Mammals from Dutch New Guinea. 209 



larger size, more yellow tail, whiter underside, and normal- 

 shaped skull with unbowed forehead and broad posterior 

 nares. 



Uromys scaphax, sp. n. 



Related to U. aruensis, Gray, but coloration not rufous. 



Size large, though less than in U. nero. Fur harsh, 

 under surface thinly haired. General colour above dark 

 grizzled greyish, with a slight fulvous tinge ; dorsal area 

 slightly darker than rest, but not distinctly blackish as in 

 U. nero. Under surface and inner sides of limbs white, 

 but owing to the sparseness of the fur the skin shows through 

 to a great extent, the practically naked condition of the inner 

 sides of the limbs being especially noticeable. Hands and 

 feet pale brown. Tail more completely black than in most 

 species of this section, the yellow confined to the tip and in 

 one case reduced there to a mere spot half an inch long. 



Skull strikingly like that of U. aruensis, of similar size 

 and with the same high, bowed, and convex forehead and 

 broad interorbital space. Opening of posterior nares markedly 

 narrower than in U. nero. 



Dimensions of the type (measured in the flesh) : — 



Head and body 277 mm.; tail 235; hind foot 52; 

 ear 26. 



Skull: greatest length 62"5 ; condylo-incisive length 57*4 ; 

 zygomatic breadth 32*2; nasals 21*5 x 6'4 ; interorbital 

 breadth ll - 8 ; breadth of brain-case 22 ; palatilar length 

 31'2 ; palatal foramina Q'6 ; width of mesopterygoid fossa 5 ; 

 upper molar series (crowns) 10*5. 



Hab. Utakwa area at low levels. Type from Canoe Camp, 

 Lower Setakwa River, alt. 150'. Other specimens from 

 Launch Camp, 20'. Also received from the Mimika River ; 

 collected by G. C. Shortridge. 



Type. Adult female. B.M. no. 13.6.18.8. Original 

 number 206. Collected 25th October, 1912, by C. B. Kloss. 

 Four specimens. 



This species is evidently nearly allied to the Aru Island 

 species, U. aruensis, the skulls of the two forms being 

 practically identical ; but it has the more noimal colouring 

 of the Papuan species (being intermediate iti this respect 

 between U. nero and U. validus), instead of the rich rufous 

 of the island-rat. 



With regard to Dr. Jentink's tl Pogonomys multiplicatus" 

 from the Sentani Lake, on the northern side of New Guinea, 



