394 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL RIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXVI. 



gangutriamis, the condylo-basal length in 5 from Khati ranging 

 between 36*4 (teeth moderately worn) to 39-4 (teeth much worn) ; 

 but they do not differ in form or proportions from those of the 

 lower stations. The females also are usually 1 2-mamma3d. I have 

 been much puzzled by these rats ; but I am not able to convince 

 myself that they are subspecifically distinct from gangutrianus. 

 The specimens taken at Bageswar closely resemble those from 

 Khati in external appearance ; but they have the skull as large as 

 in those from Almora and Naini Tal. On the other hand the 

 soft-furred, cold tinted rats of Lohaghat have skulls as small as 

 those from Khati. Further, while 12 of those from Ramnagar, the 

 lowest station of all yielding white bellied rats, resemble typical 

 gangutrianus in colour and pelage, 2 others from this locality are 

 almost indistinguishable from the Khati series. It would seem 

 therefore that all must be referred to one subspecies, which, like 

 all other forms of rattiis,ha,s a very plastic constitution and shows 

 a well marked tendency to produce peculiar local races wherever 

 segregation is possible.^ 



Remarlis : — Typical gangutrianus is readily distinguishable from 

 the soft-furred subspecies of Sikkim and Bhutan by its much 

 more pallid dorsal coloration ; and from the lowland races arhoreus, 

 narhada; and girensis by its much longer, denser and softer fur — 

 particularly noticeable on the ventral surface. The presence of 

 12 mammse instead of 10 in most of the females and the large size 

 of the skull are features suggesting affinity with B. r. sihhimensis ; 

 the temporal muscles however, are apparently weak as in most 

 subspecies of rattus and the posterior region of the skull is corres- 

 pondingly little modified. 



10. Rattus rattus siMimensis, subsp. n. 



1916. Fj2nmys rufescens, variety with white underparts. 

 Wroughton, Report No. 23, Sikkim and Bengal Terai. 

 /. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. vol. xxiv., p. 489 (in part). 



Type:— A female (B. M. No. 17.7.2.46; Original No. 677) 

 collected for the Mammal Survey by N. A. Baptista, on 1 Sept- 

 ember 1914, at Pashok, Sikkim (3,500'); presented to the British 

 Museum by the Bombay Natural History Society. 



Material examined: — 24 (15 s , ^ $ ) from Pashok; 2 ( $ ) from 

 Singhik; 2 ( c? and $) from Ringin ; 3 (1 J , 2 $) from 

 Rongli; 19 (9 c? , 10 $) from Gopaldhara, Sikkim. Further 2 

 ( 5 ) from Hazimara, Bhutan Douars ; and possibly If?) from 



^. It is just possible that the difference in pelage between those from Khati 

 and Lwarkhet on the one hand and those from most of the lower stations on the 

 other may be seasonal. The collections from Khati, Lwarkhet and Bag-eswar 

 were made between the end of August and the beginning of October ; those from 

 the other localities between October and February. 



