476 RODENTIA 



Pliocene of Northern India; those from the first-named deposits 

 being referable to existing species. 



Golunda. 1 Like Mm, but Avith a distinct groove down the front 

 of the upper incisors. There are only three species, one from 

 Western India, one from West Africa, and the other from Eastern 

 Africa. 



Uromys. 2 Differs from Mus in having the scales of the tail not 

 overlapping, but set edge to edge, so as to form a sort of mosaic 

 work. There are about six species of Uromys, spread over the 

 northern part of the Australian region from the Aru Islands to 

 Queensland. 



Chiruromys. 3 Externally like Mus, but with the terminal 

 portion of the tail without scales above, quite naked, transversely 

 wrinkled, and prehensile. Scales of remainder of tail more or less 

 pentagonal, and arranged in oblique diagonal series. Supraorbital 

 vacuity of skull without projecting plate in external wall. In- 

 cisive foramina short and narrow ; auditory bulla small. Upper 

 molars very complex, with the tubercles (of which there are eleven 

 in the first tooth) low, and distinctly arranged in transverse rows. 

 Known only by C. forbesi, from mountains in New Guinea, which 

 must be regarded as a specialised form very similar in outward 

 appearance to Uromys cervinipes. 



Hapalotis. 4 Hind limbs elongated. Incisive foramina very 

 large. No coronoid process to the mandible. This genus is con- 

 fined to Australia, where there are about fifteen species known. 

 They are pretty little animals, with long ears and tail, and in many 

 respects resemble the Jerboas, whose place they seem to take in 

 the sandy Australian deserts. Remains of H. albipes occur in the 

 Pleistocene of New South Wales. 



Mastacomys. 5 Like Mus, bufc with the molars remarkably 

 broadened, and with only four mammse. The single species of the 

 genus is as yet only known from Tasmania, though it has been 

 found fossil in New South Wales ; it is somewhat similar in size 

 and general appearance to the English Water- Vole, but has much 

 longer and softer fur. 



Acanthomys. 6 Fur almost entirely composed of flattened spines. 

 Teeth and skull as in Mus, but the coronoid process of mandible 

 very small. There are six species of Spiny -Mice known, all of 

 about the size of the Common Mouse. They are found in Syria, 



1 Gray, Charlesworth's Mag. Nat. Hist. vol. i. p. 586 (1837). Syn. Pelomys, 

 Peters (1852). 



2 Peters, Monatsber. Ak. Berlin, 1867, p. 343. 



3 O. Thomas, Proc. Zool Soc. 1888, p. 237. 



4 Liechtenstein, Darst. neu. Saugethicre, pt. iv pi. 29 (1829). 



5 0. Thomas, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. ser. 5, vol. ix. p. 413 (1882). 



6 Geoffroy, Ann. Sci. Nat. ser. 2, vol. x. p. 126 (1840). Acomys. 



