1879.) W. TT. Blanford—A second Note on Gilgit Mammalia. 97 
Of the former of these species three skins have been sent by Major Bid- 
dulph, of the latter two, They thoroughly confirm the distinction between 
the two species, the first named being smaller and much greyer, the latter 
larger and more rufous. There is a corresponding difference in the size of 
the skulls, though very little in form; that of C. fulvus measures 1:17 
inches long by 0°64 broad, and that of C. pheus 0:94 by °48. C. fulvus pro- 
bably weighs at least twice as much as ©. pheus. The tail is much thicker 
in the former than in the latter. 
5. Mus erythronotus.* There are, amongst the Gilgit skins, two 
specimens of a slightly rufescent white-bellied mouse, with rather a long 
tail. This mouse, like the Oriceti, is evidently the same as a species of 
which specimens were brought by Dr. Stoliezka from Wakhan in the upper 
Oxus valley in 1874. I was at first disposed to identify this mouse with the 
European I. sylvaticus, but there are, I find, differences inthe skulls; the 
occipital portion and the foramen magnum in the European species being 
higher in proportion to the breadth, whilst the opening of the posterior 
nares is much narrower, the breadth being less than that of the anterior upper 
molar, whilst in the Wakhan skull the breadth exceeds that of the molar. In 
Mus sylvaticus, the hinder upper molar is only about a fourth of the size 
of the second molar, whilst in the Wakhan and Gilgit skulls the third 
molar is about half the size of the second. In the form of the occiput 
the skulls from Wakhén and Gilgit agree with the figure of the type of 
Mf. erythronotus, the specimens of which belonging to the Indian Museum 
appear unfortunately to have been mislaid. The comparison is imperfect, 
and it is far from improbable, with a good series of specimens, that all these 
races would be found to grade into typical IZ. sylvaticus, of which, it should 
be said, only a single skull is available for comparison. 
The important fact is, however, that of the small number of rodents 
hitherto detected in Wakhan and Gilgit respectively, three, a mouse and 
two Criceti, are identical, and that comsequently part of the fauna of the 
Gilgit portion of the Indus valley differs from that of Ladak so far as 
known, and agrees with that of the upper Oxus. 
Compared with the figure of IL. erythronotus, the Wakhan and Gilgit 
mouse is rather less rufous, and the tail in the latter is distinctly dark brown 
above and pale below. 
6. Mus rufescens, auct. The last specimen sent is perhaps the most 
remarkable of all, for it is a white-bellied, long-tailed rat of moderate size, 
quite undistinguishable, so far as I can see, from specimens of the common 
* W. Blanf., Hastern Persia, IT, p. 54, Pl. V, fig. 3, 
