Descriptive List of the Rodents of South, Africa. 195 



SUB-FAMILY OTOMYINAE. 



GEN. OTOMYS. 



Otomys, F. CUVIER, Dents des Mamm., p. 168 (1825). Type 0. 

 irroratus. 



Euryotis, BRANTS, Het Geslacht der Muizen, p. 93 (1827). Type 

 0. irroratus. 



Eat-like animals with short tails, clad with bristles and scales ; 

 hind feet short and ears usually large ; skull with a moderate bulla 

 and an arched nasal profile, upper incisors grooved, molars composed 

 of a series of laminae of enamel united by cement, posterior molar of 

 upper and anterior molar of lower jaw the largest, the former con- 

 sisting of from four to nine lamellae. 



The genus is a purely African one ; in addition to the South 

 African forms below described only one other species, 0. jacksoni, 

 from British East Africa, is known. 



OTOMYS IRRORATUS, THE VLEY OTOMYS. 



Euryotis irrorata, BRANTS, Het Geslacht der Muizen, p. 94 

 (1827); A. SMITH, Illustr. Zool. S. Afr. Mamm., pi. xxii. (1849); 

 GRILL, Victorin Zool. Anteck. K. Vet. Akad. Handl. Stockholm, ii., 

 p. 17 (1858) ; LAYARD, Cat. Mamm. S. Afr. Mus., p. 53 (1862). 



Otomys bisulcatns, F. CUVIER, Hist. Nat. Mamm., livr. 61 (1829). 



Otomys irroratus, SMUTS, Enum. Mamm. Cap., p. 45 (1832); DE 

 WINTON, Proc. Zool. Soc., p. 801 (1896) [Mashonaland] ; ID., Ann. 

 Mag. N. H. (7), i., p. 5 (1898). 



Euryotis typicu.s, A. SMITH, S. Afr. Quart. Journ., ii., p. 149 (1834). 



Euryotis obscum, LICHTENSTEIN, Verzeichs. Saugeth. u. Vogeln 

 Kaffirland, p. 10 (1842). 



Description. General colour above and on the sides dark speckled 

 brown, the bases of the fur rather pale slaty, the tips mingled pale 

 brown and black in varying proportions so that there are darker and 

 lighter individuals, below dirty white, the bases of the fur still slaty, 

 and the tips whitish ; ears large, rounded, about f inch in length and 

 breadth, anteriorly fairly well covered w r ith hair ; fore limbs short 

 and slender with five carpal pads, and a rudimentary first digit ; hind 

 foot short with six tarsal pads, of which the proximal one is some- 

 what elongated as in the true rats ; tail less than half the length of 

 the head and body, covered with short stiff bristles hardly showing 

 any tendency to form a tuft at the tip, black above, dirty-white below. 

 Nasal bones of the skull very much expanded in front. 



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