tgoy.] Dr. Hossack : The Rats of Calcutta. 41 



" from the south of the Godavery are the exact counterpart in external appearance 

 " of the Ceylon rats, the skulls of the latter have remarkably different nasals from 

 " the rats of Guna and Manbhoom, being much narrower and more posteriorly pointed, 

 " and, moreover, the muzzle is narrower and not so long. Allowance, however, must 

 " be made for variation, especially in insular examples, and I am, therefore, disposed 

 ' ' to regard the foregoing differences, observable in the species of the Ceylon bandicoots, 

 "in this light." By reducing all the skull measurements to percentages it is possible 

 to make an exact comparision. It will be found that the difference between the 

 proportions of my nemorivagiis series and the Indian Museum handicota series, is quite 

 trifling and very much less marked than the difference between the Ceylon skull 

 and the rest of the handicota series. The nasals of my series are 2-4 per cent, shorter, 

 and the other differences are practically insignificant. The Ceylon skull, however, is 

 rather distinctive, being a rather long and narrow skull with short, broad nasals 4-9 

 per cent, shorter than that of the average handicota^ and 6-5 per cent, shorter than 

 that of the Madras handicota ; moreover the supraorbital ridges anteriorly are very 

 closely approximated. The palate is also a trifle shorter, 27 per cent, less than the 

 Madras handicota. 



Chief Differences Compared. 



N.L. lo.B. Cr. B. Pal. L. 



Average 6awiîCo^<2 compared with nemorivagus ..-\-2-/[% .. -1-2% -|-2-i% 



Average handicota compared with Ceylon skulls . . +4*9 % +i'9 % +i"3 % -i.-2% 



Madras handicota compared with Ceylon skull ..4-6-5% -f2-2% -\-t-<^% -1-27% 



With so little material — one of the two skulls in the Museum is too broken to mea- 

 sure—it is impossible to come to a definite conclusion regarding the Ceylon Bandicoot, 

 but it is possible that it may be found to be a very well marked variety. With regard to 

 N. nemorivagus I have shown that in Calcutta it is marked off from A^. handicota only 

 by absolute size, not by any proportional differences. Even the size difference is 

 rather discounted by the fact that the largest A^. nemorivagus,^ o. 175, with a total length 

 of 63 mm., is as large as the average A^. handicota. I therefore draw the conclusion 

 that there is only one species of Nesokia handicota and that N. nemorivagus , so far 

 from being a distinct species, is a mere variety characterized by smaller size. Judging 

 from the skulls, it would probably be found on examining an extended series that the 

 larger specimens of the one variety and the smaller of the other would bridge the 

 gap that now exists between their recorded measurements.' 



H ahits.— It is a burrowing rat, found in gardens and compounds, particularly in 

 the banks of tanks, but all the specimens I have secured were trapped in houses, gener- 

 ally about the cook-room. Anderson relates that one of his specimens was said to 



1 Since this was written I l)ave measured an old male from Calcutta wtiose chief measurements were 

 30 body, 30 tail, 5-6 foot, 2-6 ear, i.e., exactly 2 feet in total lengtli, i.e., practically the standard size for 

 Ceylon Bandicoots. 

 6 



