96 SOUTH AFRICAN MAMMALS 



feet white. Length of head and body 4i inches ; tail 

 3J inches. This species has the widest range of any rat 

 on the African continent, being found from Abyssinia and 

 the Congo, southwards to Cape Colony. 



The small Field Mouse (Mus minutoides) (called by 

 Oldfield Thomas and Trouessart (Leggada minutoides) 

 is a small fawn-coloured mouse with white underparts. 

 It measures some 2| to 2), inches in length, with the 

 tail another 2 inches. I also took this little mouse at 

 Modderfontein from hollow antheaps, where like its 

 larger congener, the White-nosed Eat it makes a 

 small domed or rounded nest of grass. It doubtless also 

 makes nests amongst the cornfields and mealie lands 

 where it is also found. A closely allied form, more 

 chestnut in shade, inhabits the bushveld of the Central 

 Transvaal. Mr. A. Roberts calls this Leggada deserti. 



Genus Cricetomys. 



Much like Mus in external characters ; size large ; 

 cheek pouches present, for the storage of food. 



Cricetomys gambianus, Wateih. 

 Giant Rat. Reuzen Rot or Groot Rot. 



This animal looks like a large edition of the common 

 Brown Bat. It has. however, dark speckles 011 the dorsal 

 region and has a dark ring round the eye. The ears are 

 oval and nearly naked. Edges of upper lip white ; nose 

 dark. Tail long and sparsely haired ; the distal third 

 being white. Length of head and body from 13 to 15 

 inches ; tail 15 to 17 inches. 



This enormous Eat was first described from Gambia in 

 West Africa, and has since been recorded from Central 

 and East Africa, a number of sub-species having been 



