218 Mr. 0. Thomas on 



XXXVI. — O'l Ttco new Species of "Shx^ disc^ver^dhij J/"/-. S. L. 

 Jlinde in British Eist Africa. Bj Oldfikld Tiiomas, 

 F.R.S. 



In a furthor consignment of small mammals from British 

 East Africa presented to the National Miiseu n by Mr. and 

 Mrs. Hinde there occur examples of the two following new 

 species of Mus : — 



Mus Ilindei, sp. n. 



A rat allied t^ and of about the same size as J/.^.s- ni/ilcie^ 

 Tlios. Fur sleek and glossy ; hairs of back about 15 niilliai, 

 in length. General colour above dull tawny grey (nearest to 

 raw umber of Ridgway), heavily lined with brown on the 

 back, clearer, paler, and more drab on the sides. Under 

 surface dull whitish, not sharply defined laterally ; the hairs 

 everywhere slaty grey basally, dull white terminally. Face 

 clearer grey than back, without mixture of tawny. Ears 

 brown. Upper surface of hands and feet glossy white; fifth 

 hind toe, without claw, not quite reaching to the base of the 

 fourth toe. Tail comparatively short, well-haired, slightly 

 pencilled, brown above and at the end, dull whitish proxi- 

 nially below. 



►Skull on the whole shaped very like that of M. nrjikie. 

 Nasals lono: and broad. Interorbital of median breadth, the 

 supraorbital ridges well developed and running backwards 

 across the outer part of the parietals to the corners of the 

 interparietal. Anteorbital plate evenly rounded in front, not 

 concave below. Palatal foramina long, ending opposite the 

 anterior lamina of t?*^ ; palate ending about 1 millim. behind 

 »*'. Bulla3 rather larger than in M. nyibe. 



Incisors orange above, yellow below, not whitened ter- 

 minally. Molars very small, much smaller than in J/. «^i7ccc. 



Dimensions of the type (measured in skin) : — 



Head and body (apparently stretched) 179 millim.; 

 tail 124 ; hind foot (s. u.) 27-3 ; ear (dry) 19. 



Skull: greatest length 38; basilar length 31; zygomatic 

 breadth 19"7 ; nasals 15x5; int.rorbital breadth 5"2; inter- 

 parietal 5 X lU'6 ; palate length 17'3 ; diastema 11; palatal 

 foramina 9x3; length of upper molar series 5*9. 



Bab. Machakos, British East Africa. Alt. 5400 feet. 



Type. Old male. 13. M. no. 1. 12. 9. 9. Original num- 

 ber 90. Collected 12th June, 1901. One specimen only. 



This fine and distinct species is no doubt most closely 

 allied to the peculiar Nyasan M. nyihx', and represents a 

 group not hitherto recorded from East Africa. 



