The present animal adds one to the limited number already known: in the Museum of the Zoological Society there is another species, the characters of which I will point out in the next description.
Mus fuscipes is remarkable for the great length and softness of its fur, and the brown colour of its feet: it is rather less than Mus Rattus, and of a stouter form. Not having had an opportunity of examining the molar teeth and the cranium of this animal, I cannot be positive that it is a species of the genus Mus; in external characters and the form of the incisor teeth, however, it agrees perfectly with the animals of that genus.
“This animal was caught in a trap baited with cheese, amongst the bushes at King George’s Sound.”—D.
28. Mus Gouldii.
M. vellere longo, molli, ochraceo, pilis nigricantibus adsperso, his ad latera rarioribus: corpore subtùs, pedibusque albis: auribus majusculis: caudâ, capite corporeque paulo breviore.
Description.—Ears rather large and slightly pointed, tarsi slender and tolerably long; tail about equal in length to the body and half the head; fur long and soft; general colour pale ochreous yellow; on the back there are numerous long black hairs interspersed with the ordinary fur, which gives a darker hue and somewhat variegated appearance to that part; feet, chin, throat, and the whole under parts of the body white; ears brown, sparingly clothed with minute yellow hairs, both externally (excepting on the forepart, where they are brownish) and internally; tail brownish above, and yellowish white beneath; the hairs of the moustaches long, and of a brown colour; upper incisors deep orange, lower incisors yellow; claws white. The hair of the back is of a deep lead colour at the base, pale ochre near the apex, and dusky at the apex; the longer hairs are black; the hairs of the belly are deep gray at the base and broadly tipped with white.
| In. | Lines. | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Length | from nose to root of tail | 4 | 8 |
| of tail | 3 | 6 | |
| from nose to ear | 1 | 0½ | |
| of tarsus (claws included) | 1 | 0½ | |
| of ear | 0 | 7 |
Var. β.—General colour of the fur pale ochreous yellow, the feet, under side of the tail and the whole of the under parts, as well as the lower portion of the sides of the body, white; hairs of the back palish gray at the base, those of the belly indistinctly tinted with very pale gray at the roots; ears and moustaches pale brown.
Habitat, New South Wales.
This species is about half-way between Mus Rattus and Mus musculus in size, and is remarkable for its delicate colouring. The molar teeth are figured in Plate 34; fig. 18. a, represents the molars of the upper jaw, and fig. 18. b, those of the lower.