386 MR. J. L. BOXHOTE ox THE [NoV. 28, 



Habitat. Only recorded from W. and N.W. Fokien. 



The first specimens of these Rats were all obtained high up on 

 the mountains among rocky ground, in the crevices of which it 

 lives. Beyond this, nothing is known of its habits. It has only 

 been taken in W. and IST.W. Fokien. 



Mus coxiNGi Swinhoe. 



Mus Goninga Swinhoe, P. Z. S. 1864, pp. 185, 382. 



ALits coxinga Swinhoe, P. Z. S. 1870, p. 637; Thos. Ann. Mus. 

 Gen. 1892, p. 939 (footnote). 



Mu,s coxingi Swinhoe, Bonh. Fasc. Malay., Zool. vol. i. pp. 33 

 k 36 (1903). 



Mus Goninga (under which name it was originally described by 

 Swinhoe) is undoubtedly a Rat of the jerdoni type {rajah sub- 

 group), and not the jerdoni subgroup as noted by me. The typical 

 form, as described by Swinhoe, has the upper parts reddish brown, 

 sprinkled with stiff black bristles, especially on the back, where 

 the fur is also often a little darker. Under parts pure white ; 

 feet white ; tail bicolor, white at the tip. 



The skulls at my disposal are too fragmentary to allow of a 

 description. 



Dimensions (from skin). Head and body 208 mm. ; tail 180 ; 

 hind foot 36. 



Skull. Palatal length 19 mm. ; diastema 11 ; incisive foramina 7; 

 length of nasals 17; interorbital breadth 6*5; length of molar 

 series (alveoli) 8 mm. 



Habitat. Formosa. 



Swinhoe noted many varieties of this species as occuri-ing in 

 Formosa ; these doubtless represent forms belonging to the 

 different subgroups of the jerdoni group, but unfortunately the 

 only specimens I have been able to examine are a portion of 

 Swinhoe's series of which the skulls are all defective. It is there- 

 foi'e impossible to distinguish any of these varieties by name ; but 

 the true coxingi may be distinguished by its white feet, the white 

 tip to its tail, and the fact that the fur is thickly beset with 

 spines. 



Mus CONFUCIANUS A. M.-E. 



Mv,s confucianus A, M. -Edwards, Nouv. Arch, du Mus. vii. 

 p. 93 (1871) ; id. Rech. Mamm. p. 286, pi. xli. fig. 2 (1874) ; Thos. 

 P. Z. S. 1898, p. 773 (partim) ; Bonh. Fasc. Malay., Zool. vol. i. 

 p. 33. 



General colour above dai-k brown (clay, Ridgw.), shading to 

 pale buff or yellowish on the flanks. Fur slate-grey at the 

 base with pale fulvous tip, interspersed amongst which are long- 

 black bristles. The pale tips predominate over the black so as 

 to give the animal the appearance noted above. Occasional!}^ these 

 bristles are semi-spinous, and in one or two examples the fur is 

 exceedingly harsh and spiny ; but as a rule it is quite soft to the 



