294 Mammals of Eastern Asia 
7, 7 to S 1 /^, 1%; exiguus, 6, 6%, 1%; losea, 6, 6%, — ; tae- 
zumi, 4y 2 (?), 4%, — ; flavipectus (with the tail shorter than 
head and body), 8, 6%, 1*4. The dimensions of tanezumi were 
perhaps those of a young specimen. 
The rat nitidus, originally from Simla, is recorded also from 
Sikkim, Szechwan, and Yunnan, and the related form obsoletus 
from the Chin Hills, Burma. 
r, The Norway Rats, Rattus norvegicus, like the Alexan- 
drine Rats, have been accidentally conveyed by men here and 
there about the world. They probably originated in northern 
Eurasia. Two eastern races, R. n. caraco of Manchuria and 
Siberia and R. n. socer of Kansu and Yunnan, China, occur. 
These are moderately large, coarse-haired brownish gray ani- 
mals with white-tipped gray underhairs and the tail shorter than 
the head and body. Length of the head and body is 9 inches, 
tail 5% to 6 inches, hind foot 1% inches. There are 12 nipples. 
True Norway Rats are now common in most of the ports of the 
world. In the northern United States, New York and Boston, 
they are common; their place is taken in the southern United 
States by R. rattus alexandrinus, the other world-renowned 
parasitic species. 
Howell's Rats, R. humiliatus, a smaller species with tail 
equal in length to or slightly shorter than the head and body, and 
also with 12 nipples in females, is tentatively placed here. It 
occurs in east China from Hopei to Fukien. Osgood records a 
race, exiguus, from Fukien and Annam and a second race, 
celsus, from Yunnan and Szechwan. In Manchuria a darker 
race, R. h. sowcrbyi, is found. The tail is brown above, white 
below. The length of head and body is about 6% inches, tail 
6% inches, hind foot 1% inches. 
The Bandicoot Rats, genus Bandicota, must not be confused 
with the True Bandicoots, which are pouch-bearing mammals 
of Australia (discussed in Mammals of the Pacific World). 
They are rather large Rats with the tail about equal in length 
to the head and body ; the thin, coarse hair is colored brownish 
