and tail pure white or 

 cream-coloured. Palms with five, soles with six pads; densely 

 haired behind, the region between the pads being also clothed with 

 short white hairs ; dorsal surfaces of digits well clothed with rather 

 long white hairs, which overlap and partly conceal the claws; 

 thumb vestigial, armed with a minute flattened nail. Tail about 

 as long as hind-foot, densely clothed above and below with long 

 creamy-white hairs, which completely conceal the annulations 

 and form a terminal pencil up to half an inch in length. 



Young specimens have the upper parts much darker and 

 greyer than in adults. The darkest specimen seen is that from 



1 Listed as " Microtus (Alticola) sp." by Thomas and Hinton, Ann. Mag. 

 N.H., [9] 9, p. 183, 1922. 



