Mammals from Ceram. 427 



the brightest found in Muridae; bristle-hairs blackish, too 

 few to affect the general bright colour. Under surface 

 sharply defined white, the hairs white to their roots. Whiskers 

 very abundant, blackish. Eyelids dark brown. Ears short, 

 a quite inconspicuous whitish patch behind their bases. 

 Hands whitish, metacarpals slightly browner. Feet with 

 buffy metatarsus and white digits. Tail very long, much 

 longer than in other species ; naked, finely scaled, pale brown. 



Skull shorter, broader and higher than in most species, but 

 with all the essential characters of the genus Uromys. Supra- 

 orbital ridges well-developed, small postorbital processes 

 present below the ridges at the hinder edge of the orbit. 

 Zygomata evenly and widely convex outwards. Palatal 

 foramina quite short, as usual in the genus, thus contrasting 

 with the other two Ceram species. Palate ending behind 

 further forwards than usual, opposite the front edge of m 3 . 



Molars strictly as in normal Uromys. 



Dimensions of the type : — 



Head and body 150 mm.; tail 200; hind foot 34; 

 ear 19. 



Skull: greatest length 40 ; condylo-incisive length 37*5; 

 zygomatic breadth 227; nasals 13 ; interorbital breadth 7 ; 

 breadth of brain-case 16*5 ; height of crown from alveolus of 

 m 2 12*7; palatilar length 17*2; palatal foramina 5'7 ; upper 

 molar series 7*1 (7*6 in a second specimen with less worn 

 teeth). 



Bab. Coast of Ceram, at Teloeti Bay. Sea-level. 



Type. Old male. B.M. no. 20. 7. 26. 20. Original 

 number 35. Collected February 1920. 



This brightly coloured animal stands out in startling con- 

 trast to the other animals of the collection, these being all 

 dull-coloured and more or less " saturate ,; forms. No doubt 

 most of them are from the heavy jungles of Mt. Manusela, 

 while this is a coast animal ; but I am disposed to believe 

 that a second factor here comes into play. Inhabiting trees 

 which would no doubt be commonly filled with fruit-bats 

 of the genus Pteropus, whose bright yellowish mantles are of 

 nearly the same colour as the Uromys, it would appear very 

 probable that the latter really mimics the former, the rat 

 gaining protection by its resemblance to the fruit-bats, which 

 hawks generally leave severely alone. Cases of true mimicry 

 are exceedingly rare among mammals, so that, if this suppo- 

 sition be correct, Uromys fulgens is an exceptionally interesting 

 animal. 



The unusually long tail of this species is no doubt corre- 

 lated with its arboreal life. 



