514 Mr. 0. Thomas on Insectivores and 



Ward each did some collecting on theii* own account in 

 different parts of China. The former sent home from Kan-sa 

 the new rodents I described in the ' Annals ' for last December, 

 while the latter made in the far north-west of Yunnan the 

 present collection, which has been acquired for the British 

 Museum by the kind help of the Duke of Bedford. 



Although owing to his other avocations Mr. Ward was not 

 able to send any large series of mammals, tiie collection 

 contains several novelties, both, as usual in this region, some 

 new voles and also a representative of the remarkable 

 Insectivorous genus Scaptont/x, which Mr. Anderson had 

 never obtained, and which is a genus new to the Museum 

 collection. 



Altogether Mr. Ward's collection is of great interest, and 

 shows how much more remains to be done in that rich 

 mountainous area of Western China. 



With the exception of the type of Mtcrotus wardi all the 

 specimens were obtained at or near A-tun-tsi, a place some 

 200 miles S.W. of Ta-tsien-lu, in the drainage-area of the 

 Upper Me-Kong. 



1. Scaptonyx fusicaudatus affinis, subsp. n. 



cJ. 19. 12 miles S.E. of A-tun-tsi. 13,500'. 22nd 

 June, 1911. B.M. no. 12. 3. 18. 1. Ti/pe. 



General characters of fusicaudatus, but upper canine 

 larger, premolars smaller — p"^ not larger than r, p^ and p^ 

 subequal, smaller than j/, p* slightly shorter horizontally 

 than \n fusicaudatus, but of about the same breadth. Below, 

 the whole tooth-row is shorter, the incisors less spatulate, 

 the canine (the third tooth in the jaw) shorter than the poste- 

 rior incisor and more slender. Pj (the large cauiniform 

 tooth) and />4 nearly equal in size, though rather lighter than 

 in fusicaudatus, but p2 and /?3 conspicuously smaller than in 

 that animal; ;^3 not a quarter the bulk and about half the 

 height of Pi, p2 again about half its bulk and three-fourths its 

 lieight, both teeth single-rooted. 



As ^lilne-Edwards supposed, zygomatic arches are present, 

 though very slender. 



Dimensions of the type (measured in the flesh) : — 



Head and body 90 mm. ; tail 31; hind foot 15*5 ; ear 3"5. 



Skull : greatest length 24:"3; basal length 20'2 ; greatest 

 breadth 10" 7 ; zygomatic breadth 8*6 ; intertemporal breadth 

 d'i ; palatal length 11; breadth outside molars &S ; upper 

 tooth-series 10*5 ; lower tooth-series d'2; horizontal length 

 of/ 0-5, pi 0-7, p2 0-3, P3 0-5, ;), 1-0. 



