2/47 SPECIES A.M.N.H. NO. 153495 Dickiees Waterhole, 10 miles south of BIRDSVILLE AREA, S.W. QUEENSLAND. East margin of Simpson Desert. COLLECTOR: L. MACMILLAN. COLL. NO. MAMMALS 1. DATE 20-21st MAY 1940. SPECIES SEX ♂ TRAPPED SHOT 9 P.M. night of 20-21st. CONDITION GONADS. large tests, weighing 5.3 gms. WGT. 191.6 gm. SKL. marked with ticket NO.1. RAT. TOTAL. 337. m/m. TAIL. 153. H.F.C.D 34.5 HEAC 21. STM. t, full of green vegetable matter, chewed leaves. TRAPPED with a bait of beef fat rubbed on as bait or lure, captured near a burrow. MOULT WING R. 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18,19,20,21,22,23,24,25. Sec. L. 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18,19,20,21,22,23,24,25. Sec. UP COVS. UND. COVS. Up Covs. Und. Covs. TAIL R. 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10. L. 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10. UP COVS. UN COVS. BODY UPPERS—RUMP UNDERS—VENT. LOWER BACK FLANKS UPPER BACK BELLY NAPE BREAST CROWN NECK CHEEKS CHIN ABR. W. T. W/T. SKULL This is numbered SK. No 1. REMARKS Fur: dark brown. Lips slightly dusky flesh. Pads: dusky flesh. This is the common species of rat about the waterhole flats & sandhills. There has recently been a plague of them. Drovers & horses men in camp have to protect their better gear from them. In this area the plague has passed but areas closer in to the coast are suffering from them at present. (It is possible the one causing the plague may be another species, my knowledge of mammals not being sufficient to know that) whether that is the case or not). Actually this appears to be the only mammal about this water hole apart from beef cattle, foxes + dingoes + rabbits. Others may be present, (possibly a mouse as small tracks have been seen but a native says these are young rats) but so far tracks have not been seen in the sand hills where tracks of many rats are plainly seen. The area where these are collected is actually an inland Australia, lying 2 miles south of this G.S.A. border. S. W. Q = South West Queensland. S. & MCD. PTY. LTD., MELB., NO. 4764. pay 185.