308 MaAmMALIA OF INDIA. 
first noted and named by Blyth, who seemed inclined to class it asa 
dormouse, but this has not been upheld for the reasons given above, 
and also that Platacanthomys has the normal murine number of molars, 
Wie. : = whereas JZyoxus has an additional premolar above and below. 
These points were first brought to notice by Prof. Peters of Berlin (see 
‘P. Z, S.’ 1865, p. 397. There is a coloured plate of the animal in the 
same volume, but it is not so well executed as most of the illustrations 
in the Society’s works. 
No. 316. PLATACANTHOMYS LASIURUS. 
The Long-tailed Spiny Mouse ( Jerdon’s No, 198). 
Hasirat.—Southern India. 
DESCRIPTION.—Light rufescent brown; the under fur paler, more 
rufous on the forehead and crown; whiskers black ; under parts dull 
white ; the hairs on the tail, which are arranged distichously, are darker 
than those of the body, infuscated except at the tip of the tail, where 
they are whitish ; the muzzle is acute ; ears moderate and naked; the 
fur above is mixed densely with sharp flat spines; the under coat is 
delicate and fine ; the few spines on the lower parts are smaller and 
finer ; the thumb is without a nail. 
SizE.—Head and body, 6 inches ; tail, 34, or five inches including 
the hair ; planta, 1 inch. 
This species was discovered by the Rev. Mr. Baker in the Western 
Ghats of Malabar, and in Cochin and Travancore, at an elevation of 
about 3000 feet. He writes of it: ‘It lives in clefts in the rocks and 
hollow trees, and is said to hoard ears of grain and roots, seldom comes 
into the native huts, and in that particular neighbourhood the hillmen 
told me they are very numerous. I know they are to be found in the 
rocky mountains of Travancore, but I have never met with them on the 
plains.” In another place he adds: “I have been spending the last 
three weeks in the Ghats, and, amongst other things, had a great hunt 
for the new spiny dormice. They are most abundant, I find, in the 
elevated vales and ravines, living only in the magnificent old trees there, 
in which they hollow out little cavities, filling them with leaves and moss. 
The hill people call them the ‘pepper-rat,’ from their destroying large 
quantities of ripe pepper (Piper nigrum). Angely and jackfruit (4770- 
carpus ovalifolia and integrifolia) are much subject to their ravages. 
Large numbers of the siunda palm (Caryofa) are found in these hills, 
and toddy is collected from them. These dormice eat through the 
covering of the pot as suspended, and enjoy themselves. ‘Two were 
brought to me in the pots half drowned. I procured in one morning 
sixteen specimens. The method employed in obtaining them was to 
