Descriptive List of the Iwdents of Sontli Africa. 223 



with rufous hairs ; fifth finger very short, but clawed ; tarsus with 

 only five pads, the proximal one being absent, and the three next to 

 it being very small ; tail shorter than the body, dark above, paler 

 below, covered with sparse bristles, the rings about 25 to an inch ; 

 mammae 8 2 pairs pectoral, 2 pairs inguinal. 



Skull with the nasal region exceedingly short and broad ; incisors 

 with a strong longitudinal furrow rather towards the outer side of the 

 tooth, molars much as in Mm but rather broader. 



Dimensions. Head and body 6'75 ; tail 5'25 ; hind foot l - 37 

 skull length 1-12. (Peters.) 



Distribution. This species was described by Peters from the 

 Zambesi Valley in Mozambique. It has since been recorded from 

 Nyassaland and Angola ; within our region it was obtained by Mr. 

 Darling at Mazoe, in Mashonaland. It is not represented in the 

 collections of the South African Museum. 



SUB-FAMILY SIGMODONTINAE. 

 GEN. MYSTKOMYS. 



Mystromys, WAGNER, Arch. Naturges, i., p. 132 (1841). Type 

 M. albicaudatus. 



Eat-like animals with soft, rather woolly fur, and large broad ears, 

 with short tails and a somewhat hairy tarsus ; skull with the 

 antorbital foramen hardly at all narrowed below, and the perpen- 

 dicular plate but little developed, not extending forwards beyond the 

 upper root of the zygoma ; incisors ungrooved, molars rooted, those 

 of the upper jaw with the tubercles arranged in a double instead of 

 a treble row as in the Murinae, those of the lower jaw as in the 

 Murinae in a double row. 



This genus appears to be confined to Central and South Africa, 

 one species being described by Noak from the former region. 



To the same sub-family belong the Hamsters of the Palaearctic 

 region ; a number of curious rat-like genera from Madagascar and 

 from the New World, in neither of which two latter places are any 

 true Murinae indigenous. 



MYSTROMYS ALBICAUDATUS, THE WHITE-TAILED RAT. 



Otomys albicaudatus, A. SMITH, S. Afr. Quart. Journ., ii., p. 148 

 (1834) ; ID., Illustr. Zool. S. Afr. Mam., pi. xxxiii. (1849). 



Mystromys albipes, WAGNER, Arch. Naturg., i., p. 132 (1841); ID. 

 Schreb. Saugeth. Suppl., hi., p. 500, pi. clxxvi. a (1843). 



