TO 
A New Guinea Tree Rat. 
In the absence of any account in available literature of an 
unusually large rat inhabiting country at the head of the River Aroa, 
in British New Guinea, the following descriptive notes concerning 
it are offered, on the presumption that they may add something to 
our knowledge of the rat, even though it should have been previously 
described : — 
Dimensions of an adult male : — 
mm. 
Length of head and body, following dorsal contour of skin ... 435 
Ditto abdominal do. ... 380 
Length of tail ... ... ... ... 365 
,, of head to a line joining anterior roots of ears ... 80 
,, from tip of nose to anterior canthus of eye ... 41 
,, from posterior canthus of eye to the ear ... ... 36 
„ of ear ... ... ... ... 13 
,, of forefoot ... ... ... ... 40 
,, of hind foot ... ... ... ... 68 
,, of whiskers ... ... ... ... 130 
Breadth of head between the ears ... ... ... 34 
,, of body across the loins ... ... ... 178 
,, ,, ,, chest ... ... ... 100 
Skull, length ... ... ... ... ... 77 
,, breadth across zygomas ... ... ... 42 
Head short, broad, and convex ; ears naked, and so short as to 
be nearly hidden by the fur ; whiskers very strong and long, reaching 
to the middle of the arm ; body extremely broad ; legs short and 
powerful ; tail shorter than body and head, practically naked ; its 
scales very broad and short, measuring near its base 9 to the centi- 
metre in length and 4 in breadth : imbricated longitudinally but not 
transversely, so that they run together in oblique rows : corrugated 
on the apical half of the dry skin, smooth on the basal. Nostrils and 
feet murine, 5th digit of hind foot of normal length. 
Hair cylindrical. Fur, 30mm long on the back, dense, soft at 
base ; on body and outer side of limbs beset with numerous long 
(58mm.) and harsher hairs. 
Hair of the head radiating from a spot over the centre of the 
nasals ; of the tail — scanty, short and feeble. 
