10 A SHORT NOTE ON THE INDIAN RATS. 



round head. Its colour is yellowish to rufous brown above with 

 a hoary grey or white belly. The fur varies in texture bat tends 

 to be long and soft. There are two varieties — kuttoni, a soft- 

 furred form witn large feet found at high elevations in Baluchistan 

 and Afghanistan and the typical form with darker, harsher fur and 

 smaller feet, found in N.-W. India. 



6. MUS RATTUS, VAR. NITLDUS— THE HILL HOUSE RAT. 



This differs from the Mus rattus of the plains in that the tail 

 is much shorter, almost the same length as the head and body, 

 and the fur, as might be expected, is much longer and thicker. 

 The flea found on this rat in Darjeeling is not Pulex irritans 

 but Glenopsyll'i musculi. 



7. MUS CONCOLOR— THE LITTLE BURMESE RAT. 



This is really a miniature Mus rattus. It has been included in 

 the list of descriptions because it is the common house-rat of Burma 

 and probably plays an important part in plague in that country. 

 The colouring is the same as that of Mus rattus except that the 

 belly is generally pale brown instead of white, grey or orange -grey. 

 It is rather mouse-like in size but is structurally a small rat. 



Amongst the field rats which probably are of very little 

 importance, the commonest have already been described with the 

 house-rats, as they are more liable than most to be found away 

 from their proper haunts, namely, the Nesokias. The Gerbilli, of 

 which the most common and well-known species is 0. indicus, 

 is too characteristic and too well known to require description. 

 It is commonly called the antelope rat from the powers of leaping 

 which it possesses ; its excessively long feet, large ears and very 

 long tufted tail make it easy of recognition. Mils mettada, the 

 soft-furred field-rat, is more like a large mouse than a rat, and 

 can be at once recognized from the fact that it has only four or 

 five plantar pads, generally four. Ic is found in most parts of 

 the Peninsula of India and also in Sind. The musk-rat or the 

 grey musk-shrew, Croc idura ccer idea is not a rat at all but is one 

 of the insectivora and does not seem liable to plague. Amongst 

 the many other animals which are exceptionally attacked by 

 plague none are worthy of mention together with the rats, except 

 perhaps the squirrels. Where thatched roofs are the rule the 

 squirrels may be as great a domestic nuisance as their first cousin 

 the rats, and the former are apparently frequently attacked by 

 plague, so that in some places they may be a factor of practical 

 importance. Only two species need be considered — Fanambulus 

 palmarum, the palm-squirrel or common striped squirrel, and 

 Funa/mbalus tristriatus, the jungle striped squirrel. They are 

 easily distinguished, as in the former the three pale dorsal stripes 

 are broad and are so supplemented by the light colour below the 

 lowest dark intervening stripe that the species might well be 

 described as possessing five light stripes. In the jungle form the 



