214 MTJEINJ. 



Kelaart has a Golunda newera, which he considers allied to this last 

 species, and found in the black soil of Newera-elKa, where it is a great 

 destroyer of peas and potatoes. 



It appears to me that Hodgson's Mus myothrix has some affinities 

 for Golunda Elliotti. It is described as, "fur yellow brown, minutely black 

 varied, hair rather short and rigid, lead colored with yellow tips and with 

 scattered narrow black bristles ; beneath yellowish white, tail slightly hairy, 

 yellow. Length of one 6 inches, tail 3| ; head 1^. Tenants the woods 

 only, dwelling in burrows under the roots of trees, but not gregariously." 



Blyth has described a Hapalomys longicaudatus from Burmah. 



The next animal has been referred by Gi'ay to another group, the 

 Aspalacidce, but this is not agreed to by Blyth and Waterhouse, who consi- 

 der it as a murine type. 



Gen. Rhizomys, Gray. 



Syn. Nyctocleptes, Temminck. 



Char. — Incisors very large, long, somewhat triangular, sharp, molars 

 3 3 



^ — g, rooted, subcyUndric, the crown with somewhat parallel cross ridges; 

 o — o 



upper molars with a lobe internally; head large; body massive ; eyes small; 



ears naked, conspicuous ; feet short, strong ; tail short, thick, naked. 



Chiefly from the Indo-chinese region and Malayana. One species extends 



into our north-eastern limits. 



201. Rhizomys badius. 



Hodgson. — Blyth, Cat. p. 122. — B. minor, Gray. 

 The Bay Bamboo-eat. 



Descr. — Above of a bay or chesnut color, the fur being slaty gray with 

 rufous-brown tips ; below dark ashy-gray ; feet dark. 



Length 9 inches. 



This small bamboo-rat has been taken only in the Terai of Sikim, and 

 the adjoinmg parts of the Nepal Terai. It eats the roots of bamboos and 

 other trees, constructing burrows under the roots. It is said to be very 

 bold and easily taken. 



Rhizomys pruinosus, Blyth, is from the Khasia hills ; R. castaneus, 

 Blyth, from Burmah ; and B. sumatrensis, from the Malayan peninsula and 



