212 Catalogue of Mammalia [Oct. 



which the Wuddurs attributed to its being the common apartment, and 

 s aid that the females occupied the smaller ones with their young. They 

 do not hoard their food, but issue from their burrows every evening, and 

 r un and hop about, sitting on their hind legs to look round, making as- 

 tonishing leaps ; and, on the slightest alarm, flying into their holes. 

 The Wuddurs eat this species also. 



\ ' ' * 



33. — Mus Decumanus, Lin. 



Manei ilei Canarese. ^0?OW^ 



^Dekhani. U ^ 1% 



Chooha, and 

 Ghur ka chooha. 

 Not so common above the Ghats as below, 



^34.— Mus Rattus, Lin. 

 Rare. 



35. — Mus lanuglnosus. — New species. 



Meftade... .of the Wuddurs "Sfefj'a. 



Kera ilei,. Canarese OSO<£) 



The name adopted to designate the species is taken from the word 

 mettade, meaning soft, in allusion to its fur, which is fine and soft — met' 

 tani meaning soft in Telugu. It is also called mettan-yelha, metian- 

 ganda, from the same cause. It is about half the size of the Jcok, which 

 it somewhat resembles. The head is short, but the muzzle, instead of 

 being square and truncated, is sharp ; the ears are larger in proportion 

 and more ovate. The general form is not so stout The tail is shorter 

 than the body. The colour above is reddish brown, with a mixture of 

 fawn ; lighter beneath, close and soft, with a few longer hairs projecting. 



A large adult male measured : — length of body, 5 -§ th inches; of 

 tail, 4 T y hs; total 9-jyhs ; of head l T y h ; of ear 0 T yh. Weight 2-£ oz. 



The mettade lives entirely in cultivated fields, in pairs, or small socie- 

 ties of five orsix, making a very slight and rudehole in the root of a bush, 

 or merely harbouring among the heaps of stones thrown together in the 

 fields, in the deserted burrow of the look, or contenting itself with the. 

 deep cracks and fissures formed in the black soil during the hot months. 

 Great numbers perish annually, when these collapse and fill up at the 

 commencement of the rains. The monsoon of 1826 having been defi- 

 cient in the usual fall of rain at the commencement of the season, the 

 mettades bred in such numbers as to become u perfect plague. They 

 ate up the seed as soon as sown, and continued their savages when the 

 grain approached to maturity, climbing up the stalks of jowaree, and 



