48 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXIV. 



vertebrge in the tail (they have since been removed), which gave 

 the tail the qtiadi-ate appearance which inspired the specific name. 



Mus ceylonus, Kelaart. I have no specimen to guide me, but 

 the description suggests a young individual of Jcandiaoius, before 

 the adult dress has been assumed. In his Prodromus, Kelaart adds 

 to his description " I have no reason to think it to be the young 

 of the former species " (i.e., of decumanoides). So apparently he 

 had himself some misgivings. 



Mus asiaticus, Gray. Unfortunately there is no specimen 

 available to show to what animal Kelaart referred Tinder this name; 

 it may possibly have been a Millardia to which his description in 

 some ways applies. 



Besides these species actually enumerated by Kelaart, he men- 

 tions another as follows : — " There is another rat in Newara Eliya of 

 which we do not now possess any specimens, of more slender make, 

 of still longer and denser fur ; of a dark olive brown surface colom' 

 on the upper parts. Beneath white, but not so defined as in Mti^s 

 fiavescens. After seeing a description of M. nitidus of Hodgson, 

 we suspect this is allied to it, if not identical." Two of the three 

 cotypes of handiamts, but not the third, the ' lectotype,' seem to 

 represent this form. Major Mayor obtained a series of over 30 

 adult specimens from Pattipola and Ambawela belonging to this 

 form, which I propose to call 



Epimys helaarti, sp. n. 



A highland form of the rattus group, characterised by its dark 

 colouring, and long soft fur. 



Size about as in nemorcdis and lumdianus, but tail on the average 

 proportionally shorter. 



Fur long and soft. General colour above more sober than in 

 kandianus showing less mixture of fulvous. The individual hairs 

 pale slate colour at their bases with fulvous tips but with a very 

 large admixture of all black hairs. Below dingy white, merging 

 gradually into colour of upperside, with no marked line of separation 

 as usually in kandianus. 



Dimensions of type : — Head and body, 156 ; tail, 176 ; hindfoot, 

 32; ear, 21. 



Skull : — Greatest length, 42 ; condylo-incisive lengiih, 38 ; 

 molars, 7. 



H"a/nfel— Highlands of Ceylon, 5,000-6,000 feet. (Type from 

 Pattipola.) 



Type. — Adult male, B. M. No. 15. 7. 1. 7. Original number 

 952. Collected by Major Mayor, 21st February, 1914. Presented 

 to the National Collection by the Bombay Natural History Society. 



Thus there are found in Ceylon : — 



1. ^. rattus, L. 



