On a new species of Rat from 

 the island of Flores 



BT 



P. A. JENTINK. 



With Plate V. 



Prof. Max Weber had the kindness to place in my hands for in- 

 vestigation a large Rat, collected in the island of Flores (Sikka) by 

 the reverend dutch priest Le Cocq d'Armandville. 



It is an enormous animal with a partly yellow-coloured tail. In the 

 last years there have been described a rather large number of so-called 

 yellow-tailed big rats from the Sunda-islands, the Moluccas, New-Guinea 

 and Australia, species like Uromys macropus and validus, Gymnomys 

 xanthura and celebensis , Mus callithrichus , meyeri and macleari: the 

 more we come eastward the more the number of species seems to 

 increase. It would be prematurely to decide as yet, if these partly 

 yellow-tailed rats deserve a generic distinction from the other large 

 rats with uniformly dark coloured tails, and this because their study 

 gives rise to so many questions on which the generally incomplete 

 descriptions do not answer. Perhaps coincide with a partly yellow 

 tail — a very insignificant characteristic in itself — f. i. short and wide 

 anterior palatine foramina and large molar teeth ! What we need is 

 a detailed description based upon a carefully and maturely considering 

 of the different characteristics, derived from the nature of the exterior 

 covering, the colour of upper and lower parts, the hairiness of the 

 tail , the form of the scales on tail and extremities , the size and shape 

 of the ears , relative length of toes , shape of claws or nails , further 



