COLLECTIONS IN MALAYA 
ii 
squirrel ; C. prevostii, so far only seen in an Oil Palm estate ; C. mcclelandi, a little squirrel 
almost confined to altitudes of over 1,000 metres ; and two species of Ratufa, giant-squirrels 
from the forest canopy. 
Flying Squirrels of the following species, Hylopetes sagitta, Petinomys genibarbis , Aeromys 
tephromelas , Pteromyscus pulverulentus , and Iomys horsefieldii, are grouped together here. All 
are tree-top species largely confined to forest. 
Rats and Porcupines. 
Chiropodomys gliroides (Blythe) is a tree-dwelling mouse which seems confined to clumps 
of bamboo in forest and secondary forest. It is numerous in suitable localities and builds its 
nest inside the hollow stems. 
Rattus canus (Miller) and R. cremoriventer (Miller) are tree rats, of similar habit to the 
Callosciurus squirrels, but, of course, nocturnal. They are confined to forest. 
R. rattus (Linn.) in its three forms has been discussed above. R. r. diardii is a house rat, 
jalorensis a rat of scrub and woodland, particularly that provided by Oil Palm and Rubber 
estates, and argentiventer is a rat of grassland and rice fields. 
R. exulans (Peale) is a rat of houses, grassland, and scrub. 
R. annandalei (Bonhote) seems to resemble R. r. jalorensis in habit, but is rare in our 
collection, and has been found only at the edge of forest. 
R. miilleri (Jentink) is the common giant ground rat of the wetter parts of the forest floor, 
such as valley bottoms. 
R. bowersi (Anderson) another giant ground rat, is of similar habit to the last, but is 
uncommon in disturbed forest at the altitude of Kuala Lumpur. At higher altitudes it becomes 
more abundant. 
R. sabanus (Thomas) is the common giant ground rat of the drier parts of the forest such 
as on the valley slopes. 
R. whiteheadi (Thomas), a small spiny rat, is abundant on the floor of forest, secondary 
forest, and of the denser parts of scrub. Its preferences seem to be for the comparatively bare 
floor under thick head cover, whatever the height of that cover may be. 
R. rajah (Thomas) is an abundant ground rat on the floor of forest. It exists in two forms, 
R. r. surifer and R. r. pellax , which are distinguishable on coat colour, but occur together. 
Mus musculus (Linn.) is very strictly a house mouse. Nearly all of the specimens noted 
here were caught on sticky-board traps, and were consequently unsuitable for examination 
for parasites. 
In addition to the above species of rat proper, specimens of the Bamboo rat, Rhizomys , 
sumatrensis , and the porcupines Atherurus macrourus and Hystrix brachyura have been examined 
but their numbers are too small for inclusion in the table. 
INSECTIVORES AND DERMOPTERA. 
Tupaia glis (Diard) and Tupaia minor Gunther, the greater and lesser tree-shrews, are 
abundant in forest, secondary forest, and scrub. Despite their squirrel-like appearance, they 
seem to be very largely ground dwelling animals which venture freely into the trees. The rare 
nocturnal and arboreal Ptilocercus lowii (pen-tailed shrew) has been examined, but in small 
numbers only. 
Suncus murinus (Linn.) is primarily a house shrew and is rarely trapped far from houses. 
Species of Crocidura have been trapped in forest, secondary forest, and scrub, but in very small 
MALA YA, No. 26, 1953 
