no. 1800. MAMMALS FROM BORNEO AND VICINITY— LYON. 105 



Diagnostic characters. — A member of the Epimys sabanus 1 group 

 characterized by a shorter tail, somewhat smaller skull, and dis- 

 tinctly heavier rostrum. 



Color. — Type: Upper parts and sides of head, neck, and body and 

 outer sides of legs a mixture of blackish and orange buff, the former 

 in excess in the median line, and the latter in excess along the sides 

 and on the legs; underparts, including inner sides of legs, cream color, 

 lighter on the throat than elsewhere; ears dark brownish, scantily 

 clothed with a few dark hairs; tail brownish, not noticeably lighter 

 below than above. 



Pelage. — Pelage composed of three kinds of hairs — a rather scanty, 

 dull, drab-gray colored underfur; hairs of normal texture, with dull 

 grayish bases, succeeded by a dark brownish ring, then the con- 

 spicuous orange buff band and a small blackish apex; flattened and 

 grooved spines, dull grayish at base and blackish at extremity. On 

 the underparts the spinous hairs are shorter and weaker, and all the 

 hairs are uniformly cream color throughout. Middle portion of tail 

 with seven and one-half scales to the centimeter, each scale sub- 

 tended by three hairs about a scale and a half in length. 



STcuU and teeth. — The skull and teeth are about the average in size 

 for the group, but the skull is angular and massive; the brain case 

 and interorbital region being wider than usual, and the rostrum 

 unusually heavy. 



Measurements. — Type: Head and body, 252 (253) 2 mm.; tail, 326 

 (329); hind foot, 54 (49); condylo-basal length of skull, 51.4 (51.7); 

 zygomatic width, 25.8 (26.2); interorbital constriction, 9.3 (9.4); 

 breadth of brain case above roots of zygomata 19.4 (19.4); greatest 

 breadth of rostrum, 11 (10.6); depth of rostrum near incisors, 11.3 

 (11.5); maxillary tooth row, alveoli, 9.3 (9.3). (See table, p. 106.) 



Specimens examined. — Three, all from Pulo Panebangan, two skins 

 with skulls and one skull without skin. 



Remarks. — Epimys nasutus differs by its heavy rostrum from all 

 the rats of the E. sabanus group that I have seen with the exception 

 of E. balse, from Tana Bala of the Batu Islands, off the west coast of 

 Borneo. The skull of the Panebangan animal is decidedly larger, 

 however, than that of the rat from Tana Bala. The tail of the latter 

 is rather short and uniformly brownish in color, like the tail of Epimys 

 nasutus. The tails of about half the members of the group are dis- 

 tinctly bicolor, brownish above and cream color beneath. 



i Thomas, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. 5, vol. 20, p. 2G9, 1S87. 



2 Measurements in parentheses are those of a paratype, Cat. No. 145518, an old adult female. 



