Vol. II, No. 5.] Note on the Rats of Qulcutta. 185 
[N.S.] 
rufous tendency. Mus rattus neel n ‘tard be mistaken, as even ti 
the long tail is mutilated, as it frequently is, the yery large pro- 
minent eyes and the large outstanding sl are quite SR ivastaclatio, 
Apart from its size, the bicoloured tail of decumanus will nearly 
always distinguish it. Ifthe lower surface is only a very little 
lighter, then a glance at the large flesh-coloured feet will settle the 
specie:, and an examination of the pads shows them large and curdi- 
form or Pelee 3 just as in Mus rattus. The purplish feet and 
snout and the shorter mucli-tapered tail make the recognition of 
ee are unmistakable. — foot hae wilt settle er ate being 
ent. 
be excluded. The e ear should be measured from the external root 
“ pars ign My own have been fakes from the aw edge of the 
Average Measurements in Centimetres. 
Length of — leaeik of Length 
head and aA tos of 
ody. T sil Ear. 
Me. sloxondvinds " 16 20 B82 21 
M.decuminos~... te 22:6 20 2 41 197 
N. bengalensis_... <i 18:2 148 3°2 1°94 
N. nemorivagas ... acl 27 26 52 2°8 
Relative Frequency. eta s in this i e. tend to be rather 
unsatisfactory owing to two causes. In the first place _isensmen 
of plague work made it impossible for me to make accurate record- 
ed counts of any but a small proportion of the rats I acsiaed 
In the second place it was only’ late in my investigation that I 
could accurately distinguish the different varieties. My own re- 
corded counts total 648. My colleague, Dr. Crake, counted 1,000, 
but only ny long-tailed from other rats, making the 
former 11°2 per cent, 
