new Australian Rats. 610 



api'calis. Fur rather thin and poor^ not so thick and AvooUy 

 as in apicalis, hairs ol: back about 17 mm. in length. General 

 colour above dull brown (not far from " Saccardo's umber"), 

 the withers tending more towards buffy. Under surface 

 slaty grey broadly washed with drabby whitish, the sides of 

 the belly more strongly drabby. Ears shorter than in apicalis, 

 dark brown. Hands with the metatarsals dark brown, the 

 digits ligliter. Feet with the ankles, outer side of the 

 metatarsals (inner in made-up skin), and proximal part of 

 the digits brown, the inner portion of the metatarsals, and 

 tiie tips of the digits white. Tail well haired but not tufted, 

 brown above, dull whitish below, throughout its length. Not 

 whitened at tip, as is also the case witii apicalis, the original 

 desciiption notwithstanding. 



Skull larger and stouter than in apicalis. Muzzle broad 

 and heavy. luterorbital region broad, with comparatively 

 sli:irp-angled edges. Zygomatic plate more projected for- 

 wards. Palatal foramina shorter, not reaching the level of 

 m^. Bullae rather large — these organs not present in the 

 available specimens of apicalis. 



Incisors rather slender, not thicker than in apicalis, but 

 meeting each other at a wider angle, owing to the greater 

 breadth of the muzzle. IMolars larger than in apicalis, but 

 apparently of similar structure — much worn down in the 



Dimensions of the type (measured on the skin) : — 



Head and body 195 n)U). ; tail 178 (not quite perfect) ; 

 hind foot 48 ; ear (dry) 24. 



Skull : greatest length 48 ; condylo-incisive lengtji 46 ; 

 zygomatic breadth 23'5; nasals 18x6; interoibital breailth 

 5"7; breadth of brain-case 18'5 ; zygomatic plate 6 ; palatiiar 

 lengtii 13'6 ; palatal foramina 8*8 x 3'8 ; bulla 7"8 ; upper 

 fnoiar series 9"3. 



Hah. Franklin's Island, Nuyts Archipelago, S. Australia. 



Type. Old female. BJI. no. 21. 7. 3. 2. Collected 

 23rd November, 1920, and presented by Professor F. Wood 

 Jones. An immature .«pecimen also examined. 



This fine rat forms a very interesting discovery, as it 

 represents a second species of the rare genus Leporillus^ 

 hitherto only known by the two examples of L. apicalis in 

 tiie British Museum, the latter species being in all probability 

 killed out on the mainland, and I have groat pleasure in 

 connecting with it the name of its captor and donor, Prof. 

 Wood Jones, to whom also we owe the modern specimen of 

 Eattus greyi lecently referred to in a previous paper. 



Although Gould had in his collection two specimens of 



40* 



