312 MAMMALIA OF INDIA. 
No. 319. GERBILLUS CRYPTORHINUS. 
The Lobe-nosed Jerboa-Rat. 
Hasirat.—Yarkand. 
DeEscRIPTION—after Mr. Blanford, who first described and named 
the species: “Colour above sandy rufescent, some specimens rather 
more rufous than others ; below white, the two colours sharply divided 
on the sides; cheeks pale; supercilia whitish ; feet white ; tail above 
rather more rufous than the back, paler and occasionally whitish below, 
becoming dark brown or blackish above near the end, and with the slight 
tuft of longer hairs at the end of the same dark colour ; fur soft and 
glossy, about half an inch long in the middle of the back, all the basal 
portion being at least three-quarters of the length, dark ashy; the 
terminal portion pale yellow brown to pale rufous, with numerous longer 
hairs with black tips mixed; on the under surface the hairs are white 
throughout ; on the tail the hair is rather short, coarse, and close 
together; there are a very few longer black tips mixed, but scarcely 
enough to produce an effect in the general colour. 
‘““'The ears are oval and of moderate length, densely clad with brown 
hairs on the anterior portion of the outer surface, and with a fringe of 
longer hairs on the anterior margin ; the posterior portion of the external 
surface is nearly naked, except near the margin, and the anterior portion 
of the inner surface is completely destitute of hair, but the inner surface 
is more hairy near the hinder margin. The whiskers are very numerous, 
the longest slightly exceeding the head; the uppermost behind being 
black, all the rest white; all are mixed at the base with long hairs, 
which cover the side of the nose; soles of the fore-feet with scattered 
white hairs, but nearly naked; those of the hind-feet densely covered 
with hair everywhere except at the extreme tips of the toes and at 
the heel. 
“Mamme, eight—four pectoral and four inguinal, as usual in the genus. 
“The most remarkable character of these species is the presence at the 
end of the snout of a semi-circular lobe, which forms a flap completely 
covering the openings of the nostrils. This lobe can, of course, only 
be well seen in the specimens preserved in spirit. In the dried skin its 
presence can sometimes be detected, but not always. In the only spirit 
specimen, an adult female, the flap measures about 0°3 inch in breadth, 
and is barely an eighth of.an inch long. 
“Tt is hairy both outside and inside, the hairs being very short and 
rather scattered inside; the surface below the nostrils covered by the 
flap is also hairy. The use of this lobe is evidently to keep out sand 
and dust from the air passages” (W. T. Blanford’s ‘ Mammalia of the 
Second Yarkand Mission,’ p. 56). 
