98 W. T. Blanford— On the Voles (Arvicola) of the [No. 2, 



2. Arvicola straeheyi. (Teeth, Plate I. fig. C.) 

 Arvicola straeheyi, Oldfield Thomas, Ann. Sf Mag. Nat. Hist. Oct. 



1880, ser. 5, vol. vi. p. 332. 

 Colour light brown, with a grey tinge above, white below ; forehead 

 rather dusky ; feet and tail white. 



Fur soft, long, slaty grey at the base ; on the back there is a pale 

 whitish band on the hairs, a little way from the skin (this may, perhaps, be 

 an individual peculiarity or due to season, only one specimen being known) 

 the first and third fourths of the length being slaty grey and the terminal 

 fourth brownish yellow, some hairs with black tips being interspersed. 

 On the lower parts the basal half of the hairs is grey, the terminal half 

 white. 



Ears small, not projecting beyond the fur and thickly covered inside 

 and out with moderately long hair. 



Feet of moderate size ; claws pale, overhung with hairs ; thumb quite 

 rudimentary and clawless ; fourth toe in the fore foot slightly longer than 

 the second, and the third longer than the fourth by about the same differ- 

 ence. In the hind foot the second and fourth toes are nearly equal, third 

 very little longer. Tarsus hairy below. 



Tail short (vertebrae preserved), apparently not more than one fifth 

 the length of the head and body, covered with white hairs, which extend 

 half an inch beyond the end. 



inches. 



Length of head and body 3*7 



„ tail without hairs 0*7 



„ tarsus and hind foot without claws.. . 065 

 The description and measurements are from a single dried skin 

 brought by Capt. (now Lieut.-Gen.) R. Strachey from Kumaon, and 

 presented to the East- India Museum, where it was entered in the 

 Catalogue as Gricetus songarus. When the zoological specimens of the 

 East-India were incorporated in the British Museum, the skull was ex- 

 tracted by Mr. Thomas and the real nature of the animal recognized. 

 The following are the characters of the molar teeth : — 

 Upper molar i, 5 spaces, 3 external and 3 internal angles. 



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The hinder upper molar much resembles that of A. stoliczhanus, and 

 like the latter, has two strong salient angles on the anterior portion of the 



„ n, 4 



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3 



„ „ in, 3 



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4 



Lower molar i, 7 



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5 



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3 



„ „ in, 4 



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3 



