HYDROMYS FULIGINOSUS, Gould.
Sooty Beaver-Rat.
Ngoor-joo, Aborigines of Perth, Western Australia.
Ngwir-ri-gin, Aborigines of King George's Sound.
The specimens of this animal in my collection were procured in the neighbourhood of the lakes near Perth and at King George's Sound in Western Australia, by the late Mr. Gilbert, who in his letter to me on the subject expressed his opinion that they were quite different from any other species he had seen; and surely an animal so different from all its congeners in the colouring of the body, in the darker colour of the hinder, and the greyish white hue of the fore feet, may with propriety be considered as specifically distinct. Independently of these differences, I may mention, that the uniformity of the body tint is all but unbroken, the face, the centre of the back, and the basal portion of the tail being simply a trifle darker than the rest of the fur. Mr. Gilbert hints that the H. chrysogaster also inhabits Western Australia, but in this I believe he was mistaken; in all probability the South Australian species, to which I have given the name of fulvolavatus, is the animal he saw, but failed to procure.
Fur of the upper surface mingled huffy brown and black, the latter hue predominating and producing a deep sooty appearance, especially along the back, whence the specific name; whiskers and fur of the face black; that of the tail is also black, except the apical inch and a half, which is white; fur of the under surface pale greyish brown; fur of the outer surface of the limbs dark brown, of the fingers white; nails white.
The figures are rather less than the size of life.
