1878.] J. Anderson — On the SuJj-Oenus Xesokia. 215 



In 1842,* Dr. Gray, selecting Mus JiardwicJcii as his type, described 

 the genus Nesohia, characterizing it thus, '' cutting teeth very large, flat 

 in front and smooth ; grinders 3*3 ; front upper large with three cross 

 ridges ; the middle oblong, and the hinder much narrowed behind, each with 

 two cross ridges ; the front lower grinder larger, narrowed in front with 

 three cross ridges ; hinder each with two ridges, the hindermost smallest , 

 rather narrowed behind : tail short, thick, with whorls of scales and scattered 

 bristles : toes 4 — 5, moderate, the three middle sub-equal, long, the outer 

 moderate : claws small, compressed : front thumb tubercular, with a rudi- 

 mentary claw : ears moderate, naked." " This genus," Dr. Gray states, " is 

 easily known from the rats (Mus) by the large size of the cutting teeth 

 and the shortness of the tail : it appears," he continues, *' to be intermediate 

 between the Rats and Rhizomysy 



In 1839,t Sir Walter Elliot described the afore-mentioned rat from 

 Southern India under the name of Mus (Neotoma) jprovidens, identifying 

 it with the Mus inclicus, Geoff, and the Arvicola indica, Gray, mentioning 

 its Canarese name Kok or Kohu, but his identification of it with M. indicus 

 Geoff, was erroneous, as 3Ius providens is undoubtedly a Nesohia. Prof. 

 A. Milne-Edwards, who has kindly examined for me the type specimen of 

 M. indicus^ Geoff, in the Paris Museum, informs me that it is very nearly 

 allied to Mus decumanus, and that, although it is a little smaller, its teeth 

 have the same conformation ; and he further observes that Mus indicus is 

 perfectly different from the animal figured by Peters under the name of 

 Spalacomys indicus. Mus providens^ however, has a skull like that of S, 

 indicus, as I have satisfied myself by the examination of the skulls of two 

 of Sir Walter Elliot's specimens. 



Sir W. Elliot, in considering Mus providens as identical with Arvicola 

 indica, Gray, lends the weight of his authority to the view that I have 

 been led to adopt regarding Arvicola indica, because there can be no doubt 

 that they both belong to one sub- generic type of Mus. 



On referring to the list of Mammalia in the British Museum, published 

 in 1848, three specimens of a rat are mentioned under the name of 3Ius 

 koJcX from Madras, and presented to the British Museum by Sir W. 

 Elliot, and in the Introduction to his List of Mammalia § 1843, Dr. 

 Gray states that the Mus hoh and some other species of rats i^Mus 

 rufescens, &c.) described in the Magazine || of Natural History, 1837, were 

 founded on specimens sent by Sir Walter Elliot, and that they were au- 

 * Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist., Vol. X, 1842, p. 264. 

 t Madr. Journ. Lit. and Sc, Vol. X, 1839, p. 209. 

 X ;. c, p. 110. 

 § Op. cit., 1843, p. vii. 

 11 I. c. 



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