946 MR. R. I. POCOCK ON THE CRESTED RAT. 



Bacteria were found in 71 rats: in 40 in the lungs, and in 31 

 in the spleen. 



Saccharomycetes were found in the lungs of 16 rats. 



Fleas were found on 4 rats, and lice on 3 i-ats. 



The general condition of the rats was very good, and in none 

 was anything at all suspicious found. 



Dr. R. W. Shufeldt, C.M.Z.S., sent for exhibition a photograph 

 he had taken of a living specimen of a male albino Woodchuck, 

 Arctomi/s monax, that had been sent to him from Virginia, 



U.S.A.' 



Mr. R. E. HoLBiXG exhibited and made remarks upon the 

 Horns of a Highland Ram, a Fallow Deer, and a Roebuck, which 

 were fused at tlie base, and also the skull of a coursing Greyhound 

 with abnornal dentition. 



Mr. R. I. PococK, F.R.S., F.Z.S., Superintendent of the Society's 

 Gardens, exhibited the skin and skull of a specimen of the 

 rare Crested Rat, Lojihiomys ibeaivus Thos., whicli had been sent 

 from Nakuru for the Zoological Gardens by Mr. R. B. Woosnam, 

 C.M.Z.S., but had unfortunately died on the voyage. After 

 alludino- to the well-known peculiarities of the skull in this Rodent, 

 Mr. Pocock drew attention to the arrangement and coloration 

 of the hair (text-fig. 190), and expressed the opinion that the 

 alternating areas of black and white with which each individual 

 hair is ornamented, must make the animal conspicuous at dusk, 

 if confidence be placed in the analogy supplied by such animals 

 as Porcupines and Zoi-illas. The coat consists of two kinds of 



liair a softer close-set under-fur dusky gi'ey at the base, then 



white, then dark at the tip, and much longer, coarser hair usually 

 dark at the base, then white, then black, then white at the tip. 

 These hairs are so arranged that the dai-k and white bands of the 

 nnder-fur coincide exactly with the alternating bands of the same 

 colour in the coarser hairs, while the long white tips of the latter 

 project clear of the rest of the coat. From this arrangement it 

 results that when the hair is raised the median white bands 

 combine to form a continuous white mass thrown into relief by 

 the dusky base and the distal black area, the whole being sur- 

 mounted by the white tips of the long hairs shining with almost 

 silvery lustre. 



The coat of the upper side, moi-eover, is divided into three 

 definite regions — a median dorsal and a lateral on each side — by a 

 band extending from the shoulder to the hip and consisting of 

 Bubspiniform greyish hairs of peculiar spongy texture, and thick 

 in the middle but narrowest at the base and apex. When the 

 animal is viewed from above with its coat erect, the white areas 

 of the region on each side below this dividing band form a 



