On new Species o/Mus. 123 



XV. — On new Species o/"Mus from Borneo and the Malay 

 Peninsula. Bj J. LEWIS BONHOTE, M.A. 



In working out the extensive collection of mammals recentl): 

 brought home by Messrs. Robinson and Atmandale from the 

 Malay Peninsula, I find that the following species in the 

 British Museum from Borneo are undescribed. I have added 

 a preliminary description of one of the species brought home 

 by Messrs. Robinson and Annandale which belongs to this 

 group. 



I have to express my thardvs to Mr. Gerritt S. Miller, of 

 the U.S. National Museum, for kindly lending me specimens 

 of his recently described species from the Malay Peninsula 

 for comparison. 



Mas rapit, sp. n. 



Similar in size and general coloration to 3Ius pellax, 

 Miller, but with slightly longer tail and smaller skull. Fur 

 thick and ample, intermixed with soft spines, so soft as in 

 some cases to be hardly felt. 



General colour tawny ochraceous^ intermixed with black, 

 which predominates along the centre of the back. Underparts 

 pale cream, sharply defined from the colour of the back. 

 The light colour does not extend to the foot. Feet dark 

 brown, the toes and a line on either side from the ankle 

 white ; on the fore legs the white colour is continuous with 

 that of the underparts. Tail very long and ending in a 

 pencil of hairs; colour at the root and along the upper surface 

 dark brown, below lighter but not sharply defined. 



The skull is apparently (I have no specimens with which 

 to compare) very similar to that of Mus pellax, Miller, but 

 very slightly smaller. The bullte are very small and the 

 muzzle long and narrow. There is a slight swelling on either 

 side between the ends of the nasals and roots of the zygoma 

 and the supraorbital ridges are well marked. The nasals are 

 long and taper towards their posterior end, which is, as in 

 Mus pellax^ some way behind the nasal branches of the 

 premaxillary. 



Dimensions of type (from dried skin) : — Head and body 

 173 miUim.* ; tail 223 * ; hind foot 29-5. 



Skull. — Palatal length 16'5millim.; diastema 11 ; length 

 of incisive foramina 6"o ; length of nasals 15 ; zygomatic 



* Probably stretched. 



