In Mr. Darwin’s collection, I find an animal which agrees in all the more important characters with the one above described, but differs in being of a deeper colour, (approaching more nearly, in this respect, to the common mouse,) and in having the tail a trifle shorter. The skull is about ¾ of a line shorter, but its proportions agree precisely: the proportions of the feet, and the general form of the animal, also agree. This specimen is likewise from Chile, (Lat 37° 40′,) and, according to Mr. Darwin, “overran the wooded country south of Concepcion, in swarms of infinite numbers. Captain FitzRoy, on his return from visiting the wreck of H. M. S. Challenger, had the kindness to bring me this specimen. So destructive was this little animal, that it even gnawed through the paper of the cartridges belonging to the people who were wrecked.”—D.
Mus elegans.
Plate XII.
Mus elegans, Waterh., Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London for February 1837, p. 19.
Eligmodontia typus, F. Cuvier, Annales des Sciences Naturelles for March 1837. Tom. 7. p. 169. Pl. 5.
M. suprà flavus, vellere pilis fuscescentibus adsperso, his ad latera, et prope oculos rarioribus; pilis pone aurem utramque, labiis, corpore subtùs, pedibusque niveis; auribus magnis; caudâ capite corporeque paulo longiore; tarsis longis subtùs pilis obsitis.
Description.—Fur very long and soft; general colour of the upper parts of the body pale brownish yellow; the lower portion of the cheeks, and the under parts of the body pure white: the hairs of the ordinary fur of the back are gray at the base, pale ochre near the apex, and brown at the apex; the longer hairs are brownish. On the sides of the body where the longer hairs are less numerous, the pale ochre colour prevails; the hairs on this part as on the back are deep gray at the base, but at a short distance from the apex they are white; nearer the tip shaded into yellow, and at the tip brownish: the limbs externally are of a pale yellow colour. The hairs of the throat and chest are pure white to the root, those on the belly are obscurely tinted with gray at the root. The feet are of a pale flesh-colour, and furnished with white hairs; the fore feet are of moderate size; the thumb nail is small and rounded, and the carpal tubercle is covered with hairs; the tarsi are long, and the white hairs extend over the whole of the under parts; the under side of the toes, however, are but sparingly furnished. There appears to be but one large tubercle on the under side of the tarsus, and this, which is situated near the base of the toes, is thickly covered with silvery-white hairs. The tail is long, pale brown above, and pale flesh-colour beneath; above, it is furnished with minute brown hairs, and on the under side with white hairs. The ears are rather large, of a pale flesh-colour, tolerably well clothed with hairs, which are of a pale yellow colour on the inner side, and white on the outer side—excepting on the fore part, where they are brown. A small tuft of white hairs springs from the base of the ear posteriorly. The hairs of the moustaches are moderate; black at the base, and grayish at the apex.
| In. | Lines. | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Length | from nose to root of tail | 3 | 7 |
| of tail | 3 | 9 | |
| from nose to ear | 1 | 0 | |
| of tarsus | 0 | 10 | |
| of ear | 0 | 6 | |
Habitat, Bahia Blanca, (September.)
Upon comparing the skull (Pl. 34, fig. 2, a.) of M. elegans with that of M. Musculus, the most evident points of distinction consist in the greater proportionate length of the nasal and frontal bones, and the slenderness of the zygomatic arch in the former animal. Length of skull 11 lines, width 6 lines, distance between front molar and outer side of incisors of upper jaw 3⅜ lines, length of nasal bones 4⅜ lines.
The dentition is figured in Pl. 34, figs. 2. b, and 2. c.