Sub-Fam. 6. Dendromyinae.—The genus Deomys is an African form, consisting of only one species from the Congo region. D. ferrugineus has a reddish colour as its name implies; the soles are quite naked and the tail is long and slender. It is considerably longer than the body, measuring (minus a fragment of the tip) 172 mm., while the body is 125 mm. long. The characters of the molar teeth, which are three, are intermediate in their form between those of the true Rats and those of the Hamsters.
Dendromys is also Ethiopian in range. There are several species. D. mesomelas is a smallish creature, 60 mm. long, with a tail of 90 mm.
Steatomys is another African genus, allied to the last. Its tail, however, is only half the length of the body. The two remaining genera are Malacothrix and Limacomys. Their range is African.
Sub-Fam. 7. Lophiomyinae.—Allied to the Hamsters is the singular East African genus Lophiomys, with only one species, L. imhausi, of Milne-Edwards.[1] The size is between that of a Rabbit and of a Guinea-pig. The stomach is curved and somewhat intestiniform. It has been termed the Crested Rat on account of the "prominent crest of stiff hair running down the back." The fingers and toes are five, and the very long tail is clad with hair longer than that upon the body generally. The pollex is rudimentary, and the hallux is opposable.
The most remarkable structural feature in this genus concerns the skull, and on account of this it has been regarded as the type of a separate family. The temporal fossa behind the eye is covered over by a complete bony plate, formed by a downgrowth of the parietal, meeting an upgrowth from the malar; this singular arrangement of the bones recalls the conditions which obtain in turtles. The whole skull, moreover, is covered with symmetrically disposed granulations, such as are found in no other mammal; it suggests rather the skull of certain fish. It is believed that the bony plate already referred to is not really a portion of the bones of which it appears to be a prolongation, but merely an ossification of fasciae in this region. The atlas is granulated like the skull; there are sixteen pairs of ribs and a feeble clavicle. The molars are three, and of a peculiar form.
- ↑ Nouv. Arch. Mus. iii. 1867, p. 81.
