1878.] J. Anderson — On the Suh-Genus Nesokia. 229 



In Cacbar specimens, the colour is somewhat darker. 



This rat is very generally distributed over Lower Bengal, and from' its 

 abundance it becomes a nuisance in gardens, owing to the tortuous character 

 of its burrows, and from the circumstance that they are generally onl}' a few 

 inches below ground, unless the animal happens to burrow on the bank of a 

 tank when the burrow usually runs horizontally inwards. A burrow con- 

 sists of a great number of short passages which run a short way and then 

 stop, but I have been unable to detect that they are generally constructed 

 on one plan. There is, of course, a continuous but tortuous princij^al pas- 

 sage from which the offshoots are given off, and the termination of the 

 former, or it may be the end of one of the short passages, may be enlarged 

 and contain a nest of leaves and grass. Other burrows are much simpler, 

 consisting of only a few passages with one principal passage running right 

 inwards for a long way, and these are generally constructed on the banks 

 of tanks. From a nest such as that described I have removed as many as 

 10 young rats. Jjike M. {JV.) ^rovidens, it is of a fierce disposition and 

 utters a peculiar aspirant sound, grinding and rather knocking its teeth 

 together at the same time, and erecting all its fur, more especially the 

 long piles, and contracting its ears which, like the ears of rats generally, are 

 capable of a folded contraction, about the middle of the conch. 



I have already mentioned its aquatic habit and that of storing grain. 



The Indian Museum, some years ago, received from Moulmein, through 

 the late Captain Hood, a nearly albino adolescent female JVesoIcicc closely 

 allied to this species and to M. (N.) providens, but as it is immature, 

 and abnormal in colour, I hesitate to name it specifically. The following 

 are its measurements : 



Length of body and head, 6"70 



„ of tail, 6"-26 



Total length, ir-90 



Length of hind foot, l''-32 



Height of ear, , 0"-75 



The skull has the ordinary characters of this section of the Sub-genus, 

 and manifests some affinities to 31. (AT.) providens, more especially in its 

 anterior palatine foramina, which are narrower than in M. (A^.) hlythianus, 



Hodgson has described a rat which is closely alHed to this species, viz., 

 M. (Ay jplmnmammis. 



Mus (Nesokia) baeclatanus, n. s. 



Dr. Arthur Barclay of the Bengal Medical Service, obtained at Giina, 



Central India, an adult male field rat which appeared at first sight to be a 



new generic type, judging from its external appearance only. Whilst it had 



the general form of Nesokia there was this remarkable feature that its ears 



