11-2 JOUBNAL, BOMBAY ^ATUBAL HIST. SOCIETY. Vol. XXI. 



single specimen of a mouse, Avhich is so different from anything 

 tt-ecoi'ded, that I propose to describe it under the name of 



MUS PHILLIPSI. 

 Pliilli'ps' Sinned Mouse. 

 A small mouse, slightly larger than Jjeggada hooditga. Coat com- 

 posed almost entirely of coarse spines, coarser even than in Leggada 

 ■plaUjthrix, overlying an underfur of shorter colourless hairs. 



General colour.- — Above, ' drab,' tinged with blackish brown on 

 the back, individual spines of the back pale silvery grey, with 

 rather long (2-3 mm.) dark brown tips ; below, pure ^vhite, hands 

 and feet white, tail coloured like the back, slightl}' paler below, 

 well clothed with stout, bristly hairs, which are long for the size of 

 the animal. Footpads 6 as in Mus, the granulations of the sole, so 

 characteristic of Acomijs, entirely absent. 



Skull markedly larger than in Leggada hooduga, about as in the 

 common Indian House- Mouse. The frontal ridges strongly 

 marked, as in Leggada plajtiitlirix, but diverging more abruptly, in 

 passing backwards from the interorbital region than in that 

 species, so that, seen from above, the parieto-frontal area seems 

 almost ' pja'iform,' instead of evenly broadening backwards as in 

 Jj. platythrix, s^-adi stiM move in Mus ' manei.' The dentition is 

 •quite that of true Mus, the anterior molar being longer than the 

 other two together, and at the same time lacking the forward pro- 

 longation of the anterior molar, with its crowning cusp, which 

 characterizes J^eggada. The palatal foramina reach backwards 

 barely bej^ond a line joining the anterior edges of the first molars, 

 while in Mv.s mayiei they extend backwards at least to one-third of 

 the length of the first molar, and in 7v, platytlirix to nearly 

 two-thirds. 



Dimensions of the type measuredj by the Collector.— Kead and body, 

 79 ; tail, 60; hind foot, 14. (The ears of the specimen have un- 

 fortunately been eaten off bj^ ants.) 



Shell. — Condylobasal length, 21-5 ; basilar length, 18; greatest 

 breadth, 11; nasals, 9; diastema, 6*5; upper molar sei'ies, 3-7. 



Habitat. — Nimar District, C. P. (Type from Asirgarh. 

 Altitude 1,500.) 



