530 MR. W. L. SCLATER ON SOME INDIAN MURID^. [JunC 17, 



The f\ir in this species is soft, not shining : it is above of a very 

 dark slate-colour for three quarters of its length, the remaining 

 quarter being of a chestnut colour ; posteriorly towards the tail the 

 chestnut-coloured portion of the fur increases at the expense of the 

 slate, so that its general appearance is very much redder poste- 

 riorly ; below, the fur is of a dirty greyish white, getting more and 

 more reddish posteriorly, the bases of the hairs being still slate- 

 coloured. 



The tail is somewhat longer than the body ; it is slightly more 

 lightly-coloured below than above, and is woll-haired but not 

 pencilled. The ear is very small, and is almost concealed by the 

 very long fur all round it ; it is further remarkable for a thin tuft 

 of long hairs springing from the middle of the conch, a character 

 which seems to distinguish this species from all other Indian Mu- 

 ridce except Mus hiunei. 



The mammae are eight in number. 



The fifth toe of the front foot does not seem abnormally short as 

 it is described to be in Mus Jiumei ; it reaches well beyond the 

 bottom of the division between the 2nd and 3rd toes almost to a 

 level with the joint of the 1st and 2nd phalanges of the 3rd toe ; 

 the pads of the hind toe are large and not very well defined, but 

 the pi'oximal one, which is in all other Indian Mice rounded, is in 

 this species distinctly oval and rat-like. 



The skull of this species (Plate XLIV. fig. 5) can be at once 

 recognized by the fact that the external wall of the antorbital 

 foramen is perfectly perpendicular. In this it resembles Mus humei, 

 in which, however, the modification has gone further and the wall 

 is concave. The zygoma itself is slightly concave and the anterior 

 palatine foramen ends at the auterior line of the front molars. 



The hinder part of the hard palate formed by the pterygoids is 

 characteristic, it forms two little concave cups separated in the 

 median line and from each other by a slight ridge (c/. fig. 5 a). 

 The posterior nasal opening is exceedingly wide, much wider than 

 the corresponding opening in Mvs ^lrba)^us, and the bulla is much 

 more inflated. Altogether Mus erythrotis is a much more distinct 

 species than most of the Indian Mice. 



Of the specimens in the Indian Museum six, including the type, 

 are from Cherra Punji on the Khasia Hills, in Assam. Another speci- 

 men, a skin, unfortunately without a skuU, procured by Col. Godwin- 

 Austen in South Munipur, must also be referred to this species. 



The following are the measurements of the adult female above 

 alluded to, in inches : — 



Head and body 2-85, tail 3-25, hind foot without claw "68, fore 

 arm and hand "83, ear-conch -32, nose to ear (skull extracted) •82. 



25. Mus METTADA (Gray) ; Thomas, P. Z. S. 1881, p. 550. 



This Eat has been fuUy described and figured by Blanford 

 (J. A. S. B. xlvi. p. 290) and by Thomas, so that there is little to add 

 to the descriptions already published. 



