56 DESCRIPTIVE ACCOUNT OF 



the rings averaging about 10 or 11 to the centimetre, short 

 haired, sharply bicolor from base to ti}"), brown above, yellow- 

 ish white below. 



Dimensions — Head and body (probably stretched , 177 

 millim. ; tail, 162 ; hind foot, 32 ; heel to front oflast food-pad, 

 16 ; skull, tip of nasals to lambda (junction of sagital and 

 lambdoid sutures), 34 ; nasals, length 15 ; interorbital breadth, 

 7-4 ; palate, length 19 ; length of anterior {)alatine foramina, 6 ; 

 upper molar series, 5 "8. 



This species is most nearly allied to the Nepalese Miis 

 luvch'cntcr^ Hodgs., but may be distinguished by its unspeckled 

 back, by the more gradual passage of the upper into the lower 

 colour, and bv its larger size. 



Mr. Whitehead obtained the type on Mount Kina Balu at 

 the height of 8600-ft. 



MUS INFRALUTEUS. 



Mus iufraliitcits, Thomas, Ann. Mag. N.H. (6), ii., p. 400 

 (1888). 



Size large. Fur coarse and harsh, but not spinous. 

 General colour dark greyish brown, the tips of the shorter hairs 

 with a silvery lustre. The longer straighter hairs numerous, 

 not markedly lengthened on the rump, uniformly black. Under 

 surface a dirty yellowish brown, the tips of the straighter hairs 

 dull orange, their base and the whole of the under-fur slaty grey. 

 Ears small and rounded, naked. Hands and feet brown ; last 

 hind foot-pad elongate. Tail rather shorter than the head and 

 body, thinly haired, dark brown above and below ; rings of 

 scales averaging about 8 or o to the centimetre. Skull stout 

 and heavily built. Outer wall of infraorbital foramen evenly 

 convex forwards. Palatine foramen about equal in length to 

 the two anterior molars together, not reaching backwards to 

 the front of m- 1 . Teeth powerful ; incisors broad ; dark 

 yellow in front above and below. 



Dimensions — Head and body (c), 2S5 millim. ; tail (extreme 

 tip wanting), 235 ; hind foot, 51 ; heel to front oflast foot-pad, 

 26 ; length of the same pad, 9-3 ; skull, tip of nasals to lambda, 

 51 ; nasals, length 21 "8, breadth 6'5 ; combined breadth of 

 upper incisors, 4*6 ; length of upper molar series, 107. 



This fine rat has a certain similarity to the Indian Bandicoot 

 rats f N'csokniJ, resembling them both in general external 

 appearance and in the stout and heavy build of the skull and 

 teeth. No species hitherto described can be mistaken for it, 

 as all the Oriental rats which have external or cranial propor- 

 tions at all similar are distinguished either by having elongated 

 rump-bristles or parti-coloured white-tipped tails. 



Hab. Mount Kina Balu 3000-ft. (type of species) (J. 

 Whitehead). 



