162 Dr. Wallich on the Origin of the 



XVI. — Note on a Central-Asiatic Field-Mvuse (Mus 

 arianus). Bj W. T. Blanfoed, F.R.S. &c. 



I AM indebted to Mr. Oldfield Thomas for calling my atten- 

 tion to the fact that a Japanese species of Mus was named 

 M. erythronotus by Temminck in 1850. 



In the * Annals ' for 1875 I proposed the same name, 

 M. erythronotus, for a mouse of which I obtained specimens 

 at Kohrud, between Isfahan and Teheran, in Persia. A 

 species apparently identical with the Persian mouse was 

 collected by the late Dr. Stoliczka in Wakhan, a province on 

 the Upper Oxus belonging to Afghanistan, and at Kdshgar, 

 in Eastern Turkestan ; and the same form has since been 

 found by Major Biddulph and Dr. Scully at Gilgit in the 

 Upper Indus valley. 



It is by no means certain that this form may not pass into 

 the eastern races of Mus sylvaticus • and it requires comparison 

 with Mus sylvaticus, var. major, of Radde ; but as it appears 

 to be a well-marked type, with a wide distribution in Central 

 Asia, and as the name Mus erythronotus cannot be retained 

 for it, in consequence of the prior use of the same specific 

 denomination by Temminck, I propose to change the name to 

 Mus arianus — from Ariana, one of the ancient names for 

 Persia and the neighbouring countries to the eastward. 



The following synonymy furnishes, I believe, all the 

 necessary references :— 



Mus arianus. 



Mus erythronotus, W. Blanford, Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. ser. 4^ vol. xvi. 



p. 311 (1875j; Northern Persia, ii. p. 54, pi. v. fig. 3 (1876); 



Scientific Results Second Yarkaud Mission, Mamm. p. 54 (1879) ; 



J. A. S. B. 1879, vol. xlviii. pt. 2, p. 97 (nee Mus erythronotus, 



Temm. Fauna Japonica, Mamm. p. 50, 1850). 

 Mus sylvaticus, var., W. Blanford, J. A. S. B. 1875, xliv. pt. 2, p. 108 



(Dec Linn.). 



XVII. — On the Origin and Formation of the Flints of the 

 Upper or White Chalk; with Observations upon Prof 

 Sollas's Paper in ' The Annals and Magazine of Natural 

 History^ for December 1880. By Surgeon-Major Wallich, 

 M.D. 



[Plate XI.] 



As Mr. SoUas has seen fit to make the second part of his 

 memoir " On the Flint Nodules of the Trimming-ham Chalk " 



