On the mammals collected during the 'Skeat expedition' to the Malay peninsula, 1899-1900 / by J. Lewis Bonhote.

  • Bonhote, John Lewis James, 1875-1922.
Date:
1900
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: On the mammals collected during the 'Skeat expedition' to the Malay peninsula, 1899-1900 / by J. Lewis Bonhote. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    may also be distinguished from that of Mus edwardsi by its smaller size, less prominent supraorbital ridges, and the much smaller auditory bullae, which in this respect agree with those of the sabanus group. Teeth similar to those of M. vociferans, but the anterior crescent of the first molar has a deep constriction at its inner side, so that when the tooth is worn it becomes split into a narrow crescent and a round tubercle. Dimensions of the type (approx., see below). Head and body 290 mm.; tail 315 ; hind foot 47. SJcull. Greatest length 57 mm.; basilar length 44; palatal length to henselion 23; length of nasals 21*5; breadth of brain- case above zygoma-roots 21; interorbital breadth 9. Hob. Gunong Inas, Malay Peninsula (4090 ft.). Type. Adult $ , Gunong Inas, 4000 ft., 23rd Dec., 1899. I have no hesitation in describing this species as new, although it bears a certain likeness to 3 species, viz. : Mus sabanus Thos., from Borneo; Mus vociferans Miller jr., from the west side of the Malay Peninsula ; Mus edwardsi Thos., from W. Fokien, China. From the first two it may be at once distinguished by the great length of the supraorbital bristle, which in the type measures 71 mm., and in the $ specimen 78 mm., as compared with 40 mm. in the type of sabanus. The tail is also much shorter, being hardly longer than the body. From Mus edwardsi, which it more closely resembles, it may be at once distinguished by its unicolor tail, darker colour, smaller size, and the impure colour of the underparts. For this species I propose the name ciliata, from the long bristles, which form so distinctive a character. Mr. F. F. Laidlaw, who collected these specimens, has brought home examples of both sexes and three skulls, all from the same locality; but owing to the imperfect condition of the skull of the male, I have been obliged to make the female the type. With regard to the measurements which were taken on the spot, there appears to have been some slight oversight. Those given for the <5 , namely, head and body 285 mm., tail 300, hind foot 49, are probably correct; but I am unable to understand those given for the type, which are “ snout to tail 12*3 mm., tail 11*4, hind foot 2*9.” The tail of the type is 15 mm. longer than that of the B, and the hind foot approximately the same size, while the skulls are also practically identical; but if the measurements of the type, which are presumably taken in inches, be transposed to millimetres, they would not at all fit in either with the measurements of the other specimen, or with the mea- surements of the type taken by myself from the skin and given in the description. 44. Mus WHITEHEADI TllOS. Mus whiteheadi, Thos. Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. ser. 6, xiv. pp. 452 & 457 (1894). a. $ ad. sk. Gunong Inas, about 4000 ft. [12]