394 MUEIDJE. 



Subfamily PLATACANTHOMYIN^). 



Molars rooted, subequal in size, crossed by subparallel folds of 

 enamel directed obliquely inwards and backwards. Anterior 

 palatine foramina small, not extending back beyond the hinder 

 margin of the premaxillaries. Auditory bulls) small. Coronoid 

 process of mandible short. Tail long, hairy. 



Genus PLATACANTHOMYS, Blyth (1859). 



Form resembling that of a dormouse. 

 Tail clad with long coarse straight hairs, 

 arranged distichously towards the tip. 

 Pollex and hallux short, clawless (the 

 latter may sometimes bear a nail). Skull 

 broad, flattened above behind; a well- 

 marked supraorbital ridge on each side. 

 Infraorbital foramen very large. Bony 

 palate broad, imperfect, perforate. In- 

 cisors smooth, narrow. 

 Fig. 125. Crowns of () A le k nown sp ecies peculiar to the 

 upper and (o) lower , .-,, 3 ,-. - * 



right molars of P. hllls near the Malabar coast. 

 lasiurus, X 4. 



263. Platacanthomys lasiurus. The Malabar spiny Mouse. 



Platacanthomys lasiurus, L'lyth, J. A. S. B. xxviii, p. 288 (1859) ; 

 id. Cat. p. 109 ; Peter*, P. X. S. 18(55, p. 398, pi. xx ; Jerdon, Mam. 

 Ind. p. 210. 



Ears large, pointed, posterior margin slightly concave below the 

 tip. VibrissaB numerous, several of them more than twice the 

 length of the head. Pur of the upper parts mixed with broad flat 

 spines having thickened edges. Tail hairy throughout, the hair 

 coarse but not spiny, and subdistichous, short near the body and 

 gradually increasing in length towards the tip of the tail. Five 

 pads on each palrna, and 7 or 8 on the planta, including one long 

 inner metatarsal pad and two or three outer, behind each other, 

 all but the first small. Claws overhung by hair. Mammae one pair 

 pectoral and one inguinal (Blyth gives 2 pairs abdominal). 



Colour above reddish brown, below nearly white, the colours not 

 passing into each other ; dorsal fur white at the base and for three 

 quarters of its length or more, tips above brown. Feet white or 

 whitish. Tail coloured like the back above and below, the extremity 

 sometimes whitish. 



