t-trees and bamboos, bringing forth five
or six young in August and September. "They eat grains, which they
collect in their nests, also young cocoanuts. They enter houses at
night, but do not live there." Kellaart's _M. tetragonurus_ is a
variety of this, if not identical.

NO. 342. MUS NIVEIVENTER.
_The White-bellied House Rat_ (_Jerdon's No. 181_).

HABITAT.--The lower Himalayan ranges.

DESCRIPTION.--"Above blackish-brown, shaded with rufous; below
entirely pure white, tail and all."--_Blyth_.

SIZE.--Head and body, 5-1/4 to 7 inches; tail, 6 to 7-1/2 inches.

Hodgson stated this to be a house rat in Nepal, but not very common.
Jerdon found it common at Darjeeling. Specimens have been received
from Mussoorie.

NO. 343. MUS NITIDUS.
_The Shining Brown Rat_ (_Jerdon's No. 182_).

HABITAT.--Nepal; Darjeeling.

DESCRIPTION.--Dusky brown above, dusky hoary below. According to
Hodgson it is "distinguished for its smooth coat or pelage, wherein
the long hairy piles are almost wanting. It is a house rat, like _M.
niveiventer_, but much rarer, and frequents the mountains rather
than the valleys." The long hairs are 11/16 inch in length, horny
at the base, with black tip, the short fur ashy, with rufous tips.

SIZE.--Head and body, 6-1/2 inches; tail 7-1/4 inches.

Blyth writes of this species ('J. A. S. B.' vol. xxxii. 1863, p. 343):
"We have several specimens of what I take to be this rat from
Darjeeling. They are especially distinguished by the fineness and
softness of the fur. One specimen only, of eight from Darjeeling,
which I refer to this species, has the lower parts pure white,
abruptly defined."

There is a smaller rat, only four inches in length, which agrees
exactly with the above, which Hodgson named _M. horietes_. It is not
mentioned in Blyth's Catalogue, but it has not been overlooked by
Blyth, as Jerdon's remarks would lead one to suppose, for in the
'Memoir on the Rats and Mice in India,' by the former, in the 'J.
A. S. B.' vol. xxxii. for 1863, it is entered with a quotation from
Hodgson.

NO. 344. MUS CAUDATIOR.
_The Chestnut Rat_ (_Jerdon's No. 183_).

HABITAT.--The lower Eastern Himalayas, i.e., Nepal, Darjeeling,
&c.; also in Burmah, Lower Pegu, and Martaban.

DESCRIPTION.--"Above a fine bright cinnamon colour, with
inconspicuous black tips; the under-parts white, which is abruptly
divided from the cinnamon hue above" (_Blyth_). Sometimes
yellowish-white (_Jerdon_). Muzzle shar