78 
MURIDAE RECORDED FROM VICTORIA 
Dimensions of Skin. — Head and body, 7 3 mm. ; tail, 77 mm. ; hind foot, 
42 mm. ; ear, 27 mm. 
Dimensions of Skull. — Back of parietals to tip of nasals, 34 mm. ; nasals, 
15 X 5 mm.; interorbital breadth, 5 5 mm.; palate length, 21 mm.; breadth 
inside M 2 , 3 5 mm.; breadth outside M 2 , 7 8 mm.; palatal foramina, 7 8 
mm.; diastema, 10 8 mm.; upper molars, 7-5 mm. 
Type Locality. — South Australia. 
There are nineteen Victorian specimens in the collection, all 
taken by Blandowski near the Murray-Darling junction. 
They do not differ in any feature from more recent Central 
Australian specimens. 
Krefft, who accompanied Blandowski during part of his 
expedition, records some interesting data regarding the habits 
of the White-tailed House-building Rat (loc. cit.) . He says: 
“This pretty little animal is nocturnal and gregarious. I have 
frequently taken from 8 to 10 out of a hollow tree, and tamed them so 
that they kept about the camp, mounting the supper table at tea-time for 
their share of sugar and damper. ... It has been stated that the tail of 
this animal is nearly destitute of the long brushy hairs towards the tip, 
which are found in almost all species of this genus; this, however, is 
not the rule but the exception only, though specimens kept in captivity 
soon lose their long hairs, and frequently their tails also, if kept with 
other rodents.” 
Leporillus conditor (Gould). 
Mus conditor Gould, Sturt’s Expdn. Cent. Aust., i, p. 120, pi. i; and ii, 
app., p. 7, 1848. 
Hapalotis conditor Gould, Mamm. Aust., iii, pi. vi, 1863; Krefft, Cat. 
Mamm. Coll. Aust. Mus., p. 65, 1864. 
Conilurus conditor Ogilby, Aust. Mus. Cat., No. 16, Aust. Mamm., 
p. 118, 1892. 
Leporillus conditor Troughton, Rec. Aust. Mus., xiv, p. 24, 1923 ; Wood 
Jones, Mamm. Sth. Aust., iii, p. 327, 1925. 
General colour buffy-brown, lightly grizzled with black hairs. Dorsal fur 
slate for two-thirds of length, then yellowish-brown with darker tips. Sides 
of body lighter but same buffy hue. No line of demarcation between dorsal 
and ventral colouration. Ventral surface buffy-white; hair smoky at base, 
tipped with buffy-white, some grey showing through. Head as body ; cheeks 
scarcely lighter, upper lip white. Mysticial vibrissae of moderate length 
(60 mm.); black. Ear large and rounded; outer surface dark-brown 
anteriorly, fading to yellowish on hinder edge and well clothed with adpressed 
hair, inner surface naked except towards the tip where there are a few buffy 
hairs. Tail less than head and body ; whitish below, dark-brown above to the 
tip; hairs numerous but not sufficiently so to hide scales, not or scarcely 
lengthened at tip. Manus with dark-brown patch on carpus extending half- 
way down digits ; well clothed with hair. Pes yellowish-white, a dark line on 
outer metatarsal extending to a patch on digits ; well clothed with hair. 
Skull. — Heavier than in the last species. The front edge of the zygomatic 
plate slopes forwards to its base instead of being vertical. Interorbital region 
without sharply-angled edges. 
