334 A memoir on the Rats and Mice of India. [No. 4, 
—‘‘head and body 14 in.; tail 13 in.; weight 2 Tbs. 10 oz. Rarely 
are larger specimens found.” 
Dr. Kelaart continues—“ The Bandicoot is found in all parts of 
the island. Those from Newera Ellia are particularly large, and of 
a darker colour than those from the maritime provinces. A speci- 
men found in the neighbourhood of Kandy, had a rufous tinge on 
the posterior portion of the back.* * * These animals are very de- 
structive to grain-crops. At Newera Hllia, they are the farmers’ pest ; 
fields of potatoes and beds of peas are much injured by these rapa- 
cious creatures ; and the dove-cot and poultry-yards are not exempted 
from their attacks. Some classes of Malabars are very partial to the 
flesh of these Rats, and they are much sought after by the coolies 
on coffee estates, who eat them roasted.” 
The late Dr. Cantor includes this species in his catalogue of 
the Mammalia inhabiting the Malayan peninsula; but I have 
never seen it from the Indo-Chinese region. It inhabits various 
parts of India; but I never succeeded in procuring a fresh speci- 
men from the vicinity of Calcutta. It is not unusual, however, here 
as elsewhere, to hear a full-grown Mus pDecumanus designated a 
‘Bandicoot.’ This huge species would seem to be intermediate in 
habits as in structure, to M. rnpicus and M. pEcuUMANUs.* 
M. setirer, Horsfield, figured in his Zoological Researches in 
Java: MW. giganteus juv. Temminck, apud Gray. “ Allied to the M. 
BANDICOTA, hut clearly distinct as a species.” Horsfield’s Catalogue. 
Inhabits Sumatra, Jéva and Borneo: and Dr. Cantor gives it from 
the Malayan peninsula (Penang), J. A. 8S. XV. 254. “ The larger 
of two individuals, captured in gardens, measured :—head and body 
102 in.; tail 72 in.” (Cantor.) In his Br. Mus. Catal., Dr. Gray 
mentions a‘ black variety,’ anda “ brownish variety with face brown” 
from Tasmania! In the ‘ Zoology’ of the voyage of the ‘Samarang,’ 
Dr. Gray has attempted a Conspectus of the Zoology of the Malayan 
peninsula and islands, wherein he includes but five species of Mus; 
viz., M. serirer,—M. panpicora, from the Malayan peninsula, Java, 
and Sumatra, M. pecumanus, Pallas from Java, Sumatra, Banda, 
Borneo, Celebes, Amboyna, Timor, Malayan peninsula (Penang). 
* A “specimen, from Egypt,” is given in the Br. Mus. Catal., as the Egyp- 
tian Bandicoot, M. cieas. 
