PLATE LXXIII. 



SPECIFIC CHARACTER. 



Tall moderate and somewhat hairy : body varied with fuscous, 

 black and cinereous, and three pale dorsal stripes. 



Rattus Donovan I : cauda mediocri subpilosa : corpore ex fusco 

 nigro cinereoque vario, et fasciis tribus dorsalibus 

 pallidis. 



A new species of the Rat tribe ; a native of the Cape of Good 

 Hope, from whence it was brought to this country by Capt. White. 

 This animal partakes somewhat of the appearance of our wood rat, 

 Mus Arvalis^^ but is larger, and has the tail of a moderate length, 

 instead of being short, as in that species ; the head is longer and 

 somewhat pointed as in the common brown rat, Mus Decumanus •[-, 

 or rather like the black rat Mus Rattus \y but in its proportionate 

 robustness it bears the nearest similitude to the first mentioned 

 species. The length of the body from the tip of the nose to the base 

 of the tail is five inches and three quarters, the tail of a moderate 

 length in proportion, and slightly hairy. The fur is blackish, varied 

 with grey and fuscous hairs, and some slight intermixture of a fulvous 

 hue : the three broad dorsal bands paler, the intermediate spaces 



* Mus Arvalis. Donovan*s British Quadrupeds, vol. 2. pi. 33. 

 t Mus Decumanus. Don. Brit. Quad. vol. 2. pi. 29. 

 X Mus Rattus. Don. Brit, Quadr. vol, 1. pi. 15. 



