428 MUBID.l. 



longer than in Mus generally. Mammae 8 : 2 pairs pectoral, 2 in- 

 guinal. Skull longitudinally convex above, with well-marked 

 temporal crests. Anterior palatine foramina very long. 



Colour above yellowish brown, not uniform, but finely speckled 

 black and fulvous ; below brownish white or grey. Basal half to 

 three quarters of dorsal fur ashy grey to leaden black, the coarse 

 hairs paler than the fine short underf ur ; most of the longer and 

 coarser hairs have whity-brown or brownish-yellow terminations, 

 but the tips of the longest hairs mixed with the others are black 

 throughout. Tail dark brown above, pale below. 



Dimensions of an adult female : head and body 4'55 inches, 

 tail 4-1, ear 0-57, hind foot 0-85; basal length of skull 1-1, zygo- 

 matic breadth O55. 



Distribution. Throughout the greater part of the Indian Penin- 

 sula and Ceylon. Eecorded from Sind, Dagshai, Umballa, Satpura 

 Hills, and many parts of the Bombay and Madras Presidencies. I 

 feel some doubt about the Nepalese locality assigned to Miis 

 myoihrix. G. ellioti has not been observed in Bengal. 



Habits. According to Sir W. Elliot, the gulandi lives entirely in 

 the jungle, choosing its habitation in a thick bush, among the 

 thorny branches of which, or on the ground, it constructs a nest 

 of elastic stalks and fibres of dry grass, thickly interwoven. The 

 nest is of a round or oblong shape, from 6 to 9 inches in diameter, 

 and encloses a chamber about 3 or 4 inches across. The motions 

 of this animal are somewhat slow, and it does not appear to have 

 the same power of springing or leaping as other rats. Its food 

 seems to be vegetable, the only contents of the stomach observed 

 being roots of the dub or hariyali grass (Cynodon dactylon). Its 

 habits are solitary (except when the female is bringing up her 

 young) and diurnal, feeding in the mornings and evenings. 



In Ceylon this rat has proved very destructive to coffee-trees, 

 on the buds and blossoms of which it feeds. It appears, according 

 to Kelaart, to migrate at times. 



Subfamily CRICETIN.E. 



Both lower and upper molars exhibiting biserial longitudinal 

 structure, either rooted, with the tubercles on the crown in two 

 longitudinal rows, or rootless, composed of subtriangular prisms 

 arranged in a double line. Tail hairy and in all Indian species 

 very short, less than half the length of the body. 



To this subfamily belong the voles, hamsters, and some allied 

 forms. The three genera represented within Indian limits are 

 usually placed in three distinct subfamilies, Arvicolince, Siphneince, 

 and Cricetince. All are Palaearctic, and the first and third 

 Nearctic also. Within our area these rodents are confined to 

 the Himalayas and Afghanistan. The genera may be thus 

 recognized : 



