XV THE RATS AND MICE 47 1 



glandular swelling at the base of the oesophagus, such as occurs 

 in the last genus and in Graph mrvs. Of GrapJmirus there are 

 thirteen species, all African in range. The genus does not differ 

 widely from the last. There is, however, a glandular region of 

 the oesophagus. Eliomys is the last genus of typical Dormice. 

 It is Palaearctic in range. 



Platacanthomys, of a Dormouse -like form, has like other 

 Dormice a long tail, on which the long coarse hairs are arranged 

 in two rows on opposite sides towards the tip ; it is represented 

 by a single species, P. lasiurus, from the Malabar coast. It is 

 arboreal in habit. The fur is mingled with flattened spines. 

 The molars are reduced to three on each side of each jaw. This 

 form has been bandied about between the " Mice " and the 

 " Dormice " ; but Mr. Thomas's discovery of the absence of the 

 caecum argues strongly in favour of its correct location among 

 the Gliridae. Typldomys is an allied genus, also from the 

 Oriental region. This and the last are placed in a special 

 sub-family of the Gliridae, Platacanthoniyinae, by Mr. Thomas. 



Fam. 2. Muridae. — This family, that of the Eats and Mice 

 in a wide sense, is the most extensive family of Eodents. In it 

 Mr. Thomas includes no less than seventy-six genera. The 

 molars are generally three. The tail is fairly long, or very long, 

 and the soles of the feet are naked. 



Sub-Fam. 1. Murinae. — The true Eats and Mice may be 

 considered to form a sub -family, Murinae. The genus Mus, 

 including the Eats and Mice in the limited sense of the 

 word, contains about 130 species. They are exclusively Old 

 World in range, being only absent from the Island of 

 Madagascar. In the Xew World there are no species of 

 the restricted genus Mus. The eyes and the ears are large ; 

 the poUex is rudimentary, and bears a nail instead of a claw. 

 The tail is largely scaly. All the members of the genus are 

 small animals, some quite minute. In this country there are 

 five species^ of the genus, viz. the Harvest Mouse, M. minutus, 

 which has a body only 2:^ inches long with an equally long tail. 

 It is the smallest of British quadrupeds with the exception of 

 the Lesser Shrew. The Wood Mouse, M. sylvatictis, is about 

 twice the size ; it differs also from the last species in that it 



' To which a sixth, tlie "Yellow-necked Mouse," MusflavicolUs, may perhaps 

 be added. 



