Natural History of the Mammalia of India and Ceylon Part 67

We have now come to the end of the purely murine group as far as they exist within the limits a.s.signed to these investigations. I ought perhaps to give some short notices of the following specimens discovered in Thibet by the Abbe David, and described by Professor Milne-Edwards in his 'Recherches sur les Mammiferes.'

NO. 381. MUS OUANG-THOMAE.

_The Kiangsi Rat_.

HABITAT.--Kiangsi in Thibet.

DESCRIPTION.--A tawny grey above, mixed with long hairs, tipped with brown, greyish below; between the fore-paws a crescent of pure white, which is a distinguishing mark of the species.

SIZE.--A little less than _Mus rattus_, which is about seven inches long; tail an inch longer.

This rat Professor Milne-Edwards describes from a single specimen; it is apparently rare, and was named after the Abbe David's Chinese servant--'Recherches sur les Mammiferes,' p. 290.

NO. 382. MUS FLAVIPECTUS.

_The Yellow-breasted Rat_.

HABITAT.--Moupin; Thibet.

DESCRIPTION.--Reddish-brown; chin greyish; throat and chest tawny, mixed with grey; belly and inside of limbs yellowish-grey; ears large, nearly naked; incisors deep yellow; tail brown, covered with short hairs.

SIZE.--About 7-3/4 inches; tail, 6-1/4 inches.--'Mammiferes,' p.

289.

NO. 383. MUS GRISEIPECTUS.

_The Grey-breasted Rat_.

HABITAT.--Moupin; Thibet.

DESCRIPTION.--Brown above; the under-parts of a clear grey.

SIZE.--About the same as the last, but with a somewhat shorter tail.--'Mammiferes,' p. 290.

NO. 384. MUS CONFUCIa.n.u.s.

HABITAT.--Moupin; Thibet.

DESCRIPTION.--Fawn brown above, pure white below; lower part of cheek white; on the back the fur is interspersed with longer hairs of a blackish tint; feet pale.

SIZE.--Head and body, about 4 inches.--'Mammiferes,' p. 286.

NO. 385. MUS CHEVRIERI.

HABITAT.--Moupin; Thibet.

DESCRIPTION.--General colour tawny brown, grizzled with dark brown; lower parts of a clear grey, almost white; ears short; feet small; tail covered with short hair.

SIZE.--About 4-3/4 inches; tail about 3-1/2 inches.--'Mammiferes,'

p. 288.

NO. 386. MUS PYGMAEUS.

_The Pigmy Mouse_.

HABITAT.--Moupin; Thibet.

DESCRIPTION.--Distinguished by its very short ears and the square form of its head; deep brown above; greyish-yellow beneath; tail shorter than in the common mouse.

SIZE.--About 2-3/4 inches; tail, about 2 inches.--'Mammiferes,' p.

291.

ARVICOLINAE.

In this sub-family the molars are generally semi-rooted or rootless.

The _Arvicolinae_ or Voles consist of the American Musquash (_Fiber zibethicus_), a very beaver-like water rat of large size; the Lemmings (_Myodes_), of which there are several species which are celebrated for their vast migrations; and the true Vole (_Arvicola_), which is the only genus found in India, and then only in the colder climate of the Himalayas. There are several species in Europe, of which three are found in England. According to Professor Dallas, the true Voles number about fifty species, arranged by various writers under a considerable number of sub-genera. In India we have only eight known species, and two more from the adjacent country of Thibet.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Dent.i.tion of _Arvicola_.]

The European forms of _Arvicolae_ have been divided by Blasius into four sub-genera of two divisions--the first division having rooted molars in the adult animal--containing one sub-genus only, _Hypudaeus_ of Illiger; the second division consists of three sub-genera with rootless molars, viz. _Paludicola_, _Agricola_, and _Arvicola_, which last has again been subdivided into long-eared and short-eared Voles--_Arvicola_ and _Microtus_--distinguished by the former having eight and the latter four mammae, and respectively six and four tubercles on the plantae, the ears of the latter being almost hidden by the fur.

None of the forms with which we have now to deal belong to the first division, for, as far as the matter has been investigated, the Indian Voles have rootless molars, but the character of the teeth in some differs from the European forms, and therefore Mr. Blanford has proposed a new section, _Alticola_, for their reception. I have not s.p.a.ce here, nor would it accord with the popular character of this work, to go minutely into all the variation of dent.i.tion which distinguish the different species. To those who wish to continue to the minutest details the study of the Indian Voles, I recommend a most careful and elaborate paper on them by Mr. W. T. Blanford, F.R.S., in the Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, vol. L., pt. ii.; but without entering into the microscopic particulars of each species, I may here give a general idea of the formation of the teeth of the _Arvicolae_ differing as it does so much from others of the myomorphic or mouse-like group of rodents. In these the general contour of the molar teeth is roundish oblong, the margins being wavy or indented, according to the convolutions of the enamel, but in the Voles there is a sharp angularity about these indentations; the marginal lines, instead of being in well-rounded curves, are sharply zigzag, forming acute angles. If you were to draw two close parallel zigzag lines it would give you some idea of the contour of these teeth.

The molars are in fact composed of alternating triangular prisms, with the outer folds of enamel forming deep and acute angles. The other characteristics of this family are: skull, with brain case rhomboidal, frontals much contracted; infra-orbital opening typical; limbs moderate; tail moderate, or short and hairy.

_GENUS ARVICOLA_.

Muzzle blunt; fore-feet small, with short claws; soles naked; tail longer than the hind-foot, clad with short hairs; incisors plain, smooth in front. The fore-feet in some species have but a small wart in place of a thumb; in others there is a small thumb with a minute claw. The hind-feet have five toes.

NO. 387. ARVICOLA STOLICZKa.n.u.s.

_The Yarkand Vole_.

HABITAT.--Yarkand.

DESCRIPTION.--"Bright ferruginous brown above, pure white beneath; fur soft, rather woolly, 0.5 to 0.6 inch long on the middle of the back, the basal portion throughout both head and body being dark leaden grey; this is the case on the back for about three-quarters of the length of the hairs; the remaining quarter is rufous white, tipped with darker rufous, whilst numerous rather longer hairs are dark rufous-brown at the ends; rather a sharp line divides the rufous of the back from the white belly; upper part of the head the same colour as the back; upper whiskers dark brown, lower, including the longest, white; ears small, rounded, hairy, completely concealed by the fur, with rather short bright rufous hair near the margin inside; and covered outside with longer and paler hair; feet small, the thumb of the fore-foot quite rudimentary and clawless; remaining claws long, compressed, sharply pointed, but much concealed by the long white hairs which cover the upper part of the foot, sales naked; tarsus hairy below, a few hairs between the pads of the toes; tail short, apparently about a quarter the length of the body and head together, covered with stiff fulvescent white hair, which extends about half an inch beyond the end."--_W. T. Blanford_, 'Sc. Res. of Second Yarkand Mission,' p. 43.

SIZE.--Head and body, about 4 inches; tail, with hair, 1-1/2.

NO. 388. ARVICOLA STRACHEYI.

_The k.u.maon Vole_.

HABITAT.--k.u.maon.

DESCRIPTION.--Light brown above, with a greyish tint and dusky forehead; under-parts, feet, and tail white; ears small, not longer than the fur, and thickly clad with hair; feet of moderate size; thumb as in the last; tail short and covered with white hairs.