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ARVICOLA TEXIANA. — Add. and Bacii. 
Texan Meadow-Mouse. 
PLATE CXLVII. Fig. 2.— Male.— Natural Size. 
A Sigmodon hispidum minore, supra rufo-fuscus nigro sparsim notato, 
striis nigris lateralis, lateribus fuscus, infra albido. 
CHARACTERS. 
Smaller than the cotton rat (Sigmodon hispidum) ; back, brownish-yellow, 
spotted with irregular small blotches of black, a faint obscure stripe of black on 
each side. Sides, reddish-brown ; belly, whitish-gray . 
DESCRIPTION. 
This new species bears a general resemblance to the cotton rat of South 
Carolina and Georgia. Head, of moderate size ; body, rather slender, 
and thin in the flanks ; hair, soft ; under fur, woolly ; ears, large, ovate in 
shape, extending beyond the fur, and nearly naked behind, with, on the 
margins, a few scattered hairs. Whiskers, numerous, and about as long 
as the head ; four toes on the fore-feet, with a small and almost impercep- 
tible nail in place of a thumb. Five toes on the hind-feet, the outer and 
inner of nearly equal length, the other three longer, and each of about the 
same length ; legs, slender ; feet, covered by short hairs, and with a few 
hairs between the toes, not however concealing the nails ; heel, narrow, 
and naked, as is also the under surface of the fore-feet. 
Tail, rather long and slender, tapering to the point, and thinly covered 
with hairs. 
COLOUR. 
Fur, dark slate colour on the back at the roots, with reddish-yellow tips. 
The longer hairs, which are fine and soft, are irregularly marked with dark 
and yellowish- white at the base, and tipped with dark brown to where they 
mingle with the under fur. When the hair is laid smooth there is an 
obscure black stripe on the sides of the back, running from behind the 
shoulders towards the rump and converging across the buttocks to a point 
