On new Rodents from Sze-chwan. 727 



LXXXII. — New liodents from Sze-chioan collected by 

 Capt. F. M. Bailey. By Oldfield Thomas. 



(Published by permission of the Trustees of the British Museum.) 



The British Museum owes to the kindness of Capt. F. M. 

 Bailey a number of small mammals obtained by him in 

 Western Sze-chwan, during a recent shooting-trip to that 

 ricli and little-known country. 



Besides examples of Mustela sihirica, Sciurus castaneo- 

 ventris, Dremomys pernyi^ and Marmota robiisfa, the col- 

 lection contains examples of the following new forms. 



Myospalax haileyi^ sp. n. 



Allied to M. cansus, but tail shorter, feet hairy, and vt^ 

 different. 



8ize about as in AI. cansus. ('olour grey, with scarcely 

 any drabby tinge, tiie tone tiierefore markedly greyer than 

 in the allied species. Under surface slaty^ washed with very 

 pale drab. Head darkened on crown, a small whitish nose- 

 patch. Hands and feet white, closely hairy to the bases o£ 

 the claws, the latter proportionally large. Tail unusually 

 short, little longer than the hind foot, white throughout. 



I^kull essentially like that of M. cansus^ with some slight 

 differences. Nasals surpassing the premaxillge posteriorly. 

 Crown with the limiting lines of the masseteric fossaj ap- 

 proaching each other more closely posteriorly tlian at the 

 fronto-parietal suture, the reverse being nearly always the 

 case in 3J. cansus. Occiput with a median crest. 



Teeth as in M. cansus, except that tlie postero-external 

 lobe of m^ is larger and has a fairly deep re-entrant angle 

 between tw^o projecting angles on its outer side, and a shallow 

 re-entrant angle on its inner side ; as a consequence, there 

 are two re-entrant angles on the inner side of the tooth, and 

 three on the outer, wliere also there are four salient angles. 

 Below, the anterior lobe of mi is rather more developed, and 

 there are three re-entrant angles on its inner side. 



Dimensions of the type : — 



Head and body 173 mm. ; tail 33; hind foot 26. 



Skull : greatest length 48; condylo-incisive length 39*6 ; 

 zygomatic breadth 29 ; nasals 17*7 ; interorbital breadth 8"3 ; 

 breadth on transverse crest 28"5 ; palatilar length 20"3 ; 

 })alatal foramina 6*6; upper molar series (crowns) 9*5; 

 (alveoli) 9-8. 



