168 Report on the Mammalia and more remarkable [No. 2. 



Horsfield, — an arboreal species which is very unlikely to be often 

 conveyed about in ships, — that we cannot help strongly suspecting that 

 the black and brownish specimens from Van Dieman's Land assigned 

 to M. setter (setifer) in Mr. J. E. Gray's catalogue of the mammalia 

 in the British Museum, pertain really to the European Black Rat. Of 

 this we have also fine examples from France). 



6. M. nemoralis, nobis, n. s. (M. setifer apud Layard* ?) Very 

 like M. setifer, Horsfield, but with a considerably longer tail, exceed- 

 ing the head and body in length in the proportion of five to four.f 

 The whiskers are also blacker, at least than in what we take to be 

 a half-grown specimen of M. setifer from Malacca. Dr. Kelaart 

 sent an adult specimen and one two-thirds grown from Ceylon ; and 

 Mr. Frith lately obtained three young living examples from a huge 

 nest placed among the branches of a dense mango tree, in the vicinity 

 of Calcutta. Two of these soon after made their escape, and the 

 third we possess in spirit. We have since ascertained its occurrence 

 in the Botanic garden, and other likely sites in the neighbourhood of 

 Calcutta ; so that we hope soon to procure some recent examples, from 

 which a proper description may be taken. J 



7. M. rufescens, Gray: M.flavescens et M. rufus, Elliot (nee 

 Waterhouse) ; M. arboreus, B. Hamilton, MS. This also is a tree Rat, 

 keeping especially to the cocoa-nut palms, though by no means confined 

 to them. According to Buchanan Hamilton, it nestles in the cavities 

 of trees, and not (like the preceding species) among the branches. 

 We have obtained a single individual variety, in which the white belly 

 is much less abruptly defined than usual. One that escaped in our 

 private residence took up his abode for some days (till we saw no more 

 of him) on the top of a glass folding-door, not burrowing like the com- 



* Probably not, however, as Mr. Layard's supposed M. setifer was " procured 

 in a paddy field near Galle." 



f In M. setifer, the tail is shorter than the head and body. 



% An adult procured since this was written was unfortunately carried off by a 

 Kite. We had not the opportunity of actually comparing it with the Ceylon 

 specimens, but it certainly appeared to be specifically identical with them ; the 

 belly being merely somewhat albescent. It exhibited a manifest affinity for M. 

 rufescens, but was much larger, less rufescent, and the belly dull whitish in- 

 stead of pure white. Shot on the bough of a tree. 



