RHIZOMYS. 321 



globular, nearly nude elevations, while the area around them is sparsely clad with 

 long hairs. The equivalents of the vaginal glands lie on each side of the penis, and 

 pour their buttery secretion into the bottom of the preputial fold, on the dorsal 

 aspect of the penis. The glans penis is very minutely rugose, the rugosities tend- 

 ing to become spinous, as in some MuridcB^ and it is coloured with a brown pigment. 

 It is also supported by an ossicle 0'40 in length and which is much expanded at its 

 base, and in form it has a great resemblance to a short metatarsal bone. The shaft 

 is slender, but its upper border is concave from end to end. The vesicular glands are 

 very large, and the Cowperian glands are compact and conical and opening into 

 the bulbous portion of the urethra. The prostatic are small compared with the 

 vesicular glands, and consist of flattened lobes. The uterus mascularis is about 

 0*10 of an inch in extent, and its orifice is situated in the centre of a small 

 rounded papilla, on each side of which open the spermatic tiibes. 



With regard to external characters, there is a narrow nude area surrounding 

 the eyes which are very small and buried in the fur and placed rather high on the 

 head. The ears are simple, of moderate size and rounded ; nude on their outer 

 surface, with the exception of a dozen or so short or bristly hairs on their anterior 

 margin, and their backs are very sparsely clad. They are of a pale flesh colour. 

 The space between the superior incisors and the tip of the nose is perfectly nude, the 

 skin being rosy flesh-coloured. A fold or furrow runs up from the outer margin of 

 each incisor, the two converging in the middle, half-way between the incisors and 

 the upper bare margin of the nose. Prom this convergence, a straight line passes 

 upwards across the centre of the nose to the lip ; but it gives off an upwardly and 

 outwardly directed groove which passes to the inner margin of each nostril, and 

 above this it is cut by a transverse furrow which connects the upper border of each 

 nostril. The nostrils are rather small, and are directed upwards and outwards. The 

 hair on the chin, and external to the nude nasal region is short and thick. The 

 fore and hind limbs are well clad to the wrist and ankle, but beyond that the hairs 

 are short and very sparse on the back of the feet and digits. The first finger is 

 reduced to a tubercle, but is furnished with a claw. The first toe is moderately well 

 developed, and has a claw like the other toes, the claws being longest on the hind 

 feet. The digits generally are short and stout, and the inter-digital membrane 

 extends to the extremity of the first phalanx. There is a small pad at the base of 

 the 1st and 5th digits, and two smaller pads common to the other three. The 

 pad at the base of the external toe is larger than the others. A very prominent 

 globular cushion occupies the base of the wrist, and a pair of small tubercular 

 cushions occur on the sole, side by side, immediately behind the digital pads. The 

 tail is perfectly nude and there are no scales. It is thick at its root, and dusky- 

 fleshy in life. The under surface is markedly more imperfectly clad in the female 

 than in the male, especially in the inguinal region and in the neighbourhood of 

 the pectoral mammae. There are five pairs of teats, three inguinal and two pectoral ; 

 but the anterior pair do not seem to be much used. In the male all the under 

 parts are well clad. The colouring of the teeth is always most brilliant in the 



r2 



