“Was caught in a small thicket on an open grassy plain, by a trap baited with a piece of bird. This mouse when alive possesses a marked character in the extreme acumination of its nose.”—D.
20. Mus tumidus.
Plate XVIII.
Mus tumidus, Waterh., Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London for February 1837, p. 15.
M. brunneus, nigro lavatus; rostro ad apicem, labiis, mento, gulâ, pectore, abdomineque albis; naso suprà nigrescente; auribus mediocribus rotundatis; corpore crasso; caudâ capite corporeque breviore, pilis nigricantibus, subtùs albescentibus prope basin, vestitâ; artubus pedibusque grisescentibus; vellere longo, molli; unguibus longis.
Description.—Body stout; head large; tail nearly as long as the head and body; inner toe of the fore foot with a distinct, pointed claw; claws rather large, those of the fore feet but slightly arched. Fur rather long, and moderately soft; general tint of the upper parts of the body, brown, of the sides of the head and body, grayish, but with a yellow wash; the lower part of the sides of the body and of the cheeks, the tip of the muzzle, and the whole of the under parts, white; feet dirty white; ears densely clothed with short hairs, those on the inner side chiefly of an ashy-brown colour, and those on the outer side dusky; the hairs of the back are of a deep lead colour at the base, black at the tip, and annulated with yellow near the tip; the longer hairs, which are thickly interspersed, are totally black; on the under parts of the body the hairs are gray at the base, and broadly tipped with white; the upper surface of the muzzle is blackish; the moustaches are black; the incisors are yellow.
| In. | Lines. | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Length | from nose to the root of tail | 6 | 9 |
| of tail | 5 | 4 | |
| from nose to ears | 1 | 8 | |
| of tarsus (claws included) | 1 | 6 | |
| of ear | 0 | 7 |
Habitat, Maldonado, La Plata (June.)
This species is about the size of Mus Rattus, but is stouter in its proportions; as in Mus nasutus, the thumb is furnished with a pointed claw. The molars of the lower jaw are figured in Plate 34, fig. 11, a.
“This rat was caught in so wet a place amongst the flags bordering a lake, that it must certainly be partly aquatic in its habits.”—D.