134 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS [vor.. 50 



that this difference is due to age, for while the Taocheo skull is fully 

 adult, it is not that of an old individual. 



External measurements in the flesh, taken by the collector (Cat. 

 No. 144,021, U. S. N. M.) : Total length, 780 mm.; tail vertebrae, 

 350; hind foot, 80. Cranial measurements: Greatest length, 71.5 

 mm. ; zygomatic breadth, 48.5; basal length, 62.4; basilar length, 59; 

 maxillary tooth-row, 18; mandibular tooth-row, 18.6. 



MARMOTA ROBUSTA (Milne Edwards) 



1870. Arctomys robustus Milne Edwards, Nouvelles Archives du Mu- 

 seum, vii, Bull., p. 92. 



1868-1874. Arctomys robustus Milne Edwards, Recherches Mammiferes, 

 p. 309, pi. xi.vii, pi. xlix, fig. 2. 



Seven marmots, two adults and five half-grown young, collected 

 by Mr.' Simpson, seem to be identical with Arctomys robustus Milne 

 Edwards. The adults are in worn pelage and the black about the 

 head is less conspicuous than indicated in the original descriptions, 

 while the black on the end of the tail has changed to dull reddish 

 brown. In the young specimens the tails are black-tipped. The 

 skulls of the two adults agree in all essential respects with the illus- 

 trations of the skull of the type of Marmota robusta, the only notice- 

 able differences being the rather longer and wider nasals and longer 

 sagittal crests in the two Taocheo skulls. 



External measurements, made in the flesh by the collector, of the 

 two adults, males (Cat. Nos. 144,038 and 144,039 respectively) : 

 Total length, 645 mm., 657 mm. ; tail vertebras, 162, 145 ; hind foot, 

 102, 92. Cranial measurements of the same two specimens respec- 

 tively : Greatest length, 103 mm., 103.5 mm.; greatest width, 65, 

 64.5; basal length, 96.5, 98; maxillary tooth-row (alveoli), 25.6, 25; 

 mandibular tooth-row (alveoli), 23.6, 23.5. 



MUS NORVEGICUS Erxleben 



Five specimens of the common house rat, an adult and four young 

 of varying ages, were secured by Mr. Simpson. He fails to state 

 whether they were taken in houses or in the open. 



MYOTALPA CANSUS, new species 



Type. — Skin and skull of adult female. Cat. Xo. 144,022, collected 

 at Taocheo, Kan-su, northwestern China, May 7, 1906, by W. W. 

 Simpson. Original number, 7. 



