PSAMMOMTS OBESTJS. 
271 
coloured than the generality of the fur, this region, but especially the upper surface 
of the head, has a somewhat rufous tint speckled with the black tips. The upper 
surface of the tail is the same colour as the back, the under surface being paler, and 
the long hairs on the end russet-brown. All the under parts are strongly washed with 
yellow or pale cinnamon. 
The ears are more thickly clad than in Meriones, the anterior fringe of stiff hairs 
being present, as in the last species. The nose, the bare area of the lips, the skin 
of the ears, and the skin of the feet are livid fleshy. 
The pollex is very small, but the claw is well developed for the size of the digit. 
There is a small round tubercle at the base of the second, and another at the base 
of the fifth, with a similar tubercle common to the bases of the third and fourth 
fingers. Two large palmar tubercles are present immediately below the wrist, lying 
close to one another, but with their distal ends rounded and projecting. The whole 
under surface of the palm anterior to these tubercles is finely granular. The tubercles 
of the second, third and fourth, and fifth tbes have the same form and arrangement 
as in the manus, but a fourth tubercle lies at the base of the hallux. Placed con¬ 
siderably more proximally than the last-mentioned tubercle is a small metatarsal 
tubercle, lying towards the inner border and slightly on the distal side of the middle 
of the tarso-metatarsus. On the distal side of it the plantar surface is covered with 
scales arranged transversely, and between the rows of scales arise numerous hairs, as 
in the scaly tail of a rat. The palmar surface anterior to the wrist-pads and as far 
as the base of the fingers has no hair, but the under surfaces of the digits of the 
manus and pes are haired, more especially the under surfaces of the latter. 
There is no abdominal gland. 
Three pairs of mammse, two inguinal and one pectoral, are present. 
Measurements taken from specimens preserved in alcohol. 
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mm. 
mm. 
mm. 
Snout to vent. 
158 
143 
Vent to tip of tail, without hairs .... 
.... 130 
135 
123 
Height of ear. 
.... 15 
15 
14 
Length of head. 
.... 50 
51 
48 
„ hind foot, without claw .... 
.... 35 
35 
35 
Measurements of skull:—Greatest length 43‘5 mm.; greatest breadth 25; across 
auditory meatus 25; length of nasals 17; basal length 38-5; length of palate 21-5 ; 
incisive foramina 7T ; molar series 7. 
The skull of this species is considerably larger than that of M. shawi subsp. 
melanurus', the interparietal is boldly irregularly convex in front, projecting well 
between the parietals, while in M. shatvi melanurus this bone is feebly convex 
