Part 61 (1/2)

HABITAT.--The Andaman and Nicobar islands.

DESCRIPTION.--A little darker on the back than _Mus dec.u.ma.n.u.s_, paler on the sides, and dull white below. ”The long piles are at once distinguished by their flattened spinous character, which is also slightly the case in _M. rattus_, though much less conspicuously than in the present species. It would appear to be a burrower in the ground” (_Blyth_). Ears round as in the brown rat.

SIZE.--Head and body, about 8 inches; tail the same.

NO. 335. MUS ROBUSTULUS.

_The Burmese Common Rat_.

HABITAT.--British Burmah.

DESCRIPTION.--Dark-brown above, under-parts whitish, stoutly formed, with tail not quite so long as head and body; feet conspicuously white.

SIZE.--Head and body, about 6 inches; tail, a little shorter.

Mr. Mason remarks of this rat that they are only second to the white ants for the mischief they perpetrate. ”They burrow in the gardens, and destroy the sweet potatoes; they make their nests in the roofs by day, and visit our houses and larders by night. They will eat into teak drawers, boxes, and book-cases, and can go up and down anything but gla.s.s. In the province of Tonghoo they sometimes appear in immense numbers before harvest, and devour the paddy like locusts.

In both 1857 and 1858 the Karens on the mountains west of the city lost all their crops from this pest.” They seem to migrate in swarms, and cross rivers by swimming. Mr. Cross captured one out of a pair he observed swimming the Tena.s.serim river at a place where it is more than a quarter of a mile wide. _M. Berdmorei_ is the same as this species.

The following three are Burmese rats collected by Dr. Anderson during the Yunnan Expedition, and are new species named by him:--

NO. 336. MUS SLADENI.

_Sladen's Rat_.

HABITAT.--Kakhyen hills; Ponsee at 3500 feet.

DESCRIPTION.--Head rather elongated; snout somewhat elongate; muzzle rather deep; ears large and rounded, spa.r.s.ely clad with short hairs; feet well developed, hinder ones rather strong; claws moderately long and sharp; the feet pads markedly developed, indicating an arboreal habit of life; tail slightly exceeding length of head and body, coa.r.s.ely ringed, there being three rings to each one-tenth of an inch; the hairs spa.r.s.e and brown; general colour of upper surface reddish-brown, more rufous than brownish, palest on the head, many hairs with broad yellow tips; cheeks greyish-rufous; chin, throat, and chest whitish, also the remaining under-parts, but with a tinge of yellowish; ears and tail pale brownish. (Abridged from Anderson's 'Anat. and Zool. Res.' p. 305.)

SIZE.--Head and body of one, about 6.30 inches; tail, 7.20 inches.

Dr. Anderson says this species is closely allied to Hodgson's _Mus nitidus_, but its skull is less elongated, with a shorter facial portion, with very much shorter nasals, and with a more abruptly defined frontal contraction than either in _M. nitidus_ or _M.

rufescens_ so called. He adds that this appears to be both a tree and a house rat.

NO. 337. MUS RUBRICOSA.

_The Small Red Rat of the Kakhyen Hills_.

HABITAT.--Kakhyen hills and the Burma-Chinese frontier at Ponsee, and in the houses of the Shan Chinese at Hotha.

DESCRIPTION.--”Snout moderately pointed and long; ears small, and somewhat pointed; hind foot long and narrow; claws moderately long, compressed and sharply pointed; upper surface dark rusty brown, darkest on the middle and back, and palest on the muzzle, head and shoulder; on the sides and lower part of shoulder the reddish brown tends to pa.s.s into greyish; feet greyish; the sides of the snout greyish; all the under-parts silvery grey tending to white, without any trace of rufous, or but with a very faint yellowish blush; the tail, dull brown, is somewhat shorter than the body and head, and it is coa.r.s.ely ringed, 2-1/2 rings to one-tenth of an inch, the hair being short, spa.r.s.e, and dark brown” ('Anat. and Zool. Res.' p. 306).

SIZE.--Head and body, 5.70 inches; tail, 5.15 inches.

NO. 338. MUS YUNNANENSIS.

_The Common House Rat of Yunnan_.

HABITAT.--Yunnan, at Ponsee; Hotha and Teng-yue-chow.