HORX EXPEDITION—MURID^E. 
395 
This author has remarked on the occasional difficulty of determining whether 
one of the Australian MuridiC should be j^laced in the genus Ccnilurus {Ilapa- 
lotis) or ]\Iiis^ and writes* * :—“ It* seems indeed probable that the characters of 
these two genera will be found so to blend together in the dill'ei’ent species as to 
necessitate their ultimate union, notwithstanding the very striking characters 
presented by the more typical species of Htpalotis." Such a question may be 
raised by the following species. 
Conilurus pedunculatus,t n. sp. Fig. 1, a—f. 
Fur long, thick and harsh, more so on the back. General color yellowish- 
brown; the basal three-fourths of the hairs are grey, succeeded some by yellow, 
some l)y brown, many slightly longer ones tipped with black. Muzzle and face 
grey ; the hairs on the sides of the body are not brown-tipped, so that the color 
is yellowish, fading into white below, which color extends along the whole of the 
under surface; the hairs on the median line are not bicolored, but the bases of 
the yellow hairs and of the lateral vdiite ones are pale grey. Ears large, clothed 
with short gold-colored hairs within and without; laid forward, they reach the 
centre of the eye. Lindjs paler than the back ; fore and especially the hind feet 
large, ochraceous. Toes white ; a dark line passes from the heel along the outer 
side, and advancing upwards along the median line of the foot, disappears before 
reaching the base of the toes ; a similar line is traceable on the fore feet. Tail 
slightly longer than the head and body. At and for a centimetre from its 
insertion it is of normal thickness, about four millimetres, whence it suddenly 
swells to twice that diameter, its lateral slightly more than its vertical thickness ; 
continuing of this size for some distance, it gradually diminishes in diameter. 
The hairs are long and quite conceal the scales, very coarse and stilt* near the 
root, but becoming liner and longer, and pencilled at the end. Color above 
yellow, with some black hairs interposed; they become more numerous distally, 
and eventually displace the yellow ones j no black hairs on the sides, under hairs 
white ; twelve scales to the centimetre. Mammai 0’2 = 4. 
Skull of rather delicate proportions, supraorbital region angular but without 
prominent ridges. A very large preorbital process. Nasals long, projecting con¬ 
siderably beyond the line of the premaxillary. The anterior zygoma root is 
rounded above, but the front edge is markedly concave. 
# Ann. Mag'. Nat. Hist. (6) iii., 1889. p. 
t Conilurm, Ogilby = Hapalotu, Lichtenstein, pre-occupied by Iliibner in the Lepidoptera Ileterocera. 
*c2 
