758 Mr. O. Thomas on new 



LXXXVIII. — JS^ew Mammals from Central and Western 

 Asia, mostly collected hy Mr. Douglas Carruthers. Bj 

 Oldfield Thomas. 



(Publislied by permission of tlie Trustees of the British Museum.) 



Sorex centralis, sp. n. 



A large member of the *S'. minutus group. 



Most nearly allied to 8. anne.vus and macropygmcBus (with 

 the latter of which I believe S. bud'toni to be synonymous), 

 but larger than either and with a longer muzzle. General 

 colour above dark broccoli-brown, with a slight olivaceous 

 tinge; sides paler, an upper line of demarcation perceptible 

 in one specimenj but there is usually no trace of a tricolor 

 pattern. Under surface washed with drabby grey. Ears 

 densely hairy. Tail brown above, whitish below, its ter- 

 minal pencil about 6 mm. in length. 



Skull larger and with longer muzzle than that of the 

 allied species. Brain-case broad, with well-marked lateral 

 angles. Sagittal and lambdoidal crests unusually well 

 developed, more so than in any other shrew known to me ; 

 but the specimens are all rather old, with worn teetli. 

 Supraorbital foramina prominent. Lacrymal foramen over 

 middle of w*'. 



Teeth with the essential characters of those of the ?7iinutus 

 group ; the series of unicuspids even more uniform than 

 usual, the two last practically equal in height and area, but 

 little smaller than the third, the first two only slightly larger 

 than the last named. As a result of the greater size of the 

 last two unicuspids the muzzle and anterior part of the 

 tooth-row are disproportionally longer than iu the allied 

 species. 



Dimensions of the type (measured in flesh) : — 



Head and body 63 mm. ; tail 39; hind foot (s. u.) 12; 

 car 9. The males range up to 68 mm., with tail to 41 ; 

 all have hind foot 12. 



Skull : condylo-incisive length 19*3 ; condylo-basal length 

 18*6; greatest breadth 9"2; height of brain-case 5'3; length 

 of upper tooth-row 8'4 ; front of i^ to back of last unicuspid 

 4'3 ; breadth between outer corners of m^ 4'4. 



Bab. Syansk Mts., 100 miles W. of Lake Baikal. Alt. 

 4000'. 



Type. Old female. Original number 180. Collected 

 23rd June, 1910, by Douglas Carruthers. Four specimens. 



