MURIDAE RECORDED FROM VICTORIA 
81 
Dimensions of Skull . — Greatest length, 32 5 mm.; basal length, 27 mm.; 
greatest breadth, 17 mm.; nasals, 11-5 X 3 mm.; interorbital breadth, 5 5 
mm.; palate length, 15 mm.; breadth inside M 2 , 4 mm; breadth outside M 2 , 
7 • 3 mm. ; palatal foramina, 6 mm. ; diastema, 8 mm. ; upper molars, 5 • 3 
mm. 
Type locality . — Port Lincoln, South Australia. 
Since the Australian Jerboa Mice were reviewed in this 
journal (loc. cit.) two additional specimens of m. macro pus 
have been discovered in the Museum collection. Except that 
they are slightly warmer in general tone, being about wood- 
brown, they agree with. the specimen described. One is an 
adult male, the other an immature female. No data as to 
precise habitat is preserved in either case. 
In the early part of this year a very good description of a 
Jerboa Mouse was given to me by an observer who, for several 
minutes, watched an animal hopping on and around a log on 
the banks of a small creek near Natimuk, in the Wimmera 
district, western Victoria. Its colour was described as grey, 
and I have no doubt that it was an example of this subspecies. 
The Murine population of Victoria cannot be dismissed 
without some mention of introduced species. Three of these 
occur. They are the Black Rat, Rattus rattus (with which is 
grouped its grey-coloured subspecies, the Alexandrine Rat, 
R. rattus alexandrinm) , the Brown or Norway Rat, R. nor- 
vegicus, and the House Mouse, Mus musculus. The first and 
the last are as common, and more widely distributed through- 
out the State than any native species ; at times they reach 
plague proportions and do incalculable damage to crops, etc. 
The two species of introduced Rattus may be distinguished 
from native rats by their shorter and more hispid fur. They 
have many times been redescribed in Australia, and the Black 
Rat has a list of nearly a dozen synonymous names. 
Rattus novegicus Erxleben 1777. 
A large, heavily-built rat with coarse, spiny fur. General colouration of 
dorsal surface brownish, individual hairs being slaty-grey at the base, then 
yellowish-brown with darker tips. Sides of body lighter. Ventral surface 
greyish-white, hair grey at base tipped with white. Ear thick and short; 
when laid forward will not reach the eye. Tail shorter than head and body; 
with large coarse scales, sparsely sprinkled with blackish-brown hairs. Manus 
and pes brown. 
Skull . — Large and robust, the braincase long and narrow. In fully adult 
specimens the supraorbital ridges, which extend backwards to the inter- 
parietal, are almost parallel, and the length of the parietal is greater than 
the width of the interparietal measured across the skull. 
