Art. XXXVIII.—Second Note on the Maori Rat.

By Prof. F. W. Hutton.

[Read before the Otago Institute, 7th August, 1877.]

Last June the Museum received from Mr. Cocker a dried specimen of a rat found by him in a cave, along with some old Maori mats, etc., on Mount Benger. This specimen consists of the skeleton nearly complete, and the dried skin with a few hairs on it. A comparison of its skull with those from Shag Point, described in my former paper^* left no doubt as to its being the true Maori rat, so that I am now able to add a little more to our knowledge of this animal. The following are the principal dimensions:—

There are thirty caudal vertebræ, but one or two at the end may be wanting. The hair on the belly is whitish, that on the back and sides mouse-grey, but all the colours may have been bleached. It will be seen that the measurements and colour correspond very well with a small specimen of the black rat (Mus rattus.)