540 PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY OF [1896. 



rodents brought back by Dr. Smith. It was taken at Milmil, Som- 

 aliland, July 24, 1894. It appears to be the third recorded specimen 

 in existence and the second belonging to the type species of this 

 remarkable genus. Riippell's type of glaher came from Shoa and 

 was described"^ in 1845. It now exists in the Senckenburg Museum 

 in the form of a mounted skin with the skull separate, the mandi- 

 bles missing. In 1885 E. Lort Phillips sent another specimen of 

 Heterocephalus inspirits to the British Museum from Central Somali- 

 land. This was made the subject of a communication by Mr. Old field 

 Thomas before the London Zoological Society, and in the Proceed- 

 ings of that Society^** was described as new under the uame pJiillipsi, 

 after its discoverer. Subsequently Mr. Thomas publi.shed"' a more 

 complete account and description, with figures, of the new animaU 

 and made detailed comparisons with glaher. 



It was with no small curiosity that, after having a photograph 

 made of Dr. Smith's specimen, I removed the skull and com- 

 pared it with the figures of Riippell and Thomas. Except in its 

 greater age and size there are no difl^erences between the animal 

 from Milmil and the Shoa type. 



The color of the skin is pale ochraceous with a fleshy tinge, be- 

 coming pale livid on the upper sides of head, neck, belly, rump and 

 tail. The scattered hairs are a silvery, transparent white. The 

 underparts are somewhat lighter than the upper. The skin of head 

 is very thick and tough, more so for example than that of the oldest 

 and toughest Mas decumanus that I ever dissected. The inner 

 finger of manus is much shorter relatively than figured by Thomas 

 for phillipsi. Two mammae 15 mm. apart are faintly indicated at 

 the sternum immediately between the fore legs when they are drawn 

 down at right angles to the body. A series of seven pairs of teat- 

 like excrescences, each bearing in its pitted center a bristling hair 

 5 mm. long, extend along the sides to the groin in the position of 

 the regular teat series. 



The " wrinkled, warty" appearance of the skin, which Mr. Thomas 

 thinks may be due to the action of spirits on the specimen of phil- 

 lipsi, I am confident is perfectly normal, as our specimen plainly 

 indicates in many ways, and it will be seen that these pits, warts 

 "and furrows are closely correlated with the anatomy of the animal 



^^ Abhand. Mus. Senckenb., p. 99. 



'« P. Z. 8., 1885, pp. HI 1, 612.' 

 " Ibid, 1885, pp. 845-849. 



