1878.] J. Anderso;i— 0;i tlie Suh- Genus Nesokla. 233 



Mus handicota, Blyth, Cat. Mamm. As. Soc. Mus., 1863, p. 112 ; id. 

 Journ. As. Soc. Bengal, Vol. XXXII, 1863, p. 333. 



JPandi Kolm, Telegu = Pig-rat, according to Elliot, I. c, p. 209. 



Nose somewhat pointed ; muzzle moderately long and rather deep ; eye 

 considerably nearer to the ear than to the nose, moderately large. Ears 

 somewhat large and rounded, nearly nude, but sparsely clad with short brown 

 hairs. Tail broadly ringed, sparsely clad with short hairs and nearly equal- 

 ling the length of the body and head. Feet well developed, sparsely clad 

 on their upper surfaces Avith short hairs ; claws not strong. Vibrissse long, 

 some of those of the moustache passing behind the ear. 



Pelage coarse, consisting of three kinds of hairs, viz., the underlying 

 fur, the bristly hairs of the general pelage and the long coarse piles which 

 are intermixed in great profusion among the fur of the back. These long 

 piles are especially abundant on the lumbar and dorsalregions where they are 

 very long, and being so numerous hide the general pelage lying below them 

 and project out a long way beyond it. The piles are almost entirely absent 

 from the sides of the animal and from the head and neck, but, beyond the 

 latter region they rapidly increase in numbers and length. In the living 

 animal, these piles are always as a rule erect. 



The general colour of the animal is earthy brown with intermixed 

 yellow hairs, paler on the sides, where the yellowish or grey hairs are more 

 numerous, owing to the absence of the piles. The piles are so numerous 

 on the back that that region is uniform dark brown, and this colour is pro- 

 longed along the back to the head. The under surface is dusky brown mth 

 a greyish tint. The limbs are brownish, and the nose, inside of the ear 

 and the feet are flesh-coloured, the upper surface of the latter being sparsely 

 covered with dark brown hairs. The tail is black. 



This animal attains to a great size ; the type having measured 13*25 

 inches in the length of its body and head, with a tail 13 inches long ; but 

 adult males are even larger than this. 



The skull of this rat is much more elongated than the skull of M. (iV.) 

 jyrovidens, but it, as already stated, belongs to the same group, but is, of course, 

 immensely larger, measuring 2 "'66 in length by 1"'35 in maximum breadth 

 across the zygomatic. It differs from the skull of the allied species from 

 Lower Bengal and Assam in its slightly more elongated muzzle and very 

 much larger nasals. The female has 12 mammae. 



This species occurs in great numbers in the district around Giina 

 and, like its congener M. (N.) llythianuSj it has the reputation of being 

 a water rat. In the Manbhum District it is not uncommon, but two 

 specimens in the Indian Museum are much greyer than those from Bhadra- 

 chellum, south of the Godavari, presented by Mr. W. T. Blanford, and which 



