1881.] W. T. Blanford— On Myospalax fuscicapillus, Bhjth. 119 



and had finally been transferred to the British Museum. This proved to 

 be a true Arvicola (see previous paper) but in external characters it had 

 some resemblance to Myospalax fuscicapillus, of which I had a distinct 

 recollection. On my application, Dr. Anderson, Superintendent of the 

 Indian Museum, was good enough to obtain the permission of the Trustees 

 to send one of the specimens of Blyth's species and a skull to London for 

 me to examine. After comparing this with, Mr. Thomas's assistance, I am 

 unable to find that the animal has ever been described elsewhere, and the 

 most nearly allied known form appears to be the Russian Ellobius talpinus. 

 I cannot find any good generic character to distinguish Myospalax from 

 Ellobius, although the difference between the two is considerable, and may 

 induce some naturalists to separate them generically. For the present, I 

 think the Quetta species may be called Ellobius fuscicapillus the following 

 is a description of the skin and skull, which, with the teeth, is figured on 

 PI. II. 



Ellobius fuscicapillus. 



GeorycJmsfuscocapillus,B\yi>h,J.A.S. B., 1841, X, p. 928; 1842, 

 XI, p. 887. 



Myospalax fuscocapillus, Blyth, J. A. S. B., 1846, XV, p. 141 ; Cat 

 Mam. Mus. As. Soc. p. 126. 



Colour on the upper parts buff, (very pale fulvous or light brownish 

 yellow;) except on the upper surface of the head, which is hair brown. 

 Lower parts rather paler, tail nearly the same colour as the back, feet 

 pale. 



Fur soft, light ashy grey at the base, and for rather more than half 

 the length, terminal portion on the back dirty light brownish yellow, no 

 longer hairs on the back, a few towards the rump, and around the base of 

 the tail ; these have not dark tips. On the head the hairs are brown 

 throughout, in the middle of the belly yellowish white. The hair on the 

 specimen examined is short, being only T \ inch long, in the middle of the 

 back. 



Ear- conch rudimentary. 



Whiskersbuft, the uppermost brown, none in the skin examined extends 

 back beyond the ears. 



Feet of moderate size, rather broad, toes long, claws blunt, short, 

 formed for digging, horn-coloured, overhung by long hairs. In the forefoot 

 the second is but little shorter than the third but considerably longer than 

 the fourth, exceeding it by about the same amount as that by which the 

 fourth itself extends beyond the fifth ; thumb very short, but with a claw 

 nearly equal to that of the other toes. Pads beneath each fore foot 5 in 

 number, the two anterior at the base of the three middle toes, of these the 



