OCR Text |
Show 124 MR. E. R. ALSTON ON RODENTS AND [Feb. 20, few much longer cylindrical bristly hairs. Ears moderate, rounded, almost naked. Tail nearly naked, covered with about 150 rings of large scales mixed with very short stiff hairs. Hind feet large and broad, thumb of fore feet well developed, with a flat nail. Upper parts grey mixed with reddish, each bristle being light grey at the base and either black or light rufous towards the tip, the longer hairs black throughout. Chin, throat, breast, belly, and inside of limbs dull white ; feet white, each with a dark stripe on the upper surface ; on the fore feet this mark is near the middle of the foot, on the hind feet nearer the outer edge. Ears and tail dusky. Measurements of two specimens (in spirits) : - .<? .? in. in. Length of head and body 5-60 5*15 „ head 1*55 1*45 „ ear *55 *55 tail 4*90 4*50 hind foot 1 *00 *95 Skull and teeth typically murine. Female with two pair of pectoral and two of abdominal teats; male with testes very largely developed. This spiny Rat is nearly allied to the North Australian species described by the late Dr. Gray under the name of Acanthomys leucopus1; but it is a very much smaller species, and differs both in colour and proportions. The collection contains a female in skin and both male and female in spirits. Along with these are four young Mice too immature to be safely determined. If, as I believe, they belong to the present species, the hair is softer and the colour of the upper parts more rufous in youth. 2. UROMYS RUFESCENS, sp. n. (Plate XVIII.) Fur close and woolly, the longer hairs little developed. Ears short, rounded, naked. Tail shorter than the head and body, naked, tessellated with very small convex subcircular scales. Upper parts bright chestnut, the hairs being lead-coloured at the base and broadly tipped with bright rufous, the longer hairs black, the top of the head more greyish. Lower parts white, the two colours being sharply defined; feet pale brownish. Ears and tail dusky. Measurements of a female (in spirits) :- in. Length of head and body 5*00 ,, head 1-45 ,, ear -50 tail 4*30 „ hind foot 1-05 1 P. Z. S. 1867, p. 598. This, like the present species, clearly belongs to true Mus and not to Acanthomys, Lesson ( = Acamys, Geoffr.). It will therefore require to be renamed, Gray's specific title being preoccupied by the common North-American Mouse, Mus leucopus, Raffinesque {Hesperomys leucopus auctt) |