54 
SECOND YARKAND MISSION. 
A third closely allied species is very probably M. hortulanus 1 from Odessa, but that 1 
rather larger, reddisli-brown above, and duty tawny below. Another allied form is apparent , 
31. prcetextus 8 from Arabia and Syria, but it has a reddish streak down each side, naked eal ’ s ' 
and the tail dark on both sides. 
There is yet another Western Asiatic mouse, Mus wagneri, originally described 3 i r ° 
the country between the lower Yolga and the Ural Mountain in the following terms : — Su{P ra 
cauclaque griseo-fulvus, subtus abrupte candidus, auriculis majmculis, verruca haluc a) * 
lamnata , (? laminata,) cauda quam corpus breviore. The colour does not agree with tn 
of M. pacliyccrcus, and in the latter the hallucar tubercle is not laminated. Mus. wagneri, t° 0 ’ 
is smaller than M. minutus of Pallas, which is a smaller animal than M. pacliycercus. ^ 
According to Severtzoff 4 5 M. wagneri is an extremely common resident through 01 
"Western Turkestan. He also mentions as Mus wagneri, var. major (M. tokmak ? n. 
form, which he says only differs from Jf. wagneri in its larger size, in which it approaches 
sylvaticus. It is a house-mouse, and said to have been obtained in a house in a village bib 
in 1864. No dimensions are given, nor any description except the comparison with M ■ 
neri. Tokmak is the name of a town between Vernoe and Auliata, lying north-west 0 
Lake Issik and nearly due north of Kaslighar. It is far from clear whether M. tok }il(l 
is proposed as a name, and the description is insufficient to enable the species to be vec°s 
nized. 
37. MUS ERYTIIKONOTUS. 
W. Blanf., Ann. Mag 1 . Nat. Hist., 1875, Ser. 4, xvi, p. 311. — Eastern Persia, ii, p. 54, PI. V, $£' 
Mus sylvaticus, var. W. Blanf., J. A. S. B., 1875, xliv, Pt. 2, p. 108; nec Linn. 
1, Kaslighar ; 2, 3, 4, 5, Panjah, W akhan. 
In external characters there is very little difference between the skins from Kashgh ftr 
and Wakhan, and those of the long-tailed field mouse of Europe, M. sylvaticus, and ib 
-preliminary list of Dr. Stoliczka’s collections the specimens in question were assigned to 
European species. The means of comparison were small, the specimens of M. sylvaticus 
the Indian Museum had faded in colour from exposure, and no skull was available. 
At 
same time I was disposed to consider Mus erytlironotus, described by myself from Persia 
very 
a variety of M. sylvaticus. The skins from Kaslighar and Wakhan, I may add, agree 
fairly with the description of M. sylvaticus by Sell rebel" 0 and Blasius. 6 
Recently, however, I have been enabled, by the kindness of Dr. Anderson, to comp ^ 
skulls of the Wakhan mouse with one of M. sylvaticus, and although the two are ^ 
allied, there are some differences which make me doubtful whether the former may 11 _ 
belong to a distinguishable race. The skull of Mus sylvaticus compared is smaller, mea sl ^ 
ing only an inch in length, and is from an English specimen. The shape is, in most resp e ° 
similar, but when viewed from behind, the occipital portion is much higher in prop 01 
i t0 e 
1 Nordmann, a, pud Wagner, Supp. Schreb. Saugth., iii, p. 410. 
2 Licht., apud Wagner, Supp. Schreb. Saugth., iii, p. 422. 
3 Eversmau, Bull. Soc. Hist. Nat. Mosc., 1848, i, p. 191, PI. I, fig. 2. 
4 Turk, Jev., p. 61; Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., July, 1876, Ser. 4, xviii,p. 53 
5 Saugthiere, iv, p. 651, PI. CLXXX; Wagn. Supp. iii, p. 411, &c. 
c Saugthiere Deutschlands, p. 322. 
