MURID^-SIGMODONTES— HESPRHOMTS rALUSTRIS. 



115 



quite pure; generally, it is obscured l»y the ashy of the roots of the hairs 

 showing through, an«l it often has a faint brownish wash, like a very weak 

 dilution of the color of the sides. The cars have no distinctive coloration. 

 The eye is usually surrounded by a slight blackish area, which sometimes, as 

 in No. 1305, extends as a frenum to the muzzle, there meeting its fellow. Tiic 

 moderately abundant whiskers, of medium length, are some of them black, 

 others colorless. 



The palms and soles are both perfectly naked ; on top, these members 

 are clothed \o the nails with short close-pressed hairs of satiny texture and 

 luster, sometimes pure glossy-white, at others soiled ; this furring is generally 

 dense, but sometimes so scanty that the flesh-color of the skin shows through 

 Sometimes the palms and soles are flesh-colored, sometimes they are black 

 ish. The soles are 6-tubercuIate : (1) a long linear tubercle along the inner 

 side, midway between toe and heel; (2) a very minute one just outside the 

 anterior end of the last ; (3, 4) one at base of both inner and outer toe ; and 

 (5, 6) two at bases of the three central toes. Where non-tuberculate, most 

 of the sole is granular-reticulate ; all the toes are annular-scaled transversely 

 underneath, with a terminal node. The 2d, 3d, and 4th toes are very long, 

 and almost of equal length ; the 5th reaches nearly to the middle of the 4tli ; 

 the 1st scarcely beyond the base of the 2d. The claws are all short, thick, 

 little curved, and not very sharp ; the calcaneal tuberosity is prominent ; 

 traces of the several metatarsals are evident. The largeness of the foot itself 

 is in«triking contrast with the shortness of the hind leg. There are five tuber- 

 cles on the palms, almost entirely occupying the surface : two very large ones 

 posteriorly, subequal in size and side by side, in fact almost coalescing; the 

 inner of these bears the little nodule, capped by a bit of horn that represents 

 the pollex. There is another smaller tubercle at the base of the 2d and 5th 

 fingers respectively ; and a fifth at the conjoined base of the 3d and 4th fin- 

 gers. The 3d finger is longest, the 4th but little shorter ; the 2d and 5th 

 successively diminish rapidly. 



Unlil<fl the feet, the ears are not densely and soflly pilous as in other 

 Hesperomys, but are hirsute — almost strigous — with rather long and stifiish 

 straight hairs, that form a slight fringe. A part of thfcse, nearest the antitra- 

 gus, on the concavity of the auricle, are longer than (he rest, and form the 

 tuft already mentioned. The back of the ear is pretty evenly furred, though 

 rather more scantily toward its base than around the edge. The ears project 

 a little beyond the general fur. 



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