414 MR. G. 15. H. BARRETT-HAMILTOft OH [Apr. 3, 



north of Kashgar." Further, the types seem to have beeu lost, 

 being neither in the JMuseums of St. Petersburg or of Moscow. 

 The usual course would, therefore, have been to have consigned 

 SevertzofFs name to the list of those of unrecognizable species ; 

 and this I should have done, had not Herr Biichner, who had 

 under his examination a large number of typical Mus wagneri from 

 Turkestan, and who noticed that Severtzoff mentions no sylvaticus- 

 like Mouse in his account of the Mammals of that region, 

 bracketed Mus tvagneri major with Mas ariaaus. I am, therefore, 

 glad to follow Herr Biichner on that point. When, however, we 

 do receive a series of the representative of Mus sylvaticus from 

 Turkestan, I should not be surprised if it prove to be neither the 

 subspecies aria a as nor any other known subspecies. 



Distinguishing Characteristics. Although there is no doubt that it 

 is extremely close to Mass. intermedins, like some other geographi- 

 cal forms of Mus sylvaticus, M. s. arianus was originally described 

 as if it were something so distinct in itself as to need no compari- 

 son with any other species ; hence no particular characters are laid 

 down in the original description whereby the two may be separated. 

 It agrees with Mus s. intermedins of England in general appearance 

 and in the number of the mamma?, and Mr. Blanford's plate in 

 ' Eastern Persia ' would do very well for a specimen from Western 

 Europe ; but it appears to differ in the lesser size and length of 

 the hind feet, and is said to be never of so intense a red-brown 

 colour on the upper surface. Probably, had we a series from the 

 distant regions where it is found, we should find other points of 

 difference. The colour of the underside of the specimens 

 examined by Herr Biichner was not, as in Mr. Blanford's examples, 

 white, but golden grey (gelblichgrau), with a sprinkling of grey 

 hairs, and there was no breast-spot ; but, as has been said above, 

 it is more than likely that several distinct subspecies have been 

 confounded under the name of arianus. 



1 have no series of this Mouse before me, the only specimens at 

 my disposal being no. 74.11.21.22 (1730«), the skull of a female 

 and one of Mr. Blanford's co-types; no. 90.11.2.1, a female in 

 alcohol from Gulmerg, Cashmere, 5000 ft. (Dr. E. T. Aitchison) ; 

 and a third specimen in alcohol, no. 91 .93.20.15, with the raamnuc 

 as in Mus sylvaticus; so that I am quite unable to give a decided 

 opinion as to the exact appearance of this form, but must follow 

 Mr. Blanford and other naturalists in considering it distinct. 

 Neither can I lay down any characters which will help to distin- 

 guish the skull from that of M. s. typicus. The skull certainly 

 appears to be more massive and stronger than the skulls of 

 Western European examples ; but it is probable that the cranial 

 characters given by Mr. Blanford ' would not stand the test of 



1 It ma}' perhaps be well to summarize these, as given bj^Mr. Blanford in the 

 J. A. S. B. slviii. pt. ii. (1879) : — The occipital portion of the skull and the 

 ibramen magnum of European specimens is higher in proportion to its breadth 

 than in M. s. arianus ; the opening of the posterior nares is narrower, the 

 breadth being less than that of the anterior upper molar, whereas in a skull 



