On oil " Octopus " ioith Branching Arms. 407 



tin's group and Eliomys ; I am therefore, at his instance, 

 prepared to ,e;ive it full generic rank. 

 The new form may be called 



Dyromys niledula phrygius, subsp. n. 



Size about as in subsp. pictu.i, therefore rather larger than 

 in European nitedula. General colour above a light buffy 

 yellowish, markedly lighter and more yellowish than in cither 

 typical nitedula of Soutlicrn Russia, Wingeioi Greece, or the 

 Persian pictus. Tail Yuuu\ grey, with a faint tinge of buffy. 

 Bulla? larger than in the European forms. 



Dimensions of the type (measured in flesh) : — 



Head and body 100 mm. ; tail 85 ; hind foot 21; ear 14. 



Skull : greatest length 26*7 ; basilar length 20'4 ; greatest 

 breadth 15 ; nasals 8 ; length of upper molar series 3*6. 



Hah. Murad Dagh, Usliak Province, Asia Minor (Mount 

 Dindymus, Phrygia, of classical maps). Altitude 7500'. 



Type. Adult male. B.M. no. 5. 10. 6. 1. Original 

 number 37, Collected and presented by W. Griffiths 

 Blackler, Esq. Two specimens. 



This pretty dormouse may be distinguished from the other 

 forms of D. nitedula by its brighter and yellower colour. 

 Tiie Museum has recently received from Mr. Herbert Sykes a 

 specimen nearly topotypical of B'anford's ^[yoxus pictus from 

 Central Persia, which might have been the same as the Asia 

 Minor animal, but proves to be a comparatively greyer and 

 less yellowish form. Specimens quite similar to the litter 

 have also been obtained in the Kurrum Valley, N.W. Frontier 

 of India, by Mr. C. H. T. Whitehead, thus forming a 

 considerable extension of the eastward range of this type of 

 dormouse. 



LVI. — Notes on an " Octopus " with Branching Arms. 

 By Edgar A. Smith, I.S.O., F.Z.S. 



[Plate XVIII.] 



A COLLECTION Sent home this year by Mr. R. Gordon Smith 

 from Japan contained a very remarkable specimen of an 

 Octopus with branching arms. It has been presented by him 

 to the British ]\Iusouni. 



Furcation in the arms of Cojdialopods appears to be of 



