| OCR Text |
Show 1867] DR. J. E. GRAY ON AUSTRALASIAN RATS. 599 and two pectoral teats well developed, and a young female in the Museum Collection. ECHIOTHRIX. Head elongate. Nose elongate, compressed, concave on the sides ; apex produced, acute ; underside with short close bristles and a small central groove; nostrils apical, lateral. Fur soft, crisp, with abundance of bristles, flat and channelled at the base, cylindrical and tapering at the tip ; those of the under part of the body being white and more slender. Ears nakedish. Feet covered with short adpressed hairs. Tail elongate, cylindrical, nearly bald, with rings of square scales. Skull elongate ; face very much produced, elongate, compressed; palate rounded in front, flat behind, with an elongated aperture in the middle of its length, more than twice as long as broad; the hinder part of palate with three equally long longitudinal grooves; nose flat above ; nasal bones very long, slender. Cutting-teeth white; upper short, with two well-marked subcentral longitudinal grooves ; lower elongated, arched, rather compressed, rounded and smooch in front. Grinders -^-, moderate-sized ; the front much the largest; the hinder smallest and subcircular ; the front upper rounded on the inner, and with two folds on the outer side; the second upper with one fold on the outer side, the lower front with a slight subcentral fold on the inner side. Crowns of the teeth flat; the front upper with two and the others with a single cross ridge, less distinctly marked in the hinder teeth. Hab. Australia. Echiothri.v leucura. The skull is very much longer and more slender than in any species of Mus or of Muridee in the Museum Collection. The face is very slender, compressed, flat on the sides and above. The fissure on the side of the nose from the base of the infraorbital foramen is short and small, compared with those in the typical Muridee. The grinders are nearly erect; the crowns of the grinders are worn and concave between the ridges of the enamel. |
