440 bulletin: museum of comparative zoology. 



Graphiurus microtis griseus, subsp. nov. 



Type.— Skin and skull, M. C. Z., 8244, adult male, from the 

 northern Guaso Nyiro River, British East Africa; collected 25 July, 

 1909, by Glover M. Allen. Altitude about 4000 feet. 



General Characters. — A medium sized grayish species, apparently 

 nearly allied to G. raptor of Mt. Kenia, but much less buffy and with 

 paler feet and belly. From G. m. saturatus, described from Mt. Elgon 

 at 9000 feet, it differs in being paler gray above and with dark gray 

 instead of pure white metatarsal area. 



Description. — Dorsal surface of head, body, and forearms of a 

 general smoke gray in color, darkest on the mid-dorsal area of the 

 back, due to the predominance of dark hairs ; on the sides of the neck 

 and body the color is lighter, nearly a pale wood-brown, produced by 

 the greater admixture of buffy-tipped hairs; the forehead and muzzle 

 between the eyes are nearly clear gray. A blackish patch is present 

 between the anterior corner of the eye and the base of the vibrissae, 

 and a narrow blackish ring encircles each eye. Hands and feet white, 

 except that the tarsal joint and the median portion of the metatarsals 

 are slaty gray. Entire ventral surfaces of the limbs and body, in- 

 cluding the throat, and cheeks below the eye are dull whitish, every- 

 where darkened by the prominent slate bases of the hairs, except at 

 the chin. The tail is as long as the body, flattened and narrow, and 

 approaches a dark fawn color in general tone, slightly lighter below. 

 A few white-tipped hairs form an inconspicuous fringe and tip. Ears 

 large, thinly covered with short brownish hairs. The chest is stained 

 a, pale reddish. 



Skull. — The skull appears to be about the size of that of raptor, 

 but narrower. The bullae are large, and are in contact antero- 

 internally with the hamular processes of the pterygoids. The nasals 

 are broad, their outer borders parallel, not tapering posteriorly, and 

 almost squarely truncate at their proximal end, where they are 

 slightly exceeded in backward extension by the ascending branch of 

 the premaxillary. The dorsal root of the zygomatic portion of the 

 maxillary is slightly in advance of the ventral root. 



Measurements. — The type measured in the flesh : head and body, 

 82 mm.; tail, 79; hind foot (c. u.), 18; ear from meatus, 13.5. A 

 second specimen from the same locality, an adult female, measured : 

 head and body, 91: tail (broken); hind foot, 16.5; ear, 16. 



The skull of the type measures: greatest length, 27; basal length, 



