680 CLASS XYII. 



Note. — Allied to this genus are Otomys Smith (not Cuv., Malacothrix 

 Wagn.) and Mystromys Wagn. Comp. Scheebeb's Sdugth., Su;p;ple- 

 mentband, 3te Abth. s. 496 — 501. 



Family XXVII. Cumcularia {GeorhycJn WiEGU.). Incisors 



4-4 

 exsert, cuneate, with apex truncated, straight; molars mostly j — ^ ' 



3 — 3 ~ 



more seldom -^ — 5 • Feet pentadactylous, cloven. Ears none, or 



in a few very short. Eyes small, sometimes concealed by skin. 

 (Body thick, head obtuse, tail short or none.) 



Rhizomys Gkay, Nyctocleptes Temm. Incisors broad, smooth in 



3 — 3 



front, with red enamel, molars ^ — ^ , small, complex. Head broad, 



o — o 



short, truncated anteriorly. Ears very small, rounded. Eyes 



small, placed towards the upper surface of head. Fore feet tetra- 



dactylous, with hallucar wart unguiculate ; claws short. Tail 



short. 



Sp. Rhizomys decan nob., Nyctocleptes decan Temm., Temminck in Bijdragen 

 tot de Naiuurh. Wetenschappen, vii. 1832, bl. i — 8, PL i, Monogr. de 

 Mammal, ii. pp. 40 — 45, PI. 33, 3fus Sumatrensis Rafpl., Linn. Trans. 

 XIII. '258? Rhizomys Sumatrensis and Rh. Sinensis Gray, Proceed. Zool. 

 Soc. I. 1830 — 1831, p. 95 ; an animal of the size of a rabbit that feeds on 

 the roots of the bamboo-cane ; it has not been observed at Suipatra, but in 

 Malacca and China. — Wagner refers to this genus also Bathyergus splen- 

 dens UuEPPELL, a small species from Abyssinia, with ears more developed 

 and in some degree a different habitus; Eueppell Neue Wirbelthiere, 

 Tab. 12, Krauss 1. 1. Tab. 20, fig. 2. The skull and the teeth appear to 

 support this opinion. 



Ctenomys Blainv. Incisor teeth smooth, orange-coloured, 



4-4 



molars -r — j, destitute of roots, simple, decreasing in size from 



the first to the last, which is small, with crown of the upper 

 obliquely lunate, concave outwards, of the lower oval. Ears small. 

 Tail somewhat short, clothed with appressed hair. Rigid, in- 

 curved hairs at the base of claws. (Dent. form. Owen, i.^j ij- , 



1-1 3-3 _^. 



Sp. Ctenomys hrasiliensis Blainv., Krauss 1. 1. Tab. 20, fig. 5 (from the 

 figure in D'Orbigny's Voyage); — Ctenomys magellanicus Bennett, Trans, 

 of the Zool. Soc. 11. Tab. 17, Waterhouse Mamm. 11. PI. 9, fig. 2. 



