70 
MURIDAE RECORDED FROM VICTORIA 
colour varies from dusky (blackish) brown to warm yellowish-brown, most 
commonly the former hue. Dorsal hairs slate for three-fourths of their 
length, tipped with brown. Guard-hairs numerous and shining black. Sides 
of body very little lighter, grading without demarcation into buffy-grey of 
ventral surface. Fur of latter smoky at base, tipped with huffy-white, the 
buff being more pronounced at the hinder part of body. Head as body ; 
cheeks scarcely lighter. Mystical vibrissae moderate (30 mm.) ; very dark- 
brown with lighter tips. Ears short, rounded, and sparsely sprinkled with 
light-brown adpressed hair on both inner and outer surfaces. Tail short ; 
uniformly dark; sprinkled with stiff, dark-brown hairs. Skin of manus 
and pes dusky brown ; upper surface of both clothed with fine, adpressed, 
shining brown hair. 
Skull . — Stoutly built and strongly ridged, with raised supraorbital beads 
extending backwards to the interparietal. Compared with the previous species 
it is shorter in the muzzle and more massive. 
Teeth . — Large and heavy. Molars much broader than in the proceeding 
species. 
Dimensions of Skin (from flesh). — Head and body, 154 mm.; tail, 127 
mm. ; hind foot, 30 mm. ; ear, 19 mm. 
Dimensions of Skull . — Greatest length, 39 mm. ; basal length, 35 mm. ; 
greatest breadth, 21 • 5 mm.; nasals, 14 X 4 mm.; interorbital breadth, 
5 mm.; palate length, 21 mm.; breadth inside M 2 , 4 mm.; breadth outside 
M 2 , 9 mm.; palatal foramina, 6 mm.; diastema, 11 mm.; upper molars, 
7 mm. 
Type Locality . — Hunter River, New South Wales. 
Once widely distributed throughout the State, the Eastern 
Swamp Rat is now confined to south-western Victoria. Num- 
bers live in somewhat isolated colonies on the marshy flats of 
Cape Otway, but do not inhabit scrub or forest country. The 
flats, which are used for grazing cattle, are dotted with clumps 
of tea-tree and plantations of pines, within which the rats 
make their home. The long, deep burrows, which are large 
in proportion to the size of the rats, are thickly clustered 
around butts of trees. Much of this country is under water 
in wet periods, and the burrows become unihabitable ; the rats 
then migrate to higher ground and burrow into banks and at 
the base of grass clumps. They do not build nests above 
ground. Some colonies inhabit coastal sand dunes during the 
whole year. Unlike the previous species the Swamp Rat 
makes definite “runs,” denuded of grass, and extending for 
some distance from the mouths of burrows. 
The Swamp Rat is entirely herbivorous, stomach contents 
revealing coarse vegetable matter. It has a liking for the 
outer bark of roots of trees, and is a pest in new plantations, 
where it kills many young trees. 
