No. 393 Arvicola Mandarinus. — The Afghan Vole
Habitat.—Afghanistan; Chinese Mongolia.
Description.—Light greyish rufescent brown above, white beneath; ears short, hidden by the fur and hairy; feet whitish; tail rufescent brown.
Size.—About 4 inches; tail about 1 inch.
This vole, which is described and figured by Milne-Edwards, is supposed to have been found in Afghanistan from a specimen in Griffith’s collection. A. mandarinus comes from Chinese Mongolia, and it is figured in the ‘Recherches sur les Mammifères.’
The next species was made a separate genus, Neodon, by Hodgson, which has been adopted by Jerdon; but there are no good grounds for continuing this separation. Mr. Blanford is certainly of this opinion, and in his remarks on it (see his ‘Sc. Results Second Yarkand Mission,’ pp. 41-42) he writes: “The genus Neodon, appears to be founded on characters of only specific importance, and the type N. Sikimensis is, I think, a true Arvicola.”
No. 394. Arvicola Sikimensis.
The Sikim Vole (Jerdon’s No. 203).
Native Names.—Phalchua, Nepalese, apparently Hindi; Cheekyu, Kiranti; Singphuci, Thibetan.
Habitat.—Nepal; Sikim; Thibet.
Description.—Fur soft and silky. “Deep brownish-black above with a slight rusty shade, minutely and copiously grizzled with hairs of a deep ferruginous tint” (Horsfield). Or a deep golden brown from yellow hairs being intermixed; bluish-grey beneath, with a slight fulvous tint; fur leaden grey for the basal three-fourths, the terminal fourth being brownish or tawny with some tipped black; the hairs of the under-parts are dipped with dirty white; ears project beyond the fur moderately, and are hairy; feet very slender; tail thinly clad with short brown hair. The female has six mammæ.
Size.—Head and body, about 4¾ inches; tail, 1½ inch. Horsfield gives 5 inches for head and body.
According to Jerdon this vole has only been procured in Sikim near Darjeeling, at heights varying from 7000 to 15,000 feet; but I believe the area it inhabits to be much larger. Hodgson found his specimens at Darjeeling, and on one occasion got a nest in a hollow tree in the forest; it was saucer-shaped, of soft grass without any lining, and contained a male, female, and two young. The latter were “2-1/8 inches long, hairy above, nude below, and blind; the ears also closed.” Jerdon writes: “Mr. Atkinson found it under fallen trees and stones on the top of Tonglo, near Darjeeling, 10,000 feet, whence also I had a specimen brought me.”
The next species is one described and figured by Professor Milne-Edwards, and from Thibet he has two illustrations of it—one of an entire blackish-brown, the other darker above, but with the black belly.
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