19U3.] MAMMALS FROM BRITISH XEW GUINEA. 199 



of the fourth ; claws of medium strength and curvatiu^e. Tail 

 about as long as the body without the head, practically naked, the 

 two or three minute hairs which project from below the point 

 of each scale only from | to | the length of a scale ; scales very 

 large, perhaps the largest among the Muridse, only about 5 to 

 the centimetre ; arranged diagonally, their points unusually per- 

 ceptible to the touch. Proximal third of tail black, terminal 

 two-thirds yellow. 



Skull and teeth as described above. Posterior ends of nasals 

 just level with those of premaxillary processes. Interorbital 

 i-egion narrow, parallel-sided, strongly concave mesially ; its edges 

 raised up into vertical ridges which run backwards to the lambdoid 

 crests, and have two lateral projections, one at the fronto- parietal 

 suture, and the others in the middle of the parietals. Palatal 

 foramina shorter than m.* and m." combined, narrow, parallel- 

 sided. 



Dimensions of the type, measured on the skin : — 



Head and body 390 mm. ; tail 345 ; hind foot (s. u.) 63 ; ear 

 (wet) 26. 



Skull — greatest length 74 mm. ; basilar length 64*5 ; greatest 

 breadth 41 ; nasals 28 x 12-3 ; interorbital breadth 9 ; interparietal 

 10*5 X 14'5 ; palate, length from hensilion 37 ; diastema 23'3 ; 

 palatal foramina 8*3 x 4 ; length of upper molar series 17 ; 

 breadth of m.^ 5*7 ; combined breadth of upper incisors 8'6. 



Hah. Avera, Aroa River, British New Guinea. 



Type. Female. B.M. No. 3.12.1.12. Collected by A. S. Meek. 

 One specimen. 



This huge Rat looked not unlike one of the Indian Bandicoot- 

 rats, but had probably no real affinity with them. It was quite 

 unlike anything hitherto described from the Papuan region, 

 except perhaps Dr. Jentink's Mtis avniandvillei of Flores, which 

 differed from it, however, in many details. Mallomys rothschildi 

 Thos., another large Papuan rat, had molars of quite a different 

 pattern. 



Hyomys meeki was no doubt an arboreal animal, as indicated 

 by its shortened hind feet, and it was probable that the large 

 pointed scales of its tail served a purpose analogous to that of the 

 caudal " climbing-irons " of Anomahcrus. 



Anisomys, g. n. (Muridse). 



Size lai'ge, form less bulky than in Hyomys. Fur coarse. 

 Pollex with a broad nail. Tail of medium length, smoothly 

 scaled, thinly hairy. Mammfe 1 — 2 = 6. 



Skull large, stout and heavy. Nasals long, parallel-sided 

 behind and but little broadened in front. Supraorbital region 

 broad, flat, with heavy edges which are continued backward as 

 low, evenly curved ridges to the back of the skull ; a vertical 

 postorbital projection connected with the main ridge on each side. 

 Palatal foramina very small. Palate with raised lateral ridges 

 edging it between the foramina and the molars; behind, it extends 



