new Species of Uromys. 215 



Hub. Rossel I., d'Entrecasteaux Group. 



Type. Adult female. B.M. no. 89. 6. 3. 2. Collected 

 18th October, 1888, and presented by Basil Thomson, Esq. 



Distinguished by its size, white belly, and comparatively 

 short tail. 



Uromys melicus, sp. n. 



A medium-sized species with brownish under surface. 



Size, as gauged by skull, markedly less than in U. cervi- 

 nipes. General colour above varying from broccoli-brown to 

 cinnamon ; under surface soiled greyish for its greater 

 extent, the hairs slaty basally and more or less buffy ter- 

 minally. But the chin, throat, and axillary region are 

 nearly always white, and there is also a white patch across 

 the groin, so that in a series of specimens laid side by side 

 there is a transverse band of white anteriorly, then a broad 

 belt of soiled buffy greyish, succeeded by a second white 

 band posteriorly. Hands and feet dull whitish. Tail wholly 

 dark, with about eleven rings to the centimetre, the fine 

 sparse hairs about a scale in length and rather more numerous 

 than usual. 



Skull smaller in all dimensions than in U. cervinipes ; 

 the supraorbital edges sharp and slightly beaded, more 

 divergent posteriorly than in U. cervinipes. 



Dimensions of the type (measured in flesh) : — 



Head and body 122 mm. ; tail 14:9 ; hind foot 29 ; 

 ear 19. 



Skull: greatest length 32*7; condylo-incisive length 30*5; 

 zygomatic breadth 17*3; nasals 111 ; interorbital breadth 

 4 - 9 ; mastoid breadth 13*5 ; palatilar length 14'2 ; palatal 

 foramina 53 ; upper molar series 5*8. 



Hob. Melville Island, Northern Territory of Australia. 

 Type from Biro, Apsley Straits. Sea-level. 



Type. Adult female. B.M. no. 13.6.28.32. Original 

 number 23. Collected 22nd January, 1912, by Mr. J. P. 

 Rogers. Thirteen specimens examimed. 



"Trapped in the mangroves.'" "Trapped round tent/' 

 " Very common."— J. P. R. 



Distinguished by its soiled buffy -greyish belly and whitish 

 pectoral and inguinal patches. 



A very similar Uromys occurs in some of the islets off the 

 Cape York coast, but our material is not sufficient to say if 

 it is or is not specifically identical with the Melville Island 

 species. 



U. cervinipes, Goultl, of S. Queensland, and the doubtfully 



