250 Mr. O. Thomas on 
much lighter than those on the back. Limbs blackish 
brown. Tail about as long as the body without the head, 
ringed with black and dull whitish. 
Skull and teeth as in the typical form. 
Dimensions of the type (measured in the flesh) :— 
Head and body 540 millim.; tail 275; hind foot, s. u. 69, 
c.u. 74; ear 40. 
Skull: greatest length 113; zygomatic breadth 50 ; inter- 
orbital breadth 21°5; palate length from gnathion 69 ; com- 
bined length of three upper molars 12°5. 
Hab. Culata Mts., Merida, Venezuela. Altitude 4000 m. 
Type. Male. B.M. no. 98. 7.1.4. Collected 6th June, 
1897, by Sefor 8S. Bricefio. Three specimens examined. 
The remarkable small-toothed species N. olivacea was 
described by Gray on an example from Bogota. Other 
examples from the same region have since been received ; 
they all equally differ from LV. 0. meridensis by their uniform 
colour, without trace of dorsal stripe. 
Nectomys esmeraldarum, sp. n. 
A small species allied to N. russulus, Thos. * 
Size much less than in any known species of Nectomys, 
about as in Oryzomys flavicans, to which and to other mem- 
bers of that genus there is a general superficial resemblance. 
Fur glossy, close, the hairs of the back about 11 millim. in 
length. General colour of the type and most adult specimen 
rich shining rufous, darker on the top of the head and along 
the back, clearer along the sides. Under surface soiled 
rufous buffy, not sharply defined; the bases of the hair 
everywhere slaty grey. Ears short, rounded, naked. Hands 
brown above, the digits lighter. Feet large in proportion to 
the size of the animal, more or less twisted, as is commonly 
the case in aquatic animals, and with large powerful claws, 
their upper surface uniformly brown. ‘Lail thinly haired, 
finely scaled, the rings of scales about 14 to the centimetre, 
uniformly dark brown throughout. 
Skull with the general build of the other species of Nec- 
tomys, stout and well ridged. Nasals remarkably narrow 
throughout, and so attenuated in their posterior two thirds 
that the two bones together are no broader than one of the 
premaxillary processes outside them. Supraorbital ridges 
well developed, overhanging the orbits more than usual, and 
continued backward across the parietal to the outer corners of 
* Ann. & Mag. N. H., (6) xx. p. 547 (1897). 
