South- African Rodents. 7 



naturalists. I need scarcely say that while Saccostomus 

 belongs to the subfamily Murinai, being a short-tailed mouse 

 with cheek-pouches, ]\fi/stro7n7/s belongs to the Cricetince, 

 with only two longitudinal rows of cusps in the molars. 

 This latter animal is of so much interest that I shall notice it 

 separately. 



Mystromys albicaudatus, Smith. 



Otomys albicandafus, A. Smith, S. Afr. Qiuart. Journ. ii. 1834, p. 63. 



Mystromys albipes, Wagn. Wiegm. Arch. 1841, p. 13'}. 



Euryotis lanuginosa, Liclit. Verzeichu. S'iug. u. Vogelu Kafferlands, 



p. 10, Berlin (1842). 

 Malacothrix ulbicaudata, Wagn. Schreb. Siiug., Suppl. iii. p. 498(1843). 



When Dr. Smith founded his genus Otomys he overlooked 

 the fact that the name had already been applied by Cuvier to 

 another group of mammals. 



The district of Albany was given as the locality from 

 which the type specimen was obtained, and in his later 

 writings this author gives Grahamstovvn as one of the localities 

 in which he had himself met with it. Now 1 think it just 

 possible that Dr. Smith confused this species, wliich he had 

 no doubt obtained north of the Orange River, with Sacco- 

 stomus campestris^ a species which he did not recognize, and 

 perhaps labelled such specimens Mystromys in the Cape Town 

 Museum, and in this way the confusion may have originated. 



Now that we have proof of Saccostomus occurring in the 

 southern districts of the Colony, search should be made to 

 find out whether Mystromys occurs there also. 



Besides the type, which presumably comes from Albany, 

 the British Museum has only specimens of this animal from 

 the Transvaal, received from Mr. Thoraasset. 



Mystromys has very great interest to naturalists, being the 

 sole representative of the subfamily Cricetince found in the 

 Ethiopian Region ; but what gives it still higher importance 

 is that it appears to be the living representative of the fossil 

 Cricetodon of the Upper Miocene deposits of Europe. 



In the absence of further paleeontological evidence as to tlie 

 period during which Mystromys has inhabited South Africa, 

 it may be presumed that it reached that portion of the con- 

 tinent only in comparatively recent times, otherwise, if the 

 genus had existed there contemporaneously with the European 

 fossil form.s, we should expect to find it in Madagascar ; but 

 so far there is no evidence of its ever having existed in that 

 region. 



Dr. Smith describes this species as frequenting dry saudy 

 places where there are scattered bushes, and being easily 



