Chapter XIX: Section II: Myomorpha--Rat-Like Rodents (3)

DESCRIPTION.--Upper parts dark iron grey; almost black on the top of the head; the upper lip, chin and upper part of the throat are white, also the chest and belly, which are however more or less tinged with grey and reddish; the lower portion of the throat is dark grey; the sides of the head and cheeks are bright golden red; the feet are sparsely clad and leaden coloured, except the toes of the hind feet, which are fleshy white; tail rather thick at the base, quite naked, not scaly, and of a leaden hue; claws rather broad, and moderately strong.

SIZE (of the living female).--Head and body, 14-3/4 inches; tail, 5.35 inches.

Dr. Anderson, from whose work I have taken the above description, and who was the first to describe and name this animal, says that a female was recently received in the Zoological Gardens from Mr. A. H. Hildebrand.

NO. 398. RHIZOMYS PRUINOSUS. _The Hoary Bamboo-Rat_.

HABITAT.--Assam; very common about Cherrapoonjee; Burmah; Kakhyen hills east of Bhamo.

DESCRIPTION.--Brown above, grizzled with white; the base of the fur being slaty grey, tipped with brown, and intermixed with longer hairs, terminating in white bands; underneath much the same, only the white-tipped hairs are shorter and less numerous; whiskers dark brown; the head is generally more grey; ears, nose, feet and tail of a dusky flesh tint; tail one-third of the body.

SIZE.--Head and-body, about 11 to 13 inches; tail, 3 to 4 inches.

NO. 399. RHIZOMYS MINOR. _The Small Bamboo-Rat_.

NATIVE NAME.--_Khai_, Aracanese.

HABITAT.--Burmah, Upper Martaban, and at Yanageen on the Irrawaddy.--_Blyth_.

DESCRIPTION.--"Dark sooty brown above, slightly tinged with deep umber, which is most distinct on the sides of the head and neck, and in reflected light; the under parts are like the upper, only the brown tint is almost absent; the whiskers are black, and tail very sparsely haired" (_Anderson_). "Dusky brown colour, with white muzzle and around the eye, and pale naked feet" (_Blyth_).

SIZE.--Head and body, 6-1/2 inches; tail, 1-3/4 inch.

Blyth says he obtained a living specimen in Upper Martaban, and recognised it as the same as what had been obtained in Siam. The Rev. Mr. Mason writes of it: "This animal, which burrows under old bamboo roots, resembles a marmot more than a rat; yet it has much of the rat in its habits. I one night caught a specimen gnawing a cocoa-nut, while camping out in the jungles."

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I may here mention a curious little animal, which is apparently a link between the MURIDAE and the SPALACIDAE, _Myospalax fuscocapillus_, named and described by Blyth ('J. A. S. B.' xv. p. 141), found at Quetta, where it is called the "Quetta mole." A full account of it by Mr. W. T. Blanford is to be found in the 'Journal Asiatic Society of Bengal,' (vol. L. pt. ii.).

FAMILY DIPODIDAE.

This family contains a form of rodent similar to, yet more pronounced than, the jerboa rats, of which I have already treated. It includes the true Jerboas (_Dipus_), the American Jumping Mice (_Zapus_), the _Alactaga_, and the Cape Jumping Hare (_Pedetes caffer_). The characteristics of the family are as follows:--

"Incisors compressed; premolars present or absent; grinding teeth rooted or rootless, not tuberculate, with more or fewer transverse enamel folds; skull with the brain-case short and broad; infra-orbital opening rounded, very large (often as large as the orbit); zygomatic arch slender, curved downwards; the malar ascending in front to the lachrymal in a flattened perpendicular plate; facial surface of maxillaries minutely perforated; mastoid portion of auditory bullae usually greatly developed; metatarsal bones elongated, often fused into a cannon bone; form gracile; front portion of body and fore-limbs very small; hind limbs long and strong, with from three to five digits; tail long, hairy. Three sub-families" (_Alston_ On the Order GLIRES, 'P. Z. S.' 1876). The three sub-families are _Zapodidae_,[28] _Dipodinae_ and _Pedetinae_, but we have only to deal with the second.

[Footnote 28: Formerly _Jaculinae_.]

_GENUS DIPUS--THE JERBOAS_.

Hind feet with three digits; tail cylindrical and tufted; incisors grooved; premolars absent, or, if found, then in the upper jaw and rudimentary; skull with very broad occipital region; greatly developed auditory bullae; the cervical vertebrae are more or less anchylosed, and the metatarsals are united. They are not found in the plains of India, though one species inhabits Yarkand, and two more are found in Eastern Persia.

NO. 400. DIPUS LAGOPUS. _The Yarkand Jerboa_.

HABITAT.--Koshtak, south of Yarkand; Yarkand; and Yangihissar.--_Blanford_.

DESCRIPTION.--"Colour above light sandy brown, slightly washed with dusky, below pure white; a white band across the outside of the thigh; tail pale brown above, whitish below, with a tuft of longer hair, altogether about 2-1/2 inches long; at the end the terminal portion pure white, the proximal portion black or dark-brown on the upper part and sides, but brown or white beneath the tail. The fur is very soft and rather long, 0.6 to 0.8 inch in the middle of the back; on the upper parts it is ashy grey at the base and for the greater parts of its length, pale sandy brown near the end; the extreme tip dusky brown; on the lower parts it is white throughout; ears about half the length of the head, oval, naked inside, thinly clothed with short brown hair outside; face sandy; the hairs grey at the base; sides of head whitish; whiskers as usual very long, exceeding three inches; the uppermost brown; the longest white, except at the base; the lower entirely white; the long hairs beneath the hind feet all white, as are the feet throughout."--_Blanford_, 'Sc. Res. of Sec. Yarkand Mission,' pp. 58,59.

_GENUS ALACTAGA_.

"Hind feet with _five_ digits, of which the first and fifth do not reach the ground; tail cylindrical, tufted; skull with the occipital region less broad, and the auditory bullae smaller; infra-orbital opening with no separate canal for the nerve; incisors plain. One very small premolar present above only."--_Alston_.

NO. 401. ALACTAGA INDICA.

NATIVE NAME.--_Khanee_, Afghan.

HABITAT.--Afghanistan; Eastern Persia.

DESCRIPTION.--Fawn colour above; the hair with black tips and ashy grey at the base; under-parts white; upper parts of thigh white; a black spot behind and inside the thigh just below the white; remainder of the outside and lower part of the inside of the thighs brown; a white line running down the front, and extending over the upper portion of the tarsi and feet; proximal portion of tarsus brown at the sides. (_See_ 'Blanford's Eastern Persia,' vol. ii. p. 77.) The tail is brown with a white tip; ears thinly clad with brown hairs; head brown above, whitish around the eyes; whiskers black.

SIZE.--Head and body, 3-1/2 inches; tail, 7 inches.

This animal is unfortunately named, as it is not Indian at all; equally unfortunate, as Mr. Blanford has shown, is Blyth's name _Bactrianus_, for it does not inhabit that tract, so the original title stands. Hutton, in his 'Rough Notes on the Zoology of Candahar' ('J. A. S. B.' xv. p. 137), writes of it as follows: "This beautiful little animal is abundant over all the stony plains throughout the country, burrowing deeply, and when unearthed bounding away with most surprising agility after the manner of the kangaroo-rat. It is easily tamed, and lives happily enough in confinement if furnished with plenty of room to leap about. It sleeps all day, and so soundly that it may be taken from its cage and examined without awaking it; or at most it will half open one eye in a drowsy manner for an instant, and immediately close it again in sleep. It retires to its burrows about the end of October, and remains dormant till the following April, when it throws off its lethargy and again comes forth." There is a good engraving of this animal in Cassel's new Natural History.

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We have now closed our account of the Myomorpha or Mouse-like Rodents, and will proceed to the next Section, HYSTRICOMORPHA, or Porcupine-like Rodents.