758 Mr. 0. Tliomas on new 



LX XXVIII. — New Mammals from Central and Western 

 Asia, mostly collected hij Mr. Doarjlas Carrulhers. By 

 Oldfield Thomas. 



(Published by permissiou of the Trustees of the British Museum.) 



Sorex centralis, sp. n. 



A large member of the S. minutus group. 



Most nearly allied to 8. anne.rus and macropygmceus (with 

 the latter of which I believe S. buaUoni to be syiidnymous), 

 but laiger than either and with a longer muzzle. General 

 colour above dark broccoli-brown, with a .slight olivaceous 

 tinge; sides paler, an upper line ot" demarcation perceptible 

 in one specimen, but there is usually no trace of a tricolor 

 pattern. Under surface washed with drabby giey. Ears 

 densely hairy. Tail brown above, Avhitish 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 teeth. 

 ISupraorl)ital foramina prominent. Lacrymal foramen over 

 middle of m^. 



Teeth with the essential characters of those of the minutus 

 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 di!>proportionally 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 i). The males range up to G8 mm., with tail to 41 ; 

 all have hind foot 12. 



Skull : condylo-incisive length li)"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 in^ 4*4. 



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

 4000'. 



Ti/2^e. Old female. Original number ISO. Collected 

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



