522 MR. W. L. SCLATER ON SOME INDIAN MURIDiE. [Junel7, 



6. Notes on some Indian Rats and Mice. By W. L. Sclater, 

 B.A., P.Z.S., Deputy Superintendent of the Indian 

 Museum. 



[Eeceived June 3, 1890.] 

 (Plates XLIV. & XLV.) 



The following notes were written during the preparation of the 

 catalogue of the apecimens of Rats and Mice in the Indian Museum ; 

 they may be considered as forming a supplement to Mr. Thomas's 

 paper published in the ' Proceedings of the Zoological Society ' for 

 1881, which is the foundation of aU accurate knowledge of the 

 Indian Murida?. 



Mr. Thomas's paper dealt only with those species which were 

 found in India and the Himalayas, and excluded those species found 

 only in Assam and Burmah ; but in the following notes the Assamese 

 and Burmese species have been also alluded to, and somewhat more 

 detailed descriptions are given of one or two species hitherto not 

 adequately described. Appended to the paper is a complete list of 

 all the types of Muridae now in the Indian Museum, which may 

 perhaps be useful to some naturalists. 



All the species found within the Indian Empire are mentioned 

 in order whether the Indian Museum possesses examples of them or 

 not. 



There is, on the whole, a very good collection of Rats and Mice in 

 the Indian Museum, but there are still one or two districts whence 

 collections are much wanted ; among others the North-west Hima- 

 layas, Ceylon, and Upper Burma are places from which the Museum 

 contains few or no specimens of this family. 



1. Nesokia haedwickii (Gray) ; Thomas, P. Z. S. 1881, p. 524. 



From an examination of the large series of this species in the 

 Museum, it does not seem to be possible to distinguish N. huttoni of 

 Blyth from N. hardivicl-ii, even as a geographical race. Thomas 

 gives the length of the hind foot as the principal distinction, but this 

 does not seem to hold good when a large number of specimens are 

 measured. The difference of the fur of the two so-called races also 

 breaks down in the case of the specimens in the Museum coming 

 from Sind, from which place we have specimens exhibiting both 

 varieties of fur. It is possible, however, that the character of the 

 fur is directly due to climate and season, but of this it is difBcult to 

 obtain direct evidence without carefully dated specimens. 



There is in the Museum one example of this species obtained at 

 Purneah in Bengal, showing a considerable eastward extension of 

 the range of the species. 



2. Nesoxia scullti, Wood-Mason, Proc. As. Soc. Beng. 1876, 

 p. 80. 



A species (Nesolia brachyura) has recently been described 



