1887.] Birds from Northern Afghanistan. 71 



From the characters already given for this souslik, it could not be 

 referred to any species of S^permophilus belonging to the section in 

 "which the hind feet are not haired below, e. g., S. fulvus^ 8. rufescenSf 

 S. erythrogenySf S. hrevicauda, 8. mugosaricust S. concolor, or 8. musicus. 

 Of the section having well-haired soles, 8. eversmanni and allies are also 

 excluded by the length of the tail ; Middendorff gives the length of tail 

 in 8. eversmanni as 4*2 inches, with terminal hairs 5"5. Of the short- 

 tailed sub-section, 8. citellus, 8. dauricus, 8. guttatus, 8. xanthojprymnus, 

 and 8. mongolicus are excluded for various, but good and sufficient, reasons 

 which to enumerate would be long. The only likely species that re- 

 mains is 8. leptodactylus of Lichtenstein, and, to it, I was at first dis- 

 posed to refer the specimen collected by Captain Yate. The position of 

 Lichtenstein's species is, in the first place, involved in doubt : it was dis- 

 tinctly described as having the hind feet haired below, but, according to 

 Brandt (Bull Acad. Sc. St. Petersburg II, p. 359), Eversmann proved 

 to his satisfaction that S. leptodactylus was the same species as 8.fulvus, 

 which has the soles bare. However this may be, I have carefully com- 

 pared Lichtenstein's detailed description of his Citillus leptodactylus 

 (Saugethiere, Tab. XXXII.) with the specimen under notice and can 

 only come to the conclusion that the latter is perfectly distinct, even if 

 the question of hair on the soles be left out of consideration. In de- 

 scribing this species as new I have not overlooked Brandt's caution 

 about the young of bare-soled sousliks having sometimes that part to- 

 lerably well covered with hairs. 



6. Gerbillus, sp. 



1. <J Balkh, Afghan Turkistan, July 4. 



Head and body about 5*4, ear at front from orifice 0*6, fore-foot 

 0*38, with claws 0*45, hind foot 1*2, with claws 1*3. Fur long, fine, and 

 very soft. Bright rufous brown or fawn colour above, many of the hairs 

 black tipped, the basal parts of the hair leaden grey ; below the hairs 

 white throughout their length. Ears fairly well haired, fawn-coloured 

 behind with a white margin, in front with scanty white hairs at the 

 margins ; whiskers white. Fore limbs white above and below, the palms 

 naked ; hind feet isabelline above, with whitish hairs on the the soles, 

 including the toes, except part of the hinder portion of the tarsus. The 

 tail is imperfect, but its basal part for about 2'5 inches is coloured like 

 the back above, and is slightly paler below. 



The upper incisors are well grooved, the enamel folds of the upper 

 molars are completely united in the middle, exactly as in G. hurrianm, 

 and the hinder molar has not a vestige of any posterior talon — the 

 outline of the crown as seen from above being simply a narrow oval, 



