se A as 
Miscellaneous. 79 
and rounded. Ears simple, roundish, of medium size, and not con- 
cealed by the fur. Whiskers quite as long as the head. Fore feet 
short; the two middle toes of equal length, the outer one about 
13 line shorter, and the inner one not more more than | line shorter ; 
claws very short, thumb rudimentary, its nail rounded. Palms with 
five well-defined and rather large tubercles, of which the anterior 
one occupies a position at the root of the middle toe, two others are 
placed one at the root of each of the outer toes, and the remaining 
two have a transverse position behind those just mentioned, nearly 
as far back as the carpus, the outer one beiig a little the further 
back of the two. The hind feet are remarkable for their breadth, 
and for having, like the fore feet, toes which are nearly of a length. 
The tibia is rather long in relation to the foot, although perhaps not 
in relation to the size of the animal. On the sole of the hind foot 
are six tubercles, the three anterior ones arranged like those of the 
fore feet, and a fourth appears at the root of the inner toe. Imme- 
diately behind the tubercle of the outer toe, and near to the middle 
of the sole, is placed thie fifth, which is much smaller than the others, 
and behind that of the inner toe is the sixth, much the furthest 
back, and near the inner boundary of the sole. The arrangement - 
of these tubercles is much the same as in N. floridana ; but in con- 
sequence of the shortness of the foot, they are of a less elongated 
form, though fully as prominent. The claws, like those of the fore 
feet, are short. The tail is as long as the head and body, and tapers 
evenly to a somewhat obtuse point ; it is finely annulated, and pretty 
evenly suffused with short black hairs, which do not conceal the 
scales even towards the end of the tail, where they are most abundant. 
The under surface is much less distinctly hairy than the upper. 
The distribution of hair on the under surfaces of the fore and hind 
feet is as follows :—Short and thick fur, of nearly the same quality 
as that of the body, extends on the fore legs quite to the carpus ; it 
is white inside the leg, and of the same colour as the upper parts of 
the body outside of it. On the upper surface of the toes the hairs are 
silvery white, adpressed, short, and projecting forward around the 
claws so as to hide them. The hind legs have the tibiee densely 
hairy behind, quite to the os caleis, and from thence there is an ex- 
tension of adpressed greyish hairs along the inner side of the sole to 
the posterior tubercle ; but there is a very narrow line left near the 
outer boundary of the sole, which is quite free from hairs. On the 
upper surface of the foot the hair of the legs extends somewhat 
further, and from this the foot is covered with short, adpressed, sil- 
_ very hairs, grey on the foot and white on the toes. 
The general colouring is remarkable, and unlike that of any other 
species of Neotoma. All the upper parts are of a bright rufous 
colour, and all the under parts pure white, the line of separation 
being very clear and distinct. The fur of the back is mixed with 
black hairs, giving that part a much darker colour than the sides of 
the body, where these hairs are less abundant. Fur of the outer 
surface of the fore and hind legs strongly tinged with dusky, inner 
surface of the fore legs whitish, of the hinder ones dusky grey. On 
