204 Annals of tJte South African Museum. 



Description. General colour above greyish brown, sometimes 

 with a reddish-brown tinge ; fur woolly, intermixed with longer, 

 coarser, straight hairs, the woolly portion slaty, with pale brown 

 tips, the coarse hairs black ; below dirty white with slaty bases to 

 fur ; ears small, when pressed forward not reaching the eyes ; limbs 

 and feet stout and strong ; the tarsal pads well developed, six in 

 number, the proximal one being an elongated oval ; tail always 

 shorter than the head and body, covered with short sparse bristles, 

 not concealing the scaly rings, which are coarse, numbering about 

 25 to the inch, the bristles become a little longer towards the tail- 

 tip, and form a slight tuft in some cases ; mammae 5 to 6 pairs. 



Skull large, with well-developed supraorbital ridges ; the 

 antorbital foramen is narrowed below, and the anterior edge of 

 the plate is perpendicular. 



This rat can always be distinguished by its size, the shortness 

 of its ears and tail, and by its coarse fur. 



Dimensions (from a large stuffed male). Head and body 11*25; 

 tail 7'75 ; hind foot 1-60; from ear-opening to nose-tip 2-20; 

 skull length 1-50, breadth -70; length of upper molars -30. 



Distribution. This rat is cosmopolitan, being found all over the 

 world, especially in the neighbourhood of towns and seaports ; its 

 original home appears to have been in Western China, whence it 

 spread to Europe early in the last century it is said to have reached 

 England about 1730. It is common in Cape Town and neighbour- 

 hood, and is probably to be found in all the large towns, and along 

 the lines of communication. 



MUS KATTUS, THE BLACK EAT. 



Mus rattus, LINNAEUS, Syst. Nat., 12th ed., i., p. 83 (1766) ; 

 LAYABD, Cat. Mam. S. Afr. Mus., p. 51 (1862) ; DE WINTON, Proc. 

 Zool. Soc., pp. 803, 807 (1896) [Rhodesia] . 



Description. General colour above and below brown, fur coarse 

 and harsh, ears larger than in M. decmnanus, when pressed forward 

 reaching as far as the eye ; feet and hands a little paler than the 

 back but not white, the pads on the soles well developed ; the 

 proximal one elongated and oval ; tail much longer than the head 

 and body, of the same brown colour throughout, covered with short 

 bristles not becoming much longer towards the tip ; tail rings some- 

 what finer than those of M. decumanus, about 30 to the inch ; 

 extreme tail-tip in South African specimens examined, white ; 



