190 
RECORDS OF THE AUSTRALIAN MUSEUM. 
An EXTENDED DESCRIPTION of MUS FUSGIPES , 
WATERHOUSE. 
By Edgar R. Waite, F.L.S., Zoologist. 
(Eigs. 1-4). 
Few of our native rats have been described, other than from 
external characters, and such characters are in many cases of but 
secondary value. As a revision of the Australian Muridse is 
much needed, any effort towards the completion of specific descrip- 
tions will be welcomed by the Monographer. 
By the kindness of Mr. E. G-. W. Palmer, we are able to supply 
deficiencies in our knowledge of Mus fuscipes . The specimens 
described were taken at Lawson, on the Blue Mountains, and of 
them my correspondent writes : — 
“So far as my observations go, they are locally rare, but there 
is a small colony in my orchard, which I first observed about 
twelve years ago. Dogs and Dasyures have checked their rapid 
increase. A peaty ridge is their favorite burrowing place, and 
they burrow to a great depth. They make long well-cleared 
surface runs, so that their burrows are easily found. Water 
seems very necessary to them, and they swim freely. They feed 
on grasses and herbage, and consume or injure much fruit, climbing 
the trees for it or nibbling the windfalls, which they carry to the 
drains and watercourses. From dissections, I believe they seldom 
have more than two or three young at a time. Their teeth are 
very powerful, and they make good use of them when roots or 
dead timber obstruct their excavating. Just now (August 16th, 
1899), they seem to be hibernating, as they rarely come out of 
their nests.” 
Subsequently Mr. Palmer told me that the rats had left their 
old haunts, or more probably had been cleared out by snakes, as 
a large Black Snake ( Pseudechis porphyriacus j had been frequently 
seen in the immediate neighbourhood. It had, so far, evaded 
capture. At a recent meeting of the Linnean Society of New 
South W ales, Mr. Palmer announced that he had been bitten by 
a Black Snake in his grounds at Lawson.* 
Description , — Fur long, very thick and soft to the touch. Colour 
rather variable, from yellowish-brown to blackish-brown. Basal por- 
tion of the fur deep grey, almost black, the tips yellow, sometimes 
* Abstract Proc. Linn. Soc. N.S.W., 28 Mar., 1900 
