new Australian Rats. 621 



harsh coat of that animal ; the ordinary hairs over 22 mm. 

 in length, and the longer piles attaining over 50 mm. General 

 colour browner and more strongly buffy tJian in the compara- 

 tively greyish villosissimus ; hairs of under surface slaty at 

 base, broadly vvaslied terminally with yellowish white. 



Tail more thickly hairy, the scales almost iiidden by the 

 hairs. 



Skull as in villosissimus. 



Dimensions of the type : — 



Head and body (skin) 185 mm. ; tail — ; hind foot 33. 



Skull : tip of nasals to back of interparietal 38'4: ; nasals 15 ; 

 iiiterorbital breadth 4*8 ; breadth across parietal ridges 13 ; 

 palatal foramina 8*4 ; upper molar series 7-5. 



Bab. Liverpool Plains, New South Wales. 



Ti/pe. Adult male. B.M. no. 41. 1262. Gould Collection. 

 Three specimens originally, but one given away in exchange 

 in 1858. 



R. villosissimus is a native of the hot central region of 

 Australia, while this much thicker-coated form represents 

 (or used to represent) the species in the colder highlands of 

 New South Wales. 



It is to be noted, however, that the Victoria River Expe- 

 dition actually passed through the Liverpool Phiins on the 

 way to that Eiver, and I have therefore thought it wise to 

 consult the authorities of the Sydney Museum as to the 

 characters of Gould's type. In answer, Mr. Troughton has 

 been good enough to give me such particulars about that 

 animal that there can be no doubt that it really was the 

 Central Australian and not the Liverpool Plains form which 

 Gould described and Waite renamed. 



Ill size of skull R. villosissimus is one of the most variable 

 species known to me, for in the fine series obtained at Alex- 

 andria examples, all fully adult, are to be found ranging from 

 36 to 44 mm. in total length — a variation only equalled in 

 E. norvegicus. The bullaj also vary greatly — from 7*5 to 

 9-2 mm. in length, — but, on the whole, it is an animal with 

 comparatively large bullai. It is unfortunate that the bullae 

 have not been preserved in the specimens of profusus, but, 

 being a native of a less desert area, it would probably have 

 had smaller buUse. 



I'seudomys australis oralis, sp. n. 



Closely allied to true australis, but rather larger, with 

 longer softer hair. Colour of the same dark grey above, 

 lower surface washed with yellowish white, without the 



