No. 392 Arvicola Blythii
Habitat.—Western Thibet, Leh and Ladakh.
Description.—General colour above yellowish-brown, below pale isabelline; fur soft; basal two-thirds of the upper hairs, and one-half of the lower hairs, dark slaty; the upper hairs are tipped, some isabelline and some, which are coarser and longer, dark brown; ears round, small, equal, with the fur thinly clad with pale brown hairs inside, and more thickly so with longer hairs outside; upper whiskers dark brown, lower whitish; feet pale isabelline; soles naked; tail cylindrical, distinctly ringed, covered with short light brown hair like the under-parts in colour.
Size.—Head and body, about 3 to 4 inches; tail, 1 to 1¼ inch.
Mr. Blanford has written fully regarding this species, which was the type of Blyth’s genus Phaiomys, in the ‘Scientific Results of the Second Yarkand Mission,’ page 39, in which he contends, after going through a mass of literature on the subject, that there are no grounds for constituting it the type of a new species; and, if this be conceded, then the specific name given by Blyth, viz. leucurus, being forestalled, it is necessary to rename it, which he has done in honour of that well-known naturalist.
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