Hi 



102 



MONOGKAPUS OF KOKTII AMEKIOAN liODENTlA. 



i 



) 



i I 



1 i 



witli them. The following table gives detailed measurements, and we are 

 now enabled lor the first time to state the lengtii of the tail, which exceeds 

 that of the head and body very decidedly, sometimes nearly one and a half 

 inches. 



Table XXVIII. — MiaKiiremiiitt of six upecimena of IlEi^rEiiuMYs AZiKCua. 



HESPEROMYS (VESPERIMUS) MELANOPHRYS, Coues. 



Biack-cjed Moase. 



tnetperomyf mexioanus, Ve Saussube, R. M. Z. 1860, 103, pi. iz, f. 1, la.* 

 Hcspcromyi (Ve»perimu») melanophryB, Col'ks, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Fbila. 1874, 181. 



(No. 10183.) With the general aspect of a large species of the Hcsperomys 

 leucopus group. Tail a little longer than the head and body together, slender, 



'"Velutiuus, griaeiis, muriniu; in Interibus pauluiii fulvcscens, frequenter subferrnginens ; snbtUB 

 albidus, pcctoroetmentofulveacontibus; pedes anticialbidi; auricnlai permagnw ; canducorporelongiur; 

 niyiitaces elongati. 



"Intermedial in size between M. m\ucu}u» and il. ratliif. Feloge soft and velvety. Head conic, 

 lengthened ; lip cleft to the nose ; mnzzle bairy except the Reptum. KarH very large nnd broad, bnt higher 

 than wide, ronnded, but with the upper margin a little angular. Tail long, nettrly equal to the head and 

 tody together, hut tometimea only exceeding the body alone. Feet (' pattes' — more likely meaning limbs here) 

 very lung, especially the hinder, the animal Htanding high. Color, dark brownish monso-gray ('gris de 

 Bonris brun-noiratro'), with a slight silvery sliado on tbu back, the very tips of the haira being yellowish- 

 gray ; head not ipiite so dark ; checks rusty-gray ; the yellowish always stronger on the flanks. Ft-et, 

 externally yellowish-gray (gris-fauvc). Lips and chin palo yellowish-gray, nnd entire nndor parts gray- 

 ish-wbiti', npporently plumbeous, because the slaty roots of the hairs show through ; the white (listinctly 

 separated from the color of the flanks. Breast and front of the shoulder washed Kith yellow. Fore feet 

 white, or groyish ; the hinder brown, irith the ends of the Iocs trhite. Ears apparently naked, but covered 

 with short close hairs. Tail scaly, slightly bairy, black above, white below. Whiskers blackish, very 

 long, reaching to or beyond the shonlders. 



" Some individuals are yellower than as above ; the sides becoming ferrnglneona, strongly marked 

 on the flanks at the line of separation between itself, the white of the belly here becoming almost palu 

 orange. Sides and under surface of the head, as well as the shoulder and breast, strongly washed willi 

 ruRty-ycllow. In other specimens, on the contrary, the rusty color is not very evident. 



" l-e«glh of one specimen, about 4fy, teith tail 4i ; of another, about i, with (ai( 3^; hind foot slightly 

 over one inch." 



The foregoing is M. Dc Saussure's diagnosis, with an abridged translation of bis further descri|i- 

 tion ; the chief points of discrepancy, as compared with our specimens of melanophrys, being italicized. 

 It is inseited for convenience of comparison. 



