MURIDAE RECORDED FROM VICTORIA 
67 
Skull. — Slender, comparatively smooth and rounded, but with raised supra- 
orbital beads diverging backwards towards the outer corners of the inter- 
parietal. Muzzle comparatively long and narrow. Bullae about half length 
of diastema. 
Teeth . — Incisors long and slender. Molars comparatively small and 
narrow. 
General Dimensions (from flesh). — Head and body, 161 mm; tail, 170 
mm. ; hind foot, 33 mm. ; ear, 23 mm. 
Dimensions of Skull . — Greatest length, 41 5 mm.; basal length, 37-5 mm.; 
greatest breadth, 21 -5 mm.; nasals, 17 X 4-5 mm.; interorbital breadth, 
5-5 mm.; palate, 19 mm.; breadth inside M 2 , 4 mm.; breadth outside M 2 , 
8 8 mm.; palatal foramina, 7-5 mm.; diastema, 11 5 mm.; upper molars, 
8 mm. 
Type Locality . — Clarence River, New South Wales. 
The colour variation in the species is small and is not local- 
ized. It depends chiefly upon the length and depth of colour 
of the light tips of the fur, which may vary from rich yellow- 
ish-brown to a much colder, almost grey tone. 
The Allied Rat is an inconspicuous, completely nocturnal 
animal. It prefers a habitat in thick scrub and makes its 
burrows under the overhanging branches of bushes, under 
logs, or at the base of thick grass clumps. As a rule the bur- 
rows are not deep; they slope gently down to an enlarged 
chamber in which is a nest of grass. In the outer layers of the 
nest the grass stems are long and interwoven, but the inner 
surface is well lined with short, bitten ends. This rat leaves 
no very noticeable tracks, for its runs seldom extend far from 
the mouth of its burrow and have not a well-used appearance. 
This species does little or no damage. It is entirely vege- 
tarian and its stomach contents disclose in most cases fibrous 
material such as grass stems. 
In 1935 a series of about 60 rats was taken at Portland (in 
western coastal Victoria), which in general size, colour, and 
pelage are indistinguishable from assimilis. They have, how- 
ever, a smaller skull, a shorter tail and a shorter pes. They 
were compared with Rattus assimilis and also with R. greyi , 
which occurs in South Australia, but has not been identified 
in Victoria. 
The species greyi was described by Gray in 1841, but was 
not recognized by Gould nor figured in his “Mammals of Aus- 
tralia.” Ogilby included it in his catalogue in 1892, but did not 
follow Gray, describing its colour instead as “intense reddish- 
brown.” This erroneous description was in general use until 
1925, when Wood Jones exposed the error and re-established 
the species as still surviving ; he also remarked on its similar- 
ity to the description of assimilis, which animal he had not 
seen. 
