PITHECHIR MELANURUS. 225 



ingenious and exact remarks : that the tail is not black 

 so that the name melanurus is not applicable to the animal , 

 that the Java-specimen has the belly whitish, that the 

 skull is wanting; and he suggested that the teeth must 

 resemble those of other species of the genus Mus : moreover 

 V. d. Hoeven gives some measurements of body and tail. 



Dr. Trouessart (Catalogue des Mammifères vivants et 

 fossiles, Rongeurs, 1881, corrigenda) accepted Gervais* 

 statement, called the Pithechir melanurus S. M.ü\\qy, Pithe- 

 cheirus melanurus F. Cuvier , and did not mention the well- 

 known » Verhandelingen." 



There is in the Berlin Museum a small mouse, described 

 and figured by Professor Peters in 1868 (Monatsb. d. kön. 

 Preuss. Akad. d. Wissensch. zu Berlin, p. 448, pi. 1), from 

 an unknown locality (der Fundort ist wahrscheinlich in 

 Africa zu suchen). Peters bestowed upon it the name of 

 Chiropodomys penicillatus. Dr. Trouessart (1. c.) remarked : 

 »M. le Professeur Peters de Berlin nous informe que le 

 Chiropodomys penicillatus est identique au Pithecheirus mela- 

 7iurus de Fr. Cuvier, et que , selon toute probabilite , la 

 patrie de cette espèce est bien Java et non I'Afrique ouest." 

 I have seen this little creature and could convince myself 

 and Dr. Peters too that it has nothing to do with our 

 P. melanurus, as it is nearly fullgrown (see the dentition 

 in Peters' figures) and attains about half the size of the 

 latter; moreover Peters said »cauda pilis setaceis brevibus, 

 versus apicem longioribus vestita" (see the tail in Peters' 

 figure) meanwhile P. melanurus has not a trace oï a tufted 

 tail , a. s. o. 



It is a fact avowed by every naturalist , that the Leyden 

 Museum contains one of the largest collections of the whole 

 world , and it is a fact too well known and deplored by all 

 zoologists , that the number of scientific men , assigned to 

 preserve and to study those immense collections, is infe- 

 rior to that of the scientific workers in the entomolo- 

 gical department of the British Museum. And if therefore for 

 our scientific stafi" it at present is an impossibility to 



Notes from tlie Leyden ÜMuseum , Vol. XII. 



15 



