1880.] THE MAMMALS OF ASIA MINOR. . 61 



it is referable to the next species ; and there appears to be no other 

 evidence of the occurrence of C. aceedula in Asia Minor.] 



36. *tCRiCETTJS PHJEUS, Pall. Kara-guz. 



Abundant in houses at Kaisariyeh. Those caught generally had 

 their pouches stuffed with dry pigeon-droppings. It was remark- 

 able that none of these Hamsters ventured into Danford's traps until 

 the house had been cleared of Mice ; apparently the latter, in spite 

 of their smaller size, have the upper hand in the murine polity. 



[Mus RATTus, Linn. D. & A., p. 279.] 



37. Mus DECUMANus, Pall. D. & A., no. 29. 



[Mus ABBOTTi, Waterh. 



Under this name Mr. Waterhouse described a Mouse sent many 

 years ago to this Society from Trebizond by Mr. Keith E. Abbott'. 

 His type is not to be found in that portion of the Society's collec- 

 tion which passed to the British Museum ; and we can only direct 

 the attention of collectors to his original description. The animal 

 is stated to have been smaller than a Harvest-Mouse (length of head 

 and body 1 inch 3 lines, of tail 1 inch 11 lines), and of a deeper 

 colour than Mus musculus. Had the description been given by any 

 less trustworthy writer, we should have had little hesitation in regard- 

 ing it as having been founded on a young individual of that species.] 



38. *Mus MUSCULUS, Linn. Sytchan. D. & A., no. 30. 

 Specimens of the common House-Mouse were obtained in various 



towns and villages, including Oroul, near the Euphrates, where the 

 range of this species overlaps that of M. hactrianus. These vary 

 considerably in size and in intensity of colour — some, like the ex- 

 ample mentioned in our first paper, being very pale in tint, while 

 others are small and usually dark. Two House-Mice from a village 

 in the Giaour-Dagh are so peculiar in coloration that at first sight 

 they appear to belong to quite a distinct species, their upper parts 

 being of a light fawn which passes insensibly into the still paler and 

 more yellowish fawn of the belly. But we can find no structural 

 differences whatever ; and an English variety of M. musculus almost 

 identical in tint is preserved in the British Museum. 



39. *tMus BACTRiANUs, Blyth. 



Of this species, which is probably, as Mr. Blanford remarks, •' the 

 House-Mouse of the extreme north-west of India, Kashmir, Afghanis- 

 tan, Baluchistan, and Southern Persia," specimens were trapped 

 at Oroul, on the Euphrates, along with 31. musculus, thus showing 

 that its range extends considerably further west than has hitherto 

 been supposed. Two examples which were preserved agree well with 

 Mr. Blanford's excellent description and figure*, and with his Per- 

 sian specimens in the British Museum, only differing in having 

 slightly shorter tails. Measurements (in spirits): — 



^ P. Z. S. 1837, p. 77. ^ East. Persia, ii. pp. .5(i, 57, pi. v. fig. 2. 



