224 Annals of the South African Museum. 



Malacothrix albicaudatus, WAGNER, Schreb. Saugeth. Suppl., ii. 

 p. 498 (1843). 



Mystromys albicaudatus, DE WINTON, Ann. Mag. N. H. (7),i., p. 7 

 (1898). 



Description. General colour dark brown above, somewhat paler 

 below, the fur being long, soft, and somewhat woolly, dark slate for 

 the greater part of its length with brown tips ; space round the nose 

 and chin pure white ; ears very large, broad, and patulous about 

 7 by '6 in., the inner half of the conch nearly white, the outer half 

 black, covered anteriorly and posteriorly with a few silvery and black 

 hairs ; limbs slender, hands and feet covered with white hairs 

 lengthened so as to almost conceal the claws, pads normal in number 

 but the two proximal ones of the sole very small and rounded, the 

 naked portion of the sole very narrow, much encroached on by the 

 long white hairs on either side, so that the whole tarsus has a very 

 hairy appearance ; tail short, less than half the length of the head 

 and body, almost white, obscurely ringed, but these are almost 

 hidden by the dense covering of short hairs above, with a few black 

 hairs intermixed, below pure white. 



Incisors smooth and very pale yellow. 



The above description is drawn up from a specimen in the South 

 African Museum which has been compared with the type in the 

 British Museum. It may be noticed that in Smith's original descrip- 

 tion the incisors are described as smooth, in the subsequently pub- 

 lished ' Illustrations ' as grooved. 



Dimensions (from the example in alcohol in the South African 

 Museum). Head and body 3-85; tail 1'68 ; hind foot -95; from ear- 

 opening to nose-tip 1'20 ; skull length 1-22, breadth -65 ; upper 

 tooth row '25. 



Distribution. Sir A. Smith met with this species in the neigh- 

 bourhood of Grahamstown and to the north of the Orange River ; 

 the single example in the Museum is also from the neighbourhood 

 of Grahamstown. There is an example in the British Museum from 

 the Transvaal. 



MYSTROMYS LANUGINOSUS, THE LARGER WHITE-TAILED RAT. 

 Euryotis lanuginosa, LICHTENSTEIN, Verzeichn. Saugeth. u. Vogeln. 

 Kaffirland, Berlin, p. 10 (1842). 



Description. General colour above light brown, below white, the 

 hair thick, soft and rather woolly, dark slate for the greater part of 

 its length, the tips mingled brown and white, the former predomi- 



