SCIENTIFIC RESULTS FROM THE MAMMAL SURVEY. 429 
Soriculus radulus, sp. n. 
A small species with large fore-claws :— 
Size a little larger than in 8. caudatus. General appéarance much as in that 
species, though the tail is shorter. Fur fine, soft, velvety, hairs of back about 
4°5 mm., in length. General colour velvety blackish; a little browner than 
“‘ blackish mouse-grey ’’. Undersurface dark smoky brown. Hands and feet 
almost naked, dark grey ; claws markedly elongated, fossorial, the fore-claws 
attaining 3°5 mm., in length, as compared with 2°0 in S. caudatus. Tail about 
the length of the body without the head, naked, black, scarcely lighter below. 
Skull rather larger than thatof S. caudatus, and proportionately broader across 
the braincase. Teeth much as in caudatus, the second incisor similarly larger 
than the third, not as in nigrescens, the other species with elongated claws. 
Tips of teeth with a minimum amount of brown, i’, i’, and p‘ alone being slightly 
darkened terminally. 
Dimensions of the type, measured in the flesh :— 
Head and body 70 mm., tail 50 mm., hindfoot 14 mm., ear 9 mm. 
Skull, greatest length 20°6 mm.; condylo-incisive length 21-1 mm., 
breadth across braincase 10°5 mm., upper tooth series 9° 7 mm, 
Hab.—Mishmi Hills. Type from Dreyi 5,140’. 
Type.—Adult female. B. M. No. 21. 12. 5. 6. Original number 1947. 
Collected 28th May 1921 by H. W. Wells. Presented by the Bombay Natural 
History Society. A second specimen preserved in spirit. 
This little shrew is at once distinguished by its long claws from any other 
members of the genus except S. nigrescens, and that is very much larger, with 
differently proportioned incisors. 
The collection also contains four examples of S. caudatus, but not any of the 
other Mishmi species, S. baileyi, described by me in 1914. 
Dremomys lokriah subflaviventris, Horst. 
Most nearly allied to D.1. bhotia, Wrought., with which it shares the dark grey- 
ish general colour above, without fulvous suffusion. But the size is larger, the 
skull sometimes attaining 54 mm. in length, and the ochraceous colour of the 
undersurface is more nearly restricted to the median area. In bhotia the whole 
undersurface from side to side is more or less washed with ochraceous, the ful- 
vous tinge often perceptible on the flanks. In subflaviventris on the other hand 
the ochraceous is even more vivid on the chest and middle area of the belly, but 
is usually only about 25-30 mm. wide, the sides of the belly being olivaceous 
grey like the flanks and back. 
Dimensions of a Mishmi specimen, measured in the flesh :-— 
Head and body 201 mm., tail 125 mm., hindfoot 45 mm., ear 20 mm. 
Skull, greatest length 52°5 mm. ; condylo-incisive length 47 mm., zygomatic 
breadth 29°7 mm., upper tooth series exclusive of p® 8°5 mm. 
In connection with the determination of this animal an interesting point of 
nomenclature arises. The name Sciurus subflaviventris has always been considered 
asa nomen nudum, and it certainly has never been “‘ properly ” described. But 
it is now considered that any statement about a specimen, in connection with a 
name, renders the latter valid. Now two statements have been made about 
subflaviventris, the first of which, dating from Horsfield’s cataloguet, may be 
taking as stabilizing the name, with its type, B. M: No. 79.11.21.351. The 
statement is simply that S. subflaviventris ‘‘ nearly resembles ”’ 8. lokriah, and 
we may therefore consider the type as having been described. A full description 
of the same animal was given by McClelland, P. Z. 8., 1839, p. 151, but only in 
connection with the earlier name of lokriah, Hodgs. 
The advantage of accepting this early statement as valid is that a still more 
unsatisfactory but an unescapable statement has recently been made about sub- 
¢t Horsf. Cat. Mamm. Mus. E, J.C. p. 153, 1851. 
