OTOMYS ALBICAUDATUS.— Smith. 
Mammalia.— Plate XXXIII. (Male.) 
O. supra brunneo-griseus, profundi brunneo- penicillatus ; infra sordid^ subcinereus ; cauda ferrugineo- 
alba ; pilis versus radicem scliistosis : oculis profundi brunneis ; auribus magnis. 
Longitudo ab nasi apice ad basin caudle 5 unc. 9 lin. ; caudee 2 unc. 
Otomys albicaudatus, Smith. — South African Quarterly Journal, vol. i. p. 148. 1834. 
Colour.— Head, back, and sides wood-brown, tinged with grey, and spa- 
ringly pencilled with umber-brown ; the grey tinge is strongest upon the upper 
and lateral parts of the head and neck, the pencilling of umber-brown is very 
distinct upon the centre of the face, the vertex, the back of the neck, and the 
superior parts of the body, on the upper portion of the sides it is less marked, 
and on the inferior portions nearly wanting. The lower parts of the sides, 
the belly, the fore-legs, and the inner surfaces of the hinder legs dusky ash- 
grey ; outer surfaces of buttocks the same colour as the back ; feet wood- 
brown, tinged with grey. Tail rusty white. Chin and lips white. Ears 
internally flesh-coloured, with a purplish tinge, the few hairs which exist 
towards their outer edges dusky-brown, the outer surfaces the same colour 
as the back. Muzzle flesh-coloured. Eyes a deep rich brown. Teeth, ochry 
yellow. Whiskers partly black, partly silvery white. The colours of the 
head, neck, and body, as above described, are confined to the points of hairs ; 
behind the points each hair is of a pale blackish purple or slate-colour. The 
pencilled appearance is occasioned by there being a number of long dark 
hairs interspersed among the fur : in some specimens these hairs are in great 
numbers, and in them the dark colour is very distinct. 
Form, &c. Figure rather robust. Head broad behind, slightly convex 
above • before eyes it is narrow and somewhat cylindrical ; nose truncated. 
Eyes large and rather prominent. Ears large, patulous, ovate, and pointed, 
both their surfaces with a thin sprinkling of short and rather rigid hair. Legs 
* The group which we proposed, iu 1834, to designate by the term Otomys is very different from that 
to which the same term has been applied by F. Cuvier. He employed Otomys as a substitute for Euryotis, 
Brants; hence exposed it to be classed as a synonym. 
