488 U. 8S. P. R. R. EXP. AND SURVEYS—ZOOLOGY—GENERAL REPORT. 
Veotoma floridana, Aup. & Bacu. N. Am. Quad. I, 1849, 32; pl. iv. 
Kennicorr, U. 8. Pat. Rep. 1856, Agricultural, 1857 ; plate —. 
Lemmus floridanus, Fiscuer, Syn. 1829, 299. 
Sp. Cu.—Tail with short stiff hairs, not concealing the scaly annuli; about three-fourths the length of the head and 
body. Ears very large. Feet large. 
Color.—Above, mixed lead color, dark brown, and yellowish brown; lighter on the sides. Under parts and feet, white. 
Tail dusky above, white beneath. Skull elongated and narrow. 
General aspect and dimensions of Norway rat, Mus decumanus. Head rather acute. Whiskers 
gray and brown, much longer than the head. Eyes moderate. Ears very large, broad, and 
‘thin, with very scanty hairs on both surfaces; naked anteriorly. Antitragus low, narrow. 
Tail about as long as the body, exclusive of the head, covered with annuli of separate scales, 
with short stiff hairs springing from under them. These hairs are thick enough to obscure or 
nearly conceal the scales, which, however, can be discerned through them. The tail is decidedly 
more hairy than that of the Norway rat. The feet are rather short, the soles naked, although 
the hairs grow over the sides of the heel almost to the central line. The fur is moderately 
soft, more so than in the Norway rat, and without the bristly hairs intermixed, 
The tubercles of the sole are very large; of these there is one at the bases of the 3d and 4th, 
and one, each, to the Ist, 2d, and 5th, making four to the five toes, all nearly equal, the outer 
one with a small supplementary one on its outer slope; there is a fifth, of about the same size, 
near the inner edge of the sole, and situated about midway between the heel and the base of the 
toes; a sixth, considerably smaller, is placed about midway between this and the large tubercle 
at the base of the fifth toe, or a little exterior to the line connecting their centre. Most of the 
sole isnaked ; the hairs, however, grow over the inner edge, behind the posterior tubercle, to the 
middle line of the sole, exterior to which it is naked ; the sides of the tarsus, or heel, are over- 
grown so as to meet in the centre, where the hairs are more sparse; there is, however, a naked 
space on the extreme heel. 
These tubercles are much larger than in the house rat; the posterior one is broad and connical, 
instead of elongated and narrow; the inner half of the sole, behind the tubercles, with the 
heel, is hairy, instead of being perfectly smooth, to the very posterior extremity. 
The general color of the upper parts is a dull plumbeous, mixed with dark brown and pale 
yellowish brown, the latter predominating on the sides, especially on the flanks and in advance 
of the shoulder; the dusky of the sides extends down the outer surface of the limbs to the 
carpus and tarsus, the feet themselves, with the entire under and inner parts, being white. 
The line of separation of the two colors is far down the sides, so that when viewed in profile 
but little of the white of the belly is visible. The upper half of the tail is dusky, the lower 
white. The ears are like the back. The hairs above are plumbeous for the basal three-fourths, 
then pass gradually into pale yellowish brown, and then tipped with dark brown. The dorsal 
region is generally decidedly darker than the sides, where the yellowish brown is of greater 
extent and the dusky tip very slight. Beneath, the hairs along the ventral region are uniform 
white to the roots; laterally assuming more and more of a plumbeous tinge. 
Specimens vary considerably with age and season. Sometimes the contrast between the back 
and sides is more striking, with the more decided yellowish brown tinge on the latter; at times 
there is a greater mixture of yellowish brown on the back, producing a strong similarity to the 
Norway rat. 
In a young specimen, which I refer to this species, collected in Arkansas, by Capt. Whipple, 
