Tloo new I?ats. 199 



area perhaps a little more limited in extent than usnal, 

 especially behind. Hands white. Feet greyish brown with 

 white digits. Tail as long as in excelsior, "well haired, 

 blackish above for three-fourths its length, "white below and 

 for its terminal two or three inches above. 



Skull decidedly larger than that of confucianus, about 

 equalling that of excelsior, from which it differs by having 

 well-developed supraorbital ridges, as in the first-named 

 species. Palatal foramina long and "well open. 



Dimensions of the type, measured on skin : — 



Head and body 186'mm. ; tail 216 ; hind foot 34. 



Skull, greatest length 42 ; condylo-incisive length 37*2 ; 

 zygomatic breadth 18"6; nasals 16; interorbital breath 6 ; 

 breadth of brain-case 16 ; palatilar length 18 ; palatal 

 foramina 8*4 ; post-foraminal palate 7 ; molar series 7*2. 



Hah. Mt. Arizan, Formosa. Alt. 8000 ft. 



Type. Adult male. B.M. 12.11.23.21. Collected Feb. 

 1912 and presented by Walter Goodfellow, Esq. Seven 

 specimens. 



Whether this is a Formosan representative of R. excelsior 

 of the Western Chinese Highlands or simply a larger island 

 form of R. confucianus it is not easy to say, but on account 

 of its highland habitat, and the curious relationship that 

 Formosan animals often have to Tibetan forms, I am rather 

 in favour of the former view. But in any case it needs a 

 distinctive name. 



Rattus confucianus chihliensis, subsp. n. 



A greyish north-eastern form of confucianus, "with com- 

 paratively short tail. 



General colour of summer skins greyish-brown approxi- 

 mately as in the true Sze-chwan confucianus, not strongly 

 buffy clay colour as in sacer, canorus, and luticolor, wliich in 

 Shantung, Kansu, and the Ordos region make a line of pale 

 forms separating the present darker, or at least greyer, 

 animal from the Sze-chwan race. Under surface "white, 

 sharply defined, the white of considerable extent, with the 

 line of demarcation high up. Hands and feet white, with 

 slight metatarsal darkening. Tail comparatively short, 144, 

 146, and 158 mm. in three examples as compared "with 

 lengths of 155-180, usually about 170, mm. in the other 

 forms ; "well haired, slightly pencilled, the terminal 2-3 

 inches white all round. 



Skull as in R. c. sacer, except that the palatal foramina 



